SCHOOL DAYS
Students at the Village School, North Haven, circa 1940
I was well satisfied with the education I received here on the Island -- yes, I was -- even in this little tiny high school.
Olive Stone Lermond, NHHS Class of 1918, Interview with Eliot Beveridge, circa 1980
I never enjoyed school, I never enjoyed any of it. Why, school was just one long term, and I might just as well have been over in the Thomaston State Prison!
Leah Young Beverage, NHHS Class of 1916, Interview with Eliot Beveridge, circa 1980
Throughout the 1800s, a school year was divided into three terms of 8 to 10 weeks. By 1900, Maine state law required a school year of at least 20 weeks. The minimum requirement continued to increase and North Haven followed state requirements, reaching a 36-week school year in 1920.
An attendance law was passed in 1875, requiring all island children ages 9 to 15 to attend school for at least 12 weeks or their parents would be fined five dollars. The law, however, was rarely enforced and for many years daily attendance remained around 50 percent.
My own common school education consisted of just three ten-week terms a year...You went the fall term ten weeks, then you had probably a month vacation and then you picked it up again in January and you went ten more weeks. Then you had a vacation of about a month and you went ten more weeks.
Olive Stone Lermond, NHHS Class of 1918, Interview with Eliot Beverage, circa 1980
In the island’s one-room schoolhouses, students were grouped according to their ability rather than age and were not divided into grades until 1903. It was a common belief that younger students benefited from listening to older students recite lessons and answer questions but an 1885 school committee report lamented the “poor system of classifying scholars” on North Haven.
Our schools were not graded and we were put in the class where we fitted best…The method of teaching was quite different from today with not much for the beginners to do but scribble on a piece of paper or sometimes lay their heads on the desk and take a nap.
Nettie Beverage Crockett, Class of 1912, Personal recollection, 1966
While little is known about the curriculum in the island’s early schools, it is estimated to have focused primarily on reading, writing, and arithmetic. In the 1880s, classes in geography and physiology were introduced and in 1890 a “Guide to Health” was added. In the 1920s, physical training became a requirement in the elementary schools and the high school. Programming may have been slow to evolve as indicated by a 1928 yearbook editorial noted the need for physical exercise during school:
Many people say that we do not need physical exercise during school hours; that we should get enough exercise at noon to last the rest of the day. This is not so…we need ten minutes of good vigorous exercise, either out of doors or in the school room with all the windows open during the afternoon. By this, one is so refreshed that he is ready to resume his studies with a new zest.
The first standardized assessment tests were given on North Haven in 1920, focusing on spelling, handwriting, and reading. Also in 1920, North Haven employed the first music supervisor, although references to “singing schools” appeared as early as 1867. An instrumental music program was proposed in 1949 and carried out on a part-time basis by 1953.
During World War II, North Haven schools devoted additional time to physical education and studies related to the wartime. George Young recalled in the 1943 yearbook:
Like schools in most places at the present time, North Haven schools have conformed to the war program in many ways…A new period has been added to the afternoon schedule. This period is devoted to physical exercise…Also courses of study in first aid, air raid warden service, and chemical warfare have been offered. Milk also has been made available as part of the physical fitness program, to those who wish it…These and many other changes have made the school room seem a different place from former pre-war years.
Olive Stone Lermond, NHHS Class of 1918, Interview with Eliot Beveridge, circa 1980
I never enjoyed school, I never enjoyed any of it. Why, school was just one long term, and I might just as well have been over in the Thomaston State Prison!
Leah Young Beverage, NHHS Class of 1916, Interview with Eliot Beveridge, circa 1980
Throughout the 1800s, a school year was divided into three terms of 8 to 10 weeks. By 1900, Maine state law required a school year of at least 20 weeks. The minimum requirement continued to increase and North Haven followed state requirements, reaching a 36-week school year in 1920.
An attendance law was passed in 1875, requiring all island children ages 9 to 15 to attend school for at least 12 weeks or their parents would be fined five dollars. The law, however, was rarely enforced and for many years daily attendance remained around 50 percent.
My own common school education consisted of just three ten-week terms a year...You went the fall term ten weeks, then you had probably a month vacation and then you picked it up again in January and you went ten more weeks. Then you had a vacation of about a month and you went ten more weeks.
