There is incontrovertible evidence that Dixon Precinct citizens supported their public schools. Both the Dixon School (that’s right....we got one) and the Ridge School were cited in this November 1885 article for having the latest in educational technology... blackboards. And not just one blackboard, but “...blackboarding quite or mostly around the rooms.”
OK kids... if you’ve never seen a blackboard, go ask your parents. Or their parents. The old educational adage, “Chalk is cheap” actually never was true. It was rationed when I started teaching in 1976. Really.
The author, Levinus Harris, wrote a weekly educational column, taught teacher preparation classes, and served for a time as the school superintendent in Edwards County.
Read on about the status of county schools in regards to wood houses, outhouses, and janitors. I didn’t copy the whole janitor section because that was obviously pie in the sky thinking.
Each school area had a group of directors with responsibilities to keep up the facilities and recommend other things to the superintendent. There did not appear to be a city or countywide school board.
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