Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1911-03-12
ABOUT SCHOOL BUILDINGS.

marck will vote on the 18th day of
March, 1911. The board of education
will purchase new site upon which
to erect the high school building, pro.
vided the proposition for issuing
bonds in the sum of $4,000 carries. If
the proposition for issuing bonds In
the sum of $4,000 for the purchase of
site is defeated, and the proposition
for issuing bonds in the sum of $45,-
900 for the purpose of erecting new
building carries, then the board will
erect the new high school building
on the high school park, and near the
old building, and in all probability the
new building would be erected on the
northeast corner of the high school
block and would face Fifth street.
The board have had under advise
ment the purchase of the property
known as the Doctor Porter lots, lying
south of the governors residence on
Fourth street, providing the bond pro-
position to purchase new site car
ries.
The state high school board have
urged upon the board of education the
! matter Of building and equipping a
high school building and have notified
the board that the building now used
for high school purposes was not suit
able, and that unless the board did
comply with the law as to manual
training the Bismarck high school
could not longer be first-class high
school. The Bismarck high school
should have put in manual training
and complied with the law two years
ago. 1t delayed on account of the f.
nances and lack of room now reached
a point where the board must either
comply with the law, or our schools
will be second-class.
Our high school has greatly in
creased in the last four years, and
we now have an enrolment OF about
1875 pupils. The old high school build
ing was erected some thirty years ago
and is not suitable for high school
purposes. We have no assembly room
and We have no suitable study rooms,
and the high school building is occu-
pied by grades and we are badly
cramped. We are compelled to have
two grades in one room in great
under great disadvantage.
The cities of Jamestown, Fargo.
Grand Forks, Valley City, Minot and
Dickinson all have up-to-date high
school accommodations, and there is
no city in the state of North Dakota
that has poorer school accommoda-
lions, in the way of building, than
the city of Bismarck. We are not able
to do justice and the teachers are un'
able to work without the proper equip
ment and pupils cannot do good and
effective work in the building as 1t
now stands. We are over-crowded and
we have not sufficient room for our
high school. The school room that Is
now provided is only sufficient for the
grades and we are practically without
a high school building.
If we are turned back and rated as
second class high school by the
state high school board, then we Will
not receive the aid that we are now
receiving from the state. This nign
school aid last year, l believe, was
$3.50. II we do not build, then we
must rent quarters for our high school
and this would cost the taxpayers as
much as the interest on the bonds,
and we would have nothing. The in
terest on the bonds at four per cent
is $1,000.
We should have an assembly room
large enough to accommodate all OF
the pupils at one time. We should
have recitation rooms and we should
have laboratory rooms and should also
have gymnasium, and this IN con.
nection with the manual training and
domestic science. The legislature OF
the state has made 1t obligatory on
the high schools to give manual train
ing and domestic science, and this law
must be complied with, or we are no
more than a country school. Bismarck
has no other educational institution,
and the people Of Bismarck should
provide an up-to-date high school
building. The school bonded indebt-
edness is now $4,000 and embraced
in three issues, as follows: $4,000 due
October 10, 1924; $4,000 due January
10, 1926; and $4,000 due September
/, 1928. The bonds, If issued, for a
new high school building will be due
some time in 1881 and our bonded in.
debtedness is no larger than that Of
the other cities of the size of Bis
marck, and doubt If as large. If the
taxpayers desire to economic, then
they should vote for the bonds to
build. In doing this they will put the
new high school building on the same
ground which is now occupied, and
some believe that it should not be
placed on this same ground or block.
This is matter for the taxpayers to
decide. The board will be guided by
the will of the taxpayers and should
the proposition to issue bonds for
new site not carry, then the board will
be obliged to build the new high
school building on the old grounds.
The running expenses of the Bis.
marck schools aggregate about $4,000
or $4,000. We have twenty teachers,
including the superintendent, and the
total amount of salaries paid for the
year are $14,75O. The janitors' sal
aries amount to $1,000. The clerks
salary amounts to $3.50. The fuel re-
quired amounts to about $3.50, and to
this must be added the supplies; but
l feel confident that the total amount
NJ running eYnenses If the Bismarck