Norfolk Board of Education

The Norfolk Board of Education (NBE) is a former school district in Norfolk County, Ontario, which merged into the Grand Erie District School Board (known as English-language Public District School Board No. 23 until the 1999-2000 school year).

Norfolk Board of Education
Location
Simcoe, Ontario
Nixon, Delhi, Port Dover, Langton, Walsh, Simcoe, Lynedoch, St. Williams

Canada
Coordinates42.795212°N 80.308728°W / 42.795212; -80.308728
District information
Chair of the boardLeon DeWaele
Schools21
District IDNBE
Students and staff
Students10000+
Other information
Websitewww.norfolk.edu.on.ca

This defunct school board building is located in the hamlet of Hillcrest, Ontario, Canada on 173 Hillcrest Road South.[1] Government cutbacks eventually forced the school board to amalgamate with the Haldimand Board of Education and the Brant District Board of Education in 1996.

Schools served

Elementary
  • Bloomsburg Public School*
  • Boston Public School*
  • Courtland Public School*
  • Delhi Public School*
  • Doan's Hollow Public School
  • Doverwood Public School
  • Elgin Avenue Public School*
  • Houghton Public School*
  • Langton Public School*
  • Nixon Public School
  • North Public School
  • Port Dover Public School
  • Port Rowan Public School*
  • Port Ryerse School
  • Simcoe Lions School
  • South Public School
  • Teeterville Public School
  • Townsend Central Public School
  • Walsingham Public School
  • Walsh Public School* (originally known as Walsh Area Public School)
  • Waterford Public School - Ada B. Massecar Campus, (W.F. Hewitt Campus closed)
  • West Lynn Public School*

* signifies that the school is still active

Secondary

Defunct schools

Doan's Hollow Public School
Main article: Doan's Hollow Public School

Doan's Hollow Public School is a defunct public elementary school that existed from the early 20th century until circa 1980. Due to its status as one of the first two schools that taught the mentally disabled, it was considered to be a "pioneer school" for the disabled population of Norfolk County. Special education programs were eventually introduced to the other elementary schools in Norfolk County that allowed children to attend schools that were closer to their homes. Doan's Hollow Public School was a feeder school to Simcoe Composite School during its years of operation although it also shared close proximity to Port Dover Composite School (when it first opened in 1962).

Until the other schools were green-lighted to obtain special education programs from the Ontario government, this school and the Simcoe Lions School in Simcoe to the north were the only schools that taught people with special needs. All the other schools would turn away the mentally challenged; parents were forced to either have the child become institutionalized, attempt to home-school their child, or send him/her to Doan's Hollow for his/her basic educational needs. However, even Doan's Hollow Public School and the Simcoe Lions School were forced to turn away people with Down syndrome and epilepsy in the early years of the special education pilot program. Medical research at that time had declared them to be untrainable and this theory would not be reversed until sometime after the 1970s.

When the government ordered integration of the mentally challenged children into the other public schools, Doan's Hollow reached a sharp decline in the number of new students. Eventually, the Norfolk Board of Education was forced to shut down this school due to modernization reasons. It started out as a one room schoolhouse but eventually become a centralized school (with the one-room schoolhouse becoming a portable). Doan's Hollow Public School was located northwest of Port Dover within walking distance to the Doan's Hollow Cemetery. The declining enrollment problem faced by the school board was also compounded further with the need to eradicate one-room schoolhouses; they became "antiquated forms of education" by the 1970s. In order to divert funding to the modern school structure that had different rooms for each grade, all the one-room schoolhouses were forced to be closed in Norfolk County during that era.

Lynedoch Public School

Lynedoch Public School is a defunct elementary school in the hamlet of Lynedoch, Ontario, Canada which taught students from kindergarten to the second grade starting in the year 1881. This school was considered to be a feeder school to Walsh Public School. Unlike its sister campus, there was never a special education program at Lynedoch Public School. The size of the playground of Lynedoch Public School was almost as big as its sister campus, Walsh Public School, which plenty of elbow room for the primary students. The school was a part of the Grand Erie District School Board. However, it also proved to be a playground of wild imaginations. A gully was home to a "monster" in the drainage pipe according to the "urban legends" of Lynedoch Public School students. They also believed that the slides and the monkey bars were home to many broken bones and creatures alike.

