|
1847-60 |
| H. B. Spelman, one of the first members of the Board of
Education, was the father-in-law of John D. Rockefeller. |
| The first annual report showed that it cost less than $2 a
year to educate a child. |
| After leaving Akron Public Schools, Mortimer Leggett went
on to become superintendent of the Zanesville schools,
establish a law practice, serve in the Civil War, and become
the U. S. Commissioner of Patents. |
| In 1857 the cost of running the schools for a year was
$4,200. |
|
1860-83 |
| In 1877, high school students could attend classes in Greek
language (a requirement for college) at Buchtel College
(later The University of Akron) and receive high school
credit. |
| In 1877-78, Akron began graduating its students
semi-annually instead of annually. This practice remained in
effect until 1952. |
| In 1882 class sizes ranged from 45 to 76 because of a
rapid increase in enrollment. |
|
1883-1900 |
| In 1900 pupils were forbidden to chew tobacco, paraffin,
wax, India rubber or chewing gum on school premises. |
|
1900-20 |
| In 1911 Akron High School became known as Central. By 1918
there were three other high schools in Akron: South, West
and East. |
| In 1912 the Home and School League was organized (the
PTA's ancestor). Mrs. F. A. Seiberling was president. |
| In 1920 the maximum salary for an elementary school
teacher was $2,000, and for a high school teacher, $2,800. |
|
1920-28 |
| In 1920 the Akron Teachers Association held its first
meeting. |
| In 1923 a new elementary school cost $200,000 to build; a
new high school cost $750,000. |
|
1928-42 |
| The first school buses were used in 1938. Four buses were
bought to serve students who lived beyond the two-mile
walking distance from their assigned elementary schools. |
| In 1939 the former Bowen school was converted to the Board
of Education Administration Building. It also housed the
Home and School League. |
| During an influenza epidemic in 1941, 6,973 students were
absent on one day. |
|
1942-55 |
| In 1942 a female teacher could not work after she was five
months' pregnant, and she could not return to work less than
a year after the birth of her child. |
| In 1943 the Garfield High School prom cost 50 cents per
couple. |
|
1955-66 |
| In 1962 approximately 75% of Akron students who began the
ninth grade graduated from high school (the national average
was 60%). |
| In 1965 the last of Akron's portable classrooms was
replaced. |
| In 1965 Akron launched seven anti-poverty programs
financed through federal grants. |
|
1966-91 |
| In 1967 the Old Stone School was restored. Home economics
students made the period dresses for the guides, and Hower
students made the benches and desks. |
| In 1968 the Akron Board of Education was found not guilty
of de facto segregation of city schools. |
| In 1973, 40% of Akron's students were in vocation
programs. |
|
1991-97 |
| In the 1995-96 school year, the PTA donated 160,000 hours
to the Akron Public Schools. |
| The 1997-98 annual operating budget of Akron Public
Schools was $187 million. |
