Rockway Mennonite School

Classification scheme:

II-4.2

Title: Rockway Mennonite School fonds

Dates of Creation: 1943-2004, predominant 1945-1975

Physical Description: 2.6 m of textual records; 1 optical disc

Administrative History: The Mennonite Conference of Ontario established Rockway Mennonite School in 1945, although discussions of a Mennonite secondary school in Ontario began in the 1920s. The new school recognized the greater need for secondary education as Mennonite young entered more professions and sought to provide greater skills (such as nursing and teaching) to mission and service opportunities. At the same time the school intended to protect Mennonite students from the patriotism of post-war public secondary schools, as well as some teachings then found questionable, like evolution and physical education.

Rockway expanded its facilities multiple times in the 1950s and 1960s, but also encountered increasing financial problems. This led to consideration in the late 1960s and early 1970s of closing the school. This era included a controversial “participatory model” of education that included students in the planning for the school, but also alienated some former supporters of the school.

In 1971 the Mennonite Conference of Ontario turned operation of the school over to an association of primarily Mennonite members. The conference retained ownership of the property, but did not charge rent. The coming of Bill Kruger as principal soon after the association took over brought years of stability and growth to the school. The 1970s also saw the entry of an increasing number of international students attending Rockway in order to earn Canadian credits in preparation for university.

Rockway added grade 13 in 1980 and changed its name to Rockway Mennonite Collegiate. In 1986 it added grades 7 and 8 to the curriculum.

Custodial History: The first records were donated to the Mennonite Archives of Ontario (MAO), when the Archives was still located at Rockway Mennonite School in the 1960s. The largest quantity of records were donated in the early 1990s during Sam Steiner’s research on Rockway Mennonite Collegiate in preparation for his 50^th anniversary history, Lead us on: a history of Rockway Mennonite Collegiate, 1945-1995. Small accruals have come from the Collegiate at various times.

Scope and content: The fonds includes primary and secondary board, administration, faculty and student committee records for the period in which Rockway Mennonite School was directly owned by the Mennonite Conference of Ontario (1945-1971). Some records from the transition years of the early 1970s, and print records of the school after 1971 are also included. The formal administrative records from the “Association” era (1971-present) are retained at Rockway Mennonite Collegiate.

The fonds includes twelve series: 1) Pre-1945 records related to formation of RMS; 2) Constitutions and bylaws; 3) Board minutes and correspondence; 4) Education Planning Committee; 5) Building programs, including fund drive data; 6) Administrative reports and correspondence, including financial records; 7) Faculty minutes, correspondence and curriculum materials; 8) Student committees and publications; 9) Alumni; 10) Women’s Association; 11) Fiftieth Anniversary History book project; and 12) Publications, Programs and Miscellaneous.

Notes: For Rockway Mennonite School / Rockway Mennonite Collegiate student yearbooks (Lighhouse), alumni publications and official history (Steiner, Lead us on…), search the Milton Good Library.
Photographs related to Rockway Mennonite School can be found in the Mennonite Archival Image Database.
Oral interviews related to the Fiftieth Anniversary history project can be found at Hist.Mss. 22.8.
Personnel records from 1945-1971 were withdrawn and returned to Rockway Mennonite Collegiate. Duplicate materials already held in the Milton Good library or Mennonite Conference of Ontario and Quebec fonds in the Archives were also withdrawn.
Original description created in August 2017 by Sam Steiner.

File List:

Series 1: Pre-1945 Records

High School Committee minutes, 1944-1947
High School Committee correspondence, 1943-1944
Administration Committee, 1947
Administration & Faculty minutes, 1945-1946

Note: For addition information on the creation of Rockway Mennonite School, also consult the records of the Mennonite Conference of Ontario from the late 1930s and 1940s. The High School Committee served as the oversight board of Rockway Mennonite School, 1945-June 1947.

Series 2: Constitutions and Bylaws

[19--], 1951, 1963, 1968, 1971
Note: Early undated drafts are pre-1945, as they refer to the “Ontario Mennonite Bible and High School Board.” Beginning in 1971 the bylaws are for the Rockway Mennonite School Association.

