It is so quiet around here. For the first time in 35 years, the doors of Deer School have failed to open. We greatly miss the shouting and laughter of the happy boys and girls. Fate has decreed that the school should be discontinued. With the coming of the buses, Deer was unfortunately situated as a school center.
Four buses reach into the Deer district, taking the pupils to other school centers. We can’t blame the pupils who had to walk from one to three miles to Deer school for wanting to ride the buses passing right by their door. But Deer has an enviable record. Thirty-five years ago a school was established in this place. I was one of the first teachers. Fire destroyed the first, rough building. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because in its place, the citizens erected an up-to-date building. Later it became necessary to erect a second building and add two more teachers.
The school spirit always ran high. Deer was a constant feeder of the Haleyville and Double Springs high schools. Today, 28 teachers, 3 County Superintendents of Education, 1 member of the County Board, 3 preachers, 1 probate judge, and a large number of high school graduated look upon Deer as their elementary alma mater.
No, Deer is not dead. Its spirit continues to live in the lives of its former pupils. It was my privilege to teach around 20 terms at this place, and I want to thank the patrons for their kind cooperation during those years.
Deer, like many other small, country schools started consolidating with the larger schools because of the introduction of transportation. This reduced the need for a school in each district. Deer opened about 1906 and consolidated with Haleyville on September 9, 1941. For the 1920-1921 school year, Deer had a budget of $450.00. This small community also had a post office that established on May 17, 1898 and discontinued May 31, 1907. It had two postmasters: Ida Vanderford and Benjamin Weaver.
