The School Janitor

An account of my school days in the Gowrie school must perforce include some mention of the custodial/janitorial staff. Nominally this consisted solely of Gunnar Sigurdson. Judging from his manner of speech I’d surmise he was an immigrant from Sweden, a relatively late immigrant as compared with most of the Swedish element of the population in and around Gowrie.

Actually the care of the school and grounds was more than one individual could handle and he was assisted by his wife and two young sons (both somewhat younger than me — sort of in the age range of Vivian and Vincent). Occasionally he would hire a helper, but such help was not continuous. While school was in session Gunnar’s duties consisted mainly of sweeping the floors (classrooms and hallways) at the end of the school day. He would sprinkle a brown sweeping compound around and then sweep the floor with his long-handled push broom, and I can still see his two sons participating in this cleaning chore.

During the winter months it was also Gunnar’s duty to stoke the furnace. The furnace and steam boiler were located at the far end of the gymnasium wing and during my early years at the school the heating medium was coal. I don’t think the mechanical stoker was used — Gunnar had to get up during the night hours to add fresh fuel. Sometime in the late 1920s or early 1930s, natural gas lines were installed in Gowrie (I can remember watching the laying of the lines in the vicinity of the little brown house) and I believe that the furnace in the school building was switched from coal to gas.

In the summer months Gunnar would use the time in various school maintenance work — such as varnishing the desks used by all the students. In the grades one through six the desks were movable. The desk had a little drawer below the seat in which books, tablets, etc. could be stored. There may have also been a place below the desk top for this purpose. The desk could only be entered from the left side. On the desk top at the far right was a place for an inkwell which was never used. The tops had been revarnished a number of times but still bore various indentations — scratches both accidental and deliberate.

The desks in the junior and senior high assembly halls were not movable, could be entered from either side, and had the storage area for books etc. below the desk top. The seat could be folded up perhaps to make floor sweeping easier. In the classrooms for junior and senior high students the seats were movable of the style more typical of those I encountered in junior college and SUI classes.

Some of the minor janitorial duties were actually performed by the students — such as washing the blackboards to remove the chalk dust. This was done by students selected by the teacher, and my recollection is that it was sort of a desired activity by the students. It was done directly after school closed for the day. Generally pupils were expected to leave the school premises as soon as school was over unless there was some approved reason — such as washing the blackboards — that intervened.

The Layout of the School

Generally I have a rather good recollection of the room, hall, restroom and other layout of the three levels of the school building as shown in the accompanying sketches. But some of the details are certainly questionable, not that it makes much difference at this point.

During a relatively recent visit to the school in Gowrie (perhaps 1994) my brother Vincent had arranged for us siblings to tour the existing facility. The building had been enlarged and the interior rearranged in part but significant parts were still recognizable to me. The changes were certainly in part the result of the consolidation of schools that has occurred in post-WWII years. For example I believe that Gowrie now provides the high school for the Gowrie/Callender/Moorland schools (now renamed “Prairie Valley”) with the other two towns providing primary and junior high facilities.

The School Superintendent and the Teachers

About the time the Gowrie consolidated school was organized, or perhaps coincident with its formation, P.A. Leistra was hired as the school superintendent. A single man of middle age, he brought with him a considerable background in the field of education and he was responsible in large part for setting a standard of excellence in teaching and scholastic achievement that characterized the school during my 12 years there. It is true that he left sometime during my junior high years but the effect of his policies continued through my high school years.

His insistence on pupil performance may have been one of the reasons why he left. Some parts of the community felt I understand that his standard were too high and the animosity they generated may have influenced him to leave. But in retrospect I feel that it was my good fortune to have my early public-school education influenced so favorably by him.

The standards influenced by Mr. Leistra’s presence as superintendent were reflected in the quality of the reaching staff which he hired. Nominally the teachers were hired by the school board but I’m sure the applicants for any position were evaluated by Leistra and the final selection was approved by him.

The teachers for the grades 1 through 6 typically had a rather short tenure. Often they were graduated of the two-year teaching curriculum at Iowa State Teachers College and almost invariably in the 1920s were young women who left after a few years to be married. The school policy was generally to hire only single women for the primary grades, the feeling being that a family should have only a single earner. There were exceptions however. Mrs. Wood, the second-grade teacher, was married but I have the vague recollection that her husband was incapacitated in some way or degree. And Mrs. Rice, the first-grade teacher, was a long-standing institution when I was in the primary grades.

The junior high teachers tended to follow the same personnel pattern as for the primary grades, except they might have more schooling. And they might be older as was Mrs. Knapp (a widow) who was the junior high principal when I was in eighth grade. The high school teachers, particularly the coach and the science teacher, were married men, as was the English/Latin teacher I had (a woman). But the others tended to be single in status. Although Mr. Leistra was single, the superintendent who replaced him when I was in eighth grade and after that were married I believe. (Yes, Mr. Anderson.)