The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-11-26

the members being present. In the un-
avoidable absence of the Mayor, Mr.
Brownson was elected chairman pro TEN.
Mr. Hall said Miss Florence e. Weber
of Long Island school had urgent calls to
go elsewhere He moved that as she twas
a very efficient teacher her salary be in
ceased from $500 to S425 per year. The
mo ton was carried so as to retain her
services.
| AS Miss Johns is to remain here per-
manently the Board voted she might at
tend the High school without paying for
her tuition.
Mr.. Sidney W. Thaxter's child was
allowed to attend the jackson school
pending the repairs at Butler,.school.
A certificate was granted Arthur d.
Deane, teacher of the Manual Training
School
Bills and pay rolls to about $4,000,
were approved, and also books and sup
plies ordered.
Mr.. Talbot then presented this recon-
rnendation to be presented to the City
Government and it was unanimously &C.
cepted
1t is the opinion of the School Com
| mittee of Portland that the Butler school
| should be opened as soon as the building
| can be put into such sanitary condition
that the health of the pupils shall not be
| iniperilled. So long as the existing sani-
| tary arrangements of the school are
structurally defective or not being so de-
fective, are out of repair. this Board be-
| lieves that the school should be closed and
kept closed until proper changes or re-
pairs are made. Such changes or repairs
| should be made with the least possible
delay and thereupon the school should be
opened.
The Board of Health has made a writ
ten report in the premises stating what
in their opinion should bs done to make
the school safe and giving their approval
| of the trough system, so called, as being
emit ely free from danger to health.
| The State Board of H ealth in their re-
ports for 1891. 1892 and 1893 express their
decided preference for the trough system
over. separate water closets for the school
buildings.
Subsequently the members of the Board
of Health appeared before committee Of
the city government and there recon-
mended that in Difference to certain
popular excitement separate water closets
and slate urinals BIZ put into the build
ing. But at the same time they con-
H1ou ullolI ICpUIu tlI6ftSly ll1uckdlu SCtfNt
that whatever might be the objections to
the trough system from the aesthetic
standpoint it was as good as could be
devised from a sanitary point of view.
Inasmuch as the Board of Health has
stated that the existing sanitary system is
safe and sufficient provided certain re-
pairs are made, and that when such re-
pairs are made the health of the pupils in
the Butler school will not be endangered,
this Board requests the city government,
to have the recommendations of the
Board of Health contained in their writ
ten report carried out thai the school may
be opened Monday, December End, and
that radical changes of she system, il
afterwards deemed eXpedient, may bt
postponed until a time when the work O
the school will not be interfered with.
In making the recommendation Mr.
Talbot read from the newspaper report!
of the recent meetings of the committee
on public buildings at which the BoarG
of Health made their recommendation
and said the Board of Health had in
formed him that these reports stated theil
position fairly.
DR.. Vose said he considered that the
school committee, as things were at pres
emit, was placed in a decidedly ridiculou,
position. They really had no power
When they recommended to the city gov
eminent what sums they considered alb
solutely necessary to accomplish desired
results these sums were Invariably
pared down. Then If anything went
wrong, from financial inability to accom-.
plish it, the public blamed tine school
committee. All this agitation over the
Butler school had been entirely unwar-
ranted. For over twenty years he had
made himself a student of the subject OF
was pupil at the Butler school, and
when this excitement started about the
school drainage. he went quietly, to salts
fy himself, and examined the building
thoroughly. He was fully satisfied that
the school was in a good sanitary condi-
ton, much better in faot than not only
most school houses elsewhere, but the
majority Of the higher priced residences
of citizens. This entire agitation came
from a few excited mothers and few
male alarmists.
Mir. Brownson read from the reports Of
thelState Board of Health for 1891, 49,
and '93 in which the preference was given
to the trough system over the water closet
system.
z Mr.. MCGOWAN heartily seconded the
views expressed by DR.. Vose. He didn't
believe the fuss that had been made over
the condition of the school, was called for.
Mr.. Hall also spoke briefly and con-
Cured in the opinion that the board OF
Health were the best judges Of the safety
of the school building
Superintendent Lord was asked how
soon, if the recommendations of the
Board of Health were carried out, the
Butler school could be reopened for the
attendance of pupils
Mr.. Lord said he saw no reason why
that couldn't be done by Monday, Deem
Der End, but il the water closets were to
be put in, 1T would take some six or eight
weeks and the school must be closed dur.
ing that time.
! There being no farther business before
the Board, an adjournment was then
taken
Before adjournment Mr.. Talbot was
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