The History of our Public Schools
Wyandotte County, Kansas

1844

2009

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Lloyd E. Wolfe

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Vitals	Born 30 Aug 1852 in West Virginia Died 20 Apr 1925 Buried Mission Burial Park, San Antonio, Texas __________
Parents	Lemuel R. Wolfe, farmer __________
Education	Self-educated by continuous and persistent study __________
Family	Married Annie Smith in 1893 at Moberly, Missouri Two children: Lloyd Smith and Laura Smith __________
Early Life	Moved with family to Kentucky at age 13. 1877 - Passed teacher examination and began teaching near Atchison. Established reputation as leading teacher and pioneering pedagogue in the state of Kansas. Moved to MO and taught in the communities of Plattsburg (1878-1882), Nevada (1882-1883), and Moberly (1883-1890). Started school library at Moberly by raising funds by charging fees for his performances in the Opera House. 1889-1890 - Served as county superintendent of Randolph County. 1890 - Joined National Education Association 1890-1894 - Served as superintendent of free schools for the state of Missouri. 1894-1898 - Served as professor and head of the department of history and political economics in Kansas City, Missouri Central High School. 1898-1902 - Superintendent of Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools 1898 and 1902 - Served on NEA committee to investigate educational problems of the day and the NEA committee for the scientific study of education. __________
Superintendency	Elected on 21 Jun 1902 to succeed Thomas M. Colston. Established enriched course study that combined academics with manual training. Offered annual school of methods with notable educators to train teachers and prospective teachers, 1903-1907. Printed a course of study for 1904-1905 and four annual reports for the years 1902/03, 1903/04, 1904/05 and 1906/07. Established manual training program in San Antonio elementary schools with sewing and cooking for girls and gardening and woodworking for boys. Added supplementary readers and other books and improved the school libraries. Added manual training, industrial arts, and commercial education programs in the high school. Passed two bond issues of $50,000 in Sept 1903 and $200,000 in Apr 1907, and increased the number of public schools from 20 to 28. Increased student enrollment from 8,664 to 11,321 and the number of teachers from 150 to 251. Launched a campaign to eradicate mosquitoes in the city with the assistance of school children. Implemented plan of using prospective teachers as substitutes to give them experience and then hired them as vacancies occurred. Lost support of a School Board majority in 1908 and decided not to seek re-election as superintendent of public schools. __________
Later Years	Established Wolfe Vocational School, a private trade school for boys, 1908-1911. Served as superintendent of Memphis, TN public schools 1911-1913. Taught students during his retirement how to make simple household repairs and gave them fig and pecan saplings to grow. __________
Writings	The Education System of Missouri, St. Louis, Woodward & Tiernan Printing Company, 1893. "The Human Side of Geography," pp. 143-157 in NEA, Journal of Proceedings and Addresses of the Forty-Second Annual Meeting, Washington D.C., National Education Association, 1903. "Teaching for Power," Texas School Journal, v. 20, no. 7 (Jan 1903), 355-356. "Shall the Examining and Licensing of Teachers Set a Model in Pedagogy?," Elementary School Teacher, v. 4, no. 3 1903), 189-191. "The Organization of Subject-Matter for the Purpose of Instruction," Texas School Journal, v. 21, no. 10 (April 1904_, 1009-1013. "The Recognition of Certificates and Diplomas Granted (a) by State and County Authorities, (b) by Schools of Education," pp. 306-307 in NEA, Journal of Proceedings and Addresses of the Forty-Third Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., National Education Association, 1904. Edited Nathaniel Hawthorne, Wonder-Book for school use, New York, Macmillan Company, 1905. "How to Make the Library More Serviceable to Students of School Age from the Superintendent's View-point," pp. 1099-1104 in NEA, Journal of Proceedings and Addresses of the Forty-Seventh Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., National Education Association, 1908 "Reading in the Elementary Schools," Educational Review, v. 36, no. 3 (Oct 1908), 262-272 "Progress in School Administration," pp. 830-833 in NEA, Journal of Proceedings and Addresses of the Forty-Eighth Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., National Education Association, 1909 "Superintendent Problems," pp. 349-354 in NEA, Journal of Proceedings and Addresses of the Fifty-third Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., National Education Association, 1914 "Training Through Home Work," Elementary School Journal, v. 24, no. 1 (Sept 1923) 63-66 __________

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Contact the History Webmaster - Patricia Adams

History Site created on December 02, 2002
Page last updated: 18-Jun-2009