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Wyandotte County, Kansas

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Parent Teacher Association

The first PTA in Kansas City, Kansas (and possibly in the state) was organized on May 13, 1908 at Mt. Pleasant Church on North Fifth. It was named the "Mothers Club of Longfellow School." Mrs. George VanCleave, first president. Organized through efforts of Mrs. E. W. Poindexter.   John Fiske's PTA was also organized in 1908. 

Other early PTAs were:   (list not all inclusive)

1910:  Bryant School at 2940 N. 17 St.
1911: Riverview
1912:  Emerson, Franklin, Hawthorne/Caruthers, Horace Mann, J J Ingalls, Kerr, Park, Prescott, Quindaro, Snow
1913:  Abbott
1914:  Attucks
1915: Douglass, Parker
1916: Frances Willard
1919:  Phillips

For information on the PTA of any currently operating school, it will be necessary for your to contact the specific school for information. 

Records listed below are historical records and are on file in the Kansas Room at the KCKs Public Library - Located at 625 Minnesota Avenue, KCKs.  Records are currently being researched and you will also find various historical excerpts on their respective school history web pages at this web site.

Central Elementary
(organized September 23, 1912)
1912-1934 / 1934-1945 / 1945-1951 / 1951-1955 (.pdf)

Records for the years 1956-1979 and the Bylaws (approved October 1, 1980) are on file in the Kansas Room at the Main Branch of the KCKs Public Library.

Central Elementary - In 1952, PTA members participated in the first March on Polio held in the Wyandotte County area.  More than 3,000 mothers canvassed residential districts, calling at every house where a porch light signified the resident's desire to contribute to the March of Dimes.  Courtesy of Mrs. Virginia Boyd (Central PTA President, 1951-52) who kindly donated her "publicity book" from the 1951-52 school year (containing news clippings and numerous other items of information on activities of the Central Elementary PTA).  The book is on file in the Kansas Room.

Noble Prentis
(organized Dec 11, 1914)

Park
(organized Oct 4, 1911)

The following are excerpts relative to the PTA. The excerpts are taken from the History of the KCKs Public Schools by Nellie McGuinn; and are, in no way, intended to be all inclusive.  For the total online transcription of the book, please use the site map at your left to link to the web pages.  For a full history of the PTA, more extensive research is required.

1914:  Dr. Jessie Newkirk, board member, was sent by the board to Washington to attend the National Congress of Mothers and the PTA, April 20-27.

1916:  PTA groups were active.  The Federation of PTA Associations circulated petitions asking for more rigid movie censorship when they learned that promoters were trying to get the Kansas law repealed.

1919:  In January, 1919, Grace Eastman addressed a meeting in which she proposed an extensive school health program and the employment of school nurses.  She planned to work here with the PTA to form a legislative program and provide for school board supervision.  One of her projects was the establishment of nose blowing and teeth brushing drills.

Students who left school to enlist or to go to work became the concern of school authorities.  Mr. Pearson said they must be brought back to school.  A "Back to School Drive" was instituted by the Children's Bureau of the United States Department of Labor, which lasted due to PTA cooperation.  Committees from each school called on parents to urge them to keep their children in school.

The Council of Clubs and the PTA tried to protect minors from the cigarette habit by asking that smoking in all public school buildings be prohibited.  They sent the Board of Education, the police chief, and others copies of the law.  On June 30, the Kansan reported that old friend, John Barleycorn, would be wakened when the 18th Amendment went into effect.

1920:  In her concern for children's welfare, Mrs. Stine added to her efforts for anti-cigarette law enforcement by talking before PTA groups about the proposed Child Labor Law. 

The city in 1920 was conscious more than ever before of health conditions.  The state and local PTA units went on record as favoring school medical inspection.  Restaurants and drug stores were asked to sterilize glasses.  Women asked for a night in home nursing.  The law did not permit public funds for school nurses, but he Red Cross provided them for 1920.  Teachers attended first aid classes, and Dr. Gloyne met with high school boys in February to discuss health problems.

When a Citizens Committee attended a board meeting, appalling sanitary conditions at some schools were reported.  The PTA told of a novel idea, the serving of hot lunches to country children, which aided them in gaining weight.  The same group asked that ice cream vendors be forbidden as they handled horses' reins, then ice cream, without washing their hands.  A week in October was set aside to help underweights.  "Use more milk," was the slogan.  The Visiting Nurses Association said children bought too much candy and ordered milk and crackers served at school.

The city required that measles cases be reported.  One father of ten children, earning $20 a week, was arrested for failing to report measles in his family and fined $100.  He was given a stay by the judge, but had to report every day to the court.  Dr. Gloyne planned in October to talk about health to every PTA in the city in one month's time.

