The Winton School
The Winton School is currently located just NW of Plain, on Beaver Valley Road,
right next to Beaver Valley School.
This location is probably quite practical as it is easier to keep an eye on it
there, but it is a long ways from it's original home location................
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The following is directly from a letter sent to me by Connie
Nichols.
Connie was a teacher at Winton School from 1981 - 1996, she
currently resides in Palisades WA.
"The school itself is the second building at that site, the first one having
been a similar structure only without a basement. It was always white.
The present building (now sitting in Plain and looking like a sinking ship) was
built in 1926-or1927 and was hugely improved by the addition of the basement.
The original furnace i that building I was told was coal, but by the time I got
there in 1981, it had an oil furnace in the basement. That furnace was cranky as
all get out, and to operate it properly required a wrench, a hammer, and a
tolerance for black oily smoke when it would backfire, which it did frequently,
with an ear splitting sound. There was a large grate in the floor of the school
room and all the heat came up through that. In the winter, that grate was a
popular place to stand when kids came in wet and cold from recess. It was also
the only place to get gloves and mittens and hats dry, and so during the winter,
the air in the schoolroom always smelled of wet wool, and the room was always a
bit steamy, to say the least. (My first year there I had a family of three kids,
quite poor, from up Coulter Creek. All three wet the bed (they only had an
outhouse) and would come to school reeking of urine. Of course, because of their
primitive living conditions, they were also always cold, and guess where they
would park themselves?!!! Of course, fight atop the grate. Gag! It was difficult
for all of us to be polite and tolerant, but we were and the other kids
impressed me no end, as they did not like it, but never complained and never
judged. Thank heaven the three of them were pulled out of Winton right before
Christmas break and from then on. Their parents did not want them involved in
the Christmas program. We all heaved a huge but silent sigh of relief when Jan.
3 arrived and they were no longer there. More square footage for those other
students who remained, and NO urine!
The teacherage was only a one-room affair until 1978 or 79, when Lyman Boyd and
his then-employees Dwayne Broaddus, and Dave Leonard were contracted to build
the addition, which was the bedroom. Prior to that addition, it had to have been
one of the most uncomfortable shacks in the area. Most of the teachers who lived
there over the years were single, so a one room cabin was probably not as
wretched as one might think. However there was one teacher there who had two
children, and it is unimaginable how stressful that must have been! Indeed Kay
Richards related to me that that teacher got fired for child abuse (of her own
children)! well, gee I can sympathize
Of course for a great many years the only 'facilities' for the teacherage or the
school was an outhouse. The Richards told of when there was a push to install a
real bathroom in the one room teacherage for the teacher. Claude Thompson, who
was then on the Winton School board along with Orville, was adamant that the
teacher did NOT need a abthroom! Fortunately for that teacher and all of us who
came later, Orville and the other board members prevailed and the bathroom was
installed. It was not much, only a toilet and a very small shower, but it was a
huge improvement from the outhouse!
The property Claude Thompson, and his son Bill Thompson own now was homesteaded
by the Dillon family, and one of the Dillon women (Gladys, I think was her first
name) was a teacher at Winton for a great many years. Another long-time teacher
was Becky Corey Gross Thompson (several marriages) who was there for 6 years,
then took a year's leave of absence, then back for a final year, and then I
replaced her. Last I knew she was living in the Idaho panhandle. During Becky's
leave of absence, Gayle Stoltenow-Norris was the teacher. Gayle recently died of
cancer. She had taught at Leavenworth for the years after being at Winton. I was
there from 1981 - 1996
For all the years prior to my arrival, the school had been grades 1-8. The year
I arrived the Leavenworth school was in the process of rearranging their grade
groupings, and so the 7th and 8th graders were supposed to go to L-wrth.
