LOCALadk Magazine

LOCALadk 13 Inlet School for more than twenty years, until they retired. Sue and Reggie spent many more years in their new schools. The Inlet teachers viewed all students in the inti- mate school like family. "Our students were our total responsibility from the time they entered the door in the morning, until they stepped on the bus in the afternoon," Letty wrote. Each teacher planned her own art class, which had the advantage of coinciding with something the children were studying. Jean, a music major in college, had the freedom to make music a central subject and wove it into many areas. The school acquired a piano and record player to enhance the experience. Both probably were rare in the homes of their students. Gym consisted of outdoor activities, with no room provided inside. "Sliding down the steep hill behind the school in winter, and playing Kickball, Dodgeball, or other games when the weather allowed," was the program Letty described. The playground equipment consisted of four swings, a couple of see-saws, a slide, and a self –propelled merry-go-round which they soon dispensed with, "as it had a tendency to pinch the unwary rider wherever the joints of the seats came together." "Of course we had no school nurse," Letty recalled. The only health equipment consisted of a first aid kit. Injured children relied on the common sense and instinct of their teachers. Dire emergencies were han- dled by the Inlet Emergency Services. The students all brought lunches from home, which they enhanced with small containers of white or choc- olate milk purchased for a few cents. Neighbors knew it was shortly after noon when they heard the explo- sion of laughter from children spilling out for recess behind the school. Always supervised by the teachers, they used their imagination for entertainment. They made forts, or acted out plays as the spirit moved them. At the end of free time, the privileged student assigned as "bell-ringer" rang a hand-held brass bell to call the children in. Winter had its special charm, adding more outside activity to recess. Jean's face shone in happy memory when she said, "I started the cross country skiing pro- gram, in which all grades participated." They had little trouble persuading German-born Walter Schmid, who owned a local ski ship, to rent equipment and teach the students. All the teachers also skied, some more enthusiastically than others. Sue was timid. One day she got stranded at the top of a steep tree-covered hill in Fern Park. She managed to work her way down, to the cheers of the students and the scolding of Walter, who shouted, "Vat in the vorld are you doing up there? " Teachers used the great outdoors to instruct on site, adults and students discovering together. Comput- ers did not interfere with classes conducted at small ponds, where four-year olds and forty-year-olds stood side by side, knee-deep in cool water, vying for tad- poles with tiny nets. A laid-back atmosphere prevailed. Parents wandered into the relaxed school with forgotten lunches or books. Kids brought their troubles and found comfort. Letty wrote, "We knew about emotional disruptions the children faced when families broke up, or illnesses or deaths occurred that caused such an upheaval in a child's life that it affected his ability to learn. We held many children in our arms when such comfort was still legal." The camaraderie these teachers shared was envi- able. They even occasionally played pranks on each other. Reggie, the youngest and most fashionable, loved shoes. Jean tells a story that one year the school presented Reggie with a huge package to open. Very excited, she unwrapped it with everyone watching. What was inside? All the high heeled shoes from the Kindergarten dress-up box. One April 1st, when ice carpeted the parking lot, Jean ran breathlessly into Letty's classroom to say, "Didn't the children tell you? Your car is rolling down the hill." They had told her this, but Letty thought it was an April Fool's Day Joke. And indeed it was. But it was a true joke that Jean never forgot. Letty's car came to a slow stop, naturally, at the bottom of the road into town. A favorite season was Halloween. The town waited eagerly to see how each student would dress their pumpkin/scarecrows, life-sized "puppets" they dis- played on the front lawn of the school, each topped with a real pumpkin for a head. Alas, eventually the exercise had to change. Deer were eating the pump- kins and leaving a headless nightmare. So the students switched to plastic pumpkin heads, one year even us- ing plastic buckets for heads. We still miss those lively "manikins" propped up near the sidewalk for all to see, unnamed but distinct enough we could recognize each creator. For the same holiday the beloved local bus driv- er, Peggy Payne, drove children for trick or treating because the homes were so scattered. Soft-spoken though she was, Peggy ran a trouble-free bus, cared for the school children as her own, and dealt with snowy roads and throwing up kids in her calm way. Her daughter, Barb Payne Murdock, displayed a far crisper personality when she became a driver, but delivered her cargo with similar care. Barb drove many genera- tions of families for thirty-five years, and helped all her fellow drivers by forming a CSEA Union that she presided over. The trip to school was a long one for many of the children, who waited on corners in the dark cold or rain for their bus to arrive, then might have to transfer to another bus to complete the trip. When the kids forgot their lunch, or mittens, or had to skip breakfast, these drivers went the extra mile, filling in as surrogate moms and dads. Academically Inlet Common School excelled, as skillful teachers persuaded the students to take their eyes away from the beckoning lake to learn. Children

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