The founding of the Oberlin Public Schools followed one year after the establishment of the Oberlin Colony and Oberlin College (the Collegiate Institute before1850).  A mass meeting of the citizens of the college voted to establish a school district, chose a school board, and elected to build a school building. Completed in 1836, the schoolhouse was quickly found to be not large enough to house the 236 children of school age.  The primary educational focus emphasized reading, elocution, writing, and arithmetic; a strong religious context dominated the teaching.  Although Ohio's "Black Laws" forbade integration of schools, all of Oberlin's children, black and white, male and female were offered an education side by side.   By 1860 the town population was 2,200.  The school population had grown to 624 pupils: 270 white males, 24 colored males, 318 white females, and 12 colored females.  There were seven teachers operating from two buildings. 

In 1860, at the recommendation of then school manager, John Mercer Langston, Oberlin joined the State of Ohio common schools system.  Between that time and the turn of the century, three additional school buildings were constructed to accommodate the continued growth in the number of students and, now, twenty teachers.  The influence of the community on the curriculum remained evident in the inclusion of temperance literature and strong religious interest expressed by the students in the schools.  By 1893, however, the more basic reading, writing and arithmetic had given way to "The New Education." Students now "Learned by Doing,"  which meant "hands-on learning" replaced rote memorization.           

The first half of the 20th century saw continuous growth and great stability in the public schools.  In 1903 Oberlin High School added a fourth year, thus becoming a "first grade" school by Ohio State Standards. Superintendent Howard L. Rawdon served 29 years, from 1908 to 1937.  During his tenure additions were built at the Prospect and Pleasant Street Schools. In 1915 electricity was added to Pleasant Street School, funded by the P.T.A. which had formed in 1910.  A new high school was built in 1923 (redone as Langston Middle School in 1984) to accommodate 965 students and 28 teachers.In 1934 Centennial School was acquired.  Several years of night school for adults were offered by the staff, and cooking, sewing and shop classes were added to the regular curriculum after having been taught by the Oberlin Women's Club and the YMCA for a number of years. 

Between WWI and WWII Oberlin's public schools continued to meet new challenges.  After WWI, for example, young men returning to high school from active duty were given credit toward graduation for their service. During the Depression the B.O.E. found it necessary to participate in the Federal Aid Program for building financing due to the serious unemployment problem in the district and the continuing growth of the student population.  And, during WWII, the board granted leaves of absence for staff being called into service, while the student body and community did their part with war stamps and ration books. 

After 1945 Oberlin, like the rest of the country, experienced growth in the number of students enrolled and staff employed.  These patterns continued until 1968 when enrollment peeked at 2,415 students and 140 teachers. These developments necessitated the construction of an additional elementary school  (Eastwood, 1955) and the current Oberlin High School  (1962).  In addition to this growth and stability, two events transpired that changed the district significantly.  First, in 1949, teachers organized the Oberlin Ohio Education Association teachers' union.  This resulted in a growing degree of teacher control over their own working conditions.  And, second, in 1959, the district abolished the practice of having neighborhood schools. Because of Oberlin's residential patterns, this step eliminated the possibility of operating a segregated school system.  Since that time, students have been bussed across town and grouped by grades, guaranteeing a thoroughly integrated school district.

In the past three decades school boards have faced an assortment of issues.  Since 1968 the district experienced a decline in student population to 1,231. The drop in enrollment was due to below average population growth in Oberlin, to families having fewer children, and to a growing number of students going to private and parochial schools. The accompanying decrease in state funding has made it more difficult to support sufficient staff to meet the community and state public school system's requirements.  At the same time, pressures have abounded for expanded curriculum, programs, and technology, especially in the higher grades. Well funded schools and quality education have always been an Oberlin trademark.  Thus community members have been involved in and vocal on many committees and groups working on curriculum, minority hiring; sports, music, and academic boosters; the Family Math and Reading with a Grandparent programs;  and, of course, passing school levies, to name a few.  (Only one levy has ever failed in Oberlin, and it passed on the second try.)  In the administrative aspect of the district, the balance of power among the board, the teachers' union, and the superintendent has become fairly even, providing a strong system of checks and balances.  And, very important in a town with Oberlin's racial background,  the district has established an Affirmative Action Policy and Minority Recruitment Committee to attempt to remedy the disproportionately small number of minority teachers relative to the 40% minority student population.

At present (1998) the 1,231 students are housed in four buildings and instructed by 70 certified staff members.  Teachers are challenged to create a balanced curriculum that will inspire many unmotivated young people to pass state-mandated and -created proficiency tests to graduate, as well as to stimulate a select group of very able, college-bound students. Oberlin High School regularly graduates more than one National Merit Scholar a year.  The school board ever labors to find funding for the upkeep of the physical plant and salaries, with ever shrinking financial support from the state.  Community participation continues strong as individuals and churches and businesses are working with the Oberlin Interagency Council and the schools to make Oberlin "An Asset Building Community."            