However, there were two girls who did not want to go to L-wrth, and I think
mostly wanted to stay at Winton to check out the new teacher. At any rate, that
year I had 27 kids; there were two 7th graders and one 6th grader that were of
inestimable value. I also had9th graders!!! Yikes! That was my first year of
teaching, although I had been a cop for 6 1/2 years prior, so I was not a
complete babe in the woods. In addition I had attended a two-room school for
most of my elementary years, and so I was quite aware of how multiple grades
should be handled, and how subjects should be taught. I had no aides at all
until midway through the year when the superintendant agreed that I should have
some help. I then gained the assistance of Barb Darlington for 2 hours per day.
(Wife of Randy Darlington, Merritt, and mother of former student, Kelly, now
deceased) Since Barb had been around Winton during Kelly's first 6 grades, she
was a great deal of help.
The first year was a little rugged due to the fact that the textbook situation
was pretty much worthless. My predecessor, Becky Corey, was a firm believer in
the McGuffey Reader Series, and that was all I had. (Talk about Dark Ages! But
she liked it because there was a great deal of religion in those books. They
were not much good for teaching reading, however.)
There were some ancient science books and some equally outdated history books,
and a 'library' consisting of maybe 150 titles, mostly boring or old and
tattered. (there were piles and piles of old Nat'l Geographic magazines.) In
addition creating my own material was difficult, as I had a box of stencils and
an ancient mimeograph machine. I spent most of my year with hands and arms in
varying shades of purple, from the mimeo fluid. If I wanted to use a bona fide
copy machine, I had to amass all my materials and make arrangements to visit
Osborn when school was not in session,..(God forbid they should trust me with a
key!)
In addition to teaching, I was responsible for upkeep: janitorial, snow removal,
yard and general outside work, etc. But of course, the school district had
provided NO implements with which to do all of this stuff! (My predecessor had
always using tools belonging to Orville.) My personal vacuum cleaner wore out
after the first year, as it got about 3 lifetimes of use in that time. Same with
my personal lawnmower.
there were no laundry facilities, so I had to make a weekly trek to Leavenworth,
which at that time had a Laundromat downtown. After that building was turned
into more shops, there was a period when L-wth had no Laundromat, and then I had
to trek all the way to Cashmere. The Laundromat thing worked OK during winter
and spring, although I was not fond of extraneous trips down the icy canyon. The
next summer Orville mentioned that he had two wringer washers stored out in one
of his outbuildings, and asked if I would like one. Having had ample experience
with wringer washers as a child, I leaped at the chance.
It was not quite as idyllic a situation as it might have been, however. In order
to wash clothes, I had to wrestle the heavy machine up the front porch steps,
and balance it precariously on the very small porch. Then I had to attach the
filler hose to the kitchen faucet, run it out to the porch, and then finally
attach a long drain hose to the drain fro the washer and run it out past the
driveway. doing two loads of laundry used up a goodly portion of the day, by the
time clothes were hung out to dry. However, cold weather ended that pleasure,
and once again I was driving to town with a pile of quarters and dimes.
Along with the lovely mimeograph machine, the school was equipped with an
ancient film projector, an equally antiquated filmstrip projector, an overhead
projector, and an old record player. These were all items that were considered
modern when I was in school in the 50's and 60's. However the film projector got
quite a bit of use, as the Educational Services Dist. in Wenatchee had a good
film library available to member school districts at no charge. I coordinated my
film orders with the units of study I had planned, and those first few years, I
had students that became skilled in the operation of a projector!
The School also had an elderly upright piano which was in good musical
condition, but was hideous to look at because my predecessor had it painted RED!
(She did not play the piano, but was fond of red) Since I played piano and
guitar, music quickly became a part of our learning. The kids loved to sing, and
loved to act, so it was a pleasure to be qualified to direct performances of all
kinds. My predecessor had always put on programs, and I was only too willing to
carry on the tradition.
The principal for that year was Marjorie Bridges, who was also the principal for
Osborn Elem. in L-wth. As the first female principal in the district she had an
uphill to battle from the get-go, as the district was overloaded with
misogynists, and chauvinists. Our superintendant that year was Ray Tupling, who
was a great superintendant, I thought, but he apparently pissed off a few people
in the community, and left after that year.
