June 18, 2009 — The Country School Association of America has selected WBGU-PBS’s documentary Days of the One Room Schoolhouse as the recipient of the annual CSAA Research and Artistry Award for the best essay, thesis/dissertation, book, website, or video on any aspect of country schooling.
Days of the One Room Schoolhouse tells the story of Northwest and West Central Ohio schools that once peppered the Midwestern states. This documentary relates their history, how they changed over time, and what a typical school day was like through interviews with those who remember life in the one room schools. Veteran Toledo news anchor Jim Blue is the narrator.
“One room schools played an important part in our local history,” says WBGU-PBS producer/director Tom Zapiecki, who wrote and edited the documentary. “But they were also a model for public education in areas settled after Ohio.” Re-enactments inside one room schools at Sauder Village in Archbold, with additional footage of the Zimmerman School in Bowling Green provided by the Wood County Park District, bring history to life.
The documentary includes tours of a variety of Ohio one room schools, including a home that was originally a one room school.
“One room schools are something nearly everyone can relate to because they frequently see the remnants of one room schoolhouses as they drive throughout the region,” Zapiecki adds. “Schools were built about two miles apart so no one had to walk too far for school.”
Zapiecki produced the documentary with the hope that this program would encourage people to learn more about the one room schoolhouses in their area and what they can do to protect and preserve them so their legacy lives on.
Visit the documentary's web site at http://wbgu.org/community/local/OneRoomSchoolhouse/index.html.