Manitowoc County WI Archives History - Schools .....Maple Grove 5 1948 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/wi/wifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com November 3, 2007, 11:23 pm MAPLE GROVE 5 Suspended Maple Grove school district No. 5 was among the last three school districts set up in Manitowoc county. It originally belonged to the Rockland joint No. 1 school district, now the Reedsville district. With the depression of 1929 and the years following affecting the income of farm owners, there developed agitation throughout the state to detach rural areas in village and city high school districts and to set up convenient school districts of their own. The following law passed by the legislature of 1927 made legal such detachment procedures: "40.85(1) Whenever a school district maintaining a high school, other than a union free high school district, consists of territory both within and without the corporate limits of any city or village, the territory lying outside such limits, or any portion thereof adjoining another school district, may be detached as herein provided." The law then explains how this detachment may be carried out. The provisions of this law were repealed in 1939. The original petition to detach the area outside of the village of Reedsville was filed on March 28, 1930. The petition was addressed to the school board of joint school district No. 1 made up of the village of Reedsville and the towns of Rockland and Maple Grove. It petitioned them to have "all of said territory lying and being outside of the village limits of said incorporated village detached from said joint school district aforesaid, and to have such territory attached to adjoining school districts bordering on said joint school district No. 1." It further petitioned the clerk of joint school district No. 1, Rockland (Reedsville), to give proper notice for a joint meeting to the town boards of the towns of Maple Grove and Rockland, and the school board of the district for the purpose of acting on this petition and order such detachment in accordance with Section 40.85. The above named boards took no action nor held a meeting to consider the petition. Accordingly after 20 days from the date of filing the original petition, an appeal was served on the county superintendent of schools, the school board of Rockland Jt. 1, and the town boards of the towns of Maple Grove and Rockland. It appealed to County Supt. E. S. Mueller to request that all papers filed with the clerk of the above named school district pertaining to said petition be forthwith submitted to the county superintendent of schools, for the purpose of having him call a meeting of said town boards and the school board for the purpose of having such detachment orders issued. This appeal was signed by Steve Foreyt, Steve Spatchek, John Jonas, August Bratz, and Chas. Krueger. On April 30, 1930, County Supt. E. S. Mueller ordered, as required by law when the original boards refused to take action, that all of the territory lying outside of village of Reedsville and in the towns of Maple Grove and Rockland be detached from said joint school district No. 1, town of Rockland, village of Reedsville, and the town of Maple Grove. On May 30, 1930, the town board of Maple Grove composed of F. A. Frederich, F. W. Maertz, and C. J. Heinrich, and the town board of Rockland composed of John Mahnke, Louis Turensky, and Walter Olm ordered that two new school districts be formed from the territory detached from Reedsville school district. One of the new districts so ordered formed was Maple Grove No. 5 made up of an irregular tract of land 3 miles long and about 1 1/2 miles wide in sections 23, 24, 25, 26, 35, and 36 in the township of Maple Grove. Maple Grove district No. 5 has never erected a school house. Upon withdrawal from the Reedsville district, it has paid tuition for the few children attending the public school. The first school census for this new district listed only 29 children of school age (4 to 20 years) residing in this area. Since then, the number on the census, list has dwindled yearly, until now there are only about a dozen children. Those of grade school age attend the parochial -schools at Reedsville. The district has raised on an average of $50 in school taxes since its organization. For at least 8 years of its existence, the district did not raise any school tax. The present equalized valuation of the .district is nearly $250,000. The first school officers elected for the newly organized district in 1930 were clerk Steve Spatchek, director W. C. Otto, and treasurer F. W. Maertz. Mr. Spatchek is still clerk of the district. W. C. Otto served as director until his death in 1946, when John Utke took office. The members of the Maertz family have held the office of treasurer, for F. W. Maertz was succeeded in 1944 by Clarence Maertz, and he in turn by Louis Maertz in 1947. Additional Comments: Extracted from: 1848 - 1948 CENTENNIAL HISTORY of the Manitowoc County School Districts and Public School System EDITED BY JOS. J. RAPPEL, COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS 1948 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/wi/manitowoc/history/schools/maplegro187gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/wifiles/ File size: 5.5 Kb