Identifier,913039
Interviewee,Zelda Segal
Date,3/25/14
Interviewer,Molly Schnoke
Abstract,"Massachusetts native, Zelda Segal discusses what it was like teaching at Boulevard School in Cleveland Heights for over thirty years. Segal gives a background of her life growing up during the Great Depression and attending college during World War 2. She then gives the reasons why she came to Cleveland; along with teling the story about how she got a master's in education. She worked for the Cleveland Heights school district for thirty years and relates many of those experiences. Integration and student-testing are what stick out in her mind as the most memorable events that happened while she worked at Boulevard School. Another interesting memory, Segal brings up, was lunchtime. She says that students would go home at noon and have lunch with their mothers, and Segal gives her reasons for why she thinks that stopped. She concludes the interview by discussing why she came to Judson Park."
Tags,"Massachusetts, Great Depression, World War 2, rationing, Cleveland Heights, University Heights, Western Reserve University, Boulevard School, integration, bussing, African American, unrest, standardized testing, severe weather, Judson Park"
Special Notes,
0,"Introductions; born: Dec 29, 1922 in Brockton, Massachusetts; describes Brockton as a small factory city about 20 miles south of Boston"
1,"Brockton was not very picturesque, pretty nondescript. The factories that were there were shoe factories, but that faded early in her life - not much replaced it; She lived in two homes in Brockton"
2,"She lived in a three-bedroom, shingle house; they moved to a bigger house in Brockton (when she was 9) but she went to the same school; She liked school and her teachers, but she wasn't an ambitious student"
3,"Talks about what her and her friends did when they were young, play games, ride bikes, and that sort of thing; Remembers somethings about the depression"
4,She felt that they were very fortunate because it did not affect them as much as others; They would help people in need - there were often strangers at their table for dinner and lunch - people who needed meals; Her mother loved serving people in this way - she isn't sure how people found out
5,"They were never turned away; she learned early on that people who were so unfortunate during the Great Depression; The word ""relief"" was used a lot and mentions Franklin Roosevelt and his programs to help people"
6,"Read something called the ""weekly reader"" and they would make fun of the WPA and NRA - people sitting on shovels, but as she progressed she realized how much WPA and NRA put people to work; but what saved the country was World War 2"
7,She graduated college in 1944 and she was in college the entire time that the war was going on; Describes FDR's fight with congress to go to war - mentions the Lend-Lease program
8,"She says that Pearl Harbor hit them very hard; it came to them as such a shock - they did not have any idea, she believes now that there were those in the government who know something was going to happen - but she doesn't believe that FDR knew"
9,"She compares the feeling that they got (traumatizing) from Pearl Harbor to the feeling people got once they found out about nuclear weapons; Describes where she was during Pearl Harbor - they went out to their beach cottage, it was a Sunday"
10,"Continues to recall where she was during Pearl Harbor, they were on the outer reaches of boston harbor"
11,"They had the radio on in the car but  they knew the full extent of the issue; They knew the basic facts about the Japanese bombing, but they did not realize the full ramifications of what had happened; Describe what happened immediately after Pearl Harbor"
12,"The next day people kept on their business as though nothing happened, but they were afraid; People needed to get back to what they did, didnŐt feel the affects for a while."
