Principally speaking. . .

 Bessemer School Staff

1954-55

Lou Butler, principal (center back)

Some memories from the early days of Principal Butler:

I started at Bessemer and Strack Elementary schools. I took over from Ed Blood at Bessemer who went to Corwin Jr. High and Victoria Christiano who went to Edison and Washington.

Bessemer was larger, and it required a lot more time. There were many boys who were 14-16 years old and were a terrible influence in the younger boys in the school. By the end of October, I had transferred them to Keating Jr. High. Mr. Leo Scharton was principal there, and he agreed that they should be in Jr. High, and he preferred to get them now rather than a year from now!

I had a few faculty problems, but most of the faculty accepted me and worked with me. Mrs. Reynolds, the 5th and Music teacher who wanted only to teach music, proceeded to schedule her class to other teachers in the lower grades and teach their music. It meant that her class went to a different teacher every 30 minutes of the day! She had said nothing to me, and I didn’t realize it for a while. When I did, I informed her that I was putting out a new schedule and I expected her to follow my schedule. When it came out, she walked in the office and said that she would not follow the schedule, so I invited her to go see the superintendent about a transfer and in the meantime, that schedule would hold. I offered to go with her to see the superintendent, but she didn’t like that idea either! She stuck it out until the end of the year, and then was transferred out.

Betty Curry, the Kindergarten teacher, wasn’t pleased with my leadership either. She said in Dr. Taibl’s class, “What can you expect when you have a kid for a principal?” All she wanted to do was play the piano, have the children work puzzles, and go outside for long, long recesses. She was the niece of Edna Hawke, 2nd grade teacher at Strack. They compared notes about me every night! Miss Hawke retired at the end of the year.

Miss Virginia Walsh was my greatest worry as she was a drunk and I knew that she was often drinking at school, but I could never prove it. Mr. Dunlap, Assistant Superintendent who later became the Superintendent had been the principal at Bessemer. He had had many dealings with her in the past, so he was very sympathetic and helpful. She used to call me up on the phone at night when she was drunk and would talk on and on about what a poor principal I was and that “I was nothing but an old Mormon and had no business being in a good Catholic community!” She had a sister who taught at Edison, so Emil Paripovich and I compared notes regularly as the two often fought and his teacher always got the worst of it.