Series 3: Board minutes and correspondence, 1945-1971

Minutes (Rockway Mennonite School)
Board and Executive, 1947-1971 (incomplete)
Note: 1967 and following include administrative reports and other documents circulated to the board.
Correspondence, 1947-1971
Inter-School Conference correspondence, 1962/63 (Includes Niagara Christian College, Eden Christian College and the United Mennonite Educational Institute)
Curriculum Committee, 1966
Property Committee, 1945-1948
Personnel Committee
Faculty hiring qualification questionnaire, principal's job description, [19--]
1952, 1969-1971
Finance Committee, [19--], 1948, 1954, 1966-1968
Rockway School and [Rockway] Mennonite Church Committee
1962-1969, 1979-1980
Student Aid, [195-]
Clayton L. Swartzentruber/John W. Snyder relationship
Note: File consists of Rufus Jutzi's notes regarding conflict between Clayton Swartzentruber, Rockway Schools superintendent and John Snyder, Rockway Mennonite Church pastor, 1968
National Association of Christian Schools (Evangelical) and National Union of Christian Schools (Christian Reformed) publications
1960s
Student Recruitment Committee, 1971-1972
“Plebiscite” results re: future of Rockway, 1968
Note: Includes tabulated statistical results by congregation

Series 4: Rockway Mennonite School Association and Board

Note: Includes the Educational Planning Committee/Criteria Study Committee that preceded and planned for the Association

Education Planning Committee, 1967, 1969-1971
Spring and Fall Association meeting reports, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1988, 1989, 1993, 1995
Interim board documents, 1971
Board Minutes, 1971-1972 (incomplete), 1984-1989
Association Affairs Committee
1971, 1973, 1978, 1981, 1988-1991 (incomplete)
Personnel Committee, 1971-1972
Program Committee, 1971-1973
Administration and Finance Committee/ Business and Finance Committee, 1972, 1981
Facility Management Committee, 1981, 1983, 1986 (incomplete)
Note: This committee included representatives of Rockway Collegiate, the Rockway Church, and the Conference
Site Planning Committee, 1976-1978
Procedural Guidelines and related documents, 1973, 1981, 1986-1988
Membership lists/Directories, [19--], 1971, 1977/78, 1985
Study Documents
- “Report of Rockway Criteria Study Committee,” 11 Dec 1969
- “Towards determining the feasibility of an Independently Supported Secondary School in the Mennonite Community” by Laurence Martin, John W. Miller, Gerald Musselman, Carl Zehr, 10 Sept 1970
- “Purpose and Objectives of Rockway Mennonite High School, and Independent School” by John W. Miller, Gerald Musselman, Laurence Martin, Carl Zehr, [19--]
Participatory model documents, [between 1970 and 1975]
Documents related to government funding of private schools in Ontario, 1984-1986
Salary Committee, 1989-90

Series 5: Finance and Building Programs

Correspondence, 1966-1968
Cash Book, capital expenses and donations, 1945-1949
Cash books, operating, 1947-1955
Accounts Book, 1945-1954
Building Fund Cash book, 1948-1960
Building Fund Solicitor’s reports, [195-]
Building Fund Pledge reports by congregation, 1953-1954
Solicitation materials, 1949-1953
Minutes, 1949
Correspondence, promotional literature, 1953-1959
Building-related correspondence with architect, etc., 1958-1960
Building specifications
1954 (classrooms)
1967 (gym)
1967 (kitchen)
Steering Committee (Fundraising – debt and gym)
1966-1969, including documents related to fund drive, 1968
Capital Loan Application, 1967
Building Committee minutes, 1978-1980
Fund Drive documents, 1978-1979
Building invoices, 1978-1981
Long Range Planning, 1985-1988
Insurance policies and correspondence, 1957-1971, predominant 1968-1971

Series 6: Administrative records, including school financial records

Correspondence, 1945-1971
Form letters to parents, 1968-1970, 1981-1983
Form letters to pastors, 1967-1971
Ontario Department of Education, 1969-1972
Youth Census, 1971
Note: A survey of youth in the Mennonite Conference of Ontario and Western Ontario Mennonite Conference
Correspondence, Association era
1970- (includes early correspondence on formation of Association)
1971-1972 (transition to Bill Kruger)
Christian Reformed recruitment, 1971-1972
All-School Retreats, 1967, 1968, 1976-1978
Extra-curricular activities policy, 1970
Lunchroom monitors list, 1970/71
Library regulations, 1973/74
Summer Music school, 1969-1971
Rules/regulations and student handbooks
undated, 1947, [1961?], 1962-1967, 1982, 1990/91, 2007/2008
Student lists, 1972/73, 1975/76, 1982/83
School Calendar (information, course listings, etc.)
1949/50, 1954/55-1960/61, 1961-1962, 1963/64-1965/66, 1967/68, 1973/74-1976/77, 1979-80-1981/82, 1983/84, 1987/88-1991/92, 1994/95, 1995/96, 1997/98-1998/99, 2000/01, 2003/04
Self-Study documents, 1979/80
Initiating Grade 7/8 planning documents and minutes, 1981-1985, 1988
Student Aid Fund documents, 1982-83
Grade 7 and 8 Day schedules and documents, 1981-1986
Senior Choir trip to Carnegie Hall, New York City, 1988/89
Discussions with Central District Ministerial of Mennonite Conference of Ontario and Quebec, 1980-1983
Rockway Tennis Club, 1980
Mennonite Bicentennial activities, 1985-1987
Note: includes choir trip to western Canada

