In its early history, the Peabody school district was sometimes referred as district 12 of Marion County.
The number of students in rural communities dropped significantly across the 20th century. As farming technology progressed from animal power to small tractors towards large tractors over time, it allowed a farmer to support significantly more farm land. In turn, this led to fewer farm families, which led to fewer rural students. In combination with a loss of young men during foreign wars and rural flight, all of these caused an incremental population shrinkage of rural communities over time.
In 1945 (after World War II), the School Reorganization Act in Kansas caused the consolidation of thousands of rural school districts in Kansas.[6]
In 1946–1947, many one-room rural schools consolidated into the Peabody school district.[7][8]
In 1963, the School Unification Act in Kansas caused the further consolidatation of thousands of tiny school districts into hundreds of larger Unified School Districts.[9]
In 1964, School District 131 was formed by the merger of the former Peabody, Burns, and Summit school districts into one educational system. The first school board consisted of C. Irvin Good of Peabody, Rodney E. Vogelman of Burns, Sherwin C. Ammeter of Summit.[10] On July 1, 1965, the school district was approved by the state to become Unified School District (USD) 398.[11][12][13]
The school district operates the following schools:[1]
Peabody-Burns Junior/Senior High School at 810 North Sycamore Street in Peabody. In 1953 the Brown Building was built, in 1997 the current school addition was built south of it.
Peabody-Burns Elementary School at 506 North Elm Street in Peabody. The school district headquarters is located in the west side of this building. It was built in 1974.
Closed schools
Peabody High School, northeast corner of 8th and Walnut in Peabody. It was a two-story brick building that opened in 1923.[14][8] It was closed after the current high school addition was built in 1997 then demolished and converted into a football practice field.
Peabody Elementary School, northeast corner of 2nd and Maple in Peabody. It was a large two story limestone building. It was closed after the current elementary school was built in 1974 then demolished. It was started in 1872 as two stone rooms, then expanded over decades to its final size.
Burns High School, southeast corner of Main and Cincinnati in Burns. It was closed in 1965 then converted into the Burns Community Museum.
Burns Elementary School, southwest corner of Main and Church in Burns. It was closed in 1997 then demolished.
Summit School (rural), along Vista Road between Peabody and Burns. It was closed in 1965 then demolished.
Decades ago, Superintendents use to teach class in addition to their administrative roles. The notes columns lists other jobs held within the same school district (not exhaustive, and may be missing some information).
The Women of Peabody; Peabody Historical Society; Mennonite Press in Newton, KS; 250 pages; 2010; LCCN 2010928692. (contains memories from some former school teachers)
Peabody : The First 100 Years; Peabody Historical Society; Peabody Gazette-Herald in Peabody, KS; 123 pages; 1971. (contains school history)
