Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1903-06-05
:SChOOl News 5 Notes
By Supt. L. B. Fancher.
CONSOLIDATION OF RURAL
SCHOOLS.

AlCxtAA
SCHOOLS.
Continued from last week.
What is there, then to retard the
rapid consolidation of the rural
schools of North Dakota? Many OBJ
jections are offered by school officers
and school patrons. There is the dis
like to surrender misconceived self
interest for the good of the community
as a whole, an unwillingness to aban-
don the old ungraded "home SCHOOL,
located within a stones throw of the
door for a central graded school mile
or two away; a belief that such re.
moval would d~epreciate the value Of
adjoining lands; a proneness of some
people to object to any innovation,
however worthy, or however we'll re-
ceived elsewhere, on the theory that
this is the last generation and that
any special efforts at improvement are
just 80 much more than is necessary.
Some object to sending young child
rem far to school, and others claim
that our winters are too severe and
winter days too short for even the old
or pupils to be conveyed to the center
of the township. These objections
are often unwittingly made by parents
whose children would be no farther
from the central school than they are
from the school they now attend.
Fear of heavier taxes is another
obstacle, This bugaboo is especially
frightful to the childless taxpayer.
But despite all cavil and doubt, many
heavy taxpayers-intelligent school
officers and citizens-ale earnestly ad-
vocating the consolidation Of their
schools, asserting that whether the
expense be more or less, it matters
not, so long as the change shall re-
suit in a better school system.
The greatest practical difficulty
seems to be involved in the question
Of how to transport the children at a
reasonable expense to the district,
and to the satisfaction Of all concern
ed. This problem has not peen
wholly worked out. The same plan
cannot be applied with equal success
to every locality. Drivers and teams
cannot be hired at the low rates paid
in Ohio. On this account, in many
places, one Of the older pupils is en-
ployed to act as driver; but it is
agreed that, whatever be the cost, the
pupils must be conveyed by response
BILE drivers of good character who are
bound to maintain the moral atmos-
phere of the wagons in perfect har-
mony with that of the school and
the home; that the vehicles should be
properly constructed and enclosed, and
in severe weather necessary robes and
means of heating provided. Twenty
years ago rural mail delivery would
have been pronounced a visionary
scheme, yet we see it rapidly becom-
ing universal. Why Because
modern business methods demand it.
Just as imperative is the demand for
"a better education for the pupils
of the rural communities, and a turn
ing point in the wave which up tc
this time has borne everything with
it from the country toward the town.
A large proportions of the children
of the land, on account Of local en-
vironlnent, will continue indefinitely
tu be schooled in little rural schools
-or they will mot be schooled at all
but the co aY9 remedy can be
lions are the ,lAble with the largest
promis5, ;Jhat i.eess. |.
GonsolidaalccA q should not mean tina,
there shall Ne only one school in {
townshipsWAere Two would be prefer
able, ncrrskoafa it mean that part o,
ditferent.fbwnships shall not be com.
prised nsbne school, and some furthe,
legislation is necessary in our state t
enable districts operating under thu
township unit, or otherwise, to unite
for the maintenance of centralized
schools. Our laws provide that IN
der certain conditions rural high
schools may be established and main.
tanned by two adjacent districts.
The same privilege should be granted
for the purpose of consolidating the
common schools when, for instance,
as in my own county, a village is To-
Gated on a township line. Supt. o.
sen, of Minnesota, recommends that
the contract law now in operation in
New York, be enacted in Minnesota.
This permits a school district to sus-
pend the maintenance of a school and
to contract with another district for
the care Of it's pupils. Our Code EN-
bodies the provisions Of this law to
the extent that pupils may be sent
from one district to the schools of
another and their tuition paid from
school funds, but the boards are not,
as vet, authorized TO provide trans