Waterbury Democrat., 1902-12-18
The Former Called the Latter
 At Board Meeting.
MULCAHY SCHOOL THE CAUSE.

|
 Tinker for Cutting of Appropriations
 and He Told Him So-The Superin-
 tendent Read His Report on Methods
 Used in Enumerating School Chil-
 dren The Christmas Holidays Will
 End Monday, December 29.
 Vacation in the public schools was the principal topic discussed at the meeting of the board of education last evening. For the first time in months almost full board was pres ent and Mayor Kilduff presided Busi- ness started with the reading of few communications from other boards re- garding fire drills, fire hydrants and why School Carpenter Quinn's allow ance for his horse was raised from SIP to $2O a month. A report from the committee on rules regarding the use of the auditorium in the high school } building by Principal Wilby was read showing that MT Wilby considered the use he had made of the room as edu- cational. This matter caused some discussion as to who ought to be the best judge to what use the school buildings shall be given, mayor Kill duff being of the opinion that the board at least ought to be consulted. A report from the same committee re- garding the visits of teachers to be re- ported in writing was referred back to the committee, it being incorrectly reported. A few applications for posi- | tions as teachers were read, one from Miss Catherine Dougherty of 31 East | Liberty street seeming to excite some | nI1,.ire 4oI Annie E. Cairns was granted leave of absence until the beginning of the next school year. Then began a tilt between Mayor Kilduff and Superintendent Tinker as to the cause of the board of aldermen cutting the appropriation for the Null cahy school from $41 ,0O0 to $30,O00. The mayor blamed the superintendent saying that he was told by authority | that the superintendent actually re- commended the slicing of the appro- priation. Mir Tinker said he was l speaking to Chairman Goss of the board of aldermen and the latter a61- | yised him to attend the meeting of his board. He was asked few questions and he stated that he thought it was the board of education's intention to I occupy only one floor of the Mulcahy school for some time. He also said I that it could hardly be on that state ment the appropriation was cut down because before he was asked a ques-
 tion at all the movement to cut the ap- propriation had been made. The
 mayor replied rather warmly that a
 superintendent of any department of the local government had no right to I appear before any board in that ca Ipacity, unless so ordered. MT Tinker replied that he was very sorry, but he could not forget that he had appeared
 before the board of aldermen in past
 years. With that the matter dropped. Commissioner Chapman made a mo- ton which was carried, that the com
 mittee on rules bring report showing # means by which the assembly hall
 may be used for purposes in connec- tion with the high school.
 Mir Tinker then read his report on the recent school enumeration. It was
 as follows:
 '9To the Board of Education:
 "Gent1emen:-I would report that the recent enumeration shows that 14, 665 children live within the city iim- l it's. a gain of 1857 over the census of last year, and an average gain of 739 for the past two years. While this is l very satisfactory. still I believe that l the total result is not as large as it I ought to be, for some of the enumera- l tors have been very careless in their I work.
 For example the first returns from l two large and rapidly growing dis 1 tricts showed decrease of several I hundred. When these returns were revised by checking off the names of the pupils in school, it was found that l the names of 225 pupils, at present in | school, had been missed. Again, it I was reported that in these districts l which contain more than 1.600 chill dren, that only eighteen children, be- I tween the ages of four and seven, and fourteen to sixteen were found not in school.
 If this is true it can mean nothing else than that these two schools are going to die out for the lack of young pupils to fill the lower grades, and it also must mean that scarcely any num- I Der of pupils worth mentioning, be- l tween the ages of fourteen and sixteen are at work. Neither of the two con l clusions are true, for the streets are l filled with very young children. and I large numbers of certificates to go to work have been issued to those between fourteen and sixteen years of age
 ''In another district 109 pupils in a single school were found whose names were not on the enumeration book, on another book 108, and on still another 154 names of pupils actually in school had been omitted. In some districts whose returns showed decrease of several hundred. the enumerators have not even copied in the extra names I furnished by the teachers, not seeming I to care whether or not the city receiv- l ed it's proper share of the state fund. I It is also deplorable that very few of l the districts have been canvassed by l the enumerators appointed, the work
 being sublet.
 1T do not doubt that the whole ex- pense of taking the census could have
 been paid out of the amount lost to the city by the faulty returns and this I has been the case for years. Of what I value is such census as a basis on which to reckon our future accommo- dations? A faulty census in one dis trict casts a shadow over the entire result The district schools give a
 gain of ninety-five, though Bucks Hill. East Farms, Bunker Hill ana Oronoke show a total decrease of twenty-five. rT,y,n Iaruoet vaiu fiftv woc of yVa for.