Waterbury Democrat., 1901-12-11
BOARD OF EDUCATION
rity is in s2.25 for Each Child Edu- i cated at Parochial School.

Only the democratic lHttHoels VI Inc board of education were at the meeting held last evening to near me almost final gasp. of this expiring body in the form of the many reports from the respective committees for the year. Commissioner Hayes presided. Rou- tine business, like the approving of the payrolls and the usual bills, was first disposed of. Then the question of building a school ill place of the pres enI ramshackle called the Elm street school came up, and it seemed to De the opinion of the board that the pub lie did not seem to favor the .Gei. People appeared to be under the lIn- pression that because it is brick building it will last forever. The dis cussion resulted in bringing out statement that but for paroehial schools the city would have to build, great many more schools than at pres ent exist. and thereby the taxpayer is saved from further taxation. Commls- sioner Eilmartin stated that the parlsn of St Francis Xavier will not build school for some time al least inc discussion brought out another fact which has not struck the public with any appreciable results. It Is 1lat while the public is not taxed for TIC education of thousands of children
  the public is paid by the state S2.2o year to educate each child Then De- gan the reports which are embodied n the report of Superintendent Tinker. This document was quite lengthy. MT Tinker did not read all of it. else the hoard would still be in session. The report showed that Waterbury has eighteen public schoOlhOuses that ara occupied. with 1T2 rooms. of which l66
 II ln teachers in the public schools, the same as last year. and 1IG female teachers, an increase of five over the number in 1gUO. There are fifteen teachers m file evening schools. six males anu seven females. The number of ,iii- dren in the city as reported by the cen SIS enumeratcrs for 1901 is 11,S65. Of these 24T3 are not at school. Of the 24I} not at school LOOT are between the ages of 4 and j. and 9I4 between fine age of II and 16. The average daily attendance during 1901 was 0- 2l2 Tine percentage attending Was .9J4. a fine showing. There were 9- 914 cases of tardiness. 696 cases of dis mfssaI. G-l visits of the board of eduta- lion. S0T visits of the superintendent of schools :;.42 visits by others. 2.3SI cases of corporal punishment and 4S3 cases of tardiness by teachers.
 The report then took lip the various matters pertaining to the schools and which ought to appear in any annual report Remarking upon attendance, he recommended the building of school on the Elm street site. and de- pieted in true. which are inelegant. colors the exact condition Of the ,lrcs- ent building on ,thatssireet. Following is q part of the report on this point: The present structure is an old raln- shackle hulk. held together with iron rods and large beam. on the outside of the building. The walls in places have settled and cracked and are sadly out of plumb. I do not believe the building to be safe. One hundred and seyenty-five children occupy the base ment which is poorly lighted. with itt- tie. if any. ventilation. and heated for the most part by steam pipes located close to the low studded ceilings. On all cloudy as well as rainy days it be- comes necessary to light the saS. These rooms are not iii to be used for school purposes. Many parents. espr- cialiy the well-to-do. living in this dis trict. refuse to send their children to this school. and they cannot be blamed for so doing. It is possible to erect on the present lot. which is ample. twelve room building between the Elm street and Crosby schools. This c3n be done without interfering with the lighting of the Crosby school.
 The report recommended more care fuI attention to the enumeration of the school pupils and strongly stated that this was an important item of work in fhe public school system.
 Referring to the evening schools, the report depicted that feature as q glow fng success. particularly the drawing departments. which have enabled many of the pupils to take up more lucrative positions as we'll as better positions. The report applauded the individual pupil as well as the teacner. The pupil for spending an hour or two in educational pursuit after his hard days work in the factory. office CT store.
 The raining school was shown to ne n great success and conducted win less expense than school buildings or great deal smaller accommodations. The Bronson library was mentioned and thanks was given the librarian anal her assistants. The new departure in the schools the housekeeping lessons given at the rooms or the Friendly league. occupied some space in the re p0rt. There are about 100 pupils Of the eighth grade taking lessons, and on the benefit of this idea the report vas quite voluble.
 The report stated that there is no connecting link between the home a.sd the school system in this city. and then it embarked upon statistics. showing fIle number of hours given to home study by the pupils of the public schools in various places. foreign and domestic But in the opinion of the re port. no home study Is required from pupils below the sixth grade.
 Kindergarten was recommended in fife Barnard and Walsh schools. On this que stion of Kindergarten report was read from the principal of the Barnard school 10 the effect that al- most one-half the pupils of that school do not speak the country's tongue. The report then pointed out what bene- fits such children would receive from Kindergarten and closed with the above recommendation.
 Special subjects of study were men, fioned to some extent. The report showed that of all the large cities in ahe state. the curriculuss In the public system here embraces fewer special subjects of study. Here there are bat three subjects. while in New Haven. Hartford and Bridgeport there are from six to nine subjects studied.
 Tho condition of fIla town schools