OBERLIN PUBLIC SCHOOLS TIMELINE

1834                        The Oberlin School District is organized for public education.

1836                        The first one room ungraded school building is built at a cost of $215. (It still stands today, owned and operated by O.H.I.O.)

1851                        The First Union School House, a two-story, graded school, is built on Professor Street.

1857                        John M. Langston becomes the acting manager of the Oberlin Schools.

1860                        At the recommendation of J. M. Langston the Oberlin Board of Education of Common Schools is established in accordance with the laws laid out in1853. John Mercer Langston is chosen to be secretary and, as notary public, swears in the other members.

1867                        The official opening of the school year is moved from the spring to the fall from this point on in order to give the students this year an extra semester to catch up their skills to be really ready to move up to the next level.

1874                        Union High School is built on South Main Street (next known as Westervelt Hall and now as the New Union School House).

1895                        Alice Swing is elected the first woman on the Oberlin School Board and is among the first women to be on any Ohio school board.

1887                        Prospect and Pleasant Street schools are both built.  Each is atwo-story, brick building with four class rooms and an office. Each cost $8000.

1903                        A fourth year is added to Oberlin High School, thus it is now ranked a "first grade" school.

1903                        Both Pleasant and Prospect schools suffer serious fires.

1909                        Oberlin Board of Education authorized the transfer of nearly 200 volumes to the Oberlin College Library. (Annual Report of College, 1909-10, p. 258)

1910                        The P. T. A. of Pleasant Street School is organized to "study the welfare of the child in the home, school, and community and to create a better mutual understanding between parents and teachers."

1913                        The Board abolishes the Office of the Treasurer as required by law where school funds are handled by a Depository, in this case the Peoples Banking Co. of Oberlin.

1921                        The Bureau of Inspection of the State Industrial Commission says the Main Street school cannot be used after Sept. 1, 1921 without extensive repairs and modifications. 

1923                        The new high school at Walnut, North Main and Pleasant Streets is open.

1926                        Oberlin High School Basketball team wins a State Championship.

1934                        Centennial Hall, on South Main Street, comes into the possession of the Oberlin Public Schools and is used until 1952.

1949                        The Oberlin Ohio Education Association is established and writesits constitution.

1950                        The Oberlin School Board hires a man as an elementary teacher for the first time--Donald McIlroy.

1954                        Oberlin High School hosts its first foreign exchange student, Miss Marjo Heino of Finland.

1955                        Eastwood School is built on East College Street.

1957                        The Oberlin School Board joins the Ohio School Boards Association.

1959                        Students in all Oberlin school buildings are grouped by grades. No more neighborhood schools.

1962                        The current high school is built on North Pleasant Street with further additions made in the '60's, '70's, and '80's.

1962                        OHS is one of 132 schools in Ohio accredited without qualification.

1963                        OOEA establishes a budget.

1970                        The ORBIT program begins at the elementary level.

1972                        The Title I reading program begins.

1975                        OOEA develops and tightens up the teacher evaluation and dismissal process.

1976                        Task forces of community people are set up by a community group brought together by the Oberlin Ministerial Association on behalf of the board of education.

1986                        The Oberlin High School basketball team wins a State Basketball Championship.

1992                        The Blue Ribbon Finance Committee, made up of community people, researches and decides the schools' financial problems are caused by a lag in tax collection and ceaseless inflation.  It recommends the district may need to consider merging.

1993                        Superintendent Charles Edelsberg gets and Outstanding Superintendent acknowledgment nationwide--and at the end of the school year resigns from working in public education altogether.

1994                        Oberlin gets its first female and first Black superintendent, Ms. Shirley Vioni.

1998                        The high school gets its first female and first Black principal, Mrs. Rosalyn Valentine.

1996                        James Grey named interim Superintendent

1997                        James Grey named Superintendent

2002                        Beverly Reep named Superintendent

2005                        Beverly Reep resigns in December

2006                        Dennis Rectenwald named interim Superintendent until a permanent replacement can be found.

SUPERINTENDENTS

Samuel Sedgewick                   1860-1869

E.F. Moulton                          1869-1876

H. R. Chittenden                     1876-1878

H. J. Clark                             1878-1882

G. W. Waite                          1882-1900

E. A. Miller                           1900-1903

W. H. Nye                             1903-1908

H. L. Rawdon                        1908-1937

C. E. Wigton                          1937-1956

H. A. Koss                             1956-1958

R. W. Duncan                        1958-1970

J. H. Hagerty                          1970-1975

David Kessler                        8/25/75 to 3/18/76           
                                            Acting Superintendent                                                                                                                                             (Terminated)

W. W. Zinser                        12/15/75 to 3/16/76
                                            Acting Superintendent

S. Bahorek, Jr.                       3/18/76 to 8/1/76
                                            Interim Superintendent

W. R. Force                          1976-1978

S. Bahorek, Jr.                      6/28/76 to 10/31/78
                                           Acting Superintendent
                                           (Resigned)

