CRESTVIEW — Last week’s history column briefly touched on early Okaloosa County students' challenges, including visiting critters in the classroom.
Florida laws, which allowed free-roaming livestock, proved hazardous for students’ lunches, according to “Crestview: The Forkland," by Betty Curenton and Claudia Patten.
Pigs were a particular problem.
“No sooner had the chattering students fallen out onto the playground than the ever-hungry swine nudged forward for their noontime scraps,” the book states. “Some of the fortunate children would scurry to the nearest tree, climb an overhanging limb and eat their meals perched precariously, but safely above the hog pack.”
Lunches principally consisted of biscuits "with finger holes and syrup poured into them,” the authors said, describing what's locally called a “country boy donut.”
After the Crestview School burned down in 1920, classes moved to the Baptist Tabernacle on Hickory Avenue. “Goats often entered the building during the week, leaving fleas and an unpleasant odor,” the book states. “On one occasion, some adventurous boys turned 18 owls loose in the building, creating another obstacle.”
Even after stock law reforms, visiting critters still periodically provided a break from lessons. Until air conditioned schools were prevalent, even as late as the 1960s, neighborhood pets would sometimes wander into classrooms at schools with outside–facing classrooms, such as Northwood and Bob Sikes Elementary, when teachers left the doors open for cross-ventilation.
Answering nature’s calls was another challenge for early students. Until parents built outhouses behind the schools, potty breaks behind a tree or shrubbery were the norm.
Overturning outhouses “became a favorite extracurricular sport for some of the boys…,” the book states.
Visit the Baker Block Museum at the corner of Highway 189 and State Road 4, Baker, 537-5714, to learn more about local history.
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: NORTH OKALOOSA HISTORY: Schools go hog wild