The Newtown bee., 1895-06-07

rodIATUCK GRANGE BY J(
 J. NoRTHRoP.
 The question of consolidation of sch
 oisericts and placing them under to < n'ahagement has been receiving cons
 eiaoie attention of late by everyone W
 10 more or less interested in scboo
 mere are many good reasons in favor
 'oWn management and as long aeo as
 iooA Ill my report on schools I advocat
 shat town management of schools won
 oe the proper and most satisfactory sv i. 'em TOT town situated like Newtown
 ihe district system is too narrow or
 a great hindrance to the efficiency of .,
 schools. In the first place the comm;tte
 .s oi6en chosen on no basis of fitness fo
 TOT lhe position, one rule being to pass
 aouha among the voters of the distr;c
 annually. B is elected this year heco,s
 A had It last year and so around pr,;l .,
 nave served in turn. How often is q dis
 'fic6 Kept in turmoil for weeks bv in
 'rigues to elect a committee who hos
 promisea to engage some favorite son or oaughter. If by good fortune a comno- 'ene teacher is secured he or she has iit- 'ie enance of retaining the position after the term of office of the committee wbo hired him, has expired.
 The committee is superseded bv in Grlgues similar to those that secured b;,, ms office and the new one hires A rela. liVe or friend as matter of his own choice.
 The question of town mana eement of SCHOOLS IS not new. It is being tried by large number of towns throughout the state and with very satisfactory results. Bethel, our near neighnor, has been un- tier town management for a number of years and reports great satisfaction. It can be done simply by vote of the town at an annual town meeting. If the citi. zens of the town could only see it in a i proper light, it would be the least con- and such methods are to be de- sired. One board, chosen by the town, and having all the powers of the many, | could do the work more thoroughly, em- ploy teachers with more regard to fitness and expend the school moneys more iu- and economically. The respon- slDlllty would lie at the door of a single | committee and could not be escaped bv | dividing it. A less number of districts | with more scholars in each would be one | advantage. It has been noticed in ind;- Vidual cases that where more desirable schools were to be found the distance to be travelled proved no great obstacle, as ln the case of number of the scholars now attending the Academy, many of l them driving from three to six or eight miles,
 Even in the district schools it is found | where larger and better school exists | in an adjoining district, children prefer to attend there, rather than go in their own. It is found that many of the con- ditions that once made the present diVis- ion into districts suitable and proper, no longer exists, and many changes could | doubtless now be made, that would give some sections better school privileges at a less annual cost to the town.
 There is still going on many faults in our school work, without much hope of correction and will continue to, SO long as the present methods of control are in force. Recommendations are not carried out, accurate reports are rarely returned to the board and indifference to the edu- interests of different districts is often manifest. But by this do not form an impression that there are no good teachers in town, because that would be entirely wrong and an injustice to many of them. We have quite large number and the majority of them are doing ex- cellent work and giving good satisfac- i! tion. It is only the district system by which they are hampered. Give them broader field and you would see much better results than at present.
 am also in favor of the graded school under town management. Better and | more work can be accomplished in the | same space ofztime. You can secure better attendance as where there are a larger number of scholars they appear more eager to attend. Many seem to think that the less the number of schol- to devote to each. But the best teacher Is the one who gives the scholar the least | direct help. The best work of the teach er is to help the scholar to rely on his own efforts. Little enthusiasm can be | kept up week after week among three or four pupils. As good sample of regu- lar attendance of small pupils in grad ed school will give few figures taken | from the register of Miss Briscoe's room | in Sandy Hook and it is one of the neat est and best kept have seen. She shas | numbered as high as 53 in her room dur | ing the winter and their ages vary from three to nine years. The first week of September she numbered P, 13 boys, If girls. The average attendance that week of boys 13 or 100 per cent, of girls 13.1 or 93 per cent. The week of November 26 b boys, 2l girls; average attendance, boys 15 or 100 per cent, girls 17.9 or S5 per cent. February IS, % registered, combined average attendance 2S or 96 per cent. April 15, g registered, aver age attendance 29.3 or 91 per cent. The highest combined average any one week was 96 per cent the lowest. the week of February IA, of blizzard, 5S per cent. Most of the weeks averaged around 90 -r cent, many showing 95 per cent, the ooys making better showing than the girls.
 I would specially invite anyone to pay a visit to Miss Briscoe's room and inspect
 ie good work she is doing with the lit tie ones, showing they can be taught to. better advantage when in grade by mselves.