Reprinted here by special permission of the author, Cindy Beckman, a retired Conway High School history teacher who writes local history.

Students and teachers are headed back to the classroom! But for the first time in 45 years, I will not be among them. After a lifetime of going to school (30 years of that as a teacher), I have retired. Forty-five first days of school and lots of memories!

There was no public Pre-K or Kindergarten in the late 1960s. I attended a half-day First Baptist Church Kindergarten class taught by Betty Courtway, wife of Bob Courtway. Mr. Courtway was a member of the Conway School Board. Later the district named a middle school after him. Her enthusiasm for children and learning gave us all a good start. Continue reading →

Reprinted here by special permission of the author, Cindy Beckman, a retired Conway High School history teacher who writes local history.Soon teachers and children will be returning to the classroom for another year of learning and growing. But going to school in Faulkner County hasn’t always been the experience that it is today. We all have those school days memories that pop into our head at this time of year.

Students a century ago would only have attended school about six months out of the year Continue reading →