The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1901-12-25
Not in a Wanton Spirit But to Ef-
feet Some Needed Reforms in
Methods and Administration in
Worcester
CARE OF PROPERTY SHOULD
BELONG TO COMMITTEE
Conclusive Evidence of the Need
of Something in the Way of an
Eye-0pener About the Schools
of Other Cities-PraiSe For
Supt. Carroll
Written for The spy.l


schools, spoke, last week, before the
Board of Trade on 1.-The Public School
System in Worcester" We may differ
with Mr.. Carroll in many respects as
to principles and methods for our pub
lie school education, but we must con-
| TESS that Mr. Carroll is an honest,
scrupulous officer, laboring hard, often
under trying conditions, to bring Wor-
ceSter schools I'm to his ideals. Mr..
Carroll possesses the rare gift of pa
thence and of being able to express dis
pleasure on things in courteous and
vailed language.
The following lines shall be kind
of appendix to Mr.. CARROTS grafton:
1.-The cold reception" which Wor-
cester gave to a large gathering OF
| pedagogs from different cities in the
| rooms of one of our high schools was
no doubt an accident. With the gen.
eral public the occurrence is of more
than momentary interest, for, the neg
lect to have the high school properly
prepared for the reception of invited
guests showed that the administration
of our city school does not come UP
| to the standard adopted in theory
| The excellence Of a system can be OBJ
served correctly in the working OF
small matters; the sound thoroughness
of any combination reveals itself in the
rigid nicely with which minute par
| ticleS move and operate.
| 1t is indisputable that the care of
our school-houses" invited criticism at
| numerous times. not criticism spring
| ing from malice or ignorance or from
! the wish to create sensation, but judg-
| ment coming from Well-meaning men
and men with understanding, although
it must be confessed with truth-the
criticism was directed solely against
the system, never against persons. The
censure acknowledged that the build
| ings department, which is in charge of
| the sChool-hOuse management, of heat
ing lighting, cleaning, of janitors and
their supplies, was not equipped to ex-
| ercise with efficacy the work involved
| in the assiduous duties, just named
| The department has not expanded cor
| respondingly, in its personnel, with the
rapid growth of school-houses, and Sc
| it finds itself, today, face to face with
needs of an institution that requires a
special organization, system, discipline
staff of help. The department did its
best but the best proved more than
once to be wanting.
Other cities showed conditions sim
| liar to those prevailing with us; they
rectified the nuisance by providing the
| department with additional assistance
or by comforting to the school board the
charge of all school property. In some
| cities the school board took the dem
| onstration, above the heads of alder
men and cOuncilmen, to the legislative
| body; in other cities the initiative arose
with the city government.
The truest system is that which gives
instruction as well as school property
to the school board. Dualism speaks
not only against general modern spirit,
who sees success through systematical
Capitalization, but its right to existence
is denied by the force of strict logical
reasoning and by cool observation of
facts.
We can understand how it is that in
some cities the school house is still in
the hands of the buildings department
or related committee. 1t is an inheri-
lance from bygone order. As state
laws shifted public school education
from the political municipal govern
ment to the newly created school board,
instruction, simple and as such, was
the all-absorbing thought; legislation
did not consider that there exist more
than an empty external relation be-
tween instruction and school-building.
Ideas have growth like real things
their first appearance under us never
shows them up as finished and COM
plCNths ntItlOIBs the very IdCt InaI
in some places, such as Albany, Buff
falo, Portland, Springfield, Fall River,
Lowell, dualism exists at the present
dixie in our own city, is proof that we
are confronted by the evolution Of
an idea, and that it can be only a
question Of time when school boards
will have absolute, control over
school property So will Worcester.
sooner or later, throw aside the sys-
NJ a feV,V to
icateness for the school board; they
look to the city council to institute a
new period Of progress in our public
schools. by simply inserting the word
'School-houses" in a certain section of
our City Charter.
TO the believer in Capitalization it is
merry encouragement to hear from
every city, which did away with dual
ism, that the new condition is regarded
as the idealer one. The president of
the Providence Or. l. school board,
who has occupied this position of honor
many years, writes me: Il did not
know there was a city left in New
England where the school committee
did not have full charge of school prop
erty. All school property in
Providence is under control of the
school committee. This has re-
suited in much better work. &"
The mayor Of Burlington, VT, writes:
We like the system" And the mayor
of Syracuse, N. Y: 1.-The present sys-
TEN works satisfactorily here" The
mayor of Bridgeport, Conn, echoes
public sentiment with the words: TT
has given general satisfaction" And
New Ravens Comm mayor asserts:
In this city that system works salts
factorily." From the great many mu-
inequalities who have given to their
school board both instruction and
school property, 1 will mention a few:
Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, N. J.:
Baltimore. Md; Detroit, Mich; Man
chester, N. H; Lynn. Lawrence part
ly), Boston, New Bedford, Mass; Phil
adelphia, Penn.
Boston, in its enthusiasm for schools
went so far as to give the school board
full power and authority to make on
the school buildings any additions, al
terations, and repairs for school pur-
poses, which it deems to be necessary:
to provide temporary accommodations
for school purposes; to select, bond.
and purchase the land required for
school buildings and their yards; and
to fix finally and conclusively the plans
for school buildings to be erected"
Chapter 473 of the acts of 1901 estab-
lished a schoolhouse department Cthree
commissioners, appointed by the mayor
of Boston without confirmation and
this newly erected department exer-
cises now most of the duties mentioned
above. The executive officer of the
board, in all matters relating to school
buildings and grounds is the so-caIIed
school-house agent; he is called head
janitor in Providence.
Certainly 1 did not wish to say in
the foregoing that our Massachusetts
| school boards are the only correct su-
perintendence of public schools. l do
admit it may be doubted that they rep
resent the most perfect school manage