ENPages
Page 16
Dec. 22, 1931
[printed caption under group photo: MR. AND MRS. S. CLAUS GREETED ON RIDE IN "CUTTER" -- Pupils of public school No. 44, Twenty-first street and Sugar Grove avenue, yesterday welcomed Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus, driving an old-fashioned sleigh over the snow. Mrs. M. Taylor was Santa and Mrs. H. P. Willwerth was Mrs. Santa. Charles Cropper is the owner of both horse and sleigh. (Star Staff Photo.)]
In about 1928 Miss Kirby and the P.T.A. Board decided a Santa for the Christmas party would be a wonderful surprise for the children. They asked Mrs. Taylor and Mrs. Willworth to impersonate Santa and his wife.
The first few years we visited all the rooms and pranced up and down the halls, to the tune of sleigh bells, also going into the portables which were a part of the school at that time. About the third year, we borrowed a horse and sleigh from the Cropper Saddle Barn and drove into the playground.
Page 17
to give the first graders the thrill of their lives.
On page 23 of the Annual Report of the Council of Parent Teacher Associations for 1952-1953, it states that Mr. And Mrs. Santa Claus have been present at School 44 Chirstmas parties for 24 years.
On May 28, 1928, School 44 held their first Open House. This was during Education Week. The hours were from 7:30 to 9:00 P.M. The children's work was displayed on their desks and around the room on blackboards and bulletin boards. Parents found their children's desk and looked through their papers. They were welcome to visit all the other rooms also. Many parents came and said they enjoyed it very much. We have had Open House during Education Week every year since then.
Page 18
In 1930 the Keystone System of Reading was introduced in the school. It was a special type of visual education in which lantern slides were thrown on a screen for the beginners to learn to associate a concrete picture with a word. Because of the great expense of the books, slides and other materials needed, the School Board could not furnish it. The Parent Teacher Association purchased the equipment, and kept the rooms supplied from year to year. School 44 was one of the pioneers in using the Keystone System. There were only four or five other schools in the city that had it.
When the second addition to the main building was completed in 1936, one portable was sent to George Washington High School and the other was sent to Arsenal Technical High School. These are still in use.
Page 19
In 1936 the second addition was built on the south end of the main building. This was the new auditorium with three rooms above. They are rooms 211 - 212 and 213.
The large hall upstairs in the main part of the building was the old auditorium and it was made into two classrooms, which are rooms 204 and 206.
The building now had, besides the principal's office, the nurse's room, eight classrooms downstairs and twelve classrooms upstairs including a well equipped cooking room and sewing room. The basement has a print shop and a woodworking shop, janitors' quarters, a play room and a room where pupils eat their lunches.
The entire building was freshly painted in the spring of 1947. The community as well
