IV. Education, Housing and Population

[Editor’s note: This page was researched and prepared by the late Don Beck. His contributions to this site are immeasurable, and we miss him.]

This department covered a wide range of activities, including child care, counseling, and education. Tom Grubbs was the headmaster of the primary school; Dick Tropp was head of the High School. Ava Cobb Brown coordinated the counseling activities. Child Care was handled by a group. Assembled from lists and records found in the FBI documents, the jobs and workers listed in the Education, Housing & Population department are in this pdf file:

• Education, Housing & Population Department Jobs and Personnel Listing

Education The teachers put together an educational program that covered pre-school through adult education. It was designed in such a way to allow Peoples Temple to receive accreditation from the Guyanese school system, so that the children did not have to attend Guyanese schools. In addition, the Jonestown medical department worked with a nursing school at Port Kaituma. Elementary and Secondary classes were held on a daily basis. High school students worked part-time with a project in Jonestown, to make education and work more relevant and related to life experience: studying, working, planning, communicating about ongoing projects. Assembled from lists and records found in the FBI documents, children of Elementary, Junior High and High School ages are listed in this pdf file:

• Elementary and Secondary Students

Toddler & Pre-School programs were part of the Child Care program. Assembled from lists and records found in the FBI documents, the Infants and Toddlers are listed in these pdf files:

• Infants
• Toddlers & PreSchool

Educational records recovered are most complete for Elementary and Junior High. Records of staff working at high school level are fewer and appear by comparison incomplete. As more information emerges, this chart will be updated.

Adult Ed classes were set up for literacy needs of the seniors who wanted them, covering socialism, geography, and news topics. Socialism classes were held every week to ensure that people knew more about socialism. Weekly Political Enlightenment classes were set up as well.

• Jonestown Community Elementary & Junior High School Staff
• Jonestown Community School: Primary Report, July 7, 1978
• Elementary Schedule of classes & Class list, November 16, 1978
•  Primary and Pre-School goals
• Socialist Enlightenment Classes
• Socialist Enlightenment teachers, July 4, 1978

Women’s Revolutionary Socialist Movement (WRSM) Instituted to raise women’s self-awareness, this program focused on overcoming the perceived subservient roles of women in of US culture, especially in dating patterns and interactions between teenage girls and boys.

• Diagram of Topics & Teachers
• Organizational Chart & Class Topics, July 7, 1978

Edith Roller recorded six meetings of the WRSM, and her entries offer a sense of the purpose of the meetings. Led by Marceline Jones and Ava Cobb Brown, the meetings usually included at least a drop-in visit from Jim Jones. Corresponding meetings were held with the community’s males as well, to teach them about the vital place of women in the socialist movement.

Counseling Counselor Groups: Understanding the need to resolve individuals’ emotional and psychological problems that arose in Jonestown, the leadership established four counseling teams and one “special counseling” group to be on call to handle them. The counseling procedure began in a person’s cottage or dorm as appropriate. The next step was to bring the individual before a counseling group. If necessary, the issues would be raised on the floor during public sessions of Rally meetings.

• Counseling Groups, Guidelines & Special Counseling Notes – Oct 7, 1978
• Counseling Notes (from July & August 1978 )

Child Care Child care was divided into two levels: infants and toddlers. Dorm 3 was set up for the infants.

• Babies born in Guyana – No passports yet
• Pre-School Program list of students
• Pre-School Program Organization Chart

– Don Beck