Great Memories
by Judy Orrick Allen
Bayou Meto School existed from 1927 until the late 1950s when school consolidation took the Bayou Meto children into the DeWitt school system.
Janice and I attended this school from our first grade year through our sixth grade year. There was no need for us to attend a kindergarten (which was not available anyway). Mother had been a school teacher and had us MORE than prepared to start the first grade!
This school consisted of two rooms, each with only one teacher for all three grades — the Little Room (grades 1-3) and the Big Room (grades 4-6) and had a large stage between the two rooms.
We took our lunch every day (no cafeteria back then) or sometimes Mother would bring a hot lunch at noon. There were a lot of “luxuries” we did not have at this school such as : indoor plumbing, telephones, central heat, ANY air conditioning, or fancy playground equipment. I don’t think we ever adjusted to the outhouses! You would put off going to the restroom until it was absolutely necessary! But there were many “perks” that more than made up for those “missing luxuries”.
Each person in the school was y our friend, your teacher had time to give you personal attention — if you were behind, you did work along with the grade below you, and if you were ahead of your class, you did work along with the grade above you. Recess consisted of playing on the one swing set or making clover chains to wear around your neck until they wilted. You knew recess was over when the teacher stood at the door and shook the hand held “clapper bell”.
We felt totally safe there. Thankfully, we had no idea of the dangers that children must deal with today — bomb threats, drug dealers, kidnappings, and sexual abuse from teachers; as I look back I can appreciate the “small” world we grew up in.
The schoolhouse was about one more from our house. On days that the weather permitted, neighborhood children gathered at the store and we would walk to school as a group. Yes, some days we even got to ride our horse to school. Of course, Daddy would often follow us in the car, unsaddle the horse, and tie it to a tree across the dirt road from the schoolhouse. Nevertheless, it left us with great memories!
This story was included in the Bayou Meto School Reunion book for that event on October 5, 2013.
