Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1906-05-02
1T-g-
SCHOOL BOARDS Meet

SCHOOL BOARDS: Meet i,
Methods and Means for the Improve.
mont Of Our Public Schools Dis
eussed Last Thursday.
The meeting of the school boards of
Kandiyohi county held in the court
house last Thursday was the most sue
cessful meeting of the kind ever held
in this county. The registered attend
ance was 159, representing 80 of the
l03 districts in the county. Twenty
three districts were represented by the
entire board. It was q steady attend
ance; too, practically the entire num-
ber being there at the opening session
in the morning and remaining till the
meeting was dismissed at four O'Clock
in the afternoon.
The program was of an informal
character, in order to enable the MEM
bers of the meeting to bring up any
question they wanted discussed. It
was led by Supt. Dobbyn, assisted by
Assistant State Superintendent c. G.
Schulz, Supt. eastman of Swift
county, Supt. MCGOWAN of Meeker
county, Supt. Pratt of Yellow Medi-
cine county, and Mr.. Manuel, repre-
senting the Smith Heating and Venti-
lating company. The first question
discussed was that of free textbooks.
The system was strongly commended
by number of speakers, the points
made being as follows: It enables all
children to attend even if their parents
are TOO poor to buy books; the books
are on hand at the beginning of the
term and the teacher does not have to
waste time waiting for the parents to
go to town to buy books; it supplies
every pupil with books; it is more
economical because each book is used
till worn out, while under individual
ownership when pupil finishes
book it is laid aside unless he should
have brother or sister that could use
it; it is the last step towards making
our public schools place where all
children, rich Or poor, are placed on
an absolute equality. In connection
with this discussion the necessity for
supplementary reading was strongly
emphasized by several speakers, and
it was also brought out that the board
should act in unison and after con-
sultation with the county superintend
ent in purchasing supplies of any
kind.
Supt. Schulz spoke on "How to Sc
cure the Best Rural Schools" He
pointed out that the reasons why ru-
raj schools have not advanced as fast
as urban schools are:,. Urban schools
are under direct supervisionsof SUI
perintendent who can visit each room
twice week if necessary, while the
county superintendent does we'll if he
can get around twice year to each
school; irregular attendance in the ru-
raj schools makes progress slow and
strict grading impossible; school
buildings are improperly constructed
and badly heated and ventilated. In
the aforementioned matter much pro-
gress is being made, most of the new
buildings now going up being built on.
right principles. In regard to super
vision it is not possible to reach the
standard of the city schools, but much
can be done by raising the salary of
the superintendent so that when
good one is elected he will not find it
to his advantage to leave his place
for position in a graded school. At
present the city superintendent are
paid much higher salary than coun-
ty superintendents and can therefore
command the best men.
In the afternoon Superintendent
eastman gave an excellent talk on
how to build schoolhouses properly,
how to heat and ventilate them, proper
way of seating pupils, caring for
school property, construction and
care of out-buildings, etc. She also
advised the boards to be on the look
out for good teachers and hire them
as early as possible. It was brought
out that the board had the power to
hire teacher before the annual meet
ing, making positive contract for
five months-the length of school re-
quired by law-with provisional
contract for as many more months as;
the annual meeting would decide up.
on. In this way the board will have
the pick of teachers, instead of having
to take what was left as is the case
when they wait until few days before
the school is to open. She strongly
recommended that the board consult
the superintendent about the choice of
teacher.
Mr.. Manuel gave an interesting talk
on the Smith system of heating and
ventilating, illustrating his talk with
chart of the system. The system
was indorsed by Superintendent
Pratt, eastman and MCGOWAN and by
various boards in districts where it
has been put in within the >last two
years. III
Sen. Thorpe was called on for q few.