The Community Icon, Claxton School
From the day after Labor Day until the day before Memorial Day, for nine months of the year, many personalities were shaped and molded by the activities in that school. Each day I caught the school bus around 7:30 and made the daily trek to school. Sometimes it was icy cold outside, and that cold wind would always blow right down the valley past my bus stop. I finally figured out that my house was situated on a hill at just the right angle to allow me to look out the bathroom window and see the school bus coming down the road for three stops before mine. If I waited there until I saw it, I would have just enough time to walk down the driveway and catch the bus without waiting in the cold wind. We rode the rickety old A-6 bus driven by Kelly Lewis, an elder at our church. I can still see the yellow lights flashing, hear the plop of the doors and the WNOX morning show on the old car radio Kelly had installed in that bus. Since mine was one of the last two stops, I usually got to stand up for the ride to school, although it wasn’t bad; it was only about 5 minutes.
When we got to school, the bus would pull up the curved driveway and stop short of the first door to let us out. There was always a group of older kids standing outside waiting for a bus to take them on to the junior and senior high schools in Clinton, about 5 miles away. They would load the bus after we unloaded and got out of the way. We went on up the steps and in one of the 5 doors to see a giant clock hanging on the wall next to the principal’s office. If we needed any paper or pencils, there was a bookstore set up in the teacher’s lounge across from the office. Then it was on down the hall to the classroom, put the coats in the assigned locker at the rear of the room, put the books and homework in the storage bin below the desk seat, and wait for the day to begin.
A 1950s era classroom with desks, lockers, bulletin boards, and asbestos tile, Claxton School
Sometimes the teacher would take up the lunch money before class. The school was located in the same county as the Oak Ridge government complexes and taught many of the children of the Oak Ridge workers, so there was a handy government subsidy to cover the cost of the lunches. We made a token payment for lunch, but it was only something on the order of 15 to 20 cents a day. Around 8:15 AM the intercom always came on with the daily announcements, then we would start the day by standing for the pledge of allegiance to the flag, and yes it was always under God. Our fourth grade teacher went a step further and had each of us recite a bible verse. Several of the boys would always cop out with the “Jesus Wept” verse, but she never complained, only gave them “the eye”. I don’t think that would get past the censors nowadays.
I don’t remember the actual details, but we might start the morning session with the English book, passing up the prior day’s homework assignment. She might lecture for awhile and call some of us to the blackboard to write sentences. Some of the class learned to write well with repeated “I will not talk in class” sentences. We might take notes for the next day’s chapter in the book and the inevitable homework assignment that would come with it. Then we would put the English book away and bring out the History book and repeat the process. We might finish History and start working on the Science or Health books. Sometimes we would go upstairs into the old building for Music or Gym class. We would usually put whatever book we were working with away and have a little quiet time just before lunch. I remember watching the room clock tick the minutes and the seconds down to lunch time and recess time on good weather days. Those were the longest minutes and seconds of my life.
An old 1915 era classroom with the steam radiators, Claxton School
When the time came, we got up row by row and went out in the hall, then went to the head of the lunchroom stairs, and lined up in single file. When the teacher arrived, we followed her down the two flights of stairs and the landing to the lunchroom. We entered the lunchroom, pulled a brown tray from the rack, and picked up our pint of milk from the cooler. The cooler was icy cold, and a milk carton taken from its edge would always be somewhat frozen if you liked it better that way. Then we passed the silverware containers and got our knife, fork, and spoon, and went on to the counter.
There was one day of the year that I really looked forward to that school lunch. It was the Wednesday of the week before Christmas Holiday. We knew we would get out of school early after lunch and have the rest of that week and the week of Christmas and the New Year off. We would also get a special Christmas Present from the lunchroom staff. Mrs. Nelson always gave us our main course, and for Christmas it was a Hamburger! The next lady piled on the French Fries! For those that wanted it, there was a slice of tomato and onion for the burger, and the lady at the dessert station gave us an apple and an orange! Then we went to our assigned seating area. When the teacher finished and saw everyone else was finished, she would motion for us to follow. We all got up and went around the outside perimeter of the lunchroom to the tray return station, separated our silverware and gave our tray and plate to the worker, who emptied them into the trash can and stacked them for washing. The trash always got burned just outside the cafeteria.
Then it was back in line at the lunchroom exit door, up the two flights of stairs, and back up the hall to our room. On those Wednesdays the busses would already be lined up outside and the dismissal bell would ring at 1PM. It didn’t take very long at all for us to load those busses and finish the exciting ride home to a two week Christmas vacation from school. It was truly the best of the best of times, and we all had a Merry, Merry Christmas.
Have a Merry, Merry Christmas.
