The Newtown bee. (Newtown, Conn.) 1877-current, 1902-03-14
CIRCULATION
Ten Pages.
LITCHFlELD COUNTY.
NEW MILFORD.

THE LOCAL SCHOOL PROBLEM.
Editor NEwTOWN BEE: So many
misleading statements have been made
in our local paper regarding the school
question now pending that brief and
accurate review of the facts through
some unprecedented channel, like The
BEE, would seem to be in order. The
present writer has carefully followed
the facts as presented by town reports,
school reports, town meeting and
committee hearings, and to him the
following statements seem beyond dis
pute.
The cost of running our schools has
not been increased by one dollar or by
one cent under the town management
plan sometimes termed consolidation.
On the contrary the cost for each pupil
has decreased. Under the old district
system the lowest cost per pupil was
SO, exclusive of new buildings and re-
pairs; under town management the
cost per pupil, exclusive as above, has
now reached to 50. The initial cost of
new buildings is not chargeable to
running expenses but is permanent
investment, and the town has the in
creased value to show for every dollar
thus expended. But the children in
town have increased by more than 200,
necessary extra teachers and
the maintenance of extra room. More
over, teachers wages have increased
throughout the country by about 20
per cent in the past five years; an in
crease not local but general and I'M
avoidable.
Under the town management this
increase in wages has not affected New
Milford to so great degree as some
other towns because the hiring of
teachers is systematized: so that at
present this town pays a lower average
of wages than almost any other town
in the state and very much lower than
the average of all the towns, and this,
too, for the same grade Of teachers
who command higher wages elsewhere.
Without any exception, the towns still
under district management are paying
higher salaries for teachers than the
towns under town management, and
not getting as good an average of
teachers.
With the increase in our number of
children, and with the general increase
in wages, our schools would to-day, if
under district management, be costing
the town nearly $1,000 per year more
than they are costing. Whoever says
then that town management has in
creased the running cost of schools
tells only part of the truth and will
fully conceals the rest. According to
the published enumeration there
are 96 children in this village
more than there is seating room for,
and we are told that there are about
20 more ready to enter school next
fall. All these are residents Of the
Center, and in one schoolroom which
ought to hold but As there are -. Pro
gress in study has been impossible I'M
der such conditions and the danger OF
sickness is great, although extraordin-
airy precautions were taken by the
School Board in cleansing and fumi-
gatlng the building last fall. If it had
been possible to rent a room or barn tC
relieve this overcoming it would have
been done before this but no such place
can be found.
So far as can be learned the School,
Board has asked the town simply tC
furnish seating room to relieve this
dangerous overcrowding, and they
have asked for nothing more than that
How that room shall be supplied is for
the town to say, but it should be ir
connection with the present Center
school building in the interest of eff
ficiency and economy. Efficiency, be-
cause the grades can then be maintain
ed, economy, because to put it else,
where. at Chicken Hill for instance,
would Immediately make necessary
the addition of two extra teachers
thus adding at least $500 to the
annual running expense, without
relieving at all the overcrowding il
room No. at the Center, while if thu
additional room is furnished at TIN
Center there will be no additional
teacher needed, for one year at least
Undoubtedly the sensible plan wOult
be to put up a three-room addition
which would supply all needs for SOM
years to come, unless the town SHOULD
experience a most unusual growth if
population. Undoubtedly this add
ton could be put up for very mucl
less than the sum named at the frs
town meeting. AS regards Gaylords
vile, there is no doubt that the pro
posed union school would be of direc
benefit to all the residents of that sec
ton, would result in very"much bette
educational facilities there.
If the proposed additions and change
are made as economically as possible
they can be accomplished for SO sma
sum that no person in this town wi
ever feel the cost or know that an e>
ira dollar has been expended. AZ
cording to the State reports New Mi
ford expends very much less money o
school than any other town of it's si2
and schools it's children at very muc
less than the average cost. But on
town has never been parsimoniOuS
this respect and it is only because til
school board has been economical tina
our town eXpends less than other town
nor is it probable that any one hel
objects to a reasonable and Judlclol
expenditure for public schools Cit
zen.
A. L. CONKEY COMPOSES a METEOh