The Farmington times and herald. (Farmington, St. Francois Co., Mo.) 1902-1905, 1905-03-10
OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
Superintendent Dunlap Suggests Many
lmprovements-0ne An Additional
$4,000 Building-School
Room Inadequate.
sos PUPILS ENROLLED TO DATE.

GENTLEMEN: | herewith submit to
you my report of the Pennington Pub.
lie Schools for the school year l904-5.
This report is made in order that your
honorable body and the public may be
made better acquainted with the con
dition and needs of your public schools.
Some improvements are needed in your
school buildings in order that Farm
ngton's title, "Thc City OF Schools
and Churches" may be more appro-
priately borne.
We have enrolled to date in the
white department OF our schools j0j
pupils, distributed as follows: High
school, So; eighth grade, "a seventh
grade, 3S; sixth grade, Al; fifth grade,
81; fourth grade, 60; third grade, 80 /;
second grade, 81; first grade, 80, and
chart, So. These figures show that
we have enrolled in the second, third,
fourth and fifth grades OF our schools
234 pupils. These pupils have been
taught by four teachers, thus making
An average OF nearly 60 pupils per
teacher.
The best authorities on school grad
ing are agreed tina, 80 pupils is An ideal
number for each room in these grades
Ter the accomplishment of the most
efficient work, Forty pupils per teach.
cr is regarded rs the maximum limit.
1t would rarely happen that an equal
number of these 23i pupils could be
placed in each grade, because their
attninments do net follow this proper
ton. If such an arrangement of grad
ing should happen then each of six
teachers would have 80 pupils. Two
more teachers are needed in this de-
partmcnt of your school. There is an
abundance of work Tor them To do
These teachers should he placed by the
superintendent to teach the grades
where their services are most needed
In my opinion, these grades should be
assigned to the rooms of the north and
south ward schools.
regard it AS peculiarly unfortunate
that the rooms of the north ward
school were not made larger, the cell.
ing higher aud the Lighting ares better
adjusted The rooms are 24X2J feet /;
40 pupils pack them like sardincs in n
box The old south ward building
was much better planned. The rooms
are 2Ix3G feet, ljfoot ceiling; 40
pupils find an abundance of space in
these rooms. In spite of all planning
and arranging that can be done, i, is
often necessary to accommodate more
than 40 pupils for short time. There
fore school rooms should be built nc.
cordingly. Rooms 2iX34 feet, with
not less than l3-foot ceiling, the light
Of all being admitted on the left side,
seem best adapted to our needs. Such
a room will seat at least so pupils. The
windows should extend to within six
inches Of the ceiling and should bc in
area equal to at least one-iifth of the
floor spoce.
As heating school building with
stoves is absolutely out Of the question
at the present time, except in build
ings Of one or two rooms in country
districts, il possible both the north and
south ward buildings should be heated
10y some one of these modern, sensible
ways of heating a school bnildng by
hot mir furnaces, by steam and by hot
water. A school room should be kept
at something near uniform temper
aturc at 7O7 in all of its parts. Thu
cannot be done with stove heat.
If | thought argument necessary tc
convince YOU that the old frame ram.
,hucklc structure now being used fol
High School purposes is entirely un'
fiji Tor such use, would attempt Il
present it. You, gentlemen, all know
the condition Of that building. Dc
you not agree that it is unfit for schoo
use in any sort of town? Mucl
more readily will you agree that it Il
much less fit for such use in this pro
gressiyc, cultured town. One room
of that building is as cold as an ordi
nary barn, and the other one is bu
little warmer. II is not possible Il
heat these rooms So that they will b
| comfortable enough for school us'
when the thermometer is much below
freezing. In my opinion, every dolla
spent in trying to fix this hull 70
school purposes is n dollar wasted.
The arrangement previously men
toned, leaves the High School, an
grades seven and six not provided wit
n building Tor this purpose mod
crn school structure, built on up-to
date plans, should be erected. Thi
building should contain not less tina
six recitation rooms, library room
a laboratory and an assembly room
large enough TO scat at least 200 p'
pills. This building should be locate
on some suitable site that would fur
nish n large playground. | think this
n High School gives better result
when conducted on the dcpartmer
plan. 1t probably meets the require
mcnts of the people here better to haV
two courses of study offered in thcj
High School, one articulating with til
Missouri University. All teachers !
the High School should be specialists
the department of work they undertake
to teach. All new teachers should b
either a college or university gradt
ate, holding State certificate. Th
departments recommended are Lati
and Literature, History and Scienct
and Mathematics. One new teacht
will be required for the High Scho'
by the proposed plan, making tot