Series 7: Faculty

Faculty/Staff Minutes, 1963-1985 (incomplete)
Courses – Religious Knowledge
Correspondence and curriculum materials, 1970-1972
Courses - Botany
David L. Newlands, Topics in High School Botany, Kitchener: Rockway Mennonite School, 1963. (mimeographed text)
Courses – General curriculum
Schedules, examples from various courses, [195-]
Courses – Music
1969-1971 (includes early music festival planning)

Series 8: Student organizations, committees and publications

Student Council/Student Parliament minutes and other records
1945, 1964-1969, 1968-1973 (includes constitution, work day information), 1981-1983
Literary societies (Aurora and Alathian)
1948-1951, 1952-1956 (includes constitutions, [19--], 1948)
Devotional committee, 1948-1951, 1951-1953, 1953-1959
Student Play
“Marshmellow Peppermint,” 1968/69?
Senior Skip, 1978
Classroom Echoes (student publication), 1945-1947
Rockway Ramblings (called The Observer in 1952/53)
1952-1960, October 1967, October 1969-1972, Feb. 1974
Rockway School publication by Students in support Rockway Rocks fundraising campaign in 1970/71
Valedictory addresses
1955 (authors not identified)

Series 9: Alumni

Alumni Association constitution, [19--], 1951
Executive minutes, 1951-1959, 1959-1970
Correspondence, 1956-1962
Alumni Frontiers, 1958, 1962-1965, 1967
Questionnaire sent to Alumni seeking evaluation of school, [1965?]

Series 10: Women’s Association

Note: The Women’s Committee of the Association ran a Thrift Shop on King Street East in Kitchener for many years to raise money for Rockway. There was also a catering committee, and they sponsored the Festival of the Arts. There was an earlier Women’s Auxiliary.

Minutes and annual meeting, 1976-1978, 1981, Sept. 1984, 1988-1990
Bake Sale and Catering Committee, 1973-1975
Women’s Auxiliary correspondence, etc., 1954-1956
Fine Arts Festival, 1968-1969, 1974, 1976-1981

Series 11: Fiftieth anniversary history book project

Correspondence, 1988-1995
Interview letters and transcripts (not done by Sam Steiner)
Copies of clippings and documents
Note: Includes “The story of Rockway Mennonite School, 1945-1970” by Salome Bauman; “The birth of Rockway Mennonite School” by Ferne Burkhardt, 1982; Forty years of Christian Secondary Education: Rockway Mennonite Collegiate 1945-1985 (list of board members and students)
Questionnaires sent to past/current parents of students
Questionnaires sent to members of community
Questionnaires sent to past board members
Questionnaires sent to past/current staff
Questionnaires sent to past/current faculty
Questionnaires sent to students (1940s)
Questionnaires sent to students (early 1950s)
Questionnaires sent to students (late 1950s)
Questionnaires sent to students (early/mid 1960s)
Questionnaires sent to students (late 1960s/early 1970s)
Questionnaires sent to students (1970s)
Questionnaires sent to students (1980s)
Twenty-fifth anniversary correspondence and documents, 1970

Series 12: Publications, programs and miscellaneous

Rockway Mennonite School Bulletin, April 1962
Relating to Rockway, Dec 1967-Mar 1969
Rockway Mennonite School Association newsletter, Oct 1971-Nov 1971
Facing the Crucial Challenge (Fund drive, 1968/1969)
Program and Development of Rockway Mennonite High School, 1958
Publicity brochures, 1945-1975
Programs, [194-]-[199-]
Note: Includes choral performances, plays, graduation exercises, building dedications, etc.
Clippings
Blank Forms, [195-?]
Student application
Report card
Diploma
Photograph album by Dorothy Shantz, 1946-1947