Omaha daily bee., 1899-06-20
CONDITION OF CITY SCHOOLS
Superintendent Hayden Submits His Annual
Report to Board of Education,
HIGH SCHOOL IS BADLY ovERcRowOED
Course of study Has Been systemnt-
lied and the Past Year shows
Positive Advance Along
All Lines.

ana regulations OF the Board VI Education,
Prof. II. b. Hayden, superintendent + the
city schools, yesterday filed his annual re-
port for the year ending June 16. The re-
port is a most exhaustive one and shows
the condition and progress Of the schools
and suggests such measures as in his judg-
ment will be conducive TO their improve
ment. In view of the pending litigation over
the new high school his repJrt and sugges-
tions on the condition OF the present high
school buildings are timely and OF consider
able interest. His report in part folloS VS.:
The control and direction of the schools
lodge primarily, under the law of the state,
in the board of seven school directors
elected by the people The authority vested
in the city superintendent is delegated by
this board and through him its plans
and general policy for the administration
Of the schools reach the principals and
teachers and are carried into effect.
Under this delegated authority 1t has
been the purpose of your superintendent
to organize the work of the schools upon
a somewhat more definite basis than had
characterized it in the immediate past. To
this end it has been our endeavor to in
crease the feeling of responsibility upon
the part of principals and teachers. To
this endeavor principals and teachers have
responded Loyalty with the result that we
feel that the year just closing has seen a
positive advance made in the organization
and efficiency Of our schools.
Course of Study.
This systematizing has taken two direc-
tions. 1t has been carried out in the gen
eral management and control of the schools,
and 1t has been applied to the instruction in
them. Nearly year ago this board di-
rected the superintendent to prepare a
course of study But, knowing that since
the publication of the last printed course
of study radical changes had been made in
some lines of the work of 'he graded
schools, it seemed to us best to work out
the course in the school rooms before pre-
sentng it to this board for adoption. To
this end frequent meetings of the principals
and superintendent have been held and
plans made looking toward the organizing
of the work of the several grades of the
city schools. Committees of the principals,
under the direction of the superintendent
have compared the grade work of one
building with that of others, and in
ference with the superintendent have de-
veloped the outlines which will be the basis
for the course of study which it is our
plan to submit to the approval of this
board at an early meeting. Much of the
work of our schools has already been so
adjusted that the pupils of any given grade
in the several buildings are doing work
much more nearly parallel than year ago.
The teachers need for their more definite
guidance a printed outline of the work as
IL Is uOW plduueu, lulS Oulllue we uUpe 10
have ready for them by the beginning of
the fall term
Attendance.
The enrolment in the schools has shown
a marked increase during the year. nota-
BILE fact in regard to this increase is that it
is generally affecting all the schools within
the city proper and some of the suburban
schools
But while the increased enrolment in the
lie ic fNin orI thn Of
attendance and of punctuality shows i'm
provement, we believe that higher stand
ard yet should be attained and maintained.
To accomplish this will require the com.
bined efforts of teachers and parents. Both
are interested in the child; each is so re-
lated to him as to be in position to in
luence his school attendance. I believe
that our teachers have been faithful in this
matter; l fear that all too often parents
permit minor matters to interfere with The
school attendance of their children. We
shall endeavor In the coming year to secure
the more active cooperation of parents
with the teachers on this point
Instruction..
The fife and work of the children in our
schools now begin with the kindergarten
as part of our regular graded system.
Here the child learns his first lessons of
carefully directed physical and mental activ-
ity. The games of the kindergarten teach
hiAii " aSl III iuuuy with OlltTS uDuer
direction; the occupations and the gifts
give him ideas of form and dimension and
prepare the way for his number work later
on the stories give him names and eX-
preston and prepare him for his work in
language and reading; manipulation of the
kindergarten material lays the foundation
for his manual training in paper cuttings,
drawing and penmanship. The support of
this department by the parents of attend
Ing children has been continued and hearty;
the attendance of parents at the Mothers
meetings has been a great announcement
to the work and has brought parents and
workers into contact and sympathy.
In this connection 1t gives me pleasure to
report the success that has been attained in
the training school feature of this depart
ment. The kindergarten workers consist of
a directress and paid assistant for each
two kindergartens; in addition to these
valuable assistance is rendered by Volun-
teers who donate their services, receiving as
compensation practical training in the kim
dergartens and regular course of study
in the theory and methods of the work un-
der the efficient direction of the supervisor
OF kindergartens, Mrs. l.. NJ. Hardman.
This course covers two years with regular
class hours after o'clock each day. At
the close of this work the volunteer is
qualified to enter upon regular work and
certificate of such proficiency is awarded.
Thus we are training our own workers and
httlng some to go out into other fields as
regular trained kindergartners. And in re-
turn for this training much valuable work
is being done in our kindergartens without
expense to the district. We have Just
graduated our first class of trained workers.
In the regular grades especial attention
had been given to the number work and
new methods had recently been introduced
While due attention has been given to the
number work in thetlower grades the ques-
tion of reading, with allied work in lam
guage and spelling, has had our especial at
tention during the year. We believe that
instruction in reading should cover two dis
tinct lines-drln and practice. For drill A
regular text and a studied lesson are essen
tial; for practice a supply of interesting
and instructive reading matter to be read
at sight Is required Through the kind in.
terest OF your honored board both these
needs have been met. The series of read
ers adopted by you have been purchased by
the pupils and are giving excellent Batis-
faction TO pupils, teachers and patrons; and
the supplementary readers purchased by
the board have proven most valuable in the
work. By reason of this supply OF needed
material and through the earnest intelli-
gent work of the teachers, marked improve
ment in the reading is already noticeable in
the schools
Under our present plan the child in the
primary grade first learns to read script
from the blackboard; for practice work at
his desk he takes his first steps toward