by Barbara Rich

 

 

Southampton- When the congenial white-haired man now tries to squeeze into the seat of a desk at the restored Old North Schoohouse, it takes a bit of doing.

But in 1926, when Stanley Sudnick began his education in the one-room structure that was formerly located at the corner of Pomeroy Meadow and Glendale Roads, the desks were undoubtedly roomier.

Until 1932, when the school was closed and students began attending Sheldon Academy on College Highway, Sudnick walked over a mile each day from Wolcott Road to join about 24 other students at the district building.

“We didn’t miss too many days,” recalls the 64-year-old semi-retired maintenance worker.  “We didn’t have many snow days.”

He added that under the watchful eye of Miss Margaret Zoudlick, “everybody paid attention,” and there were never many discipline problems.”

Contrary to the popular image of the era of cruel and unbending teachers, Sudnick said Miss Zoudlick was a “really good teacher.”

She did have her problems, however, because many of the students were sons and daughters of immigrants and could not speak English, he said.  Nevertheless, he recalls no serious problems because the children seemed to “pick up” English relatively fast.

Even though six grades were being taught in the same room, Sudnick said there never seemed to be much confusion;  younger students received their assignments in the morning, while older children were given their tasks in the afternoon.

After walking the mile and a quarter from his home each day, Sudnick said one of his duties was to gather, from a nearby spring, water that was kept in a stoneware container in the corner of the room.

He also recalls that the stove, which he remembers being in the back of the room where it now stands, was located in the front until the students in the back of the room complained of the cold.

There was no electricity in the building and plumbing facilities were limited to an outhouse.

The girls and boys each had their own outhouse with their own “cubbyhole,” he said.

During lunchtime, Sudnick remembers he and his classmates had “a lot of freedom” and “didn’t have to stay in the schoolyard.”

Both the school day and school year was about the same as it is now, he said.

Sudnick and his clasmates were the last to attend the school, which opened in 1845 and has since been moved from its former site to the corner of Conant Park.

Current town residents who attended either the North School or some of the other five district schools include Francis Konopka of Pomeroy Meadow Road, Highway Superintendent John Garstka and his brother, Tree warden, Max Garstka, both of Cold Spring Road.

Restoration of the Old North Schoolhouse was completed by the Historical Commission under Sudnick’s guidance in the summer of 1976.

During the restoration, two layers of floor boards that had been placed over the original planks were removed, resulting in the discovery of a hand-written message from a student who wanted to preserve the history of her schoolhouse for future generations.  That student, 11-year-old Alice E. Fowles wrote, “I was here when Mr. Clapp and Mr. Wolcott was doing it. They was laying the flore. Sept. 21th in the year 1865.”

(From Daily Hampshire Gazette or Holyoke Transcript)

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