What came next was not to my liking. Orville was still on the school board at
that time, and one day in late summer he brought the new superintendant up to
meet me. To my horror, it was none other than Norm Veach, who had been my high
school geometry teacher in Ephrata in the late 60's. Norm was also a basketball
coach at the time, and I did not think that he was particularly good at either
of his jobs. Naturally the Peter Principal was in effect, and the person least
capable of the job of superintendant was the one they chose! I was gracious to
him. however, and continued to give him every opportunity to be a decent human
being instead of a tyrant, but he never rose to the levels I had hoped he was
capable of.
My second year was more relaxed due to the addition of a half-time aide- Susan
Johnson.
Sometime in the 50's Winton was pretty much forced into consolidation with L-wth,
as Winton was a non-high district. L-wth was planning on closing Winton having
buses travel down Tumwater Canyon, but a huge hue and cry about the danger of
traveling the canyon caused a change of route. (The multi-fatality bus crash
into Lk. Chelan was on the minds of the Winton and Merritt and Lk. Wen. Families
who felt the chances of a bus ending up in the Wen. river were too great) A
court battle ensued and the result of that was that L-wth school buses were
NEVER to travel the canyon and all students would be bused over Beaver hill and
the Chumstick. Because of the length of this route, Winton was left open to
serve grades 1 - 8 and Winton was ruled a "Remote and Necessary" school. As
such, Winton received triple enrollment funds. Of course Leavenworth did not
complain about THAT, since that meant lots of extra money for them. Now the
extra funds were meant to support the remote and necessary school but at NO time
after the consolidation was that ever the case. For years Winton was
short-changed in every way possible-----inadequate and outdated books,
inadequate supples of all kinds, no support for grounds or janitorial, no
maintenance, etc.
My 2nd and 3rd years at Winton there arrived on the scene some real activist
parents--Diane DeWeese (then Forbes), Deb and Dennis Pobst, Corky and Duane
Broaddus, Gail and Bob Hoxworth (Pine River Ranch), Fabie Etue, and others that
I can name if I get out my journals. They formed a group, and assessed the needs
of the school (with my input) and Corky proceeded to put together a video of ALL
the deficiencies at the school. Then the core group made a presentation at a
school board meeting, showing the board in living color just what we had been
dealing with
That little maneuver actually got their attention! Video of the antiquated and
inadequate wiring, lack of shelving. cold water only sink, and real icky
bathrooms, among other things, rather embarrassed the administrators and the
board. Over the next two years, several improvements were made. Bruce Disher
re-wired the building, (of course they would not dream of hiring a professional
electrician!), putting in a breaker box instead of the old fuse box (which would
blow fuses if the projector was turned on at the same time the overhead lights
were on),the old oil furnace was replaced with a (used) electric furnace, a hot
water heater was added, along with a modern sink with storage underneath.
The bathrooms were remodeled, the front steps repaired and painted decent blinds
were installed on the big windows, and several other improvements. Bruce also
brought up some hand-me-down shelving unitsand installed them in the basement
and 'library closet', and built a reading loft in the library closet. The
parents joined together for several work parties, during which the basement was
painted, some new playground equipment was built and installed and a playshed
built.
I also got them to purchase a lawn mower, a vacuum, some basic cleaning
supplies, a weed whacker, and a new shovel. (Wow--that last one must have just
about broken the bank, but prior to the involvement of the activists, I could
not even get them to supply that basic item!) We also managed to convince them
thatwe actually needed modern teaching materials and such basics as a library
budget. I did not get a copy machine until year 3, however, the same year we got
our first computer--an Apple lle. Od course they did not bother to provide any
software with the computer, so I spent a few dollars of my salary on software!
Of course, I had already been spending a lot on books and other supplies, so
that expenditure for the computer was nothing new, just a bigger burden on my
checkbook balance.........
Connie is currently working on a book about her
experiences and though it is taking her a long time, she says...."I will get it
done, come hell or high water.
I have tons of files, as well as letters, and memories of former students.....It
just takes time to put it all together in some sort of cogent and hopefully
humorous fashion!"
When Connie gets her book completed I will provide information on how
you can get a copy.