People of Genet

Graduate coming in

Thank you for joining us on our website about The History Of Genet.You're going to read about the students, the staff, the teachers, the principals, the janitors, and other things. Here are some things we learned from our interviewers.

When Genet was first built it was called East Greenbush Central School. Most teachers were women because the men were at war. So there were very few male teachers. But, there was one male teacher that if his students misbehaved then he would make them hold their arms out and then he would pile up dictionaries on them.

There is one person whose name is Jonathan William Obermayer and he was a student here, then a coach here, and then a teacher here. Now he's a volunteer in this school.

Jonathon W. Obermayer

The first principal here was Fred Appleton. Thomas Bennett, who became the principal when Genet became a middle school, was a teacher before he became a principal. Other principals that worked here are Mr. Smith, Arthur Scott, Charles Patricia, Martin Cornman, Donald Langley, Donald P. Southerland, and the principal now is Barbara Layne. One of the vice-principals was Donald Benedict.

Donald P. Sutherland

Some of your relatives went to school from kindergarten to eighth grade, and some of them never went beyond eighth grade. They usually got a job around the age of fifteen or sixteen. People didn't really need a whole lot of education then. People didn't have the luxury of going to school, meeting new friends and learning new things. Anyone who was able to go beyond eighth grade went to High School.

When the people built this school, in 1939, it was a kindergarten through twelfth grade. A lot of people said, " You' ll never fill it." But they were wrong.

Graduate going out

Mr. Thomas Bennett was the first principal of the Genet School.   He was a teacher and later principal of the Genet School, named in honor of a famous person form East Greenbush, Citizen Edmonton Genet.  Mr. Bennett said that at that time the school was a kindergarten through grade 12 school.  Mr. Bennett explained that prior to being the Genet School the building was used as Columbia High School until the early 1970's.

Mr. Obermayer was not only a student at our school, but after graduating from Siena College and The State University of Albany he was appointed as a teacher and a coach at Columbia.

Mr. Obermayer told us that the teachers of that era dressed rather formally.  The male teachers always wore jackets and, of course, a tie.  Because the school was much smaller at the time, the students had a first hand relationship with many of their teachers.  It was not uncommon for teachers to stay after school and help many students. There were also club activities where students did projects relating to their studies.

Another individual interviewed was Arthur Carkner who was in the first class to go through our school.  His class started in Kindergarten and finished at Columbia High School as the graduating class of 1950. Because the shool much smaller at the time, the students had a first hand relationship with many of the teachers.