Christian Day School

 

CHRISTIAN DAY SCHOOL - JESUS SAID "FEED MY LAMBS"

This command was also one of those that were foremost in the minds of our founding fathers and pastor in that they pursued to establish a Christian Day School very early after organizing as a congregation. They found that there was a need for considerable mission work in this field. There seems to have been a feeling that the public schools of Madison were of such a high caliber that a parochial school could not compete, especially when their students went on to high school and college. Our first called pastor, Pastor G. W. Fischer, did not share this view and from the very beginning he worked for the founding of a Day School.  By the fall of 1926 he had convinced the Mission Board of the Western Wisconsin District that a school would be a worthwhile undertaking and in the minutes of the Eastside Congregational meeting on October 28, 1926 we read:  Motion made and seconded that we take moral responsibility of the Lutheran School to be started February 1, 1927 at Gallagher Park.  Motion carried.  Thus Eastside Lutheran School began in a house on Fair Oaks Avenue provided by Mr. Clyde Gallagher.  Although the school was originally opened at a rather unusual time on February 1, 1927, nevertheless there were 21 children enrolled in grades 1 - 4. The start of this school proved its value as a missionary activity, for within one year 4 families that had sent children joined our congregation.

 

                                         

 

The Mission Board provided the first teacher, Mrs. William (Renata) Beschnett.  The first school house, however, proved to be unsuitable so Mr. Gallagher provided another house for the opening of school in the fall of 1927.  If the Day School was to be successful, the upper grades had to be added.  Accordingly in the summer of 1927, the annex was added to the original chapel on the corner of East MiffIin and North streets to take care of the upper grades while the lower grades continued in the house in Gallagher Plat.  The enrollment immediately went up to 59 students.  It was then arranged that one teacher be paid by the Synod and the other by the congregation.  The split school continued through the spring of 1930, but was a source of constant irritation.  At a special Council meeting of May 12, 1930, the decision was reached to move the lower grades to the church site.  So during the summer of 1930, the basement of the annex was prepared as a classroom.  This arrangement continued until the fall of 1942 when a consolidated school in cooperation with the Synodical Conference Churches came into being.  To take care of the large number of students, the rest of the church basement was furnished as a classroom.  Crowding was still an issue and other conditions were far from satisfactory.

 

                                    

 

Thoughts about having a joint or consolidated school with one or more of the Synodical Conference churches in Madison seems to have been on the minds of some of our members almost from the beginning of our history.  Even the School Board meeting minutes of April 1, 1930 mention a joint school with Holy Cross, although nothing came of this.  At the congregational meeting of January 4, 1931, it was resolved that plans for a joint school with other Synodical Conference churches be approved.  The matter rested here, perhaps because the Mission Board stated in a letter of February 24, 1931 that for financial reasons the Board "will not permit any steps to be taken" towards a joint school "without orders from the Board."  This position is understandable because our congregation was not to become entirely self-supporting until June 1, 1941.  In view of such strong inhibition, the matter could not be addressed; but neither was it completely forgotten.  On March 3, 1938, the School Board of our congregation asked the Mission Board for permission to meet with proper authorities of Holy Cross and Our Savior's to discuss an amalgamated school, but  Holy Cross wished not to pursue the matter any further.  Yet four years later, we learn from the minutes of the council meeting of August 3, 1942 that we were approached by Holy Cross and requested whether their students could be taken into our school because it was not possible for them to get a teacher.  The new Madison Lutheran School was organized upon purchasing the old Harvey School at 1001 Jennifer Street, an available public school building on April 27, 1945.  The following Synodical Conference congregations were parties to the agreement:

 

       7. St. Paul Lutheran (LCMS)