Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1916-07-20
MORE OvERCROWO|NC IN STORE
Public Schools, Especially High
Schools, Unhealthfully Full.
Conditions, Had Enough Last Year,
VIII he Worse This-1OO More stu
dents Expected In senior
High Alone.

Ram EN- in. cram 'em in, school rooms |
are hollow. The old legend about |
chldrens heads will apply to Burlington's |
public schools within year or two unless
more space is provided soon. Both the
senior and Junior high schools we're over
crowded at the end of the school year and
probably 100 more students will be knock
ing at the doors OF the former in septem-
her.
The senior high school housed about so
pupils, which is 30 beyond it's comfortable
capacity The Junior school covered about
400, which is $50 beyond the number It
should. The II. O. Wheeler school, the
Pomeroy intermediate school, the Ira
Allen school and the Adams school all
had too many youngsters under their
roofs, The Ira Allen school was 80 filled
up that one grade was moved out into the
hall and in addition. one teacher had two
grades to look after, the fifth and sixth
to be specific.
These and various other facts were OBJ
tanned from Superintendent Merritt d.
Chittenden on our own initiative after
much pumping and considerably against
his will. The superintendent doesn't con-
slider it proper for him to do more than
consideration of the matter Of providing
for next years increment in local student
dom is in order because of the school re-
pairs which will he determined upon in
detail within a few days, and the public
| are the ones most vitality interested.
If tho State board of health's special
regulations for school houses. particularly
the rules having to do with the number
! -
square feet of floor space per pupil, We're
enforced to the letter, several Of the local
schools. including the high school, would
he closed up. The regulations say: The
floor space shall be at least Is square feet
| for each pupil" 1.-The cubic air space shall
be not less than 200 cubic feet of space
for each pnpil.' Not that all the other
regulations Of the board are rigidly obey
| ed,-they aren't-hut these are the most
glaring features of noncompliance.
The new Cathedral high school will take
care of an appreciate share Of the over
| flow. but the now building will not he up
and working for a year vet. according to
| one of the clergy under Bishop ]. ]. Rice,
and must be counted out until it is finish
| ed. The school will house perhaps 600 stu
dents. Even II hundred We're added to
l
by September. 1917 to enable comfortable
conditions in the two high schools.
The taxpayers Of course arc at bottom
| responsible for the schools as they are
for most other public institutions. And
the fact of the matter is that the city has
not been meeting natural demands
| Among thirty cities of between 10000 and
Is 600 population Burlington. with six ex-
81
lows. although it's population at the time
| when the questionable was sent out was
considerably smaller than the average on
the list. The cost per capita of students
should he smaller here than elsewhere,
where the parochial school population is
not so large. OF the six exceptions two are
towns in the South where education is
still hating and not modern. Ten of the
80 cities expend moro than $4,000 yearly
and FIVE of these more than Cocoon each
year The average cost per pupil among
thirty communities was s47.O4. which
in Burlington then meant an an
nual expenditure of sl55, $3.50. The
popula ton Of the city has not increased
sufficiently since to undermine the value
of these figures. burlington. in other
words. is spending more than so per cent.
less than the average city of 2OOO to p,
600 population in the country.
There are enough statistics here to tell
the truth. to put it mildly. In a year or
two conditions will be a good deal worse
than they are now, and they are even now
worse then they were when the foregoing
data We're compiled.
Burlington in the opinion of its superin-
tendent. needs to thini. about prepared
ness in its public school system.