Hemmingford Roots in Education

by Mary Ducharme  (December 2013)

Shields-SchoolIf you ask our seniors they will happily share stories about going to school: how Mrs. Lindsey gave Bill a licking on both hands with the strap for unauthorized ringing of the bell to welcome her on her first day as a new teacher; how everybody crowded around the wood stove on bitter winter mornings to thaw out after the walk to school; or how Jim got to school from Brownlee Road on roller skates when Route 202 was paved. These memories are humorous, often instructive, with wonderment about changes since those days.

At one time there were about twenty schools dotting the Hemmingford countryside – each under local governance. The 1812 school in a barn on Robson Street (Covey Hill), and the 1814 log shanty school taught by Lucretia Scriver in the village were the beginning of two centuries of passionately held opinions tangled in the politics of how funding was to be allocated. Despite significant progress on numerous fronts, this history continues to the present. At stake then and now are profound issues: inclusion of ethnic and cultural groups, language, religious instruction, gender equality in the hiring of teachers, funding – all at the root of equal rights to quality education.

Many battles over education here have been intense. In District #1 in the 1850’s, mobs formed over accusations that students were being forced to study a Protestant religious doctrine that they did not share. Catholics demanded a school of their own in this district, “A Dissenter School,” and the school board ruled against their appeal on grounds that Protestants were in the majority. Nonetheless, the demographics were changing with a higher number of English-speaking Irish in the district, many of them (not all!) Catholic. There were also French speaking Catholics and Protestants. There was a prejudice that in Catholic schools the main instruction would be religion. However, thanks to government assistance, the first separate Catholic school opened in 1854, and four years later another opened in the village nearly on the same site as St. Romain today.

These conflicts were a necessary prelude to progress, and credit is to be given to those who struggled before us. A few flags of reform include the recognition in the 1860’s that a teacher should be more than merely literate, but should be a professional. In 1883 was the first move to secondary levels, the precursor of our former “model school” on 548 Champlain. This helped close the gap between elementary levels and university. And in 1964, attendance at high school in Quebec became mandatory.

In the available records of Hemmingford school history are gaps of information, and conflicting details. The Archives requests help from the community by sharing information, photos, or other documentation that will help us build an accurate picture of the long and significant story of Hemmingford’s journey in education.

Contact us for details. Opening hours : Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 9am – 3pm Hemmingford Elementary School 514 778-2845, or Mary Ducharme 450 247-3193 or Myrna Paquette 450 247-3357.