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In 1963, the first class graduated from the newly
formed Tri County Area Schools. A detailed journey back to the beginning
gives a fresh prospective of how far the district has come.
By
Kay D. Ransom
Forty
years ago, former rivals found themselves sharing lockers, classrooms, and
eventually walking down the aisle together on graduation day. It all began
with the consolidation efforts in the 1950’s and 60’s with the phasing-out of
one-room schools. By merging them with larger schools, Federal and State
Education Departments found it easier to track enrollment. The government
also wanted to ensure all students were getting a quality education,
therefore, educational standards were raised.
Even though Sand Lake High
School—then serving kindergarten through 12th grade—wasn’t a
one-room school, in 1961 they had to comply to state standards. “The state
mandated that we meet certain requirements,” said Earl Clegg, who served as
Sand Lake School principal from 1957 to 1962.
Some of the changes included
updating equipment and improving courses.
“We needed to update
the chemistry lab and teach a foreign language,” Clegg sited as examples. A
lot of schools couldn’t meet the requirements because of cost, added Clegg.
Some community members wanted to have their children attend Cedar Springs
Schools because Cedar Springs had a good school system and industry was
booming south. “There was community friction over what to do,” said Clegg.
Sand Lake found themselves
having to make a choice. “We could merge with Howard City or become part of
Cedar Springs Schools,” said Charles Northup, a Sand Lake school board member
at the time.
“We knew if we went to Cedar Springs, it would still be called Cedar Springs
Schools. Howard City was almost in the same predicament as us,” said Northup.
“We figured we would have a good school system coming together.”
On February 13, 1961, Minnie
Farmer, publisher and editor of The Howard City Record, reported 300
community members met in Sand Lake. They planned to discuss possible
consolidation of the schools including the one-room schools in the area. The
article states, “Community members formed several committees to study the
advantages and possible disadvantages of merging.”
James Harris served on the
Facilities Committee. “My wife and I worked with five other people and we
went to neighboring schools to check out their technology.” Harris is a 1932
graduate from Howard City High School and father of four children who
attended Howard City High School.
Six weeks after the February meeting Minnie reported the benefits of a
merge from the information delivered by the committees. First and foremost,
the goal was to give students a better education. Some classes were only
taught every other year due to the small number of students. The merge would
make it possible to teach these subjects every year. A broader field of
subjects would also be made possible. The committee also hoped that the
solution would help to maintain the districts’ local identity and control.
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On April 3,
1962, 415 people showed up to cast a vote on the School Reorganization Plan.
It passed with 366 residents in favor of the merge. On the day of the vote,
the Sand Lake and Howard City school boards were dissolved. The members from
both boards met within five days to appoint a seven-member interim board for
the newly formed district. In the June Regular Election, voters chose the new
school board. However, it was the interim board that named the new school
“Tri County Area Schools of Montcalm, Kent, and Newaygo Counties.”
Students in both Howard City and
Sand Lake schools finished the remaining few months of the 1962 school year
at their present building. Meanwhile, the baseball teams from Howard City and
Sand Lake went head to head. The May 3, 1962 headlines of The Howard City
Record read, “Late Rally Gives Bulldogs a Narrow Win Over Sand Lake.” The
article stated, “This is a first loss for Sand Lake and the Bulldogs (Howard
City) are still undefeated.”
In the fall of 1962, the student
body from Howard City Schools and Sand Lake Schools merged together. The 7th
and 8th graders from Howard City attended Sand Lake High School.
The Sand Lake students in grades 9th through 12th
attended Howard City High School. The elementaries remained the same.
The newly formed school had to
decide on a school mascot and school colors. The mascot was voted upon and
the decision was made to take one color from each school, arriving with the
school colors black and gold.
When the once-rival teams joined
forces the sports program soared. In February of 1963, both the varsity and
junior varsity basketball teams won their league championships. The Howard
City Record proclaimed, “The Tri County Area Schools in their first as a
newly organized high school captured their first championship.” The Tri
County baseball team did an outstanding job as well. During their first year
together they won league, then won regionals.
Not only was the sports program enriched by the merger, friendships were as
well. Chris Johnson, an 8th grader at the time of the merge, said
his good friends today are individuals he had met through the newly organized
school. Tom Clegg, a Sand Lake senior at the time, revealed, “They (Howard
City) accepted us well. They were a great group of people.”
Much progress has been made over the years in Tri County
Area Schools. While the school district is unique in that it serves students
from three different counties, this has also proven to be a disadvantage.
Communication and continuity have been a struggle. Despite this disadvantage,
the school has grown significantly and improvements, in all areas, are continuing.
History reveals Tri County’s heritage of
two separate districts pulling together to become one successful
organization. May we continue to improve on this in the years ahead.
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Tri
County Area Schools: 40 Years in the Making
