Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-02-10
Board of Education Decides.
to Ask for Large Sum
at March Election
WOULD ENLARGE HIGH
SCHOOL FACILITIES
Additional Building Room
Is Needed to Provide
for Big Enrolment

The board of education decided It 0
special meeting Tuesday evening "a Il
submit to the voters Of OttumwA th0a(
bond Issue of $125,OO0 for the enlarge
ment of the high school building aAd
the increasing Of it's facilities to serve
the growing enrolment. The voters
will be asked to pass upon the propo
sition at the spring school election tcA
be held March 13.
The petition blanks circulated by
twenty-five high school students forI
the past few weeks were canvasDed
Tuesday night. The boys obtained 721
signers to the petition asking the3
board to submit the bond issue to the
voters. The number OF names needeG
to the petition was but $50 and th1a
board decided owing to the great num-
Der Of signatures in excess OF the rAA
ouired number for the petition, to act8
favorably upon the request OF the signsH
ers. A statement of the proposed high
school improvement as discussed and#
agreed upon by the school board wAA%
issued today
L. Statement Of the Board.
In order that the community may
have more intelligent understands
ing Of the need of additional room for
our high school, the board wishes to-
make the following statement: sSa
When our present high school was
built some seventeen years ago, pro-.
vision was made to care for S5elg11
pupils as the maximum capacity o.
the building. At that time provisions
for this number was undOubt:dlykaa
deemed adequate and 1t has been slA
for many years. Today, however. W.
have an enrolment OF 729 rrnllAsa85
more than twice the normal rc- 1citY33
Of the building. Every ma'-a~'''ft prsssJ
sible has been employed, h"t tho 80 tssssS ssS
lie can readily see the s'nnossihilittasss|
Of giving anything like i''"t nd felt
treatment to teachers or pupils undek@a
such conditions.
The growth of the high school has5I
been much more rapid thsr t'fe Pr0wtn4
of the population Of the city. Within
five years the number of pupils eNs8
rolled has doubled. while the growth
of the city has been slight. This haS8
been due to two principal causes
First, the course Of instruction han
been materially extended and made
more useful and attractive. SecondW
IucIt is WltIOul uOuII oli AAASA CsssAA3t4
desire on the part of parents to havAa
their children get the full benefit cs5
the public schools, and on the part oe8s
the children to complete high schooEM
course. M
We believe the people Of Ottumw1
will appreciate this situation and VIII
recognize the great advantage t0a
come to our community through thGH
service of modern and well enuippetA
high school. The pupils Of today will
be the citizens of tomorrow and the
better education they have, the bStx8
ter and more useful citizens they will
become. SssS
With regard to the amount petitions
ed for. $125O0O, we wish to say&thaA
after a great deal of investigations WI
feel that it Is not safe to undertakes
the work with less amount at OalIS
command The board Is unanimOllqa
in the determination not to 80 tnt0A
debt beyond the amount that may 81
voted. It Is possible that we may mott
have to use all the fund; but we feel
that it is not safe to begin with . les6l
amount. While we will not spend au9
more than is necessary, 1t will take%
close to this sum to give the COM
munity what it should have now an1
provide somewhat for future growth