Buckland — Educational

Extracted from "History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, Volume II," by Louis H. Everts, 1879.



      Nothing definite concerning the early schools can be given. Districts were formed soon after the town was organized, and an unusual degree of interest was manifested in early times, the schools being well attended and the instruction, for those times, thorough. At present the interest is not so great, and the amount appropriated per scholar attending the schools falls below that of most towns in the county. In 1876 the number of children of school age --between five and fifteen years-- was 421. Of this number 310 were in the Shelburne Falls district. The average attendance was 326; the entire cost, $2448. At the Falls are five schools, graded from primary to grammar departments, taught in convenient and substantial buildings, and in the four other districts are comfortable houses.
      It is said that Mary Lyon began her career as a teacher in her native town, teaching a school near the Falls for the princely salary of seventy-five cents per week.



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01 Ju1 2005