Arizona republican., 1905-05-07

to be abandoned, as the sewerage is backing into the building. A new one
 will be dug, walled and arched with
 brick, as a matter of safety, for a
 possible repetition of the horror which
 recently occurred near Cincinnati is
 awful to contemplate. Should any
 disaster result from oversight and neg
 lect upon the part of the trustees they
 would, of course, be severely criti-
 cised and justly, however. the question naturally arises how are these things
 to be done without money? The board has arranged for the purchase of
 a formaldehyde generator and closet,
 for the disinfecting cf the books in the
 school library. This is as necessary as the disinfection of the books in the
 city library, as the books of the school
 library go into the homes of invalids
 as well as those of the city library.
 "The legislature at it's last session l passed a law prohibiting school boards in the territory from employing teach
 CTS afflicted with tuberculosis. The
 school board of Phoenix has for sev-
 eral years had a rule of this kind. and
 during the past year, especially, it was strictly enforced.
 "The employment of a clerk was an OtHGT feature Ol last year S WOIh. I1tIG-
 tofore the board employed a bookkeep-
 CT, a census enumerator and a libra
 rian, paying to these persons, who
 gave only the actual time necessary
 for the performance of their respective
 duties. the sum of s475. With an addi-
 tional cost of $65 for the year, one
 person has been employed, whose en-
 tire time is devoted to these, and many
 other duties, assigned by the board
 and superintendent.
 During the past year the board has
 made a vigorous effort to enforce the
 compulsory school law and with eX-
 tremely good results. Many children
 between the ages of eight and touI-
 teen are now in school who other
 wise would not be. It has necessitat-
 ed a number of arrests of parents and some hard feelings have been en- gendered, but the good which will re- suit is satisfying. The patrons of the school could greatly assist in the work by reporting to the board. children known to be not attending school.
 "The grammar school board regrets that the joint superintendency of the high school and grammar school has been abolished, as it imposes an addi- Uonal expense of $500 upon the latter board. It doos not lie within the pro- vince of this report to discuss the many disadvantages arising from hav- ing two heads to the school instead Cf one. Suffice it to say, however. that inasmuch as the grammar school board is paying about four-fifths of the high school tax, they feel that an unjust burden is being forced upon them in compelling them to accept two superintendents instead of one. as the fe t1e more than joint superintendent would. We further feel that unless the appOrtionment is increased this year it will be necessary to make the same arrangement as that now em- ployed by the high school board, i. e.. allowing the principal of the Center street building to act as superintend- ent of the city grammar schools. This is. undoubtedly, a step backward in stead of in the right direction, but if the money is not provided to properly conduct the schools we will have to do tho best we can under the cir cumstances.
 Among the improvements vet to be made which seem absolutely neccssa- ny, is a complete renovating of the Central. East Enc. and West End buildings. The walls should be tint ed and the woodwork painted both inside and out. An the desks should be vanished; there are desks in the Central building that have been there for twenty years, and they look it. 1 From q sanitary standpoint. if not from an aesthetic one, the tinting of the walls ard the varnishin~ of the desks seem advisable. Fls- screens l should be placed at the windows. and l awnings on the west exposure of the ! buildings. The walks should be gray | eled. and the play grounds either gray l eled or sown with Bermuda grass. | The open closets at the East and West | End buildings should be replaced by | covered cesspools and provided with l sanitary closets. This will probably 1 have to be done. as complaint has ire l quently been made to the city board | of health by persons living in those | vicinities. The primary grades are | still crowded and it will be necessary ! to finish the remaining room at Five | Points, which is as yet unfinished i These needed improvements cannot be | made without money. We have rep | utatjon, and I believe deservedly SO ! of having remarkably good schools in ! Phoenix Visitors coming here from | the east have frequently stated that | the schools of Phoenix are as good or | better than those in the locality from which they came. This. of course, is | very gratifying, but at the same time | there is vast room for improvement. ! We do not approve of extravaganza, | but we do feel that our school sys- tenn is entitled to a little more than | the minimum assessment. Especially | is this true for the coming year, as ] the average attendance upon which CUT ! depends will have heen very much reduced by the stormy l weather which has prevailed during several months of our present school i year. - There is a law upon our stat utes which provides that the board 1 of supervisors, after determining the | amount that will be required to main