13,"The effects of war, according to Zelda, was rationing as part of the war efforts, needed to take the ration book every where; describes what they had shortages of, meet, cheese, cream, etc"
14,"They had to do with less, but Zelda says that it was nothing compared to the trouble and starvation that plagued Europe; For them it was just an annoyance not a hardship; graduated college in june 1944"
15,"When she graduated the war was still on, and they were used to it - didn 't like it - but were used to it; She had to find work at a department store in Boston"
16,"She worked at the department store for a few years and then she went to secretarial school because thatŐs what women did; because even though the war was on, women couldn't get jobs outside of the factory and as secretaries; She moved to cleveland when she got married - met her husband over the summer at a house party"
17,"Her husband was a Clevelander and so they moved to Cleveland; he operated a small foundry, smelted magnesium at a company called Armet, a small company not in existance anymore"
18,"She had visited Cleveland to see her husband before they were married; At the time, her husband lived in Cleveland Heights - would go downtown on occasion but wouldn't spend a lot of time down there took a car to get there"
19,"They first had an apartment in University Heights at Fairmont Circle - then they moved to a home near John Carroll then after her husband died she moved to an apartment near Shaker Square; She took a few courses at Western Reserve University - did not intend to get a degree, just take a few courses"
20,"She wanted to take these courses because she was working with kids, she wanted to sign up, but they couldn't sign her up because she had a degree already - she needed to sign up for a degree and her husband convinced her to do it"
21,"These courses were just pick-up courses, not prescribed program - just took what she wanted; she took all the courses she needed to take and took the exam and passed; She graduated in 1960 and started around 1957"
22,"Mostly women in her program, a few men, but they were mostly women because they were all teachers trying to get their master's; most of the classes were night classes; Says that Western Reserve was in an unsafe neighborhood"
23,Says that there were many incidents that occurred; most of her classes were in Mather - she spent no time on the campus - just went to class then got in her car and went home; many muggings that occurred;
24,"She thinks that it was during those years that a security unit began to evolve; she says that the campus life did not affect her at all because she was not a college student; She lived by John Carroll, but there were not many students roaming around - strange in her opinion - many cars pulled up but no students"
25,"She graduated in 1960 and she went to work, she applied in Cleveland Heights and she started teaching the second grade, which she liked; That first year was a year of learning - she learned how to teach by teaching; Boulevard School"
26,She loved Boulevard School - great faculty and cooperative parents; she thinks the schooling atmosphere was different than it is today
27,They did not feel like they needed to put pressure on children by testing and testing; but the curriculum is not as advanced as it is today; The tests they gave were more assessments of where the children were to teach them what they needed to know - not to meet a standard
28,"They graded, but they were easy because it was just the second grade; Taught the basic curriculum -social studies, art, science, music, etc; took them on field trips and had other programs"
29,"They did a variety of things with the children to keep them interested; But she says the chidren would come back and write about what they remembered, and they never wrote about these excellent field trips and things you would expect; instead, they wrote about classes"
30,She taught at boulevard school for thirty-some years; she says she started working there at the beginning of integration; they never had bussing; she says that when she first started teaching children went home for lunch
31,"She says that there were only a handful of children who stayed at school for lunch - needed permission from the principal - needed a good reason, couldn't just send the child with a lunch one day"
32,"She says this waned because women started to work more, and because of the change in demographics; she remembers when the first African American student came into her classroom; they were happy and they thought that education would change society's perceptions - it wasn't as successful as they thought it was going to be"
33,"Says that she never had children, but that she had collegues that had children and they would drop them off at daycares nearby; some who had infants would take their lunches and nurse their babies"
34,"The school day changed, and the cultural structure changed; oftentimes, these kids would have to go home to an empty house for lunch"
35,She does not know how Cleveland Heights as a community handled integration because she did not live there; but as a school they tried to  bring those students up to speed but it wasn't a great influx - it happened very gradually
36,"They did not create a set program, but they would work with the individual student; Integration happened with the university heights schools because they were part of the Cleveland Heights school district; "
37,"She doesnŐt know how University Heights as a community handled integration because she was not invovled with community affairs; she doesnŐt recall when Cleveland started bussing, but she remembers that it was all over the news and in the papers"
38,"She says that people were not accepting, and that it was very disruptive; the black community was up in arms because they felt the white people were getting more accomodations - which was true according to her; White flight started happening too - but also mentions African Americans who started leaving"
39,"She and her colleagues talked about what was happening in Cleveland, at the beginning they thought education was the answer and that integrating was the right thing to do; but she says that they were na•ve to the power of education"
40,They thought it wasn't going to be as difficult as it turned out; She says there was one time during a winter where they closed for one week because of all of the snow
41,They lost their power for the week; the children were happy to return to school when school started again; says the snow knocked out the power lines 
42,"During that week they just stayed home - had to tough it out; She doesnŐt remember much about the energy crisis at all, except the lines at gas stations and they turned down the heat in the schools"
43,"She remembered the lines, but she avoided them and didnŐt have to wait very long; she retired in 1990-1991, she says there has been an enormous change since she left"
44,"She also left before ""no child left behind"" and the push for testing; teachers were accountable before, but after the push for testing teachers felt more pressure to educate in a certain way - restricted freedoms in the classroom"
45,"She says that there was a prescribed method to teach in order to get the best test results, but that meant losing certain students;"
46,"Her husband died 7 years into their married and she did not start teaching by the time he died; For entertainment she liked to go to the theatre, movies, and have a gathering in someone's home"
47,"Molly asked what it was like for her on new years of 2000; She says that she never understood the big deal surrounding new years in general, and 2000 wasn't that much different"
48,Why did she come to live at Judson: had physical problems and couldn't maintain a house on her own; she likes the people at Judson and the staff is great
49,She happens to be on a great floor and she likes the people on her floor; she had a couple friends who moved to Judson prior and that's why she became familiar with Judson
50,Thanks and END OF INTERVIEW