Brookwood under construction in 1961
Editor’s note: Alan Szepi, who served as superintendent of the Norwalk-Ontario School District (later the Norwalk-Ontario-Wilton School District) from 1977 to 2005, composed the following history of the district.
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By ALAN SZEPI
Former N-O-W School District superintendent
Sometimes we older members of society get disturbed that the threads of history are lost along the way by the younger members of society. We begin to wonder if the interesting stuff that has happened along the way in the history of something like a school district is important to anyone. It should be. Names, important events and some interesting stories should be passed down in story form for all to become familiar with the way things were.
DISTRICT FORMATION
The period of the late 1950s was a time of the formation of school districts in Wisconsin. The rural grade schools were being drawn together into school districts that could provide a more balanced and equal manner of providing education across the state.
That was what was happening in our local area. The people were deciding that a logical school district might consist of the Norwalk, Ontario, and Wilton and surrounding areas. Wilton at that time decided to align itself with the Elroy and Kendall areas. That left Norwalk and Ontario to form a district.
The school board decided to attempt to acquire land for a high school somewhere between the villages. The current site of Brookwood was chosen, and photos of the voting for approval of funding show residents like Don Jones of Ontario, Donald Haldeman of Spring Valley (rural Norwalk) and Marvin Maier of Norwalk casting their ballots in the Ontario Community Hall. At this time, the school superintendent was Doug Hendrickson and the assistant superintendent was Given Klein.
BROOKWOOD CONSTRUCTION BEGINS
The construction of the high school on the Wilbur Schmitz property began, with some major problems encountered along the way. Highway 131 was not the same as it is today. The bridges were old and weight-restricted, with very tight turns onto the bridges. It was a major chore to transport the beams for the new schools to the site. There was at least one bridge failure on County Highway T when a truck loaded with mortar caused a collapse.
The job of attempting to get supplies and materials to the school fell on Given Klein. It was not uncommon to see a board member, Jack Robinson, directing the unloading of materials. The building was built and put into service in 1961, even though a wall of the new gymnasium collapsed during construction. Jack Boldon of rural Ontario fixed that problem.
One of the interesting stories of the district is the manner in which the high school got its name. The agriculture education class took a trip to the Chevrolet Plant at Janesville, and station wagons were being manufactured there at that time. One of the station-wagon models that Chevrolet had that year was the Brookwood. One of the students liked that name and entered into a naming contest and thereby won.
During this time period, a group of people from the Black Valley area was determined to have their children attend the Norwalk-Ontario School District rather than the Elroy-Kendall-Wilton School District because of the distance of the high school from their homes. They were successfully led by Ivan Radke to have their home area detached from E-K-W to N-O. Radke represented the Black Valley Area for more than 30 years on the N-O School Board. It is interesting to note that one of his sons, Kurt, has served on the school board for many years.
Lionel Strand served as superintendent for a short time, with Given Klein as his assistant. In 1965, the junior high addition was added to Brookwood under Klein’s direction, with Dennis Kirkman as principal and Del Timmerman as elementary coordinator.
After Kirkman left, Le Roy Perkins took over as principal. Brookwood became known for strict discipline under Perkins, and that continues through the current day. Teachers at the junior and senior high at this time were dedicated to the Brookwood Junior and Senior High School and had a lot to do with school pride and a commitment to keeping the district running well. Teachers such as Donna Arndt, Jim Olson, Bob Bradley, Wilmer Pearson and Bob Keller worked well under a school board that consisted of long-term members such as Stacey Dobbs, Ivan Radke, Harold Winchell, Otto Savall and Don Haldeman.
While all of these changes were happening at the high school and junior high level, the elementary schools in Norwalk and Ontario were continuing with the education of children. Teachers like Ellen Oldenburg, Dorothy Munson, Robert Friske, Lillian Rumpe and Dolores Anderson were working very hard to make education matter. A lot of stories developed during this time. A number of them concern Mrs. Munson, who taught first grade in Ontario. Dorothy is remembered by children and parents for her devotion to her students. When the children marched in the homecoming parades in the villages, Dorothy had her children hold onto a long rope so she could be sure that no one was lost or out of step.
Dorothy’s sense of humor was always front and center. Sue Ann Degenhardt, our elementary music teacher, once came to school with one brown shoe and one black, having the same style of shoe in different colors. When she noticed the mistake, it was too late to return home. She hoped that no one would notice. No one said anything, but when the first-graders came to music class, Mrs. Munson had each child wear one street shoe and one gym shoe. Needless to say, this story lives on.
In 1975, a referendum election was held to finance the building of a combined elementary school in front of Brookwood. The referendum was defeated because people were not willing to close their village grade schools. Given Klein took this defeat hard and decided that he would retire within the next two years.
A new young superintendent, Alan Szepi, was chosen and directed by the school board to treat each elementary school as equal. What one got the other would get.
The lack of a gymnasium at Ontario was a need the board felt should be addressed. To begin the process, the board accepted bids on demolition of the White building in Ontario. The Schroeder Brothers from Kendall got the job. They did a great job and had fun doing it, as they were both practical jokers who kept the custodial staff laughing.
The new superintendent was charged with burning the refuse from the building in the foundation, which he did on a Saturday afternoon after borrowing the Ontario fire truck. I don’t think that this would be approved by the school board today.
The old White building was used for those many years only because the heating was supplied by steam piped into the building from the brick school that was built in the 1930s by the Works Progress Administration. An old single-pass boiler provided the steam. It was the front of an old locomotive and was in the basement of the brick building. The old brick building and the tunnel to the white building were made of quality material by quality workmanship.