Lynedoch Public School, up until 2001, held fundraisers and fun days for the children attending Lynedoch Public School and run by the staff and students from Walsh Public School. The school was forced to shut down on September 2001 due to budgeting reasons with the last group to cycle through being born between 1994 and 1997. Lynedoch Public School, up until 2001, held fund raisers and fun days for the children attending Lynedoch Public School, and run by the staff and students from Walsh Public School. Unfortunately, the school was forced to shut down on September of 2001 due to budgeting reasons.

While the school is gone forever, there will always be memories of this fine institution from the children who attended it over the years. The last group to cycle through Lynedoch Public School are now 23-24 years old as of 2020.

Nixon Public School
Main article: Nixon Public School

Nixon Public School was an elementary school that was located in Nixon. that started out as a one room schoolhouse in the mid to late 19th century. During the 1950s, the school was moved to a centralized building; both of these buildings were located in the hamlet of Nixon and across the street from each other.

The one-room schoolhouse was sold to become a private residence, and Nixon Public School became a centralized school until it was closed on September 2001 due to cutbacks in education spending. After the property was put up for sale by the Grand Erie District School Board and turned down by the Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board,[2] a private agriculture-related business purchased the building from the school board. The former public school was later converted into a craft brewery and pub. "New Limburg" Brewery is owned and operated by a family from the Netherlands, who brew several different Belgian-style beers. They are open daily until 11 pm for samples and sales. http://newlimburg.com/ [3] Norfolk County council personally had to approve the land's zoning change from educational to light industrial in order for Norfolk County's third microbrewery to be possible according to their set of by-laws.[4]

Most of its students lived an area that surrounded the communities of Lynnville, Atherton, Hillcrest, and Blayney. Children from the communities of Gilbertville and Pine Grove only attended Nixon Public School because neither Delhi Public School nor Walsh Public School had a special education program during the 1980s. Standard detentions were rarely used even in the intermediate grades and were never given to special education students. Compared to most elementary schools of its time, Nixon Public School was one of the safest schools when it came to bullying. Mrs. Virginia Chambers was the school's librarian before she was promoted to become the last principal of Nixon Public School. Like most elementary school libraries, the Nixon Public School library had children's books and a limited amount of dictionaries and encyclopedias for the older students. Kindergarten was introduced to Nixon Public School in the 1960s to help better prepare students for the first grade. Special education was introduced in the 1970s when schools began integrating the handicapped students with other children. The last program to be introduced was junior kindergarten in the late 1990s. One of the goals of the junior kindergarten program was to better prepare students for the challenges of kindergarten according to the curriculum of the 21st century.

The other goal of the junior kindergarten program was to ultimately prepare the children for a more competitive workplace environment by offering them more academia at a younger age.

North Public School

North Public School is a defunct elementary school in Simcoe, Ontario, Canada that taught children from Kindergarten to sixth grade. This school was once considered a feeder school to Elgin Avenue Public School. The school had a VIP program that consisted of the "graduating class." Local children would often find the vacant schoolyard perfect for sandlot basketball games until the Norfolk Board of Education toughened up anti-trespassing rules, thus making it impossible to play basketball unless it was done indoors with prior written permission. North Public was widely considered the toughest of all the public schools in Simcoe. Even the principal once squared off with one of the 5th-grade students in an epic battle in the sandbox which is still regarded as one of the best fights in the school's history.

Amongst the young boys, the schoolyard consisted of three different seasonal games, the most popular of which was the winter game appropriately named "Kings of the Ice". This game was named after the Nintendo game Kings of the Beach in the winter of 1990. The game would take place on a massive patch of ice behind the portable caused by the −10.5 °C (13.1 °F) weather that North Public School had during the winter months.[5] The children would stand around the ice patch and then attempt to cross to the other side without getting hit by another kid. This required impeccable timing and grace. There were never really any winners, however, the less blood one had lost during the event, the better.

The next popular game occurred during the warm weather months of the school year. Temperatures of 15.7 °C (60.3 °F) were the normal during the final weeks of the school year and it was unusual to see temperatures soaring up to 22.4 °C (72.3 °F) during the 1980s and the 1990s when the school was open.[5] It was just a game of soccer which allowed for full body contact. It was during one of these contests which "The bite heard 'round the world" occurred.

If one of the two preceding games was not being played, then it was "Smear the Queer" that they were joyfully (and bloodily) playing in the mud. This game involved either a football or rugby ball and the object of the game was to run with the ball in any direction without getting demolished by the other participants. Once the ball carrier did get tackled, he'd throw the ball in the air to the next "Queer" and the game would continue. As it is rather obvious, only the toughest young men participated in this incredible sport.

