St. Paul daily globe., 1895-12-24

q For the school year ended 1885, the
. average enrolment and attendance were,
In round numbers, $4,000 and 10000 re-
spectively.
On the basis of forty-ave per enroll
ment and forty per attendance, and allow
ing thirty principals, the present num-
ber, in addition, the teaching force re-
quired would be 430. 1t is now 515, ex-
Guiding eight special teachers and super
Yisors.
The services Of the latter, costing SO 900
per year, are distributed over the schools
as body, and are supervisory. One
supervisor, at salary of $1,S00, is as
signed to the kindergarten and primary,
an, and the other, at salary of $1,000, to
the grammar and intermediate grades.
The special teachers are for penmanship,
music, drawing, physical culture and
German, and are paid from $1,000 to 5000
per year each. Their duties are sup
posed to be concerned with maintenance
of good standards of teaching in their re-
spective branches.
In view Of the fact that well paid, and
presumably. well qualified teachers, are
employed for teaching in all the branches;
and that the corps includes thirty primo
1pals, paid from 81, 900 up to $500 each,
and that most schools are within few
minutes ride Of the superintendent's Of
nee, no necessity for unattached teachers
or supervisors, proportioned to expense.
appears to the committee; and the dis
continuance of these places is recon-
mended
8. The scattering of high school in
struction among four places naturally
would increase the cost of that grade.
Two of the schools-central high and
manual training-are only few blocks
apart
These have been separated merely be-
cause OF the nature of the instruction
given at the latter. 1t is not apparent to
| the committee that any appreciable per-
centage of the pupils in our schools want
or expect to get their living by manual
labor. in any form. So long as parents
| practically all plan professional and COM
mercial careers for their sons, it is hard
to see why the mechanic arts should be
taught at the public charge. In any
event, the effort to do so seems not worth
the cost of maintaining a separate high
school. The manual training school
Saouia, Sa tneretoTe' as a separate school,
ferred to the central high If desired a
workshop might be fitted up in connec-
tlon with the central school, and supplied
with skilled mechanic in metals, and
another in wood, to show pupils the
properties of those materials, and the
modes of handling them in the arts A
single room, and two mechanics, working
eight hours per day, could supply all the
wants OF many pupils in this direction
Inc cost would @ be trifiing. 1t should not
exceed 81, 200 per year for labor.
Hlgh school instruction in the Hum
boldt, and Cleveland schools is main
tanned from reasons of locality. The sup
posed convenience of pupils residing in
certain districts of the town is the in
ducement Your committee however,
tnlnks that In questions of expenditures
for public instruction in academic grades,
the taxpayer as well as the pupil is en-
titled to consideration. With existing
communications between the central high
school and all parts of the city, pupils
Old enough to fifty receive academic teach
ing can safely, and not too inconvenient-
ly, resort to the central high school, The
concentration OF that class of instruction
IN one place, under a single corps of
teachers, must Of itself tend to promote
excellence. Your committee, therefore,
also recommends the discontinuance of
hlgn school work at the two outside
SCHOOLS, and the transfer of the pupils
IN that grade to the central school.
This building contains thirty-one rooms
capable of use for pupils sittings. The
scnool board estimates that these rooms
Will contain 1,4S4 sittings, in the aggre-
gate saseo dnese can all be supplied at mod
For the year ended in 1895 the average
enrolment of high school pupils was, in
round numbers, 1,200 and the average at
tendance LOO; The central high school
building would, therefore. not only AFFORD
ample sittings for all existing pupils in
that grade, but would have a surplus for
considerable future growth.
In this connection, the committee would
suggest that the greatest care should be
USED py the school authorities in ascer-
tanning the qualifications of candidates
Tor admission to the high school. Acad-
emlc instruction, at the public charge
may be Justifable; but, if so, it is only
Tor such as are surely qualified to re-
celve 1t. Pupils should not be suffered
TO pass from the lower grade schools to
the high, so long as they can be taught
anything in the former
Inc requirement of a thorough exam
1nation, demonstrating the pupils mas
tery, of all branches taught in lower
grade schools, as a condition for admis-
sion to the high, would keep the num-
Der OF pupils attending the latter within
legitimate bounds and check the growing
expense for this grade.
The present teaching force in the Cen
tral high school consists of a principal
and 20 teachers. Should all high school
pupils be concentrated in this school
there would be a little under 3S pupils
per teacher. The present corps of teach
ers at that school would not be over
burdened with caring for all; especially
if the school hours were increased from
four and one-half to six per day as they
should be. Two or three teachers might
even be dispensed with, for the present,
without detriment to this school. The
adoption of these suggestions would de-
crease the corps of high school teachers
ny LU uTdWluS du annual salary OF w.
$50 per year, and either totally dispense
with the four mechanics now employed
In the manual training school, at an an
nual salary of S3,250 per year, or de-
crease their number to two, with saw
ing OF $1,000 per year. In addition, the
ual training school, amounting to about
81, 800 per year, would be saved and the
space now occupied could be used for
lower-grade pupils, as growth of popula-
tion should require additional room.
s. On basis of average enrolment and
attendance for the school year ended in
1895, and 40 enrolled and 40 attending
pupils per teacher, in the lower grade
schools, and teachers training school,
375 teachers would be required. Adding
the present number of principals, 30, the
total teaching force required for these
schools would be 4O5; reduction of the
present number by 56. The committee
is confident that this number of teach
ers would be ample, until such time as
the increase in population shall bring the
per enrolment and 45 per attendance.
The annual saving on this item, assum-
ing that the average salary of the teach
ers discharged should be 5000, would be
$33, 800 per year. Your committee feels
sure the following would be an ample
corps of teachers. for all the city schools,
properly organized, for a considerable
period of time:
Number Of teach Salary at
ers each grade. pres't rates.
High school .......... 80 S35, 500
Lower grade and nor
mai ................. .4Oo 259, 600
435 1884, 500
Total saving in teachers salaries on
above basis, $67, 600.
Your committee has not had time to
examine, to any satisfactory extent, the
propriety of the existing scale of teach
ers' salaries, save in so far it could be
done by comparison with that of salaries
for other skilled employments, requiring
nearly double the number of days work
per year. and one-third and more the
number Of hours work per day. AS here
inbefore incidentally suggested, teachers
in city schools seem relatively a re-
markably well-paid class. The commit
tee is content to leave that branch of the
question without further comment and
to limit its recommendations to modes
Of securing a reasonable amount Of SER
vice for the wages paid.
6. Four suburban schools have the fol-
lowing enrolment, viz:
Cost of Maintenance for Year Ended
Aug. 81, 1856
Logan, 10 ..''.....'.......'.'..'. 1891 6I