When Chuck Luxton was running the water main to the newly constructed multipurpose building, he asked Jack Boldon if one of his workers could jackhammer a hole for the water main in the side of the tunnel. Jim Powell was chosen for the job that took the better part of a 12-hour day. Jim commented that the quality of cement in the 1930s had to be much better than today’s.
In 1985, a multipurpose addition was added to the grade school, with a great amount of the work being done by industrial arts teacher Dave Rasmussen’s classes.
The high school building was at that time having some major roof problems. The board decided to attempt to get approval for borrowing to put a sloped roof on the building. Approval was gained through a general school district meeting, and in 1987, a sloped roof was added to the junior/senior building, along with a library addition.
During all of this time, the custodial crew at the school district was working long hours to keep the buildings in good repair. Chuck Luxton, Lawrence Laufenberg, Bob Brownell, Shirley Creviston, Pershing Young, Chuck Bulmer and Jeanette Kaiser are all people who could be written about; volumes could be filled with the projects they did above and beyond their job descriptions. Chuck Luxton and Bob Brownell tackled projects that were immense.
To keep the Norwalk Grade School compliant with safety regulations, they double sheet-rocked the boiler room and installed 13 fire doors. They installed a new water main. They cut two immense elm trees that were right next to the building. They held the ladder that was braced in the dump box of the snowplow truck while they directed the new superintendent in back, who was plastering the top of the chimney on the Ontario Grade School. All of these projects were done on Saturdays because the work on the other buildings had to be done during the week.
NEW COMBINED ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
In 1993, the district decided that the time had come to revisit the possibility of building a central grade school. A citizens’ advisory committee met many times to work with the staff in deciding what was needed. Marjorie Woods, a most-respected retired English teacher, was interviewed and said that the time had come to discontinue the village elementary schools and build anew.
On Nov. 4 of that year, 68 percent of the voters agreed with her. Local volunteers numbering 174 painted the new building and moved the contents of the two village schools to the Brookwood site for an opening after the holiday break.
On moving day, the volunteers and teachers, helped by junior and senior high students, moved in the morning, and school continued in the afternoon in their new classrooms. This was the greatest example of community involvement that our area has ever seen.
WILTON DETACHMENT
Ivan Radke, a retired long-term board member, would show up at school to speak to the superintendent about the possibility of the district gaining the Wilton area into the Norwalk-Ontario School District and reversing the events that took place many years before. Remember, Ivan was from the Black Valley Area and brought his neighbors with him to the Norwalk-Ontario School District. He had been hearing rumors that some people were dissatisfied with the Elroy-Kendall-Wilton School District. The school board decided that they would stay out of this discussion. The people would have to decide what would happen.
A Wilton resident, Michael Bauernfeind, became the leader of the detachment movement. He contacted Larry Laufenberg, N-O Board President, for help in researching detachment and attachment state law. This was done, and each district decided to have a referendum to decide if the Wilton area would detach from the E-K-W District and attach to the N-O District. The detachment was approved in E-K-W by 880 for and 746 against. Attachment of the Wilton area to the N-O district, along with approval for building additional facilities, was approved by a three-to-one margin. The students who wanted to come to the Norwalk-Ontario-Wilton School District came at the beginning of the 2000–2001 school year.
OPERATIONAL STAFF
Any discussion of the history of the Norwalk-Ontario-Wilton School District would not be complete without mentioning the rest of the operational staff, the bus drivers and food service staff. Harold Oldenberg, Clarence Oldenberg, Lloyd Luethe, Arden Berg, Ed Berg, Nathan Woods, John Anderson, Rupert Pfuhl, Ruby Berg, Lucille Oldenberg, Maureen Luxton, Karen DeWitt, Marie Wiedl and Ruth Pitkins all have a unique place in the district’s formation. Humorous stories of the day-to-day operation of the district abound.
In the early days of the district, communication was by telephone, and fancy weather predictions did not exist. The winter weather conditions within the district could vary a lot. I might have blizzard conditions by Summit and good winter driving conditions in the Hay Valley area. The new young superintendent decided to have school on time one winter day after driving up to St. Mary’s Ridge at 4:30 a.m. At 6:30 a.m., he received a call from Clarence Oldenberg that he was stuck on the ridge outside Norwalk.
The superintendent asked if the 1953 Tank Removal snowplow could pull him out.
No, Clarence didn’t think so, because Harold was stuck behind him.
The superintendent asked the same about Harold’s bus but was told, “No, Lloyd is stuck behind Harold.”
Again the superintendent asked about pulling Lloyd’s bus out, but Clarence said, “No, the county plow is stuck behind Lloyd.”
The superintendent decided to cancel school.
Any one who remembers Clarence can just imagine the fun he had in delivering his message.
After arriving at school the drivers would come to the kitchen to have coffee and some of the cooks’ homemade bread. Lucille Oldenberg, the head cook, had strict rules in the kitchen, one of which no one leaned or sat upon the serving shelf in front of the counter. Lloyd Luethe often forgot this rule until Lucille poured water on the high side of the shelf, which caused Lloyd a wet seat on the drive back to Norwalk.
In 1977, the new superintendent was impressed with the friendliness and spirit of the students and parents. This superintendent has recently had the opportunity to come back into the district as a substitute teacher. He found that the same attitudes existed in 2015 and that the future appeared bright.
