St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1913-03-26
TO IMPROVE SCHOOLS
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er condition. The next step will un-
doubtedly be the erection of a mod
crate sized building on the Maple 4
Street lot. If an Affirmative vote is
given to this molten today the d.
rectors have the plans ready so that |
the contracts can be made and the
work commenced in the early spring. |
Judge Porter Opposes
Judge David E. Porter said that |
he construed the vote given at the
March meeting as against the erec- |
ton of a new school building and
not as an endorsement of the pro-
posed plan. The argument which
has been much -overworked, espec-
tally by the newspapers, is that We
must look after our little ones. This
is not the issue. Everybody wants
them properly taken care of. The
issue is how shall we care for them.
This project calls for $4,000
which is $4,000 more than the mag
nifcent school building in Summer
vile cost. In the last five years the
school expenses have increased $10,-
600 and the carrying out of this
plan would mean a further annual
increase of $4,000. We are paying
today $4,000 for tuition and trans
more tuition in the near future and
employ at least nine more teachers
than at the present time. He de-
clared that the sanitary arrange
ments of the Summer Street school
buildings are all right; that while
the stairs there are crooked, the
same is true in other public build
ings. While a. central heating plant
was claimed to be a good thing he
thought the present heating ar
rangements should not be changed
until they we're worn out, and he
was not able to figure how the town
could save so much money on a
central heating plant. He said he
was in favor of building an addi-
ton but did not want to dump the
money of the town where it would
do no good. He spoke in opposition
to manual training and domestic
science and asked the voters if
they wanted to spend $4,000 for
this. An addition could be built for
SIS, 700 and leave the present
buildings as they are. He would
suggest that if the town wanted to
spend the other $4,000 called for
that they buy a statue and put it
on the common and let the boys
throw snow balls at it. He moved
that the motion be amended to read
that the school directors be empow-
cred to erect an addition to the
school building on Summer street.
Other Speakers
Chairman Steele replied that he
believed if We did anything we
should do it well. We ought to
build now so that we will not be
obliged to enlarge again in the i'm
mediate future. He then read the
law regarding the board of health's
control over the erection and
repairs of public buildings and
stated that the plans they have
comply with the requisition of
the board of health.
Joseph Fairbanks asked Mr..
Steele if he could tell how the ap-
preparation was divided among the
different lines of work they have
planned and he replied the changes
in the north building, which would
give six school rooms instead of
four, would cost $500, the install
ling of the central heating plant,
| $1,000, the remodelling of the
south building and erecting an
addition would be $4,000. Asked
if he believed that the necessary
work could be done for SIS, 200, Mr..
Steele replied that he did not see
how they could do $4,000 of work
for SIS, 700.
Rev. Mr.. Phillips and Prof. Hen
ry Fairbanks spoke briefly and H.
H. Carr believed that it would be
good judgment to leave the out
side of the present buildings I'M
touched and change the inside and
| also approved of the idea of erect
ting a building at Maple street.
Supt. G. F. Palmer
Charles E. Peck asked to hear
word from Superintendent G.. F.
Palmer. Mr.. Palmer said that he felt
that there vas a great lack of in
formation on the part of the general
public and that the school directors
had been studying the matter and
trying to furnish it to the people
We certainly have too many child
rem in the school rooms at Summer
street at present and it makes it bad
for the children and for the teach
ers; the children cannot do their
best work, neither can the teachers
give as good work as they could in
rooms properly fitted for them. The
method of ventilation is not good.
We have three teachers in the build
ing acting as assistants working in
rooms with other teachers. They
should be provided with a room for
their work and there should be two
more rooms with two additional
teachers. The thing for the voters
to do is to do their work right.
Further Discussions
F. H. Brooks said that he was in
favor at first of a new building, but
he had found that when we got that |
we were liable to be compelled to |
spend a large amount of money on |
the old buildings, therefore he ap-
proved of the present plan of putting |
the buildings we have into proper
shape. He asked if it was neces-
sary to comply with the regulations
of the board of health in the con-
struction of new buildings if it was
not also necessary to comply with
those regulations in remodelling the
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