Olive Stone Lermond, NHHS Class of 1918, Interview with Eliot Beverage, circa 1980
In the island’s one-room schoolhouses, students were grouped according to their ability rather than age and were not divided into grades until 1903. It was a common belief that younger students benefited from listening to older students recite lessons and answer questions but an 1885 school committee report lamented the “poor system of classifying scholars” on North Haven.
Our schools were not graded and we were put in the class where we fitted best…The method of teaching was quite different from today with not much for the beginners to do but scribble on a piece of paper or sometimes lay their heads on the desk and take a nap.
Nettie Beverage Crockett, Class of 1912, Personal recollection, 1966
While little is known about the curriculum in the island’s early schools, it is estimated to have focused primarily on reading, writing, and arithmetic. In the 1880s, classes in geography and physiology were introduced and in 1890 a “Guide to Health” was added. In the 1920s, physical training became a requirement in the elementary schools and the high school. Programming may have been slow to evolve as indicated by a 1928 yearbook editorial noted the need for physical exercise during school:
Many people say that we do not need physical exercise during school hours; that we should get enough exercise at noon to last the rest of the day. This is not so…we need ten minutes of good vigorous exercise, either out of doors or in the school room with all the windows open during the afternoon. By this, one is so refreshed that he is ready to resume his studies with a new zest.
The first standardized assessment tests were given on North Haven in 1920, focusing on spelling, handwriting, and reading. Also in 1920, North Haven employed the first music supervisor, although references to “singing schools” appeared as early as 1867. An instrumental music program was proposed in 1949 and carried out on a part-time basis by 1953.
During World War II, North Haven schools devoted additional time to physical education and studies related to the wartime. George Young recalled in the 1943 yearbook:
Like schools in most places at the present time, North Haven schools have conformed to the war program in many ways…A new period has been added to the afternoon schedule. This period is devoted to physical exercise…Also courses of study in first aid, air raid warden service, and chemical warfare have been offered. Milk also has been made available as part of the physical fitness program, to those who wish it…These and many other changes have made the school room seem a different place from former pre-war years.
Eight grade students at the High School - Center School, 1958
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Drivers Education class at North Haven Community School, 1977
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Over the decades, education on North Haven evolved to be increasingly tied to place, most especially the island community and culture. Teachers have been able to adapt learning to students’ needs and interests, continually allowing for connections to the surrounding world.
I like that our school is small. I often don’t feel like I am being told what to do -- it’s more like we are working together with our teachers to learn. That’s the best way to learn, I think.
Ben Lovell, North Haven Community School Class of 2006, Our Town Our School, a community building campaign, 2006
On North Haven, students ranging from kindergarten to grade 12 have built boats, articulated whale skeletons, documented ocean temperatures, planted gardens, interviewed community members, tested the island’s water supply, spun wool, filleted fish, recorded music, and learned wilderness first aid. Students have traveled beyond the island’s shores as they took their learning to the rivers, woods, and mountains of Maine, and to Boston, New York City, Washington D.C., Quebec, and France. As students explored and chased their curiosity, using their hands was just as valuable as using their mind.
This is education at North Haven Community School - individualized and community based, experiential and traditional, innovative and foundational, rigorous and engaging.
Barney Hallowell, teacher and principal at North Haven Community School 1974 - 2012, School yearbook, The Pilot, 2009
I like that our school is small. I often don’t feel like I am being told what to do -- it’s more like we are working together with our teachers to learn. That’s the best way to learn, I think.
Ben Lovell, North Haven Community School Class of 2006, Our Town Our School, a community building campaign, 2006
On North Haven, students ranging from kindergarten to grade 12 have built boats, articulated whale skeletons, documented ocean temperatures, planted gardens, interviewed community members, tested the island’s water supply, spun wool, filleted fish, recorded music, and learned wilderness first aid. Students have traveled beyond the island’s shores as they took their learning to the rivers, woods, and mountains of Maine, and to Boston, New York City, Washington D.C., Quebec, and France. As students explored and chased their curiosity, using their hands was just as valuable as using their mind.
This is education at North Haven Community School - individualized and community based, experiential and traditional, innovative and foundational, rigorous and engaging.
Barney Hallowell, teacher and principal at North Haven Community School 1974 - 2012, School yearbook, The Pilot, 2009
Students at the annual Knowledge Fair, 2016
Marine Trades class, 2018
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Fall field studies trip on the West Branch of the Penobscot River, 2015
African drumming workshop at North Haven Community School, 2019
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