The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-02-22
THE BOARD OF EDUCATION
SPECIAL MEETING HELD TO HEAR SUPERINTENDEN1, REPORT.

Its Important tFeatures-Annual Report
 ofthe Board Read--Rccommenda attons
 of the Committee on Schools and
 School Buildings Adopted.
 A special meeting of the board of ed ucation was held last night for the purpose of hearing and acting upon the annual report of the superintendent, MT. Kendall.
 The committee on schools reported some appointments as follows: Bertha B. Newbrook to room 12 Wooster school, from January 1, 1900, at salary of $600; Blanche Taylor, as assistant teacher in Welch school, beginning De- cember, 1899, at salary of $450 per year; Ellen K. O'Brien, to the ungrad- ed rooms in Skinner school beginning January l, 1900, at salary of $500.
 The board voted to accept the recom- mendations and to insert the names ill the official statement to be presented to the mayor.
 MT. Harmount reported for the com mittee on school buildings. He said that as the land on which the Roger
 
 CT than that of the surrounding prop erty, during the heavy rains of late there has been water in the basement at the rear of the school. The commit tee recommended that the rear yard of the school be graded, concreted and that a catch pan be put in. The cost will be about $200. It was voted to adopt the recommendation of the com mittee.
 President Whitney then read the an- nual report of the board in which the reports of the different supervisors, the superintendent and committee are men toned This report was adopted.
 Superintendent Kendall then gave a few statistics as follows concerning his annual report that might be of specia interest: For the school year ending June 1, the total number of pupils dur. ing the year. 16,S76 an increase of 317 over that of last year; average attend ance, 14,64S, an increase of S22 over that of a year ago; increase of the av- craze daily attendance, TIT; number of tardinesses during the year, 1o71, a decrease of 2,608; number Of truancies, 684 decrease of 103; number of teach CTS, including principals and superin tendents, 42S, an increase of 8.
 The following statistics recorded on the basis of the calendar year, ending December 31, were given: Average num- Der of pupils registered, 14,S0S, an in- crease of 668; average daily attendance, 13956; number of school rooms occu- pied, 351 number of seats occupied, 16,- 066; number of teachers, including prin- pipals and superintendents of the day schools 439, 40 of which are women and 29 men, an increase of 8 during the year.
 A part of Superintendent Kendall's report, which covers the period from September, 1898, to December S11, 1899, is as foliows
 I wish to emphasize my conviction that the school popula ton of New Ha- ven does not increase so rapidly as to warrant such school accommodations as exist in some of the great cities, or any thing like them. We have made sub stantial gains in the past five years in reducing the number of children to a teacher. The result is better school work, more vigorous teachers and more healthy children. In fact, whatever of greater relative cost or per capita cost may have come about in the elementary schools during the past five years may be traced to this one cause. No one feature in a system of schools counts more for "the development of the gram mar schools" than such reasonable numbers as you have been able to bring about in such schools as the Zunder, Strong, Ezekiel Cheever and Roger Sherman.
 Kindergartens have been maintained in the following schools: Roger Sher man, Skinner, Fair street, Hamilton, Dwight, Winchester Lowell, Ezekiel Cheever, Day, Carlisle, Welch, Zunder and Strong. This number represents about one-half of the schools in the city in which kindergartens could and should be carried on whenever the resources of the board are sufficient. In addition to the good work of the Elm City Kinder garten association in providing by pri- vate subscription three free kindergar- tens, from twelve to fifteen additional ones are needed to take care of the chill dren who should receive the training which the kindergarten affords.
 There has been little change in the work of the primary schools. The stress Ul IllC lCdCIllI5 III liiC III oI IOui ySoiS has been given to teaching the children to read, and to read intelligently. At | the end of the four years most of the | pupils are able to read with a fair de- | gree of intelligence reading matter of | the fourth-reader type.
 The building (speaking of Hillhouse high schooD in its lighting, ventilation, arrangement, equipment and conven- fences is very far from being adequate to the demands of a high school, as those demands are now understood. The growth of the high school in numbers, the enrichment and broadening of high school courses, the increased efficiency of high school teaching are evident to tie careful observer of the trend of secondary education. Most important cities, especially in New England have recognized these conditions and have generously provided for them. I do not see how New England can long postpone the building of new high school especially in view of the near approach of a similar condition of affairs at Boardman as already exists at Hillhouse. I have shown in special communication that immediate use could be made of the building for ele- mentary schools after certain altera- lions were made. VI