Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-09-29
LARGE SCHOOL GAIN
S1perinlendeai Tinker Says lhl luIIlIss Are overiIowIDs.

the committee on school houses per mission was granted that body to get . rough draft of plans for an eight or 10 room building with an esti- mate of cost, to be added to the Walsh school building. The commit. tee reported that there Is practically no playground at that school now.
 Commissioner Chapman thought Walsh school is large enough at present to which Commissioners Reil, ey answered that a new building would mean a salary for another principal. the purchase of lot and a lot of other expense, which, by adding to the Walsh school, could be avoided. Also that 10 room building would make Walsh school only as large as Webster school Is now. So on motion by CommissionG McDoneid the committee on school houses was empowered to go ahead.
 As to the prevailing conditions in . the schools, MT Tinker submitted
 City, Sept IS. 1908.
 Gentlemen:
 The net gain in school attendance this fall is the largest in the his- tory of the schools and in some sec tions has found us without sufficient accommodations, thus making neces- sary the transfer of large numbers Of pupils. And in spite of this, there remains at the present time larg- CT number of overcrowded rooms than at any time in the past 10 years. Some of the Overcrowding in the upper grades is due to the fact that business has been dull, but hard times seems to have had no effect on the lower grades. When considering the advisability of pro- yiding additional accommodations, It should be constantly kept in mind that at least two years must lapse before such accommodations can pc ready and that in the meantime the schools will continue to grow and conditions that are annoying at present. may become serious before any remedy can be applied.
 The Brooklyn district, Washington Hill, the west end. the eastern and northwestern sections of the city can take care of themselves for the i'm mediate future, though one or two rooms should be completed in the Driggs school for the next year, and the replacing of the Lincoln school should be carefully considered. While the last named school is able to pro- vide seats for all of the pupils in its district, the surroundings have not improved since my report Tn September, 1907, the principal re. porting that the noise from the passing trains lis as though they ran over the top of the schooihouse. As has been repeatedly recommends ed, a new site west of North Willow street, and in the vicinity of Hill- side avenue, should be selected dur ing the present school year and as soon as possible proper school house erected thereon.
 In the northern section of the city, the increased number of school chil- dren at the opening day of school was 269. for the accommodation or which we had two rooms at the WeD- ster school, the rest of the pupils being transferred to the Welton, Croft. Bishop and Driggs. The Webster school Is even now full to its utmost capacity, with some over crowded grades, and in the Walsh in 13 rooms there are pupils who are sitting in chairs and must so re- main during the present year.. If this section continues to grow dur ing the coming year at the same rate, and there Is no reason to think that the case will be otherwise. it is going to be a serious proposition to provide for these pupils with suitable accommodations. I am in clined to believe that in the fall Of 1910 there will be from 200 to 800 pupils in this section that cannot in any way be accommodated in the present school buildings. The prob lem is capable of two solutions. First: 12 room building, arrang- ed so as to be capable of being made into an Is or 24 room structure. could be placed on the Locust street site, if strip of land at least 5o feet in width, extending along the southern boundary of the present lot be purchased-thus making the site about 150 feet by 260, which would be ample for the above building. Second: 6 room addition to the Walsh school. where the pressure Is greatest. could be built on the east or west ends of the present struc- lure, if the present school site were enlarged by strip of land about 100 feet in width-two lots facing Ashley street and two lots facing Dikeman street. The present heat ing plant is. think, ample to care for this addition. This plan would undoubtedly cost less per room than to build on the Locust street site and also less for maintenance.
 During the past three or four years I have made so many reports explaining the overcrowding in ths high school that I would refer the board to these reports for full par ticulars and simply state that if ws are to continue having high school worthy of the city, something must | he done at once to relieve the de- plorable conditions that exist at | present and that have been growing worse year by year., The school numbers now over 725 pupils, and We have excellent accommodations for 500. It is planned to use as- sembly hall temporarily as study room and 150 pupils will be accom- modated there this year. Within two years, 130 pupils have been add ed to the school and no provision has been made toward providing proper. accommodations for these steadily increasing numbers. Three methods of relief are possible. First: |