Norwich bulletin., 1911-12-05

is elected it meets and divides itself { into three classes, serving for one, two and three years respectively. All the
 school business will hereafter be done . in the town meeting, and the new ! town school committee will manage all f the property of the town relating tc schools, determine the number and ! qualification of scholars to be admit 1 ted, anu determine the district boun- 1 daries. which may or may not coincide with the present limits.
 ] Financial Side.
 As to the financial side, there seems | to be some conflict here. but it is considered that the property of all the kseiectman, one member of the new 1 committee and member of the board of assessors The debts oI the dis fricts are also 10 be determined and a tax laid equal to the appraised value Each district is then credited on the rate bill with the amount their prop erty exceeds their indebtedness. In Norwich some districts will have so much mere of assets than others
 that it really looks as if they would actually be receiving money. But this IS q point which must he thoroughly threshed out and no one seems able now But the law also provides that
 the financial matters may be adjusted
 in some other equitable way which
 may be agreed upon.
 Funds for Specific Purposes.
 Where districts have had funds for specific purposes, it is the intention
 that they shall be applied for the school for which they were originally intended. rather than diverted to an other. All taxes and claims are to be collected by the selectmen and credit ed to the districts, but even after the new committee IS iri power, the pres ent officers may remain for a short time to settle up district affairs.
 MT. FoSs next took up consideration of how many the new school commit tee should consist oi, saying that prob ably all would agree that three was too small number, and the main question is whether it would be either 6 or F or g. A committee of or F meant equal party representation and with thiSk number it might be that politics might result in blocking the attempt to do anything. A committee of would mean majority for one party, meaning that the majority would be able to do sonething He showed that all the effect of cOnson- dation could be really nullified if the new committee should choose to con tinue school affairs much as they are now,
 Uniformity on Textbooks.
 As far as a saving to the town on tne nancial side. he said, he could not see that there was much proba- bility of making a difference in the total cost of running the schools. It would be a question whether to have one general superintendent for the schools with several principals for groups Of schools CT some other meth cd of placing principals, but the great gain through consolidation would be in standardization snd efficiency. the whole working under one method and with one teaching idea Uniformity of textbooks would be a saving to the parents and often of a year in school to the children when families moved from one district to another. In this connection he spoke a. word for free textbooks, which he said he believed might be one of the outcomes of con- soitdation.
 One question to be decided also would be whether to continue three of the small districts, Wauwecus Hill, ] Plaln Hill and Scotland road. Some l schools are working on the eight | grade and some on the nine-grade sys- 1 tenn and this would have to be ad- l justed. There would also be such | things kindergartens. drawing 1 teachers and manual training to be de- 1 cided.
 Hiring of Teachers.
 MT. Toss said that one serious eff l feet of the coming consolidation upon | related to how they shall he | hired for next year. Most of the good 1 teachers have their places for the | next year already secured by May, but | lnder the consolidation plan there | seems to be no one with authority to | hire them at that time, and it looks | as if they must wait this year until the | committee gets into office in July.
 Because of all these perplexing ques- ions, he said in conclusion, it was | of prime importance what kind of | men should constitute the first com | nittee ana they should be selected l with the utmost care to secure men of experience and ability to handle | difficult Tn ha 9f f7 ad
 Macdonald and Mahan.
 The acting school visitor was ap- olauded as he concluded his interest ng talk and President Haviland ex- pressed the thanks that the board felt Or the explanation of the subject thae lad betn given. The president oIso said that at the next meeting in Jan lary State Highway Commissioner J. H. Macdonald and Mayor Mahan of New London would be the speakers.
 Suggestions for Norwich.
 President Havland went on to make 'ome suggestions about things that ;ould be done to improve the looks of 1 'ome places in Norwich. He charac- l erized the appearance of Thames l treet, Washington street and Franklin l 7Teet in wet weather as nothing that l he citizens would be pleased to have my stranger look at He advocated 'ermanent improvements for the bene- l  'oard of trade would show it's inf1u- nee in city meeting to have some of ur principal streets put in a credit -ble condition He also advocated more ttention being given to saving the ity's beautiful trees, and that an ef- ort should be made to have the Frank in street sewer outlet carried out in o the middle of the stream There were places also along the banks of the ,hetucket river, he sr1id, in tn rear of he bank buildings which should be made garden spots instead of refuse caps.
 Few Places With the Advantages.
 Speaking of the advantages of Nor Tich through it's freight facilities by Tater and land. he said that there Tere few places in the state that could onlpare with the city in this respect. nd this had been one of the consid- rations which had induced George c. iemenway Of the Ariston Marble com any of New York to consider Nor rich as possible place for the loca- ion of a plant, and he introduced his gentleman to address the meet 1g.
 Marble Factory .