St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-12-08
HOT ROAST FOR GILBERT.
TIN REARD0N HAD HIS WAR PAINT
ON LAST HfGHI..
VARYING SCHOOL REPORTS.
Reardon Showed at the Assembly
Meeting that Supt. Gilbert Es-
timated Last Year the School
Sittings to Be 2i,4i0. and Now
Reports Them to Be Only 49,
$50.

The resolution from the board of al.
dermen asking for the appointment of !
a special committee to confer regarding
the gasoline street lighting contract
was concurred in, aud MesSrs. Schuette,
Van Slyke and Lightner were named as
the assembly end of the committee. A
meeting OF the joint committee has been
called for this afternoon at 2:30 O'clock.
From statements made yesterday by
members of the board of aldermen who
voted against the award to the Acme
company, ii is very probable that when
the matter is brought up again at the
adjourned meeting of the board tomor-
row enough votes will be secured to
award the contract to this Acme Napor
Stove company.
Mr.. Reardon brought up the matter of
new school buildings, which. he said,
would be brought to the attention of the
assembly at an early date, by handing
up "a voiulnnious report, the purport OF
which was thar the superintendent of
schools had. by his nisnanagemenG in
closing schools and fixing the boundaries
of school districts, caused the over
crowded condition of some of the
schools. A summary of the report is as
follows:
In publishing his last Report to the
board of school inspectors" the super
intendent places in the hands of the
public an ineontesrable proof of his
utter incompeteney and shameless dis
honesty. The highest enrolment for
any month in the year lS92-1s93 was
17,043, yet in another table an enroll
meht of 1876 is claimed for the same
school year. 1888 over the October ELL
rolimept. The enrolment for the year
is not based Oh the admissions, for in
June the total admissions to all the
schools is only 1854. Where do the
1902 pupils that have not been admitted
| yet have been enrolled, come from?
The October enrolment was 17.o43.
though there were only 1908 children
| admitted UP to the last day of the month.
Surely the superintendent knows, or he
| ought to know. that pupil should not
be counted twice by the same teacher,
| principal or superintendent. His neg
lect or ignorance of this fact proves hin
] anything but "expert authority" on,
matters pertaining to the business for
which he receives annually $1,000 from
| the public treasury. The superintend-
ent claims that the schools grow rapidly
-under~hls very able management. 1.-The
i will get somebody capable of adding,
! subtracting and dividing correctly, to
! go over the school records, he will find
| that any apparent increase in the en-
rollment for the year 1929 over that
of the year 1S9l-92 was owing to the adj
mission of children under sixyears of
| age. who were excluded from school It'd
the opening of the kindergarteiis last
] year. A comparison for 1S92-9S dis
closes the fact that the number de-
creased materially every month until
| when the admission of the young
children brings it up somewhat,
but not nearly so high as
the October enrolment. Through the
summer OF spring it never reaches H.
043. In September. 1892, the enroll
| ment exceeds the number admitted by
271; in October of the same year, it is
99S in excess of the number admitted;
| but the records for the following months
| till April show marked decrease,
which proves conelusiyely that great
many children left school in the fail,
and never returned. AS every child
admitted to the schools is counted
| among the admissions for the year,
| whether he leaves school or not, the
| number admitted never decreases, no
/ matter how low the enrolment or at
tendance may fall. This fact should be
bore in mind in estimating the true
| status of the schools in the matter of
| attendance.
Another important item tosbe eonsid-
cred i'm last years report is the average
daily attendance. We find that the
| number of children in daily attendance
has steadily decreased after September.
The average for this month was Ia, lat,
after which 1t lowers gradually until
March, when it drops to 12,815, 1882
less than in September. In the super
intendent's report for the year ending
June, 1891, the number of sittings is
ESTIMATED AT q, 410
and the number of class rooms is 1926,
not counting rooms in annexes. In the
report for 1928, the sittings are only
| 1882, and. according to the report. have
never been greater. AT special meet
| ing of the board of school inspectors
held Nov. "a, 1898. the report made to
the mayor on the necessity for more
school buildings gives the number OF
sittings as 16, $50, the number of class
| rooms as 415, and the number of pupils
in attendance in October as II, 152, 1Os
pupils more than the number enrolled
IN October. 1892 Which. if any, OF
these reports is correct? If the re-
port OF 1891 is correct, where are
the 3.5S5 seats not accounted for
i'm the report for 1929? If the number
of sittings last June was 1882. was il
reduced to 16, $50 since? In what way
have eleven rooms been disposed of
since 1891? In the report for 1928
the number of sit.ings is given for 1882
Gas I7.S22. and 1t has neither increased
nor diminished since, Notwithstanding
the fact that two eight-room buildings
(Maxfieid and Ericsson), one four-room
building (Sheridan). and four-room adj
ditions to the Adams, Douglas, La
fayette, Monroe. Sibley and Webster,
and two-room addition to the Irving
have been built since. Such schools as
the Ames, Mcclellan and TIlden, which
are not fully occupied, could not
| spare the number of seats re-
quired for forty-six new rooms. If
desks have been removed from
rooms used by Kindergarten classes,
why are not the chairs by which they
have been replaced counted as sittings?
Do the new and improved methods, so
much extoIled by the superintendent in
his lectures to the school inspectors.
make it necessary to supply two seats
for one pupll2 Desks may have been
4 removed from rooms used by classes in
manual training, thereby decreasing fine
seating capacity of some schools. but
comfortable rooms could be fitted UP in
the easements for such work. The
o. Is s,cs,:t