City of Springdale History On-Line

The Princeton school district serves the Springdale community. Considered one of the more progressive systems in the nation, Princeton has a racially, economically and socially diversified student population. Despite periodic tensions generated by this mixture, the Princeton schools perennially earn accolades for both their academic and athletic accomplishments. Few people remember that thirty years ago great controversy surrounded the birth of the Princeton School District. Even fewer recall the role played by Springdale residents in that dramatic fight.

In 1953 when the fight began, the idea of a centralized, consolidated school district to serve the valley was already forty-three years old. In 1909 an organization called the Federated Improvement Society formed an Educational Committee to collect information from area school boards regarding curricula, facilities, enrollment and tax rates. The idea for a central high school, however, never extended beyond this feasibility study. Centralization made greater progress in other areas such as in Union Township in 1916. Between 1935 and 1937 the Ohio Department of Education conducted a state-wide survey on the question which recommended the creation of a Glendale-Sharonville district to include Springdale, Crescentville, Evendale, Runyan, Glendale and Sharonville. The Depression and World War II delayed implementation of that recommendation.

After World War II, consolidation again received a great deal of attention. School systems in the Millcreek valley and beyond found it virtually impossible to handle the pressures of "baby-boom" enrollment, exacerbated as it was by the influx of new families moving into new suburban housing developments spreading throughout the area. By 1949 Springdale School's enrollment had risen to 302 students.

In late 1950 the State Department of Education again recommended the consolidation of seven school districts, including Sharonville, Glendale, Crescentville, Evendale, Runyan, Stewart and possibly Woodlawn. A.D. St. Clair, field agent for the department, held local forum to discuss the proposal. In December the Springdale School Board rejected consolidation and unanimously supported a motion stating that it was "unalterably opposed to the proposed consolidation of school districts." Board president Lester Hinkle opposed consolidation. He and fellow school board member, Edward Schumacher, feared increased state control and the corresponding loss of local autonomy. What if in exchange for increases in funds and programs Springdale received a faceless, bureaucratic system? But school consolidation was the trend. Precedents in other areas of the state had already been set. By the end of the month, despite persistent rumors about the inclusion of Springdale School, Lester Hinkle, board president, reported to the Men's Civic Club that the Hamilton County Board of Education had promised not to take any immediate action.

Edward Schumacher believed the Hamilton County Board of Education should make no decisions on the issue of consolidation until it made comprehensive studies of the area. To make his opinion heard, he ran successfully for the county board and was sworn in January 19, 1952. At the initial board meeting he demanded a comprehensive study which was approved by the board, as well as his recommendation that the Cincinnati Bureau of Governmental Research be retained to conduct the investigation.

At the same time, the Glendale Board of Education, which supported consolidation, grew impatient and on February 10, 1953, requested that the county board give official notification of its plans by June 1, 1953. On May 7, 1953 the Millcreek Valley News reported that the Glendale district supported consolidation because of large increases in its elementary school population accompanied by a declining enrollment in its high school.

This seemingly innocuous item stirred up a hornet's nest. Rumors circulated that if consolidation occurred, some of the black children attending Glendale's Congress Avenue Elementary School would be assigned to Springdale School. County Board Superintendent Charles B. Crouch denied the rumors. He made clear, however, that the authority for assigning students rested with the county superintendent who based his decision on the proximity of the school to the student.

During this time, Schumacher had been convinced of the benefits of consolidation and began a personal crusade to persuade others of the merits. To gain support, he attended PTA meeting after meeting, facing at times vehemently hostile audiences who considered him a traitor. His family feared his position at the center of this controversy would damage his insurance business. His friend Lester Hinkle, who still opposed consolidation, was elected Springdale's representative on a committee of the eight districts. At its spring meeting the Springdale School Board approved Hinkle's resolution opposing consolidation. Allocating $550 to commission a study by the Cincinnati Bureau of Governmental Research on the grounds, buildings and playgrounds of the Springdale district and its needs for the future. Only board member Ruth Schumacher dissented. Despite opposition in their own community, the persistent Schumacher and others in favor of consolidation labored on.

Another consolidation supporter was Edward Hammond, former principal of the Springdale School and in 1953 the principal of the Colerain Consolidated Schools. He and Schumaker each addressed the Springdale PTA on March 18 and were rewarded with that organization's approval of consolidation despite the opposition of the Springdale board. The reasons for their support were simple enough. The Springdale PTA decided that the opportunities given to students through consolidation outweighed any possible loss of local control. In an article published in the Millcreek Valley News on April 16, 1953 Hammond lucidly explained those advantages. Individual school districts served educational purposes well in the past when the demands on the system had been simpler. However, demographic, social and economic forces combined with new educational expectations created great inequalities among the eight districts. Teachers taught more than one grade and there were inadequate provisions for vocational education, counseling and health care. Additionally, two separate high schools in Glendale and Sharonville enrolled fewer than 130 students.

Changes at the elementary level were evident in a school population was growing by leaps and bounds. In 1952 the board approved an addition to Springdale School at an estimated at $125,000. Not complete by the start of the 1953-54 school year, 326 students were crammed into temporary quarters in the village's churches. Even as the new quarters were being completed the board contemplated purchasing additional land for the future.

In May the county board delayed its decision for ninety days citing the necessity of giving the Bureau of Governmental Research sufficient time to complete its study. Schumacher announced that the board would abide by the bureau's recommendations.

