LeMars Semi-Weekly Sentinel, September 6, 1946

Nineteen Schools Fail To Open
For Lack of Teachers

One room rural school houses are no longer holding their own in Plymouth County and this fall teachers for only 90 could be found.  Last year there were 109 rural schools open in the county.

Figures from the office of Miss Christine Petersen, county superintendent of schools, show that in the past years there has been a steady decrease in number of rural schools each fall.  Some townships now have no rural schools at all.

Those schools which were open last year, but CLOSED this year are:

Elkhorn No. 3
Elkhorn No. 1
Fredonia No. 4
Both schools in Hancock Twp are closed
Hungerford No. 4
Perry No. 1
Perry No. 3
Jones School (Portland twp)
Searls School (Portland twp)
Stony Point School (Portland twp)
Stuart School (Portland twp)
Preston No. 9
Westfield No. 3
Westfield No. 6
The last two schools Marion township.

Stanton school No. 7 closed the opening day of school leaving seven students without a home school and Garfield school No. 5 was closed on the opening day by the resignation of the teacher, but an attempt is being made to reopen the school.

Some areas in which all schools are closed are being served by school buses, but others are without any provided transportation.

In 1942 there were 127 rural schools opened in the county and since then the trend has been downward.

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