Les écoles de rang, l'enseignement dans les maisons, la venue des écoles dans le village
- Schools were open between Christmas and New Year's Day and also after June 23. These two excerpts from the book Les écoles de rang by Brother Alban Beaudry (p. 39) show it well: On Friday, December 29, 1898, the parish priest F.A. Baillargé and three commissioners (J.A. Daly, Onésime Brault and Joseph Loranger) signed the following text: "Examinations on December 29, 1898. Several students are passing very well... the others are progressing slowly, but they are making progress. The teacher takes pains and deserves praise. June 28, 1899 examinations. Commissioners Ambrose Rowan, Onésime Brault, John Daly and Father J. Médard Landry signed the following text: "The children seem apathetic, some are careless. The teacher tries (sic)to remedy this problem, but her efforts are not crowned with success. Assistance is also lacking." It was not uncommon for the mistress to teach 6-7 grades in the same class!
- The minutes of the School Commissioners of the Municipality of the Parish of St-Patrick of Rawdon were written with a calligraphy that made it difficult to read. The use of a typewriter appeared at the beginning of the 50s.
- In 1887, the first teacher at the old Kildare school in Range 3 was Louisa Houle. The first teachers in the new school built in 1931 by Hermas Breault in Range 4 (almost opposite the previous one) were Élisabeth and Hélène Cayer.
- At the École des Fourches, corner of Forest Road and Labrèche Road, Bertha Lane, Florina Poirier, Bella Breault, Victoire Beauséjour and Françoise Lane taught there.
- Mrs. Theresa Rowan, a teacher in 1895, received $8 per month for teaching, cleaning and heating the school, which also served as her home.
- The Rawdon Parish School Board offered a salary of $600 for the year 1945-46 to Laurence Pelletier, teacher at school # 5 at Misaël Neveu?
- In 1950, in the village, there were 7 English-speaking Catholic families with 10 school-age children. In the country there were 5 families with 10 school-age children.(Minutes of July 10, 1950).Miss Levesque who taught the English Catholic children received $750 from the parish school board and $750 from the Village school board.
- In 1955, Alice Marchand received $1100 per year for teaching at Beaulac School # 3.
- Many remember the visit of the "Monsieur l'inspecteur" twice a year. The inspector reported to the commissioners to ensure that the schools were well maintained, checked the knowledge of the students and the skills of the teachers and advised the commissioners on the construction of the schools.
- En 1954-1955, à cause du manque de places pour les filles et les garçons de huitième et neuvième année dans les écoles, il en coûtait à la commission scolaire 10$ par mois pour chaque fille qui fréquentait le Couvent Sainte-Anne et 15$/ mois pour chaque garçon qui fréquentait le Collège Saint-Anselme (aujourd’hui le Collège Champagneur).
- In 1957, the last schools in the ranges were closed. Girls and boys from the countryside attended Sainte-Anne and Saint-Louis Schools and the parish school board paid $10 per month per student as tuition to the Village school board.
- For the year 1958-1959, the salary of the Clerics of Saint-Viateur who taught the boys at Saint-Louis School was $2300 for the 8th and 9th grade teachers and $2000 for the 1st through 7th grade teachers. The principal received $2400. The salary of the Sisters of St. Anne was $1600 for the teachers and $1800 for the principal.
- Before the construction of schools and even when it was necessary to wait for their enlargement, improvised classes were rented in houses. In the parish: Misaël Neveu's house, Nadeau's house, Redmond's house, Daly's house, Mr. Shields... In the village: Miss Elisabeth Lévesque's house, Mrs. Larochelle's house, Marcel Robert's house, Bernadette Morin's house, Mrs. Georgette Labrèche's house, Mrs. Duval's house, Jean Pontbriand's house (on Albert street)...
- On the Catholic side, we had the Municipalité scolaire of the parish of St-Patrick de Rawdon. Then we added the Municipalité scolaire of the Village of Rawdon. A single school board (village and parish) called Commission scolaire de Lanaudière, Cascades- l'Achigan, Des Cascades and now Centre des Services des Samares followed from 1963. As for the Protestant school, Rawdon Elementary School, the English school also welcomes English Catholics and is under the jurisdiction of the Wilfrid Laurier School Board.
- Teacher Miss Élisabeth Lévesque with her English-speaking Catholic students at Ste-Anne-de-Beaupré in 1958 (Photo Louise Marin)
