The Nation’s Oldest Two-Room School House to Close its Doors
by Guest Writer on May 11th, 2009Written by Amy Braun
The Hancock Village School in Vermont.
The nation’s oldest operating schoolhouse, established in 1801, will close its doors late June this year.
When the building was first built, Thomas Jefferson was president. Back then, a wood-stove (not oil) was used to keep children warm. Many kids cooked their lunch potatoes on top of the wood stove while learning the three R’s right alongside their siblings. Teachers were paid for their services in cords of wood and when pencils needed to be sharpened they used a jack-knife. During the depression, no one in town had a job and the town fought to keep their school and identity alive. Times have changed.
Using the democratic process, 102 voters came together in the Town Hall in Hancock, Vermont on May 7, 2009. They held about a thirty minute discussion before voting to close the doors to their village school. Only 37 of the 102 wanted to keep the school open. The moderator announced the school had been closed, and some of the people in the room cheered and applauded. I watched, feeling sad and angry.
I am not a voter in the town so I could not speak at the meeting. This venue, an on-line blog about our country’s treasures, is only my vessel for my right to speak and I am grateful to have that chance.
This was the third year we have been through this emotional process. There are two sides to this issue, absolutely no middle-road. Either a person respects and appreciates the history of the building or they don’t.
Those who want the school to remain open have remained strong for three years. This year we lost.
This school building brings up some very strong feelings in people, obviously. I have worked as the teacher for six years. I love its windows that look out to historic route 100, I love its floors that creak beneath my feet, and I love the bell on a rope.
I have a huge responsibility to end the school year in less than thirty school days while also ending a 209 year-old building’s life. My classroom is filled with a flurry of activity at the moment, by the end of June, it will be empty… because it has to be. It is how democracy works. The building belongs to the town; voters decide its outcome.
Tax money was the main topic when discussing the fate of the Hancock Village School. People think it has become too expensive to operate it. Some people think a bigger school is better because it costs less money per student. Meanwhile, we shut down our little schools and turn them into art studios, residences, and museums and ship our children to other towns and pay the other towns to take care of what is our responsibility.
The Hancock Village School is a place that matters to teacher Amy Braun and her students.
No one discussed that the historical building has been alive all these years because children have been inside it. It is a place that MATTERS to kids. No one at the meeting discussed that the school was the life-line of the town; the school educates the town’s future.
I think Hancock is making a horrible decision about their little schoolhouse. Oh, I know they will re-use the building for other purposes. There will be an office in the building or someone will buy it and turn it into something else. It will not sit empty or rot into the ground like some of our nation’s other buildings, and I know that. However, I think the presence of children is what made it special. Students’ energy was the life-blood of that building.
I have taught in newer, bigger buildings. Why do we throw away the older things and think that newer is somehow better?
The children have now lost their neighborhood school. At what cost?
Aside from giving up control of local control of taxes, the greatest cost is the life of the village. The village will die over time because the children are the future and they will be spending the majority of their day someplace else.
Perhaps people will understand some day when a child that was supposed to go to their little school finds a cure for cancer and another town will get credit for it.
Amy Braun teaches at The Village School in Hancock , Vermont.
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May 15th, 2009 at 9:02 pm
How beautifully – and movingly – put. I live in Australia but the same sort of short-sighted nonsense goes on here: anything to save a dollar in the short term.
I started out in a little two-room school in Bankstown, outer Sydney, three classes working concurrently under one teacher in each room, and it gave us a connection with local community far beyond what you get in the more regimented environment of an area school.
Keep fighting, Amy – and don’t forget, next time get yourself on the voters’ roll!
… John Chesworth (a member, National Trust NSW Australia.)
May 29th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
I am sadden by the closing of this school house. My daugther was the third generation of her family to attend this school and we both have many happy memories of her time here.
June 17th, 2009 at 8:18 am
I actually shed a few tears when I read this story, from another source. I do not even live in Vermont and feel the people’s pain. I think it is horrible how the United States, towns, and counties closes and even demolishes its History. Other Countries still use and preserve their buildings and that is why they have so many tourists; they are rich in culture unlike our United States.
What’s next, after the closing, the council will want it tour down because the upkeep is costing too much? Will it be donated to the local fire department to be burned for training purposes? This is very sad and disturbing.
July 2nd, 2009 at 8:02 pm
As in Hancock, Granville also closed it’s one room school this year. I attended both Hancock and Granville schools as a child, my children did and both of my grandchildren were the “last students to attend these schools.” When the decisions to close them came down, I sat down and cried…and cried….what a tragic, stupid mistake. One of the last threads that held our community together has been severed! And why? Because there are people out there who believe it will be cheaper and better elsewhere…and when they find out that they made a mistake, it will be much too late.
I have know Amy since she moved here. She is a teacher who teaches because she loves teaching and loves the children. She is constantly teaching them with games and “silliness” and they never knew they were learning. Amy is a very special, wonderful woman..and I am so happy that both my grandchildren were fortunate enough to have her for a teacher.
We fought this battle long and hard….but is this war over, or has it just begun?
For those of you out there who read this…Amy Braun is also an author…she has written a wonderful book called Rooms and PIllars…..purchase it and read it…you’ll LOVE it…..
July 31st, 2009 at 1:46 am
Wow! I could understand if parents didn’t want their child to be FORCED to attend this school, but certainly there must be a sort of parent who wants their child to be raised in an environment like this.
At the very least the building should continue to be used for children, perhaps as a field trip destination including workshop or something like that.
And on a website like this it doesn’t need to be said how idiotic it is to end a 200+ year tradition just to save some money.