Teachers of Calfee Training School
Written by Megan Zalecki
This post was originally published to our social media platforms on Feb. 17, 2022
Mrs. Gretchen Washington with her first grade class during the 1943-44 school year .
Calfee Training School had eight faculty members in 1938, prior to that original facility being destroyed by fire. Gretchen Washington (pictured here at the current building, with her 1943-44 first grade class), Lucy Martin (who taught second and third grades, and would later marry Chauncey Harmon), Cathleen J. Santa Cruz (fourth grade and domestic sciences), Edna Gardner (fifth grade), Hazel Calfee (high school social studies and biology), Chauncey Harmon (high school mathematics and English), Lizzie Ward (assistant principal and high school teacher), and principal George William Liverpool.
While they were proud to serve their community, conditions at Calfee were not easy for these educators. At the original Calfee Training School location, 250 students were assigned to the eight teachers in a building with only eight classrooms. The run-down facility had no auditorium, gymnasium, or cafeteria. The school library was housed in one of the classrooms, and textbooks, typically handed down after being heavily used and discarded from white schools, were limited. Pulaski County, VA treasury records show that school board spending in 1937 averaged $21.48 per Black student, compared to almost $10 more in spending per white student.
Despite having far fewer resources at their disposal than teachers at area white schools, Calfee Training School faculty overcame these enormous challenges to provide the best education possible for Black children in Pulaski. Lunches like soup beans were made and sold by Mrs. Santa Cruz, whose classroom also operated as the kitchen and lunchroom for the students. Teachers often had to buy their own supplies since the school board was slow to approve the school’s funding requests, if they approved them.
In addition, teacher pay was another clear disparity between African American and white schools due to segregation. In the 1938-1939 school year, it was reported that African American teachers in Virginia were paid a salary of $598, while white teachers averaged $912. Chauncey Harmon, fellow teacher Willis Gravely, community leader Percy Corbin, and others courageously challenged this disparity and many others in their fight for equalized education in Pulaski County, VA.
Yet, with far less than ideal conditions for teaching, Calfee Training School faculty are remembered for their professionalism and dedication. They created opportunities for their students to participate in clubs, plays, art shows, musical performances, and sports teams, thanks in large part to support from local African American churches and other Black schools in the area.
To the Calfee Training School teachers we named today, and to those we haven’t yet named, we share our deepest gratitude and respect.
Sources:
Calfee Training School, “Mrs. Gretchen Washington's 1st grade class, 1943-44 (aka--Mrs.
Gretchen Holmes),” Calfee Training School Museum Digital Archive.
Tripp, N. W. (2006, October 19). Chauncey Depew Harmon, senior: A case study in leadership for educational opportunity and equality in Pulaski, Virginia