The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-02-08
THE BOARD OF EDUCATION
lContlnued from First Page)

most interested in their administration
 For this purpose the schools should of
 visited frequently and should be seer
 as they really are with the daily work
 in actual progress,
 The work of the schools during the
 past year deserves, l believe, commen-
 dation. l am aware that defects exist
 and that there is room for improve
 ment in many particulars. Still, pe-
 lieve that, on the whole, the work IS ol
 thoroughly good quality and that II IS ! constantly improving. It is worthy ol
 note that so judiciously have the pfln-
 cipaIs and teachers dealt with the many
 perplexing questions which have arisen
 in their work during the year that there
 has been almost an entire absence, m 1 all our schools, of that friction and irrl-
 tation which is so prejudicial to the usefulness of teachers and so harmIul to the best interests of the schools | The general plans for the work of the schools are the same as they were one
 year ago. The course of study has not been changed. It is probable that be-
 fore next September some changes in the course will be recommended which will require less formal work in the first grade and will allow greater free
 dom to the teachers in planning the
 progress and arranging the work or
 that grade.
 The statistics at the opening of the
 report can be consulted for informa tion
 in regard to the regstra ton, attend
 ance, etc, of the various schools.
 NEW SCHOOL BUILDINGS.
 The completion of the new Cedar
 street building and that of the new
 high school building will give those schools much needed relief,
 Cedar Street Building.-When the old building was torn down ten schoolrooms were occupied in the building itself and the annex. With the opening of the spring term April, 19O1 the children in two of these rooms were placed in two extemporized rooms in the hall of the
 Welch building; those in two others were transferred to two unoccupied rooms in the basement of the Webster building; the children in the remaining six rooms were given halliday sessions in rooms of corresponding grades at the Welch and the Zunder schools. This arrangement still exists and will neces- sarily continue until the new building is ready for occupancy. It has, on the whole proven satisfactory and was proba bly the best that could be provided under the circumstances. It was, how ever intended to be merely temporary and it was hoped that it might not be necessary to continue it later than Jan +l... if rooms are not suitable for school pur- poses, and should not be used except under severe stress of circumstances. Under the present arrangement, more over, twelve rooms are having half-day sessions viz, the six of the Cedar street school mentioned above and the six at the Zunder and Welch schools which accommodate the Cedar street in the afternoon. The mere loss of school time to these children is not of great importance, as there is general feeling among school authori- ties that five hours of school day is too severe 8. requirement. for young in the first and second grades It is probable that if children in these grades could have three and a half hours of school daily, in the morning, they could accomplish as much as chill dren do now in an all-day session Those children, however, who attend school in the afternoon only are physi- .ally unable to do the work of morn ing session. For this reason it will be wise to have the present arrangement terminate as soon as possible.
 The Cedar street school building will | contain eighteen school rooms, i. e., six teen grade rooms and a kindergarten. | 0n account of its size and location it | seems to me that when the building is it should be made the cen .ral school of the Welch district. As it ' 1as at present but five grades it would oe necessary, if it should become the | main school of the district, to open sixth grade room in addition to the 'ooms of the old building and to trans CT to the school the seventh and eighth grades of the Welch school Fourteen ! 'ooms in this building, besides the kin lergarten, would in that case be occu- 1ied next September, leaving two un- rooms for the future growth of he school. In the Welch school the re- noval of the seventh and eighth grades would leave three rooms unoccupied. The kindergarten and grade 1, which Ire now in the basement of the build ng could then be transferred to two if the regular school rooms, which is much to be desired, and one room would still remain for uture use, This plan would also &C., in the Cedar street building hose children in the territory bounded " Hill, Whiting and Meadow streets md Congress avenue, the transfer of which from the Wooster to the Welch istrict has been for some time under erious consideration In this way the hildren in the Welcb district would, or several years, be provided for.
 The New High School Building This which will probably be occu jed some time in the winter or spring 1903. will be thoroughly up-to-date uilding, well adapted to the needs of he school. Besides the usual class ooms and recitation rooms it will con ain chemical. physical and biological aborat tories, drawing rooms, commer- ial rooms science lecture room a H. rary, school offices and a large assem- ly hall. When it is occupied many of he obstacles to a good school work nd to efficient and economical admin stration, which now exist, will be re- loved. It is fortunate that the com littee wes able to include in it's plans n assembly hall aS in the arrange