G. Brubaker                          11/1/78 to 1987

R. Murphy                           1988-1990

C. M. Edelsberg                    1990 to 1993

Watson                                 8/93 to 1/94

S. Vioni                                1/94 to 11/96
                                            (Resigned)

J. Gray                                  1997-
                                            (Interim Superintendent 11/96-5/97)

B.  Reep                                2002-12/2005

D. Rectenwald                        Interim Superintendent 1/1/2006-

OBERLIN HIGH SCHOOL

Principals

1901-02            W. H. Nye

1902-03            B. L. Laird

1903-05            A. L. Button

1905-06            H. L. Rawdon

1906-08            W. B. Crouch

1908-10            W. H. McCall

1910-12            Stanley Morris

1912-22            J. C. Seemann *

1922-24            W. Z. Morrison

1924-27            C.L. Mackey

1927-37            C. E. Wigton

1937-49            C. F. Alter

1949-52            Donald L. Simpson

1952-54            James Ross

1954-56            Edwin C. Treherne

1956-65            Paul E. Newell

1965-67            Albert Bruno

1967-68            Robert Ingraham

1968-70            Paul Nabors

1970-72            Donald Schick

1972-76            Paul Zatz

1976-79            James Rankin (11/29/76)

1979-85            Jerry Omori

1985-87            John Hornsby

1987-90            John A. Dondero

1990-92            Todd J. Alles

1992-94            Fred Holland

1994-98            James Gray

1998-               Roslyn Valentine

*  Mr. Seemann died in March, 1922.  W. Z. Morrison appointed for the remainder of the year.

Assistant Principals

        -79            Don Crocket

1979-84            Gordon Dupree (Left 10/18/84)

1984-85            Robert Walsh

1985-88            Eugene T. W. Sanders

1988-89            Position eliminated

1991-93            Jay Hershey

1993-94            Tony Korzan

1994-96            Charles Grimes

1996-98            Roslyn Valentine

1998-                Brent Betts

OBERLIN JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL

Principals

1960-66            Theodore Walter

1966-68            Robert Caton

1968-72            Peter Fanning

1972-75            James Muzzy

1975-76            Eugene Parker

1976-77            Peter Hendrickson

1977-78            Harold Horton-----------Middle School

1978-84            Frances Thomas  ('78-79 Interim Principal)

1984-87            Robert Murphy

1987-                Larry Thomas

PLEASANT STREET SCHOOL

Principals

1905-06            Miss Carrie Petersen

1906-09            Miss Elizabeth Whipple

1909-10            Miss Louise Wood

1910-11            Mr. C. E. Blue

1911-15            Miss Lottie Ward

1915-18            Mrs. L. A. Edwards

1918-19            Mrs. Mabel F. Gibson

1919-22            Miss Crilla B. Thomas

1922-23            Mrs. Jane Corbet Hector

1923-39            Miss Crilla B. Thomas

1939-41            Miss Janice Beckwith

1941-42            W. J. Sample

1942-56            Miss Elizabeth Martin

1956-59            Mr. Donald McIlroy

1959-60            Mr. Walter Carpenter

1960-67            Mr. Donald McIlroy

1967-69             Mr. Robert Lawson

1969-73            Mr. Edward Hope

1973-75            Mr. James Muzzy

1975-76            Mr. Eugene Parker

1976-77            Dr. Harold Horton (1-3-77) 

1977-78*

*Students from 5th grade transferred to Prospect School, and students from 6th grade transferred to Middle School.

PROSPECT SCHOOL

Principals

1905-06            Miss Elizabeth Beebe

1906-17            Mrs. J. B. Abell

1917-18            Miss Orrie C. Gannett

1918-23            Miss Mabel B. Askew

1923-27            Mrs. Bernice W. Andrus

1927-28            Mrs. Sophia N. Kelly

1928-46            Mrs. Bernice W. Shepard

1946-52            Mrs. Rose Moore           

1052-59            Mr. Walter Carpenter

1959-60            Mr. Donald McIlroy

1960-74            Miss Florene Worcester

1974-75            Mr. Edward Hope

1975-77            Mr. Robert Wehn

1980-84            Mr. Peter Hendrickson

1980-84            Mr. Robert Murphy

1984-86            Mrs. Mildred Carter

1986-88            Mrs. Linda Boyd

1988-91            Mr. John F. Gates

1991-93            Mr. Fred Fastenau

1993-95            Mrs. Patricia Heilbron

1995-               Mrs. Elaine Carlin

EASTWOOD SCHOOL

Principals

1956-74            Miss Elizabeth Martin

1974-75            Mr. Edward Hope

1975-77            Mr. Robert Wehn (Resigned 9/20/77)

1977-78             Ms. Francine Toss-Head Teacher

1978-91             Ms. Francine Toss-Principal (1991 becomes Pupil Personnel Dir.)

1991-92            Tracy Frierson

1992-93            Ralph Ballard

1993-94            Francine Toss

1994-95            Tara Kilburn

1995-               Chris Pankey