A Brief history of Drumkeen old school which opened in 1936, the previous school was situated near where the parish hall now stands , a little bit of the school is still there and is now part of the grave yard wall. This was a two teacher, one room school which had over a hundred pupils at times. It was decided in the mid 30’s to build a new school. The first thing was to find a suitable site. There was a proposal to build it in Lettermore but this was rejected in favour of a more central site below the chapel in Drumkeen. The field was bought from Jim Patton for about 50 pounds and every house in the parish made a contribution of 5 shillings towards the cost of the field.
There is even a story that the field contained a fairy site but we can’t confirm or deny this , there was very little in line of heavy machinery in those days so the site was cleared and levelled by manual labour. We are not sure who actually built the school but it may have been built by local voluntary labour, in those days the blocks would probably have been made locally. The school had a great reputation as many children from Ballybofey , Stranorlar , Letterkenny and other areas attended the school over the years. We don’t know exactly how many children passed through the school doors between 1936-1991 but it must have been thousands.
Teachers who taught in the school that we know about.
Mrs Mc Menamin 1942-1972
Mrs Scanlon 1955-1956
Mrs Boyle 1956-1957
Mrs Harvey 1957-1985
Miss Mc Monagle 1972-1975
Miss Gallagher 1976-1979
Miss Heeney 1978-1980
Mrs Sharkey 1980-to mid 90’s
Miss Sweeney sept 1985-mid 90’s
Mrs Doherty 1979-2009
Mrs Bradley 1981- 2016
Master Heeney and Mrs Duffy were also there for a short time in the early 80’s.
Master Harvey and Mrs Mc Menamin may have been at the school in 1936 but we are not sure as there are no roll books for 1936-41 as these roll books were water damaged some years ago.
Master Harvey Principal 1942 – 1973 when he retired.
Master Mc Loone 1973-1980.
Master Ferry October 1980-untill the school closed in 1991.
Master Ferry: The New School opens 1991-2009.
Master Breathnach 2009 – 2015.
Ms Mc Fadden 2015 to 2019.
Mr. McGlynn 2019-2024
Ms. Scanlan 2024-Present
The school had 3 teachers from 1955 onward according to the roll books, in 1969 there were around 80 pupils , but as time went on the numbers increased and they had to add a prefabricated classroom and the supper room in the parish hall was also used as a class room by the time the school closed and several years before it had five teachers. In 1976 a committee was formed with the aim of building a new school , the next 15 or so would prove to be a long hard struggle, lots of meetings and fundraising and representations of the department of education and lobbying of politicians , eventually a new school was approved for the area to be built on a site near the chapel, the contractor appointed to build on a site near the chapel. The contractor appointed to build it was Liam Condon from Letterkenny and the school was ready to open in September 1991 , the building of the was school was a great boost to the area but it was also tinged with sadness as it meant the end of the old School which had been a part of Drumkeen life for over 50 years, it was a lovely sunny afternoon on Wed the 4th September 1991 when the children filled out of the school and Master Ferry turned the key in the door for the last time, they then made the short journey up the road to their brand now school. As for the old school it was the end of an era , the school was later demolished and is now the site of the local shop and post office.
In 1991 our current school was built beside the Chapel.