The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-11-04

ing, the thermometer has fallen as low as 60 degrees.
 The difficulty in supplying the proper amount of heat is increased, it is thought, by the poor cond tion of the furnace in the cellar. The brick work has been burned out until apertures, measuring several inches, extend around a considerable portion of the furnace door. creating an excessive draft over the coals. and causing added consumption of coal without increased supply of heat.
 The greatest problem which has con- fronted the Superintendent of Schools. and the teaching force of the Sayre Street building this year, is that of lack of room and equipment to proper iy care for the pupils. According to the principle of the system, forty-five is the highest num- be placed in one room. This number was adopted as the greatest which could be taught to advantage by one teacher. With the exception of the eighth grade, which consists entirely of girls. and includes thirty-three pu- pills, every room in the Sayre street building contains more than the re- quired number. while in addition to the rooms regularly used for the two lower grades it has been necessary to fit up room in the cellar for mixed class of first and second grade pupils
 The figures given The Advertiser representative by the principal. Miss Mary E. Boyle. of the pupils in the different grade rooms. are the follow ing. Eighth grade, thrty-three; sev- enth grade. forty-seven; sixth grade. fourth grade, fifty-one: third grade, forty mine: second grade. fifty one; first grade. forty-nine The cellar room contains forty-nine pupils in ad- dition to the figures given for the first and second grades.
 Beside filling almost every desk and seat in the building. in one of the rooms, the fifth grade. the number or pupils exceeded the number of desks and seats. three of the children being obliged to do their work at q table. placed at one side of the room.
 Three schools Crowded.
 Crowded conditions obtain in sever al of the other buildings. notably the Heron Street School and the Capitol Hill School. but in this respect Sayre street is the greatest sufferer in the entire system. The destruction of the old school building, torn down last year. Is in part responsible for the crowded conditions that prevail, and although efforts have been made to ease the situation by redistricting the city, thus far the efforts have been only partially successful The larger children living in the neighborhood Of tre building can safely be sent to schools at a greater distance from their homes, but in the case of chill dren in the two lower grades, parents fear to send the little ones any dis tance
 This last phase of the situation is largely responsible for the appropria- tion of the cellar room mentioned as a class room. which Is one of the most regrettable features of the school. Here forty seven pupils. composing a mixed grade, are taught. Pipes lead ing from the furnace to other rooms of the building, pass through the room, but fail to furnish sufficient heat. To supplement this source, a stove has been erected in a corner of the room. Two thermometers. one hung near the stove and the other in the corner far thest removed from 1t. were inspected One showed temperature of S2 de- grees while the temperature register ed the other was 7i degrees.
 The overcrowded condition of the school. the ventilating system and the inadequate heating supply were the most noticeable defects in the Sayre street building.
 From the modern standpoint the architecture Is faulty in that the halls and stairways of the building are dark. and although the roof of the stucture was repaired during the last summer, several of the rooms are still bothered by leakage during hard rains.
 While the halls and stalrways are not as well lighted as in the more modern structures in the city, the reef tation rooms are all bright the light falling-as, indeed, is the case in every room in all the buildings-over the shoulders of the seated pupils.
 Sayre street school. has two large playgrounds for the boys and girls, separated by a board fence, and in this respect is better supplied, per-