Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1905-02-19
Our PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Continued from first page.)

lin all up to date schools OF The size of
| Newport News is the plan Of semi-an-
nual promotions. Last spring ,his
matter was laid before tie board. Il
was shown that children comm. OF
school age after the opening Of the
schools had to be refused at}n7;t;al,c.
until a new school term began or III
tNumcrablc classes had to lie formct,
and The work retarded i'll The first Year.
| When The school age was fixed ct
seven this became 4 serious question
Children had to be Kept ont of school
;lmOSt year or if adn:iiinu 1T tile
various times When they reached Tic
school a%c tic constant beginning Of
new pupils reduced the work OF the
| jirst year to almost nil. Again chill
drcn who failed Under the systcui Cf
annua! pro:hotiCns lose 4 whole year
whereas under the plan OF semiannual
promotions they would only lose one
half term Again. children can be pro
j'nolcd frequently from grade 10 grade
| with grades only four and a hall!
possible 50 70 do With grades year
apart Again. The Sitting OF the grades
twice year makes progress more
rapid with those who win promotion
and only tc1uircs those Who fail tc
review the work of enc half-term.
When the school board had discuss
Cd these advantages and had taken
into consideration the disadvantages
aud when they had seen tnat the plan
| mad been SO universally adopted by
cities Of tho size Of Newport News arl
larger. they resolved lG install ii. -tc-
cortiAgly. tic board save notice Feb
ruary 1904, that pupils becoming,
seven Years of age since TIC schools
opened in September or any ether res
i'lcHt pupils dcsirin. t. enter the p.,b-
ID s;-hcCls ii III" city would be re-
| csiv"' f~;, tho las, bali term Of he
:essi"n on above date
For: 10 tiftv no., pupils presented
themselves, a!l nc fcur lower grades
wc,c rccr2aniz"d. Tho first grade was
u bus divided into two grades first
! grade \ and first grade e. The sec
CHI. thi,'l and fourth grades were di-
rislrh INTO tive sections. tho BRIGHTER
pupils being assigned &c second grade
H. third Grade r. fourth grade and
inc slower pupils tu ,hc y grades. coz
:cs!mndin"ly. I.lIo,, was then made
% cGrGr with 1h.. 3 cradles as much as
could BE- done consistent with thor
Gu2nnHSS. ard Sl1n" ri them com
plctcd 4 full years wGr!; in the last
half ii III, last tenn. So that On omen
ling ef tic schools i'll September We
had Sumi-annual grading in the four
| !GWe: Grades We proceeded to divide
The fifth. sixth. seventh and ci"hth
grades il Tic sane way, and found
that "hcn the first hllfierm OF Tho
c,llrrai session had k"cn finished. the
eight grades Of the CnmDnol schools
had Econ practically put under tho
; sch, snc Of scr1i-annnal promotions.
80 serious diilcnlt.s have been
encountered! because The work has
| oIcn done gradually. 1t is not vet Per
f"cteG ev@n in the lowe! grades. nor
have VIC been able 10 work the High
/ Schc:: grades five months apart in
| st'ad Ct year. bHr the end is il sight
| and tho change has been accom- pIished
with l minimum Of difficulty and with
out detrimcnt to the pupils. Tho ad-
! vantaSes CT these bctterments are be
| coming .1CrG and more apparent ana
4 by the end Of another school wear we
believe the children of. Newport News
will have al The advantages Ct Tic
best organized school systems.
Schoo. Books
| Perhaps il, no other city is SO much
said about the cost of school books
lEis is 10 more than is 10 be expected
! We have large population coming To
us constantly from Baltimore. Fh;la-
dclphia and other cities where books
are furnished free. Being accust once!
| 10 free books. the man with four OF
five children in school feels it hard
| ship when he has to buy now hooks fer
his children. and tho expense strikes
him as great. This was aggravated
this year because Of the fact that the
State la" in Virginia, as in other
States. requires that every four years
the State boa,d shall adept q list Of
schCO! books for the use Of the public
schools Of tile State. This adoption ~,
| the State Eoard occurred last sprin:
and neccsstated the changes made by
| the local board
| The cost of school books is as fol
lows: BcoEs for pupils or first ycs,
cost Sl0o: for pupils OF second year,