Not surprisingly, the report that came out in August 1953 recommended consolidation. Pooling resources would allow the schools to offer health services, a speech therapist, a psychologist and classes for the handicapped and learning disabled. Special teachers could be hired for classes in art, music and physical education. Consolidation would also permit vocational classes, home economics and commercial education.

Proponents of the plan immediately formed a Citizen's Committee for Consolidation as a means of disseminating the bureau's report. The opponents also prepared for battle. In early November 1953 the Hamilton County Board of Education unanimously voted to create a new consolidated school district. The opponents obtained a restraining order until the constitutionality of consolidation could be tested. Vernon Wiegand of Springdale was one of the plaintiffs.

Though the county board was financially unprepared for a prolonged court fight, Edward Schumacher approached Murray Seasongood, the respected lawyer and former Cincinnati mayor for help. Seasongood listened to the details of the case and the board's financial status, and asked for a week to consider taking the case. When he called Schumacher with his decision, he informed him that his firm would accept the case for court costs.

Meanwhile, the opponents of consolidation organized an apparently successful remonstrance petition. Under Ohio law a petition signed by a majority of citizens who voted in the last election within thirty days after the board's resolution could defeat or delay the new district. On December 3, 1953 the Millcreek Valley News reported that "SCHOOL CONSOLIDATION IS DEFEATED." The petition drive netted 2,032 signatures of registered voters in the November local election, more than the required 51 percent. The board countered, declaring that the remonstrance petition should have been based on those registered to vote in the 1952 general election. If based on the larger 1952 figure of 4,468 registered voters, the petition would fail.

The petition's organizers turned to the judicial system. On September 9, 1954 Judge John M. Renner of the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas declared the board's actions "arbitrary and contrary to law." Renner's decision elated consolidation's opponents. The remonstrance petition had been their only defense. The Ohio Supreme Court had already refused to hear a case challenging the constitutionality of consolidation when the board unified the Harrison, Crosby and Whitewater districts. Yet the elation was short-lived. On Monday, January 14, 1955 the lst District Court of Appeals dismissed Renner's ruling and threw out the remonstrance petition on the grounds that it did not represent a majority of registered voters in the presidential election of 1952.

The opponents hired former Supreme Court Justice Henry A. Middleton to carry their case to the Ohio Supreme Court. The Woodlawn, Sharonville and Evendale school boards and a number of individual citizens were listed as plaintiffs. In June 1955 the Ohio Supreme Court refused to hear the case. The long battle was over.

The fight was a bitter one in which Springdale residents figured prominently on both sides. In January 1955 the county board elected Ed Schumacher as its president. Appropriately Schumacher, who had expended such energy for so many years on consolidation, held that position when the court made its decision.

The consolidation controversy centered on three issues: local control, the effects on the tax rates and race. In Springdale the issue of local control was most important. Tax rates mattered little and everyone anticipated that Springdale's tax rates would remain much the same after consolidation. In Evendale, on the other hand, the fear of tax hikes was very strong. The industries around Evendale stood to lose most from consolidation and their financial contributions to the opposition forces allowed the fight to last as long as it did.

The issue of race was raised both in respect to the assignment of elementary school children and, with more inflammatory consequences, in regard to Lincoln Heights, a community located on the periphery of the eight districts which had a predominately black population. During the campaign, rumors circulated that the proponents of consolidation had a secret agenda: first, win approval, and then integrate the Lincoln Heights schools into the new district. Those fears were unfounded since consolidation did not even include Lincoln Heights. The consolidation move occurred, of course, at the same time as the groundbreaking Supreme Court decision, Brown v. the Board of Education. By affirming the inherent discrimination in "separate but equal" schools, the decision made segregated schools unconstitutional. Nobody knew just what the effects of the Brown decision would be, but undoubtedly fears of racial integration were present and were sometimes manipulated by those who opposed consolidation. When, fifteen years later in 1970, the Lincoln Heights system was in fact incorporated into the Princeton School District, it was with a minimum of disruption. But in the period between 1952 and 1955 the issue was a volatile one.

Still, many of those in opposition abhorred these tactics and felt they clouded the most important issue which in their minds was that of local control. In Springdale, that control came to an end at 10:00 a.m. June 20, 1955, when by order of the Hamilton County Board of Education the Springdale Local School District was officially dissolved.

Challenges continued after the formal consolidation including the choice of a name for the new district. The name Princeton was finally chosen because of the area telephone exchange and a well-known local thoroughfare. The board members were all chosen because of their strong interest in consolidation. These included Frank Jones of Sharonville as president, John Egbert, an attorney from Glendale, and Frank Pauzer, a research chemical engineer from Springdale, who served as the clerk pro tem. On July 12, 1955 the new board met at Springdale School which served as its temporary quarters for the next few years. The choice of Springdale School seemed fitting considering the important role played by Springdale residents in the creation of the Princeton School District. When in 1959 Lester Hinkle was elected to the Princeton School Board, conciliation was complete.

Easing fears and gaining the cooperation of the opponents of consolidation headed the list of priorities of Robert Lucas, the first superintendent of the Princeton School District. Lucas, a field director of the Ohio Educational Association and a former principal, demonstrated wisdom and tact in accomplishing his objectives.