Submitter’s note: This story was written by George R. Fleener in 1984.

After schools were established in Brown County, most schools had eight grades. We began class at 8:45 in the morning and stopped teaching at 4 in the afternoon. The smaller children were dismissed at 3 o’clock. This gave them time enough to get home before dark.

I decided that if we were rid of the seventh and eighth grades, we could do a better job teaching with only six grades. We had to find some other place for them. By the time we decided to split the school, we had school buses.

I was the teacher at the Branstetter School while my brother, Fred A. Fleener, was principal at Helmsburg School. He was a very progressive and congenial principal at that school for 12 years.

Early in August 1938, I met Fred near my home. I started progress in the education of the children of Brown County by saying, “Fred, could you care for the seventh and eighth grades in the high school?” Fred said, “I will see if we have room.”

In about a week I met with Fred at his home, which was nearby. We discussed some of the problems that would be found with junior high children. We decided that the biggest task was hiring teachers for the junior high school children.

In later years I was teacher at the Helmsburg Junior High School. Sylvester Barnes is a teacher at the school at this time.

In 1915, Helmsburg had its first graduating class. In the year 1911, Nashville had its first graduating class in its high school. A few years later, Van Buren High School had a graduating class.

These schools were governed by a trustee system. They did not have enough finances to offer enough subjects in their classes. Nashville had a better high school in its early years. Anna Campbell Fleener graduated in 1917 with a good high school education. I think Helmsburg High School improved in later years.

Helmsburg received tax money from the Illinois Central Railroad. Nashville envied Helmsburg this finance. There was always strife between the two schools, but the financing was not enough for either school, nor was the trustee system equal to the situation. Furthermore, no one wanted to give up an existing school.

One evening, Mr. Horton, a citizen of Nashville, came to visit us. After we had a visit. Mr. Horton asked, “What would be a better form for school administration than the trustee system?” I replied, “A school board is always better.” Soon, Mr. Horton was on his way home to Nashville, Brown County, to spread the news to all the county people. This pleased everyone in Washington Township, but the plan was disliked in some townships. The most angered were the trustees, and maybe the superintendent of schools.

Some time later, a meeting was called in the courthouse in the evening. I, George R. Fleener, had the task of conducting the meeting. Lonzo Grady and I were given the job of writing the bylaws to govern a county school corporation.

The county was to be divided into three school districts. The trustees elected the board members as follows: District No. 1, Elmer Parsley; District No. 2, Roger Meshberger; District No. 3, Glen Hanners.

Problems to be resolved were the trustee distribution of funds to the county school corporation, the distribution of school properties, and the kind of an education that should be offered in Brown County Schools. It became the duty of the school board to provide and maintain needed facilities.

Today, the needs for education and health are administered by our very able superintendent, Dr. Carol Walker and her staff, and the assistant interdependent, Newland Clark.

The school board members are elected for a term of four years by all the voters of Brown County. The school board members for Brown County, 1984, are: Midge Gaylor, Robert Gredy, Kimberly Kritzer, Steve Miller and John Mills.

— Submitted by Pauline Hoover, Brown County Historical Society