Alumni Notes

1960s

Sharing an Excitement for Iowa’s One-room Schools

From a simple question spawned by a work project, Bill Sherman found a 15-year passion and created or helped support multiple books, documentaries, and other creative projects.

Sherman (BA ’63, MA ’65) was editing a book for the Iowa State Education Association (ISEA) called Tribute to Iowa Teachers. Three of the tributes were to teachers at one-room schools.

“I knew that one-room schools had been a major program in Iowa years ago, but I didn’t have any idea how many were still standing,” Sherman said.

When he visited the library to find out, he discovered that there wasn’t a reference describing Iowa’s country schools on a statewide level.

“That lack of information encouraged me to make an effort to find out,” he said.

Sherman conducted a survey starting in 1996. He found there were approximately 3,000 buildings still standing and about 160 had been preserved. The information was compiled into another ISEA book, Iowa’s Country Schools: Landmarks of Learning.

Sherman, who worked in public relations for ISEA for more than 35 years before retiring in 2000, helped establish the Iowa Country School Grants program, has organized annual state country school preservation conferences, and worked to establish the Country School Association of America.

He proposed putting an image of a one-room school on the Iowa quarter. The quarters, unveiled in 2003, feature Grant Wood’s painting, “Arbor Day,” which depicts a teacher and students planting a tree outside of a one-room school.

Sherman’s work has inspired community groups to create books and documentaries about their local one-room schools.

But one project he’s most proud of is the One-Room Schools ABC Book created by McKinley Elementary School students in Muscatine. The book features a fact about country schools to coincide with each letter of the alphabet and original art to illustrate each idea.

“It’s a nice resource that can be used with school groups that might be planning a field trip to a country school museum,” Sherman said.

He said he thinks the country schools offer essential learning opportunities for Iowa’s kids.

“I think it’s important we give children an opportunity to experience what it was like to go to a one-room school,” he said. “They can make some comparisons to their own schools and understand that education was a high priority for Iowa‘s families right from the beginning.”

Plan to attend the 11th annual Country School Preservation Conference October 8-9 in Maquoketa, Iowa, at the Jackson County Historical Society Museum. The Conference will include a tour of area country school museums.

To learn more, contact Sherman at wsherman41@gmail.com or visit www.preservationiowa.org.