The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-02-08

come available for the use of the lower
 schools of this district. This building,
 remodelled and renovated, would ac-
 commodate 600 pupils on the first three | floors and would relieve the congestion | in the district for several years.
 1 Wooster district.-In the Wooster dis | trict every year large number of small children who have never attended
 school apply for admittance, As far as possible they are, of course, always ad- mitted, even at great personal incon- venience to teachers and pupils. At present about twenty children in the lowest six rooms have no regular seats, but from day to day occupy those of other children who are absent from school. In addition to these about fifty first grade children have, for want of
 room, been refused admittance the past year. In this district two basement
 rooms are occupied, one by the kinder garten and the other by a class of first
 grade children l see no way of pro-
 Viding, at present, for the large num-
 Der of children between five and seven
 years of age who apply for admittance
 to the lower grades of the Wooster
 school, except by renting rooms outside
 of the building or by the plan of half
 day sessidr s, neither of which is wholly
 satisfactory. When the high school
 building becomes available for the use of the Eaton district (September, 1903),
 very likely it will be possible to make provision in the Eaton school for many of these children. The increase in pop ulation in this quarter, however, is so constant and so rapid that new ten room building for the lower grades of the district, i. e., grades 1-6, is mat ter which should receive earnest con- sideration.
 Strong District.-All children who have applied for school privileges in this district during the first year have been accommodated. Owing, however, to the rapid increase in population east of the Quinnipiac river and to the long distances which many children have to go to reach school, the erection of a ten-room building in some central loca- ton east of the river must soon be con- templated.
 SCHOOL ACCOMMODATIONS IN
 GENERAL.
 One of the most serious and in many particulars one of the most difficult problems which the governments of our large cities will have to solve during the next twenty five years is that of prov'ding adequate school facilities for their population. It has already be- come matter of anxiety in many cit ies and some are obliged to admit their inability to meet the situation. For | this state oi affairs there are, in the i main, three causes: First, the very | rapid increase in the population of cit | ies among those classes having large | families of children; from th's cause 1t | is sometimes almost physically impos- | sible to build school houses fast enough | to meet the demand; second, the in | expenditures, legitimate and | in all departments of the | public service; third, in some cities, the [ wasteful and selfish | of conducting public business. | These causes, however, need not be dis cussed here It is the fact that ought to receive thoughtful consideration. In New Haven the average annual increase for the past ten years in the number of children actually attending school has been 255. The average annual increase for the past five years has been 372. this number is increasing every year. For the present year it is more than 400 over last year. It is hardly necessary to point to the neces- iary conclusion, viz, that every year We must provide school buildings, teachers and equipment for large increase ill he number of pupils. This conclusion should be met in busnesslike way. No temporary makeshft will do. Any 'vasion of the situation one year will 1rlng a more embarrassing situation,