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ANTIS SCHOOL SYSTEM
A mention should be made of the fine school system that has been developed by our good citizens of the surrounding township. Their schools have made great strides in the past ten years and now have educational facilities that compare with any school district in the state, and is a credit to the citizens and officials of the township.
The hardy people of Antis Township were characteristically American and hence very conscious of the need of education. Soon in each settlement there came a one-room schoolhouse well fitted to provide instruction comparable to that of other rural communities of the state. In naming these schools occasionally the name of the settlement or a near-by family was chosen as: Reightown, Fuoss, Wolfgang, Mulhollem, McKnight’s, Riggles, Roots. Again some landmark close at hand was in some cases used to designate the school as Crossroads, Pines, Beech Grove.
Higher education was not forgotten. A fair sized building still stands in Tipton, which was used as an academy. The academy in these elder times replaced to a degree our high school and carried to work beyond the elementary grades preliminary to the professions. It is a fact that formal education even preparatory for medicine, law, the ministry, or teaching stopped with a year or two in “the academy,” in many cases.
Academy education naturally was at private expense. When it was legally possible to offer secondary schooling at public expense. Antis Township was not slow to do so. A two-room high school was opened under the able leadership of one, Professor Zerbe, justly renowned as a teacher of mathematics.
As educational systems improved everywhere, it became increasingly evident to thinking people as far as a decade ago that the one-room schools were not giving the children of the township a fair training with which to compete against children trained in graded districts. A movement gradually gained momentum to consolidate all the smaller schools into one large unit. Definite action was taken under the leadership of Professor Norman Miller in the period of 1928-30.
During the last several years an addition was built to this building with government assistance and a number of other improvements made including: a fine athletic field, playground and garage building.
The Antis Township Consolidated School stands as a monument to the fact the children of the first settlement wish to give their children no less than their forefathers gave them, the best training for life. Professor Paul Kurtz is the present supervising principle. The members of the board are: Gilbert Watts, President; C. F. Jackson, Secretary; Fred Irvin, Treasurer; John Glasgow and T. B. Hunter.
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