Anne Fox is very well known for her work as a teacher in the one-room schools of Schaumburg Township and, later, in the schools of the newly consolidated Schaumburg Community Consolidated District 54. Her years of dedicated teaching were capped by the school district naming the Anne Fox Elementary School for her in Hanover Park in 1967.
Anne, however, was not the only Fox family member who taught in Schaumburg Township. She was actually introduced to teaching in the area by her sister, Marie, who was two years older than Anne. Both women grew up in Champaign County but Marie came to the area for the 1925-26 school year, a year before Anne arrived.
Marie, like Anne, began her teaching career in the township’s District 51 school on Higgins Road. The following year, Marie moved to the District 54 school when Anne took her place in the District 51 school. The District 54 school was in the heart of the township, just west of the intersection of Schaumburg and Roselle Roads.
Found recently in that same school that now has its home on the St. Peter Lutheran Church property, is the Teacher’s Contract that Marie Fox signed for the directors of the school. The contract, in its entirety, follows:
TEACHER’S CONTRACT
It is hereby agreed, by and between the School Directors of District No. FIFTY FOUR… County of COOK… State of Illinois, and MARIE FOX… a legally-qualified teacher, that said teacher is to teach, govern and conduct the common school of said district, to the best of HER ability; keep a register of the daily attendance and studies of each pupil belonging to the school, and such other records as the District Board may require;
make the report required by law, and endeavor to preserve, in good condition and order, the school house, grounds, furniture, apparatus, and such other district property as may come under the immediate supervision of said teacher, for a term of NINE school months, commencing on the 7TH day of SEPTEMBER A.D. 1926 for the sum of 150.00 dollars per school month, to be paid at the end of each month, ….
SCHOOL HOURS TO BE FROM 9:00 A.M. TO 12:00 NOON AND FROM 1:00 P.M. TO 3:30 P.M. AND SAID TEACHER IS TO TAKE CAR OF THE HEATER.
And the said School Directors hereby agree to keep the school house in repair; to provide the necessary fuel and school register; and for the services of said teacher, as prescribed above, well and duly performed, to pay said teacher the sum of ONE HUNDRED FIFTY dollars per school month, at the end of each month, during a term of NINE school months, commencing on the 7TH day of SEPT A.D. 1926.
Provided, that in case said ….. should be dismissed from said school, by the said Directors, or their successors in office, for incompetency, cruelty, negligence, immorality, or a violation of any of the stipulations of this Contract, or in case h…… certificate should be revoked by the County Superintendent, …..h….. shall not be entitled to compensation, after such dismissal or revocation.
In Witness Whereof, We have hereunto subscribed our names, this…..day of…… A.D. 19..
Directors:
H.G. Winkelhake
H.W. Botterman
E. F. Lichthardt
Teacher:
Marie E. Fox.
REMARKS–This contract should be made out in duplicate, and one copy given to the teacher. No Board should allow a teacher to commence school until a written contract is property signed by both parties.
It is interesting to note in this contract that the bulk of it revolves around the condition of the schoolhouse and the maintenance of the building. Only one phrase stipulates any detail about the teaching duties and it is, “… said teacher is to teach, govern and conduct the common school of said district…”
The other connection to the students requires the teacher to “keep a register of the daily attendance and studies of each pupil…” It is possible that the directors did not expect to micromanage the teacher’s professional abilities but, per the contract, gave themselves the caveat of dismissing the teacher should she or he show “incompetency.”
Given the fact that these schools were not insulated, it is worth pondering just how early the teachers had to get to school in the winter to fire up the stoves and/or heater to give the school some degree of warmth. If school began at 9:00, one has to suppose the teachers had to be there by 8:00 in the morning at the latest.
The hours of the school day allowed for a one-hour lunch break. Because most of the students did not have a quick walk home, they had to have stayed in school for their lunch period. The natural correlation is that the teacher had to have watched over the students during that hour. One has to wonder what the understanding was between the directors and the teacher when it came to that one-hour break.
All of the cleaning, caring for the grounds and managing the heat was covered in that $150 a month stipend that didn’t include lunch hour duties!
The three directors of the school board can be found on this 1926 Thrift Press map. While none of them lived directly near the school, whose cutout parcel can be found just to the left of the number 22, they did live in the area.
Henry C. Winkelhake lived south of Higgins Road, on the west side of Plum Grove Road. H.W. Botterman lived on the eastern edge of Schaumburg Township, just south of Higgins Road. Emil F. Licthardt lived on the east side of Roselle Road, just south of Section 27 on this map.
Marie Fox appears to have departed Schaumburg Township after the 1928-29 school year when she married James Walsh in June 1929 in Champaign County. After four years of teaching, the students were fortunate to have Marie find her way to the area first, followed by her sister Anne, who gave her whole professional life to the Hanover and Schaumburg Township school districts. Without Marie, the area wouldn’t have had Anne.
Jane Rozek
Local History Librarian
Schaumburg Township District Library
jrozek@stdl.org
History of Schaumburg Township 