Pioneer School is a small school outside of Billings Heights.  We are an independent school district.  Pioneer School has been here for almost 100 years.  The original old building is still in use; a newer building was built in the 1950’s and added on to in the 1960’s. 

The following is a brief history by Mildred Schroeder, a resident of the area near Pioneer School. 

Pioneer School was built in 1905.  At that time four other schools, now gone, were built between Billings and Shepherd, namely, Hawthorne, Progressive, Longfellow and Emerson.  These along with Pioneer School were all in the Billings School District and were subject to the Billings School Board and Billings school taxes.  One by one these schools petitioned and received their own districts.  Pioneer and Progressive remained in the same district.

When these schools were named, the Billings school board wanted to name them after pioneer settlers in the district.  Pioneer School wanted to be the Dover School after John H. Dover, and the Progressive would have been the Toliver School.  Mr. Dover objected because he felt the name “Dover” would mean little to future generations whereas “Pioneer” would indicate the period in which it was built.  John Dover was the rural representative on the Billings school board until the districts were divided.

The Pioneer building had its first full class year by 1906.  The first teacher was May Blachley.  She walked or rode her horse to school, as did some of the pupils.  There was a barn in back of the school for the saddle horses—also there were the two girls’ and boys’ outhouses.  These were fine when the weather was mild, but very cold on winter days.

There was no finished basement for numerous years, just an excavation which held the hot air furnaces and a coal bin.  The students used to catch water snakes and frogs there.  There were four hot air registers in the schoolroom, one in each corner.  The registers were often used by the students at the recess time for bases for various games when weather kept the youngsters indoors.

Mr. Jim Sindelar’s family still holds the deed to the land which Pioneer School sits on.  The land was transferred to Jim’s Grandmother from District 2 and District 37 in 1911.  Jim’s mother, Mildred Schroeder was in either the first or second class of Pioneer School, she was born in 1900.

The following information is according to William Michael Jr., who was on the school board for many years at Pioneer.  It tells us a little more about the new building.

The new building’s main section was built in approximately 1959 - 1960.  Some community members wanted Chandler Cohagen to be the architect, so this is who was hired.  The addition to the main building was put on in approximately 1963.  Mr. Michael was on the school board at this time and they hired Larry Schroeder to be the architect for the addition. 

Pioneer School has had a very strong PTA for many years.  In earlier times, the ladies would serve cookies and coffee after each meeting.  Who served and what was served was always noted in the meetings’ minutes.  The PTA has done many things for the school from buying new computers to new playground equipment to paying for the students to go to the Alberta Bair Theater to bringing in performances to the school.  There is always a great core of parents willing to help out.   

Pioneer School serves grades Kindergarten through 6th grades.  We average about 60 students per year.  There are 6 teachers and a certified aide at Pioneer, plus support staff of a secretary, bus drivers and the school clerk.  Students have many enrichment opportunities with small group exposure.  The student to teacher ratio is approximately 8 to 1.   The students have great access to computers and the internet.  All classrooms have at least two computers for students use.  Students tend to do very well when they go on to the higher grades, earning honor roll awards, National Honor Society memberships and several have even been their class Valedictorians.

Since the inception of No Child Left Behind, Pioneer School has made AYP each year.  The students do well on the IOWA Test of Basic Knowledge.  The fourth grade students also take the MontCas test and the NAEP and do well on both of these compared to the national average. 

Pioneer Students have had the opportunity to participate in DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education).  This program is beneficial to the students in learning how to deal with peer pressures and saying no to drugs and alcohol.  We feel we have a very wholesome atmosphere, free from drugs, alcohol and tobacco, at Pioneer School.   We hope this program will be in Pioneer’s future again soon.

We feel we have a great school and our students receive a great education.  We are looking forward to the next 100 years!