Back to Basics...cont. from previous page
three Amish families in neighboring
districts. Lehman volunteered to try
and recruit more Amish students, but
the board declined his offer.
However, the issue was far from
dead. An historic meeting was held on
Saturday afternoon, May 29, 1947, in
the Shipshewana High School gymnasium. Newspaper reports say that
five hundred Amish men from twelve
Indiana counties attended a mass
meeting with State Superintendent of
Public Instruction Brig. General Ben H.
Watt and Judge Bryon Kennedy. Several state senators and representatives
were also in attendance. At the end of
day Watt stated that the only recourse
for the Amish community was to seek
an amendment to the law. There was
another option of course; start a parochial school.
After one year of sending their
children to town, Amish families living
in the neighborhood of Sanitary School
called a meeting. The meeting was ac-
tually held across the line in LaGrange
County in the home of Bishop Henry
Miller. Having heard that the Sanitary
School was going to be sold, about fifteen families at the meeting expressed
interest. A board was chosen to look
into starting a parochial school. Delbert Farmwald writes that Abe Lehman, Elmer Miller, Joe S. Whestone and
Eli Gingerich were chosen. That night
pledges were received from twenty
individuals and a total of $20,230 was
raised.
Several members of the group
contacted Silas Hartzler who was in
charge of teacher placement at Goshen
College. Hartzler recommended Sidney
Zook, an elderly single Mennonite, as
a possible teacher. Zook was asked to
attend an evening meeting with the
Amish group. Zook agreed to consider
the position if the group wanted him.
On September 1, the Sanitary
District School was sold at public auction with the auction taking place on
the steps of the school building. The
Shared
Responsibility
Educating Our Children
By Jerry Hostetler
There are forty-eight Amish parochial schools that are now in operation within the
Westview school district. Approximately, 1,700 total students attend those schools.
In what ways have these Amish
schools in the Westview school district
impacted the Westview School system?
pg 24 · The Hometown Treasure · September ‘12
According to Westview superintendant
Dr. Randy Zimmerly, “The predominance of Amish parochial schools, in
particular in the choice of many Amish
parents to have their children attend
those schools, has certainly decreased
the responsibility on the public school
in terms of the sheer number of