Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1908-08-26
CLEANING GSFR0M
SCHOOL REPORT

County Supt. FrederickS0n Com
piling His Annual Report Of
The Public Schools.
County Superintendent w. D.
Frederickson is busy getting his an
nual report ready and he expects to
have it out in a couple of weeks.
Several interesting items can be
gathered from the report. The en-
rollment in the independent dis
tricts was 1919. with total attend
ance Of 224.562 days, while in the
common districts 3l93 pupils at
tended total of 265, ,3O5 days,
showing that the average attend
ance in days per pupil is more than
twice as great in the independent
schools as in the common schools.
The question Of salaries does not
appear to have been settled by any
means. at least not as far as the
teachers are concerned. In the in
dependent districts four men are
employed with an average monthly
salary of $117, and 40 women draw
ing an average salary of $53 per
month; while in the common dis
tricts IL men and 95 women are
paid a monthly average of $48 and
$39 respectively. Considering that
teachers can find employment only
nine months year at the most, the
inducements for going into teach
ing as profession at the present
scale of wages would seem to be
anything but alluring; and it also
seems to indicate a lamentably
small appreciation of the value of
the teachers time and services.
The total expenditures for the
year in the independent districts
were $34. .180, and in the common
schools $50, ,460. The former repre-
sent an investment of about $142,-
600, with an Indebtedness of about
$S2, 900, while the latter represent
a total investment of approximate
ly $1O2, 900, with an Indebtedness
Of about $4,000. In the common
districts there is about $27, 900 on
hand, some districts having from
$500 to $4OO in the treasury, even
without a sinking fund. This is
absolutely unnecessary and even
wasteful. This state Of affairs
seems to have been brought about
thru the erroneous impression that
the teachers wages must be paid
out of special taxes, whereas as a
matter Of fact apportionment money
can be used for this purpose, and
for this purpose only.
The only new building the past
year was the one at Svea, built at a
cost Of $3.50 and one of the finest
and best equipped of it's kind in
the northwest. Three other dis
tricts are building additions now
No. SO in town of Norway Lake,
near Sunburg; No. % in Arctander,
and No. 81 in Roseland.
One of the most encouraging
things about the educational out
look is noticeable tendency to in
crease the length of the terms in
the common districts, no less than
7 having made arrangements for a
9 months school. There will also
be 5 semi-graded schools in the
county next year. There would
have been 8, but No. sc, at the Be-
thesda Orphans Home, dropped back
to third-rate school, thereby los.
ing $3.50 of state aid. In the indie.
pendent districts 64 pupils did not
draw apportiopment and in the
common schools 500 pupils failed to
attend the necessary 40 days, repre-.
senting an actual loss to the county
of about $23OO.
The number Of pupils and the
ages at which they attend is as fol.
lows: In the independent districts,
between S and 8 years, l72; be.
tween 8 and Is, 1920, and between
Is and 21, 27. In the common
schools, 613 in the first class, 254{
in the second and 26 in the third
One pupil was less than S and
were over 81, one registering at the
age of 80. Only one district doe:
not provide free textbooks. Free
textbooks cost on an average q
cents while where they are sold b,
the districts they cost on an aver
age q cents.
AS to teachers, in spite of thu
trifling remuneration most of then
receive, the standard is rising
One of the chief reasons for this i
the fact that a state certificate i
absolutely necessary to teach in thi
county, Supt. Frederickson refus
ing to issue permits, which is il
accord with the rules adopted b,
most county s,1narintandants at +h.