Though the school at Church Creek was not attacked, it did encounter local antagonism. In December 1865, a group of Church Creek residents held an "indignation meeting" to organize and communicate their opposition to the African-American school and its teacher, Mary S. Osbourne. The Church Creek school for African-American students operated successfully throughout the 1865–66 school year. As teacher Mary S. Osbourne reported: "One class of six knew the alphabet but could not read at all; now they read well, as far as First Step No. 12 on the Chart. … A class of seven read well in the First Reader, and are to commence Arithmetic at once. Another … using the Third Reader and studying Geography." From 1861 to 1876 more than one-third of teachers in southern colored schools were African Americans, so it is likely that Osbourne was replaced by a southern African American teacher even during Reconstruction. In addition, one of every six teachers from the North were African American.