Paw Paw High School, or PPHS, was a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

Paw Paw, Illinois Paw Paw is a village in Lee County in the U.S. state of Illinois. As of the 2020 census, the village was home to 830 people, down from 870 at the 2010 census. It was settled in the mid 19th century and by 1878 the village had a railroad connectio ...

from 1841 until 2019. The campus was located 20 miles south of

Rochelle, Illinois Rochelle is a city in Ogle County, Illinois. The population was 9,446 at the 2020 census. Rochelle is approximately west of Chicago and south of Rockford. History Originally named Hickory Grove, the town sits at the intersection of two rail ...

, and served a mixed village and

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are describ ...

residential community.

History

Paw Paw High School originally ran for three years. The first graduating class was in 1842. In 1896, the school moved from a three year curriculum to four years, and therefore had no graduating class that year. In January of 1883 the frame schoolhouse burned to the ground. In January of 1897, the brick schoolhouse which replaced it in 1885 for a cost of $12,000 also burned to the ground. It was insured for $8,000, and was out of reach of the fire system. In 1897, a new building was designed, to be built for a cost of $15,000. The building was designed by Weary and Habu of Freeport, Illinois. The old school grounds were exchanged for a new four-acre site. In 2018 it was proposed that the high school students, and one teacher, be sent to Indian Creek High School, with whom they already shared some resources including athletics teams and Spanish classes. Part of the attraction of Indian Creek was a significantly larger number of available course offerings. The citizens of Paw Paw voted to close the high school (as of the spring of 2019) and send their children to Indian Creek, but still retained Kindergarten through 8th grade. The deactivation was for a two year period. In 2021 the district reevaluated the situation, and additionally, nearby

Mendota High School Mendota High School is a public high school in Mendota, California, United States, attended largely by Hispanic-Americans. In the 2015–2016 school year, the school contained 755 students. 99% were Hispanic, with the remainder Asian. In 2011, th ...

invited Paw Paw to send their high school students there. Indian Creek had offered to take 60 Paw Paw students for $10,500 per student; transportation would be an additional $150,000 per year. Mendota offered to educate the students for $6,000 per year. A 2022 survey found that students were able to take more classes and approved of the move. The high school building was repurposed for junior high school.

Academics

In 2009, 62% of Paw Paw High School students met or exceeded standards on the Prairie State Achievement Exam, an Illinois state test part of the

No Child Left Behind Act The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) was a U.S. Act of Congress that reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act; it included Title I provisions applying to disadvantaged students. It supported standards-based education ...

. The average high school graduation rate in the period 1999–2009 was 89.1%.

Athletics

Paw Paw High School competed in the

Little Ten Conference The Little Ten Conference is the oldest continuous high school athletic conference in the state of Illinois. Founded in 1919, it comprised the following small high schools in northern Illinois: Earlville, Hinckley, Leland, Paw Paw, Plano, R ...

and was a member school in the

Illinois High School Association The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) is an association that regulates competition of interscholastic sports and some interscholastic activities at the high school level for the state of Illinois. It is a charter member of the National Fed ...

. Their mascot was the Bulldogs, with school colors of purple and gold. The school has no state championships on record in team athletics and activities. After discontinuing football for 47 years, Paw Paw reinstituted the sport (8 man football) with a partial basis in 1956. The inaugural team fielded 11 players. In 1956 a full schedule was implemented, with a plan to join a conference the next year.

Notable people

Robben Wright Fleming Robben Wright Fleming (December 18, 1916 – January 11, 2010), also known in his youth as Robben Wheeler Fleming, was an American lawyer, professor, and academic administrator. He was president of the University of Michigan from 1968 to 1979� ...

, lawyer, professor, academic administrator, president of the University of Michigan

References

External links

Paw Paw Community Unit School District 271
{{authority control Public high schools in Illinois Schools in Lee County, Illinois 1841 establishments in Illinois 2019 disestablishments in Illinois Defunct schools in Illinois