Port Dover Composite School
Main article: Port Dover Composite School

Port Dover Composite School (PDCS) was a public middle and high school located in Port Dover, Ontario, Canada. Shortly after closure, PDCS was converted into an elementary school called Lakewood Public School[6] in an attempt to attract the children of New Canadians to the area. Students here typically lived south of Simcoe, northeast of Turkey Point and southwest of Jarvis.

PDCS had a well-established theatre arts program which allowed students to take drama in Grades 9 and 10 and then go on to the unique Theatre Co-op Program. This program ran at the community's Lighthouse Festival Theatre and each year culminated in a class-directed and produced production. In 2011, the class performed the play Sticks and Stones. In addition to its drama classes, the school has a long tradition of excellence at the prestigious Sears Drama Festival. In 2010, the school's production of The Insanity of Mary Girard was one of three plays from the district festival at the Lighthouse Theatre to go on to the regional festival in Hamilton. In 2011 the school's play The Chronicles of Jane, Book Seven was also selected to represent the district at the regional festival, again held in Hamilton.[7]

Port Dover Composite School was originally given the option of remaining open until September 2013;[8] although it has been officially declared that this school will be closed by January 31, 2013. Students who have not already transferred to Simcoe Composite School had to become permanent students there for the duration of their high school "career.[8]" Several small groups of Port Dover Composite School students had taken small tours around the Simcoe Composite School campus on November 29, 2012, in order to start the transition from into a high school outside their own community.[9]

Had the traditional Norfolk County high school boundaries been strictly enforced as it been in the past, the students would have filled 78% of the school's total capacity.[8] The worst possible outcome for PDCS coming into the 2012-13 school year was to have classes until the end of January 2013 with each class having less than six students attending, before closing the high school permanently.[10] This has already been achieved despite adding wi-fi Internet access and Smart Boards in an attempt to lure more teenagers into attending PDCS. Most of the students who have attended Port Dover Composite School in the previous (2011–12) school year have left in a sudden "exodus" to attend Simcoe Composite School in the search of better school programs. Only 14 teachers have remained at the high school as of the beginning of the 2012-13 school year.

In addition, almost all athletic teams have been eliminated in favor of a strictly academic approach to schooling.[11] Traditional favorites like high school football and basketball have been scrapped; with a bye given to opponents who were supposed to play against PDCS this year due to a lack of manpower needed to operate a football or girls' basketball team.[12] Some of the less demanding sports like volleyball (for grades 11 and 12) had been given the authorization to compete by the school's athletics department; with 25% of the students on the team. Absenteeism was virtually non-existent in the final year of school operations.[13]

Due to a declining youth population in the Port Dover area, the school was officially closed on January 31, 2013. Compared to 2001, there are 1800 fewer children and young people living in the vicinity of Port Dover Public School. Academic programs in Valley Heights Secondary School and Delhi District Secondary School have been beefed up; hoping to attract former PDCS students to those schools.[14]

Port Ryerse School

Port Ryerse School is a defunct elementary school that was located in Port Ryerse. The school operated from the year 1830 until the 1950s when it was finally closed by the Norfolk Board of Education due to funding issues. Both Caucasian and African-Canadian students were photographed attending the school in the year 1898.[15] The teacher shown in the 1898 school photograph was Miss A. Exelby and the picture was taken on September 14, 1898.[15]

This form of racial integration was unusual for the 19th century and proved that Canada was becoming a multicultural country at that time. The most logical answer is that these African-Canadian children were the descendants of slaves who ran to Upper Canada around the early 19th century seeking freedom from their abusive masters as a part of the Underground Railroad. Like most schools in its era, it was considered to be a one room schoolhouse and corporal punishment was used by the teacher for disciplinary problems.

Simcoe Lions School

The Simcoe Lions School was operated as a special elementary school for the mentally challenged by the Simcoe Lions Club from 1957 until the 1970s.[16] Until its establishment, mentally challenged people were turned away from area schools by faculty who were unable to understand their needs. The disabled children from this school were partially integrated with the North Public School kids for the afternoon in its final years of operation in an attempt to get the non-handicapped children a chance to accept and appreciate the students' "different abilities." This school was located in Simcoe. Graduates from this school attended Simcoe Composite School along with children from nearby Doan's Hollow Public School. Funding for this school was provided primarily by the Lions Club and by the local association for the mentally disabled.

