Montlake - 2021 and Way Beyond by William Goodrich Bellman Chapter 4 - My Early Teachers

Getting back to the happenings during my days at Montlake: Myrna Snow was appointed head teacher at a salary of $2340 per year. She remained in that position till the end of the 1927 school year, when she was replaced by Dora S. Herren, who was appointed principal, and she maintained that position for 15 years. In searching through the records I was interested in the salaries that teachers received in those early days. First was Miss Betz who was paid $2100 (I had her for my first two years, then Miss Jackson at $1680, Lilly Lucken for the 4th grade at $2100, Miss Robinson, 5th grade, $2100, Miss Hartley for 6th grade at $1680, Miss Snow for the 7th, and finally Miss Frizzell at $1680 for my eighth and final year. School records indicate that classrooms had an average of 35 students each.

Note that all the above women were spinsters, as school board rules did not allow married women to teach full time. Substitute teachers were an exception to this rule. I remember that one substitute teacher was telling our class how much she enjoyed and loved children. At that remark I asked her, "Why don't you have some then?" I was immediately escorted out of the room and sent home for saying such a thing, which she considered completely out of line.

Teachers were very strict in those days. Some of us boys were unruly in the classroom and if we didn't toe the mark we would have to stay after school and write on the blackboard 100 times "I will be better in the classroom" or some other phrase that fit the circumstance. Extreme cases of bad behavior were kept after school and given a paddling.

Some of us found that we could witness these paddlings by crawling under the building to where the coal stove was located. The stove was on a platform with a cold air return at the front end which allowed those of us in the crawl space to see what was happening to the culprit. Usually he knew we were watching so he'd put on a good show; jumping around and howling as though he was really being hurt. When there were finally two teachers at Portage, one or the other was a witness to the paddling, this was in case a child complained to his parents about the treatment he had received. You notice I said "his", not "his or her", as I don't recall a girl ever having to be paddled.

For several years grades from first to sixth were taught in the same room, with the same teacher and the same student companions. In those years families stayed put, only dads worked, mothers stayed at home, and very seldom did any family leave the neighborhood because the wage earner had been transferred elsewhere. What I'm saying is, that most of the kids I started the first grade with, were the ones I graduated with. This pattern continued, for the most part, through my high school years. What you will read below are some of the things I remember about my early school life.

There were no school lunch programs. Those that lived close to school, walked home and those living too far distant, brought a brown bag lunch. Car traffic was light and street crossing patrols were not yet thought of. All the desks were bolted to the floor and the mischievous students sat in front, where teacher could keep a close watch. I never got a desk in back of the first two rows. Some of the kids spoke “pig-latin”, and if you didn't learn the lingo, you couldn't understand what they were saying, and couldn't tell whether what they were saying was good or bad.

In elementary school (we called it grammar school) a money saving program was instituted with Washington Mutual Savings Bank - the friend of the family. Each Monday we would bring to class whatever monies our parents could spare and our teacher would see that it was placed in a savings account in our name. It was a good program then, and would be a better one today. There was only one thing about it that I found disturbing and that was that some of the students, whose parent was a doctor, dentist, lawyer, or perhaps an affluent executive, would have $5 or $10 to deposit, when the rest of us would have only a dollar or less. It gave me a feeling of inadequacy. I particularly remember Sylvia Haggard, who lived at 2048 23rd Ave. East., whose father was a doctor and always deposited more than anyone in the class. However, that didn't help her when she wet her pants in class (as she was too shy to raise her hand) and it dribbled from her seat to the floor (she sat across from me). Sylvia was a pretty girl, as was her younger sister Gloria, but both were shy.

There is so much in the media today about kids of all ages taking guns into school rooms that it makes those of my age wonder what it's all about. In twelve years of schooling, the only time I heard of anyone bringing a weapon to school was when my neighbor friend, Jack Porter, then in the fifth grade, brought to school his dad's fully loaded revolver, which Jack had found under his dad's pillow. It was more of a “show and tell” thing for Jack, as he didn't intend to shoot anyone with it. With so many kids handling it, before being confiscated by the teacher, it was a miracle that no one was shot. Lots of the boys did carry switch-blade knives, not to threaten anyone with, but it seemed the manly thing to have one in your possession. It is illegal to carry a switch-blade today.

When I visited the school in May of 1992, I was astounded to see the mix of Black, Hispanic and Asian students. This mix must have occurred during the period after World War II, more probably from the '60's on. To my knowledge, there were few, if any, of these races living in the immediate area during my childhood years. I do remember one Chinese family living in the house at 1912 26th Avenue North. I never saw this family but understood, from my friend Harold Shaw, who lived at 1918, that they lived in the neighborhood. In the eight years that I attended Portage and Montlake schools there were only two students that were not Caucasians; one was a Japanese girl, fresh from Japan, that was living with a white family in the neighborhood while she learned the English language. The other, a Filipino boy, older than others in the class, who was working as a house-boy in the area. I recall that both of these youngsters were outstanding students because of their tremendous appetite to learn.