History
New Bloomfield High School First Graduating Class 1909
Looking back on Perry County's schools, most were but a few logs that had been "chunked and daubed". Some had a window or two, but all were very simple. Today however, all schools are very modernized. Each public school building holds over 300 pupils.
In 1836 Wheatfield Township paid schoolhouse teachers $14.25 a month. Two years later, the number of schools had reached eighty. Terms ranged from three to seven months. Teachers were now paid $15-$23.00 a month.
1854 is the year a Perry County law was made to benefit the schools. It created the office county superintendent. 5,984 students attended the 108 schools. Perry County was obviously growing fast.
In 1855 the law was put to the test. The schools
numbers went up to 138, as did the female paycut. They received $18.72 a month.
Male teachers pay remained at about $22.75. Twenty-one years after that, $30.57
was given to the males, $28.51 to females. The male pay still dominated.
But in the 1890's, some townships payed as little as $15.00 a month. Schools might have grown in population , however 119 of the 181 were established with unsafe furniture. The numbers jumped up and down for years to follow.
The West Perry Middle School was formerly known as Bloomfield High from 1954 to 1964. Built in 1953, nineteen and one half acres of land were bought for $10,725 from John M. Sanderson.
For the first 15 years, Reverend J. Thomas Fox was the only teacher. at Bloomfield
High. In 1920, Alberta Clouser Pollard, a member of the 1909 class, assisted
Fox for the next 8 years. In 1928, Donald F. Kingsley was elected as a third
teacher.
Bloomfield High offered only an academic or college preparatory curriculum. But as enrollments increased in mid 30's, so did the curriculum.
Music came first, three years after came business education and vocational agriculture. When West Perry was established, the curriculum grew with great vengeance. Thus finally creating a county with well-developed schools. Another such school in the county you can see below, Carson Long.:-)
by Meredith Odato
