St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1913-02-26

was still due the Town from the
state a tribe over $4,000. He also
showed that during the present yeal
the school directors had, besides run
ming the schools, erected a new
schoolhouse at East St Johnsbury
costing $1,000; had expended $500
for the grading of those lots ano
$1,000 for a playground at the Port
land street school, all of which hac
been paid.
Questioned as to the expense Of
the Howe lot when compared with
other propositions, Mr.. Steele again
showed that the Maple street schoo
would cost at least $11 900, as COM
pared with the $4,000 asked for the
! Howe lot. He also explained that il
was not necessary to pay whatevei
the party asked, but that the towI
under the law might take the prop.
erty for school purposes and if they
could not agree with the owner az
| to compensation, the selectmen coul(
set out the land and appraise it; il
that was not agreeable to the owner
the question of damages could be
left now to impartial arbitrator
whose decision would be final in the
matter In reply to an inquiry he
said that the appraised value of the
howe property is $15OO.
Discussed Remodeling Schools.
L. P. Slack made inquiries regard
ing the condition of the rooms in
the north building on Summer street
and MIR. Steele said that the rooms
there are large, but not well lighted
or ventilated and the stairways are
narrow and crooked; the PLUMBING
in the building is perfect.
w. A. Ricker inquired why it
would not be possible to remove the
north school building and put in a
new building connecting with the
south building, but architect New
ton said it would be impossible to
properly light such a building. The
present buildings do not comply
; with the state law regarding light
and ventilation, and it would be al
most impossible to attach a building
to either one of the present build
ings and get light that would be ac-
cepted by the state authorities.
Judge w. P. Smith asked if the
north building could not be taken
down and a building extended to
the rear large enough to accommo-
date the school children, but Mr.
Steele replied there was not room
and the bank would not furnish q
good foundation for such a building
$4,000 the Asking Price
Joseph Fairbanks said that be be-
lieved it was time for the people tC
understand that $4,000 was the price
asked for the Howe lot; that the
school board had not agreed to pay
any such price, and that it was pos
sible to resort to legal methods ant
get the land at what it was actually
worth.
E. N. Randall asked if it would
not be possible to get land and
build a separate building nearer to
Railroad street at a much less cost
than the proposed plan, and Mr.
Steele answered that the school di-
rectors had not been able to find
any such place; that they would be
glad to do it if it could be done, bu+
they were unable to find a proper
lot.
James CosgroYe called attention
to the fact that the proposed schoo
building would be near the barn or
the Howe property.
Division of Children
Mr.. Steele stated that at the pres
ent time 214 of the children attend
J ing the Summer street schools come
come from the west.
H. H. Carr thought that it might
be better to take care of what child
rem we could at the Clay Hill school
: house, and instead of transporting
the children between here and St
. Johnsbury Centre to the village, take
them to St. Johnsbury Centre; fi2
the buildings which we now have
to comply with the state law, an6
utilize all the buildings we could be-
fore building new. Supt. Palmer
answered that the children from this
section could not be accommodated
! in the proper rooms at st. Johnsbury
Centre, as they were already full
! Most of the children that are nov
transported to the village schools
come from Crow Hill and towards
Passumpsic section where there is nc
} school building. There were further
remarks by Messrs. Hill, CaIdbeck
and others.
Appeal by F. H. Brooks
F. H. Brooks said that the situa
ton seems to be that if we attempt
to rebuild the present Summer
street school buildings it will be
very expensive and we shall have
only a hodge podge of architecture
which would take care of only the
present over-crowding. We should
look at this question from an intelli
gent standpoint as question for
years, not of today About so per
cent of the public school children
are out of school more or less on &C
count of poor ventilation. If we