1921:  Health Education was stressed in 1921.  Some schools purchased scales for measuring and weighing.  Every sixth child was known to be underweight, and milk was being served in twenty schools.  Opposition in the legislature to hiring of school nurses would remove them from the schools and Dr. Gloyne said it would be an expensive move.  In June the PTA wondered what the schools would do when the Red Cross support was withdrawn in the fall.  School conditions had improved, but improvements were needed. 

The PTA's of the city wanted a junior college.  Grant Landrey, board member, hoped the city could establish a municipal college like the one in Cincinnati.  The board talked of an arrangement with Kansas City University, although the law set limits on the amount of money which could be paid to a secular institution.  In August, the board decided that the building program must come first and plans for a junior college were dropped.

The high school at Ninth and Minnesota held its first PTA meeting on March 24, 1921.  Two hundred patrons elected Henry E. Dean (or Mrs. Henry Dean?) president.  S. J. Kelly, dean of the School of Education at the University, and Hattie Moore Mitchell of the Teachers College at Pittsburg were speakers.

Two bills concerning the board were proposed in Topeka.  One called for a three-member board, the other for one from each ward, eight in all.  The PTA wanted a woman on the board.  At a state meeting a woman member of the Wichita board of education spoke.  Women in the audience called out, "How did you do it?"  "Lobbying," she shouted back.

1923:  Seven years before, Whittier children had moved from the junior high building where one wing was to have housed them. Junior high students soon occupied the whole school, and Whittier children used the portables. The move to the building at Tenth and Gilmore was announces on April 26. Books would be taken home on Friday and returned to the new school on Monday. On the Saturday in between the PTA would give a housewarming.

Four nurses were elected in April, but in October it was announced that they could not be paid. E. B. Sheley, a taxpayer had Enright file a restraining order. President Beggs asked Enright to do it, saying that he was tired of being questioned why the nurses were hired. He personally wanted then and the board had PTA backing for employing them.

Civic and PTA organizations in Armourdale and Argentine wanted a separate school for Mexican children and said they would appeal to the Mexican counselor for help keeping the children apart. The board owned a site formerly occupied by a school in Argentine. Mexican children at Emerson could attend there when a school was built. Plans were made for a three or four-room, one-story brick building on South 26th Street at the north end of the "horseshoe" viaduct. One hundred fifty Mexicans would occupy it February, 1923, provided the Santa Fe planned to continue employment of the parents.

1929:  Kansas City businessmen made plans to erect a first-class hotel. Rosedale High School students, aided by the American Legion, the Rosedale Civic Club, the PTA, and the Board of Education clamored for a new stadium. "Buy a sack of cement for the Rosedale Stadium" read the slogan on their "booster" buttons as the solicited contributions from Rosedale citizens.

PTA members held "Bundle Days" and mended old clothes for their Thrift Shop.

1930:  The high school (KCKs High School at 9th & Minnesota) moved its music classes to the Jayhawk Hall across the street from the school. Penmanship and spelling were dropped as special subjects. Sophomores needed a course in vocational and educational guidance to alternate with gym as a required course. The PTA offered to install flood lights at the new stadium. They would conform to specifications but cause no expense to the board.

1932:  After announcing his retirement, Superintendent M. E. Pearson began his last round of visits to the schools in February.  Younger administrators sought his advice when he came to their schools where he spent a half hour in each room.  On February 10, the Hawthorne PTA held a reception at the Western Highlands Presbyterian Church.  Two hundred fifty people attended.  Instead of retiring to a life of rest and travel as he announced he would do, Mr. Pearson continued as a teacher of education and psychology at Junior College.

1934:  Schools in Kansas and everywhere else in the nation were suffering from dwindling finances.    A strong PTA helped in the fight for maintaining schools as did the teachers' associations.

1935:  In spite of the school's being housed in two buildings, the Wyandotte PTA celebrated the 300th anniversary of the founding of the American high school by presenting a pageant.

1947:  School time was saved when the PTA took over the sale of United States Savings Stamps in the schools.

1950:  At the request of PTA groups, sixteen automatic lights were installed at school crossings.

1956:  On October 28, before the new school was dedicated, American Legion Post 83 presented a new flag to the Frances Willard PTA. 

1959:  When the state bought Maccochaque School for use as part of the University of Kansas Medical Center, children were sent to the enlarged Snow School.  On February 15, 1959, PTA's of both schools were united into one group.  Officers of the two groups, Miss Hazel Meeks (retired) of Maccochaque, and Miss Beth Chittenden of Snow, participated in a skit, "The Marriage of Mr. Snow to Miss Maccochaque."   The school's "married" name became officially Frank Rushton in memory of the well-known Rosedale citizen who had served on the board of education in both cities.  For twenty-seven years before his death, he had been president of the Kansas City board.

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Contact the History Webmaster - Patricia Adams

History Site created on December 02, 2002
Page last updated: 05-Jan-2009