Graduates from the Simcoe Lions School were denied most of their civil rights until the year 1988 when the mentally challenged people received the right to vote in municipal, provincial, and federal elections.[17] Many great teachers and principals have inspired students to become members of the Norfolk Association for Community Living (NACL). While they spend their time and effort being members of this program, the former students have been known to perform simple tasks of labor at ABEL Enterprises in order to earn money.[18] This encourages them to earn their own money instead of turning to their caregivers or the government for income. Some of the older students who once attended Simcoe Lions School are currently learning new life skills at a group home for the elderly. Prior to 2009, some graduates that were unfortunate enough to be in an institution saw what was supposed to be their "long care facility" shut down on April 1, 2009.[19]

Certain members of the defunct Norfolk Federation of Women Teachers have served here as teachers. They were willing to volunteer in an attempt to teach the mentally disabled children and allow them to graduate from elementary school. Once in high school, alumni from this school were usually assigned to basic-level courses of what we would call the "vocational program" in today's society and not in special education programs. Dropout rates in the area high schools were particularly high back then and the disabled high school children had a higher chance of dropping out due to the difficulty level of the assignments. Fortunately, the mentally disabled high school students didn't have to wait until their 21st birthday to "graduate" from high school back then.

South Public School

South Public School is also a defunct elementary school in Simcoe, Ontario, Canada. Like its rival campus to the north called North Public School, this school was also considered to be a feeder school to Elgin Avenue Public School and Simcoe Composite School. This school was established in 1917 as the South Ward School in order to serve a growing community. For more than 80 years, the school was attended by children who lived in the southern residential neighborhoods of Simcoe.

Generations of South Public School students had the benefit of being educated within walking distance from the Norfolk County Fair and Horse Show. During the baby boom, funding for education increased exponentially and this encouraged a rise in the birth rate. During the 1970s, 1980s, and the early 1990s, this school had the largest playground in Simcoe. However, downtown was the divider between children who could attend this school and children who had to attend North Public School. Eventually, the school was closed due to lack of enrollment and education cutbacks.

St. Williams Public School

St. Williams Public School is a defunct elementary school that was located in St. Williams, Ontario, Canada. It was closed due to funding cutbacks and declining enrolment in the year 2001 after participating in the Ice Cube project.[20] The school was a part of the Grand Erie District School Board. Today, the building is unused and remains the property of the Grand Erie District School Board. Nobody can legally access the school now except the staff at the board of education, Ontario government officials, or any contracted land developer. The playground equipment is gone and the teachers have either resigned, retired, or been sent off to different schools to teach. However, the fond memories remain for children born prior to 1994.

References
  1. "Address". 10 10 City. Retrieved 2008-11-05.
  2. "Routine matters" (PDF). Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board. 2006-11-28. Retrieved 2009-04-12.
  3. Microbrewery Coming to Nixon Archived 2014-04-21 at the Wayback Machine at The Simcoe Reformer
  4. Third microbrewery coming to Norfolk County Archived 2014-04-26 at the Wayback Machine at Norfolk Farms
  5. "Weather statistics for North Public School". Yr.com. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
  6. Celebrating a new adventure at Lakewood Elementary Archived 2013-12-12 at the Wayback Machine at Grand Erie District School Board
  7. "Port Dover Composite School continues to show well". The Simcoe Reformer. Retrieved 2011-04-07.
  8. "Port Dover high school earns reprieve". The Dunnville Chronicle. Retrieved 2012-07-11.
  9. "Port Dover students get first taste of SCS". The Dunnville Chronicle. Retrieved 2012-12-02.
  10. "Worst possible outcome". The Simcoe Reformer. Retrieved 2012-07-26.
  11. "75 — number of students enrolled at PDCS". Delhi News-Record. Retrieved 2012-08-30.
  12. "Sabres overcome first-game jitters". The Simcoe Reformer. Retrieved 2012-09-27.
  13. "Port Dover volleyball team is raring to go". The Simcoe Reformer. Retrieved 2012-09-27.
  14. "PDCS will close at end of semester". The Simcoe Reformer. Archived from the original on 2013-10-02. Retrieved 2012-10-16.
  15. "Port Ryerse School 1898". Nornet. Retrieved 2008-05-12.
  16. "Simcoe Lions School operating years". Norfolk Association of Community Living. Retrieved 2008-10-24.
  17. "Mentally challenged people gain the right to vote". CBC Archives. Retrieved 2009-03-30.
  18. "ABEL Enterprises - ACE Program". HN Jobs. Archived from the original on 2014-08-11. Retrieved 2014-07-29.
  19. Ashley House (April 2009). "Citizens celebrate closing of institutions". Simcoe Reformer. Retrieved April 2012. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  20. "Ice Cube Participants". Windsor Online. Retrieved 2008-08-19.
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