A newspaper story about Oil City's numerous public school buildings in the 1930s prompted city resident Marcy Karns to dig out an old report card that belonged to her grandmother, Pearl Brown.

The card, issued for the 1910-11 school term, showed Pearl, a third-grader, attended the Cottage Hill School on the North Side. The youngster was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John S. Brown who lived at 65 Manning St. Her father was a laborer and her mother was a homemaker.

The bustling yet understated Cottage Hill neighborhood, one that was next door, ironically, to the illustrious mansion-style Palace Hill neighborhood, covered the hillside overlooking the downtown North Side business district.

Both Cottage Hill and Palace Hill, incorporated into the city proper but singled out by their residents as specific neighborhoods, had their own elementary schools.

Except for those two buildings, plus Central School on the South Side and the high school on Spring Street, the remaining seven elementary schools in the city were known by their ward names, as in the Fourth Ward School (on Innis Street), during Pearl's school career.

An early city directory shows the Cottage Hill School had seven teachers and a principal during the first decade of the 1900. Pearl's report card lists Cecilia Nellis, who lived with her large family at 116 Hone Ave., as her teacher.

"The report card shows my grandmother was a good student, more or less, and was an especially good speller," Karns said. "I'm impressed by the deportment grade (100), too."

Advice is offered

In addition to grades, the 1910-11 report card suggests to parents that elementary school age children should do their work in school, rather than at home.

It was possible to get all their work done during school hours, according to the report card message, "unless (students) waste their opportunity to succeed in school by inattention or idleness."

But, continued the education missive, certain subjects - reading, spelling, geography or history - could be "done aloud" at home if parents were interested.

The school district also urged parents to pay close attention to their children's work and, should a student fail to do satisfactory work, the causes could be "irregular attendance, bad eyesight, poor teeth, insufficient sleep, lack of wholesome nourishing breakfasts, adenoids or growths in the nose or throat, or indifference of the home to the importance of education."

In any case, concluded the Cottage Hill School report card, parents with an issue regarding their children's schooling should quickly visit a classroom when school was in session.

"Better visit the school first and avoid the trouble," advised the school district.

Young Pearl was promoted to fourth grade and went on to attend local schools. She married Clifford Rankin, who worked at Oilwell Supply in Siverly, and they lived at 503 E. Fourth St.

They had two children, Richard and Violet. Richard Rankin is Marcy Karns' father.