St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1913-02-26
VOTERS DISCUSSION
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been all over that locality and co1ld |
not find a site level enough for the
erection of a school building. There
fore they had decided that the
Howe lot was the best because 1t
would require no grading.
New Heating Proposition
A proposition has just been made
by George P. Moore for a centra
heating plant for the three Summer
street school buildings in case the
new one should be erected, and he
estimated that the town would save
through such a plant, but it would
cost about $4,000 to install it. He
then called for questions from thu
people present.
Rev. A. p Grint Spoke
Rev. A. P. Grint, rector of st.
Andrews Episcopal church, said thai
he wished to acknowledge the obi
cation of the citizens to the mem
bers of the school board for. the in
telligent investigation they had
made of this question. He believed
that they deserved the thanks of
the people for the faithful work they
had done. While the erection of
new school building is a matter of
dollars and cents he wanted to look
at the question from a different
standpoint and speak from the
point of the child. The child cries
for a remedy. Our public school
children are not receiving the care
they should have. They are crowd
ed in the schoolrooms and the teach
er cannot do justice to the large
numbers that are now crowded in
to the various rooms. Statistics
| given here show an increase of 211
children in the past ten years or
an average of 81 children per year.
| If we do not meet the question of
increased accommod ations now, we
/ the child is suffering. The over
/ crowding of our school rooms i'm
pairs the health of the child and
the parents have to pay larger doc
tors bills as result. He hoped
that every one present would work
to build up a sentiment to have the
town perform it's full duty in the
interests of the child.
St. JOhnsbury Not Expensive
Mr.. Steele then explained that
/
school expenses and pay the bonds
and interest for the new proposed
building in ten years. The average
cost per capita for education of the
child in st. Johnsbury is $26.66. In
Brattleboro, a town nearly the same
4 size as this, the cost is $53.76. While
st. Johnsbury is the largest town in
the county it is by no means the
most expensive in its educational
work. In West Burke it costs $1,000
per child; in Wheelock $32.96; in
Waterford $27.65; in Ryegate $36.47
and in Peacham and other towns
the expense is higher than in St.
Johnsbury.
George W. CaIdbeck
| George w. Caldbeck inquired
about what tests had been made
i to discover whether or not quick
sand would interfere with the cree
ton of the building on the proposed
site. He said that 80 years ago
on the girls playground it had been
necessary to abandon the erection o.
a building on account of quicksand
and he understood the only tests
that had been made were two little
holes dug by Mr.. Wilcomb. He did
not believe it wise to pay twice what
land is worth for a garden unless
they knew whether a building coulC
be erected there or not. Mr.. Steele
/ replied that Mr.. Wilcomb had made
no investigation there, but that Mr.
Rowe and Amasa Hudson, A L.
Bragg and Mark Russell had, and
these gentlemen stated that there
would be no difficulty in building a
building even on the girls play
i ground at the present time, as there
is quicksand under many of the larg-
est and most expensive buildings in
the town. The proposed Howe lot
is 112 feet north and south and 1873
feet east and west.
The inquiry was made whether
or not a schoolhouse could be built
on the boys common and Mr.. Steele
answered that the town had the
right to use the west end of that
common for building purposes, but
under questions by w. A. Kicker
it was brought out that all the lane
the town now has is necessary for
a playground for the children.
Present Tax Will Do Tt
G. w. Caldbeck again inquired re
garding the school tax of sixty cents
on the dollar, and asked if the schoo
| directors had any balance left
at the close of the pres
ent year. Mr.. Steele replied thai
they had not; that the school board
for the years 1911-12 had overdraw1
their account $265O.79, but there