Milford chronicle., 1905-01-20
DNSOLIDATION OF
RURAL SCHOOLS.

Ors I'VE continue to publish clippings
Hsowing the success of consolidation Of
hools IN other States. There will be
n b attempt to take the management Of
\ Ae schools out of the hands of the peo-
n he. Officers will be elected in the
limited schools who will control the
! chools as at present There will not
\ a single board orRa2ized where the
members will receive any salary. The
Iole object is to better the schools. 1t
annot be tried in any section without
he consent Ofthe people. The proposed
Ian is for the State to try an object
ehOol 10 each county. Representative
Amen Of ed least three sections in this
Heounty have asked that the trial school
lbe located in their neighbOrhOOd. We
trust you will read carefully what
others say.
The foIT.wing is from a bulletin is.
Y sued from the University of Texas:
nBy the Consolidation of Rural
schools Is meant the discontinuance of
several small One-teacher schools within
given district or neighbOrhOod, and
\ the maintainance instead of one larger
school, with several teachers, at some
u point near the centre fthis area. When
this central school takes the place of a
large number Of small schools. or when
thearea Ininistered to by this one school
is very large, the pupils from those
parts 81 the district far removed from
the school house are transported to and
from school in wagOnettes at the public
expense. The wagOnette hire and driv-
ere salaries are paid out of school funds
lust as are teachers salaries or fuel bills.
Experienee has shown that this ex-
Npense can usually be met without any
incrsa in appropriation out Of the
amount saved through the greater
economy in running one large central
school Instead of four, five or six scat
tered little schools. When only two or
4 three schools are consolidated and
wnenfncne of the pupils are placed
thereby at great distance from the CEN
trail school, free transportation need not
be pfovided.
"This plan of transporting pupils at
public expense from outlying districts
was first authorized in Massachusetts
ia 1859, where they found that it was
cheaper to transport the pupils in the
country TO the well established village
schools than to support even a poor
grade of separate country school. In
other States the rural districts which
have no central village soon adopted
the plan of consolidating their own lit
lie scattered rural schools, sometimes
with, sometimes without transpOrta-
tion, Among the States now practising
consoA '~tion are Massachusetts, New
Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, COnnec-
ticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Vir-
pihia, West Virginia, North Carolina,
Georgia, Florida, Ohio, Indiana, Wis
consin, Michigan. Minnesota, Missouri,
idaho, Kansas, Nebraska - North
Dakota. 1t is prsctised also in Victoria,
australia, with great advantage. In
all these States it has proved successful
and is rapidly spreading"
is a fact the rural schools have
by no means kept pace with those in
the towns in advancement in the past
quarter century. While the town
schools use up-tO- date methods and are
able 10 emploS2, teachers who have re-
ceived speciy Rtraiuing for their work.
the metbo used in the average cOun-
fry schoc esre much the same as they
we're two or three decades ago. One Of
the disadvantages Of country life is the
lack of the best school facilities. The
rural school problem has been difficult
one for educators to solve, but the con-
solidation idea seems to present the So
: i tiOn.
In the year 1898 Seymour Rockwell,
the veteran school committee man Of
/. Montague, Mass. said: "FOr eighteen
yesfs we haye had the best attendance
ssom the transported children no MOI e
sickness among them, and no more ac-
%ssdents. The children like the plan ex-
ces egly. We have saved the town at
least ~ hundred OlIars year"
10 Massachusetts,, in response to a
circular Of inquiry, $50 per cent. of the
town report the cost as less, but the re-
suits better Is per cent. cost the same
but the results better; 8 per cent. costs
more but the result better 8 per cent.
costs more but the results not stated 8
per cent. cost Iess but results not stated. +"
Mr.. Fletcher, of Massachusetts, in
serts in his report the following letter
from Seymour Rockwell, Of Montague,
for nearly thirty years member Of the
,hoot oonnuniftee of that fOwn.