Waggener High School Waggener High School History & Photos ...

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Waggener High School History & Photos: May 18, 1983Courtesy of The Courier-Journal, Neighborhoods East, by Howard Miller, photos Arza Barnett:Arthur Draut closes the book on 29 years at WaggenerArthur Draut’s office at Waggener High School has a door to the hallway. He keeps it open.“When I attended high school, my principal was more of an image than a real human being to me,”said Draut, 58, who has been at Waggener since the school opened as a junior high in 1954 and hasserved as its principal for 15 years. “I keep the door open so the children can see me.”But the students at the St. Matthews High School won’t be seeing him much longer.Draut is retiring next month.“It just seemed like a good time to retire,” he said.“My house is paid for and all my children will have graduated from college. I don’t want t be one ofthose guys who hangs on to his job for years and years and then dies 30 days after he retires.”Draut and his wife, Patricia, have been married 33 years and have three sons.Draut began his teaching career at Eastern High School In 1949. He served on a supply ship duringthe Korean War, then returned to Eastern in 1953. The next year he went to Waggener to teach mathand social studies, dispatch buses and work in the storeroom. He later worked as a guidance counselorat the school and served as assistant principal for 10 years.Draut’s activities in St. Matthews aren’t limited to Waggener.In 1976 he was appointed to fill the unexpired term of a St. Matthews City Council member who diedin office. He’s been reelected three times, and in the last council election he received more votesthan any other candidate.“He has a feeling for all the community,” said council member Millard French. “He’s been at Waggenerfor so long. He knows all the students who went there and most of their parents.”Draut has seen Waggener, which has 1,250 students, with as many as 2,600 in the mid-1960s and asfew as 985 in 1980. He has seen its black enrollment go from zero when it first opened to 20 percentnow.“A lot of things have changed in the years I’ve been here,” he said. He lives at 4306 Churchill Road,only two blocks from the school building, and is used to being called on school business at all hoursof the day and night.“My wife says I’m married to this school,” he said with a laugh. “You can’t plan too far ahead. Youhave to handle problems as they arrive.”Draut’s day is divided among routine office chores such as approving orders for supplies, facultymeetings, observing classroom activities for teacher evaluations and consulting with students.As he walked the hallways recently, he saw a student with his shirt hanging out.“I used to tense up when I saw something like that,” he said. “But I guess you mellow as you getolder.”However, he hasn’t mellowed too much — he doesn’t allow students to wear tank tops or hats inschool. And he would like to see a strict dress code enforced at all county schools, and a requirementthat stu-dents lose credit for unexcused ab-sences as well.“I think you need ground rules,” he said. “Kids are pretty reasonable if they know the ground rules.You need to lay them down and treat everyone fairly.”At lunch time Draut is often in the cafeteria, watching over the school’s a la carte lunch program,one of six in the county system.
Waggener High School History & Photos: May 18, 1983Courtesy of The Courier-Journal, Neighborhoods East, by Howard Miller, photos Arza Barnett:Arthur Draut closes the book on 29 years at Waggener“I was a Supply officer in the Navy,” said Draut, who is a commander in the Navy Reserve. “This isone of my more enjoyable tasks of the day.”Jack Jacobs, a wrestling coach who’s been at Waggener for 10 years, said he has appreciated workingwith Draut’s guidance.“He’s one of the finest people I’ve ever been around,” said Jacobs. “He supports us in everything wedo.” The students at Waggener have dedicated their 1983 yearbook to Draut, and there will be anopen house at the school in his honor June 5.“I’m sorry to see him go,” said Lee Bissell, 15, a sophomore who lives at 3117W. Muhammad All Blvd. “He’s a good principal who respects his students. It willbe a loss to Waggener.”Bob Pilkington, a member of the school advisory committee who has had threechildren attend Waggen-er, is in charge of the open house. “Whoever follows himwill have a lot to live up to,” said Pilkington, of 4307 St. Regis Lane. “He runs atight ship.”Draut said that after his retirement he will devote more time to his duties as a St.Matthews council-man and to his favorite hobbies: swimming and fishing.“I’d like to find some part-time work,” he said, as he continued watching thecafeteria line. “But running a high school doesn’t prepare you for many jobs.”
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