Chamblee and Wiley (Wylie) School, 1916 DeKalb school surveys

This image from the 1916 book, “Educational Surveys of DeKalb County and Union County, GA” is not clear and may not show the entire Chamblee School building. In contrast, go to my blog post on Chamblee School to see a 1905 photo of the school.

I’ve been slowly working my way through a 1916 book with slightly blurry photos of DeKalb County schools and descriptions of the schools in that year. The book “Educational Surveys of DeKalb County and Union County, GA” describes Chamblee as a standard school. The book defines a standard school as having a good teacher, good order and management, an accurate school register, a daily program posted in the classroom and a teacher’s manual on the desk. There were also recommendations for playgrounds , classrooms and restrooms.

Chamblee School, in 1916, was located on a two-acre lot with small playgrounds, but poorly kept (according to the survey). There was a school garden, 5 classrooms, a cloak room, and a domestic science room. There were single patent desks and good black boards. As usual in the survey, additional details of the school are included, such as a small library and a good well with individual drinking cups. Clubs at the school included cooking club, corn club, plus a home improvement club.

There were five teachers teaching 200 students in ten grades.

Another DeKalb County school described in the book is Wiley. Since I was not familiar with Wiley School, I started out by researching the location only to discover I had written about this school before, but under the spelling Wylie.

Since a photo in Vivian Price Saffold’s 1983 Chamblee book identifies multiple children named Wylie, I assume that spelling is correct. The school was in the area that is known today as Embry Hills, along Chamblee Tucker Road near I-285 and Henderson Mill Road.

It may not be a high quality image, but I still love that the children are playing a game together out front of the school. Wonder what game it is? Ring around the rosie?

Back to the description in the 1916 school survey, Wylie is a standard school on an improved one-half-acre lot. There was a small playground and garden, two classrooms and two cloak rooms. The school is described as having good blackboards, maps, pictures, and a library. There are single patent desks. One teacher was teaching 66 students in seven grades in 1916. That teacher was Genie Park, who is also identified in a 1915 Atlanta newspaper called The Jeffersonian as a teacher at Wylie School.