River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1906-12-13

1
/ town of Rock Elm in relation to said
| matter. as provided by Chapter 225 of the
Laws of 1903. as amended by Chapter 2SS
! or the Laws of 1905.
Superintendent of Schools, Geo. w.
Weldon, read his report and the same
was accepted.
REPORT OF THE COUNTY SUPER
INTENDENT OF SCHOOLS.
Ellsworth, Wis, Nov 90 1906
TO the Honorable Board of Supervisors of
Pierce County:
/ herewith present to you my second an
nual report of the schools of Pierce
| County.
year has been very satisfactory though
| conditions in many of our schools are
still far from what they should be.
| One new school building was completed
| during the year. and another is now
| under construction. Several of the old
/ buildings have been repaired and wood
sheds and out-houses have been built
in many of the districts.
] The new building at Martell, though not
supplied with sufficient window space and
| adequate means for ventilation, is equip
/ ped with a furnace, single seats, slate
] board and other necessary apparatus.
| A substantial modern four-room build
ing is being built at Bay City,, which will
| certainly be a credit to the place Ce-
L
| struction. and the total cost of the build
ing will be So, IT'S. In two other districts
special meetings have been held and
| plans made for building next year A fine
| brick building will be erected in the
| Scott district in Rock Elm. A few more
| buildings are needed throughout the coun-
| ty, and fully half of those in should
be provided with better means for heat
i ing and ventilation.
/ In spite Of the fact that the dangers of
| i'll ventilated rooms have been repeatedly
| pointed out, and systems of ventilation
| elaborated and perfected there are count
| less school rooms occupied daily in which
| the air is not so pure as in an ordinary
stable. Teachers and pupils working in
such rooms soon become dull, restless and
nervous, and good work under those con-
| ditions is impossible. Many of these
| buildings were constructed long ago when
no one thought of any other means of
changing the air in the rooms than the
doors and windows offered / find that
in fully half of the buildings windows are
either painted an or nailed so that they
| cannot be lowered from the top. These
buildings, and others not provided with
an approved system of ventilation, are
| hard to ventilate without causing serious
discomforts to those sitting near the
open door or window, and, in consequence
the school room too often goes unaired.
i The New York Board of Health esti-
mates that 40 per cent. of all deaths are
James Johnson says: ''All deaths result
| ing from feverS are but drop in the
ocean when compared with those who
perish from bad air. Could parents be
made to realize the Importance of yenti-
lation to the health and educational
progress of their children, ] believe that
every school building in the county would
be fitted with adequate means for proper
heating and ventilation before the be-
ginning of the next school year.
| Either a basement furnace, If properly
put in, Manuel-Smith heating and venti-
| lating system, or g jacketed stove, with
| fresh air intake f1ue and double chimney,
will S I've the problem of heating and
ventilation. With one of these in use it
isn't necessary to open windows in order
| to have good ventilation.
Basement furnaces, and jacketed stoves
are failures, so far ais ventilation is con-
| cerned unless there is a f1ue connected
| with them for taking in fresh air from
| out of doors. There are now eighteen
furnaces and eight of the Manuel-Smith
| systems in the county. The Manuel
Smith system costs only from one-half to
| one-fourth of the cost of a furnace, and,
| Judging by reports from those in oper-
alton, they are about equal to a furnace.
The school ground in most districts are
fairly well attended to though in a few
places L found that the weeds weren't
cut before the opening of schools last
fall. The general condition of the out
| houses is much better than it was last
year, but l have found few this fall in
a poor or unSanitary condition, and two
| in positively dangerous condition. the
floor over the vault being partly de-
stroyed.
| One district in Oak Grove has only one
clubhouse, and one in River Falls, has a
double clubhouse, which, considering the
condition it is in, is even more objection
able than having only one building.
| hope these two districts will attend to
this matter at the next school meeting
| if not before
| The lighting space and arrangement of
seats needs attention in many schools.
The window space should be one-ffth of
the floor space, and seats of the same
size should be in the same row. If the
| large seats are in the back of the room
and the small seats in front, they should
be rearranged, as this makes it necessary
for pupils to sit on q high seat with a
low desk.
The first School Board Convention under
the new law, held at Ellsworth Dec. 10,
was attended by one hundred and six
school board members, and many others.
Rural School Inspector L. w. Wood
gave instructive addresses on the s'Sani-
itary Conditions in Our Rural Schools
and the working Tools of a Modern
Rural School,
He recommended a good supply of slate
blackboard, single seats, a good book
case, a plain Pinch globe, a case of
eight maps, supplementary first, second
and third readers, from three to six Web
steers Academic dictionaries, a Webster S
International dictionary, Bartlett die
tionary holder, wash basin, towels and
a small mirror, for every rural school
Prof. J. F. Sims gave an address on
vocated paying good wages for good serv-
ice, retaining a teacher whose work was
satisfactory for more than one year, if
possible, and asking the county superin-
tendents advice in the selection of teach
ers.
Their arguments were followed up by
circular letters from this office in Janu-
larry and June. Results proved that their
arguments had weight with school board
members. Fully half of the schools now
have supplementary readers, many have
Academic dictionaries, much slate board
and several cases of maps have been put
in and much of the other apparatus has
been purchased where needed. A large
number of districts now have everything
that has been asked for in the line of
apparatus but few are still in need Of
over half of what was recommended
To hire a good teacher at $40 a month,
and expect her to get good results with
out proper supply of apparatus to work
with, is using about the same business
principles as a farmer would use who
hired a man at $50 a month and board
and sent him out with a scythe to cut a
clear field of grass expecting him to earn
as much as his neighbours hired man
moving in an adjoining field with a good
team and mower. No farmer would think
of doing this. 1t wouldn't pay The sup
ply of apparatus in some districts is