A Sheridan County Wide High School was Considered 117 Years Ago

Slack School

In nearly every Wyoming Legislative session, the question of school consolidation comes up. But it is hardly a new idea.

In the Sheridan Post on Jan 12, 1906, there is this article: County High School Movement Started with a View to Establishing Such an Institution; Some of the Benefits That Will Result from a County High School in This County: Understanding that the school directors of this district at their regular meeting had discussed the proposition of establishing a county high school in Sheridan, providing the other districts were willing to cooperate in the movement, a Sheridan Post representative asked Mr. J.D. Loucks, president of the school board, what was the object of an institution, Mr Loucks very readily submitted to an interview and in reply to interrogations by the scribe said:

“One of the great needs of Sheridan County is more and better school facilities, and this applies to the county district as well as to the towns. And the question arises: How are we going to get them. There seems to be only one solution to this great problem, and that is by binding together, uniting our resources and building one good system in some central location to which everyone may have free access.

“Our last legislature passed a bill providing for a county high school to meet just such an emergency as we are confronting. The board of education of school district No 7 of Sheridan, at its last meeting, in planning for next year’s schools found themselves in this condition; That unless the outside districts would make some provisions to take advantage of the Sheridan High School, and also in the grades, that they would not be able to take any pupil from the outside from their district, owing to the fact they have no rooms. The schools at present are overcrowded and this makes the move imperative.

“Now the questions arises, do the county people want better schools that what they can get with their limited means, and also what will be the advantage of a county high school. The advantages will be many and ” I will give a few of them:

“First, the Sheridan schools will be open and free to every district that wishes to take advantage of the high school.

“Second, by uniting our forces we will get better teachers for our money, the school will be better graded, and the work will be better than can possible be done under the present system.

“Third, our buildings will be better, our books better, our sanitary conditions better, our surroundings better and this means in the end better satisfaction.

“This questions is going to be taken up in the near future, and every district in this country will be called upon to decide for themselves whether they want this proposition or not. This is not for the benefit of any one district. This county is forging to the front in rapid strides. We are now and always want to be in the lead in agriculture, in mining, in stock raising, in beautiful homes, in churches and in schools.

“We have the raw material and now shall we lack the finished product. Let us think of this question seriously, honestly, and then when we are called to decide by ballot, let us do it conscientiously and in a way that we believe will be for the future good to the coming generations of our children.”

Of course, in 1906, there were a little over 5,000 people in Sheridan County, and as of 2020 census, there are over 31,000. So, there were many less youngsters attending high school in 1906 than there are today.

During the 1800s and into the early 1900s, few students graduated from high school, many boys dropped out at age 15 or 16 to work on family farms and ranches, and many young women dropped out to marry and raise a family.

In June of 1901, in the Sheridan Post it talks about graduation exercises, with four students receiving diplomas: Margaret May Wunderlich, Bertha Grace Sawin, Voldey Jean Tidball, and Nellye Wallace Smith. Their class motto: “With the Ropes of the Past, We Ring the Bells of the Future.” was displayed on the stage arch.

But from 1910 until 1940, secondary education underwent rapid growth, with the most growth between 1920 and 1935. The growth was evident in Sheridan, twenty years later, in 1926, there were 119 graduates. Currently, SHS graduates approximately 250 students each year.

The discussion about the county wide high school was on going for several months. From the Sheridan Enterprise in April of 1906: County High School Pertinent Questions Promptly, And Truthfully Answered. A number of questions have arisen in connection with the proposed establishment of a county high school. and an effort will be made to answer these fairly in the weeks that remain before the7th day of May, on which day the question will be settled:

Question. Who will control this county high school in the event of its I establishment? Answer. A board of six members elected by the voters of the county at their annual school meetings.

Question. What relation will exist between this board and the board of education of the city of Sheridan? Answer. None whatever.

Question. What salaries are provided for under the law for members of this high school board of education? Answer. The members receive a compensation for services only mileage for attendance at the meetings, which are held regularly once a month.

Question. What will such a school cost a man who owns but a thousand dollars worth of property? Answer. I all his property is listed with the assessor, it will cost him about 78 cents a year. In case the valuation of the county increases as rapidly as anticipated, the rate of taxation will be correspondingly decreased.

Question. Will the present faculty of the Sheridan High School constitute the teaching force of the county high school? Answer. Not necessarily. They will have to take their chances of election with other applicants before the high school board elected by the entire county.

Question. Where will the school be located, if built? Answer. At the county seat, upon a site selected by the high school board.

Question. What benefit will this school be to a man who has no children to educate? Answer. First, the benefit that comes to every man in the knowledge that he has done something for humanity; secondly, it has been the universal experience that good schools increase the value of property, and the chances are that instead of being an expense, a county high school will be a means of absolute financial gain to the majority of the taxpayers.

Not everyone was in favor of the county-wide high school. From the Sheridan Post, May 8, 1906. After The Vote, The Results in the County: The returns on the high school proposition from the county districts are: Clearmont, unanimously against; Dayton, majority of two against; Monarch, in favor; Beaver Creek, 3 four and 8 against; Parkman, 12 against and one for; Ranchester, favor of district; Beckton, against district; Big Goose, 13 for and 1 against; Dietz, in favor.

At one time there were 37 school districts in Sheridan County. During the 50s and again in the 70s, schools were consolidated into larger, more cost effective school districts.

Today, there are three school districts in Sheridan County, and four high schools. Ranchester, Dayton and Big Horn consolidated the smaller school districts nearby and became Sheridan County School District #1; Clearmont, Arvada, and several smaller schools became District #3, and Sheridan and surrounding small schools became District #2. It wasn’t always easy, but the schools made it work.

The is still talk off and on about more consolidation, so we never know what may happen in the future, but there was talk of a county-wide high school 117 years ago this month.