The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1913-04-23
Plan Adopted to Ask Assist
ance in Choosing Uniform
Textbook.
R. L. KELLY PRESENT
President of Earlham Favors
Construction of Building
At Decatur.
palladium Specially

INDIANAPOLIS, April 23.-While
the Anal responsibility of adopting
textbooks for all Indiana high schools
will fall on the state board of educa-
ton, committees of high school and
college teachers will cooperate with
the board in selecting the books to
be used in accordance with the pro-
visions of the new uniform high school
textbook law.
The decision to call upon high
school and college instructors for as
sistance in selecting textbooks was
reached yesterday at a meeting of the
state board of education in the Office
of the state superintendent of schools.
The plan was adopted on a recommen-
dalton of w. L. Bryan, president of
president of Earlham College, and ].
G. Collicott, superintendent of the In
dianapolis public schools.
Because of the crowded condition of
the Decatur schools, the board ordered
that the physical condition of the
schois there be improved in the I'M
mediate future and suggested plan
for a new high school. The Decatur
High school will not be recommission-
ed until the state board is notified that
it's recommendations will be complied
with.
Call Meeting.
The officers of the high school Sec
ton of the State Teachers Associa-
ton will be asked to call meeting Of
the high school principals of the state
TO select ten persons, actively engaged
in college or high school work, to rep
resent each of eight groups of sub
iects as follows: Algebra and chemis-
try, history and civics, Latin, English,
German, physics, zoology, botany and
physical geography and commercial
geography and agricultural botany.
The officers of the various sections
of the state association are also to
meet and submit for each of the eight
sections the names of ten teachers
who are considered qualified for pass
ing on textbooks to be selected. This
will make a committee of twenty mem
bers to represent each of the eight
groups of subjects, or $50 in all.
After the high school principals and
officers of the various sections of the
state association have suggested
names, the state board will choose
seven members from each of the eight
groups of twenty members. All per-
sons selected by the board to serve
ceive,a two-thirds vote of the board.
The selections may be made at the
next meeting to be held May %.
The persons who are finally select
ed for places on the advisory commit
tee will be required to consider all
available textbooks adapted to high
school work and to submit in writing
their first, second and third choices
of texts relating to each subject.
The construction of new high
school building at Decatur and the
removal of grade school from a
basement are urged by the two board
members, President Kelly of Earlham
College, and J. N Study, superintend-
ent of the Fort Wayne schools, who
inspected the Decatur schools. The
report of the board will be sent to O.
l.. Vance,, president of the Decatur
school board.
Rooms Connected.
"You have no general assembly
room in your high school and condi-
tons are quite congested," reads the
report. zone room is used for the
three sciences offered and no pro-
vision whatever is made for double
laboratory periods, as required by
this board The enrolment of the
Decatur high school has been doubled
in three years and there is every
reason to believe this growth will con-
tinue. Your board should make a
levy sufficiently large either to raise
$4,000 year for a new building or
else to raise $4,000 a year for two
years, with the understanding that at
the end of two years bonds will be
issued to supplement the sinking fund
thus provided and that the erection
of building then proceed.
Some of the grade schools of De-
catur are too crowded. One school
in the basement of the library is not
well suited for school work, with in
adequate light and ventilation"
While criticising the physical con-
dition of the Decatur schools, the
state board reports that the teaching
is of high order and that the schools
are we'll organized
The high school at EPSON, Davless
County, is to be commissioned. Sew
eral other high schools were recon-
missioned.