Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1916-04-19

the level of the ground it is very diff
ficult to ventilate it in the best way.
It is not properly equipped with toilet
and cloak rooms, has insufficient
blackboard space, but worst of all
provides absolutely mo opportunity for
play ground activities. Forty-f1ve or
fifty children are here forced to play
in the streets, or upon the private
property of neighbors, or in the court
house grounds.
Better Quarters For Normal Dept.
It is also very necessary that the
normal training department should be-
removed from the attic of the central
building. This attic has no ventilat-
ing flues to extract the foul air, is
poorly lighted. and would be very
dangerous place in case Of fire. It IS
reached by a very steep and dark
stairway, and better quarters should
be provided as soon as possible.
Lincoln Building 0vercrowded.
The Lincoln building has been over
crowded for the last several years.
Pupils from this building have to be
housed in the high school or library
buildings and, as the the Lincoln dis
trict continues to grow, more and more
Of these children must be transferred
each year.
Six years ago the Garfield building
contained just about one-half the
number Of pupils that it has at the
present time, and it has now reached
it's full capacity, and in the future
pupils from this building must be TAX
en- to the high school building in Or
der to relieve the pressure here.
The Lafayette building is running
at full capacity, and even more than
full capacity, in the highest room.
High School Building Too Small.
The high school building, with
capacity by law for one hundred sew
enty pupils, has an enrolment Of two
hundred fifty this year, eighteen of
whom are housed in the attic of the
central building.
Industrial Building Demands.
The manual training department
needs, and is now using the whole
ground floor of the Industrial build
ing; while the domestic science de-
partment will need, in the near fut-
ure, all Of the second floor Of that
building. This makes no proper pro-
vision for the housing of the agricul-
tural department.
Suggests a Junior High School.
There is, therefore, needed at the
present time new building quarters
capable of relieving the pressure up
on both the high school and grades.
It would seem that a junior high
school, including the seventh, eighth
and ninth grades, would best serve
this double purpose. There are sew
enty-five pupils in the eighth grade,
central building, eighty pupils in the
seventh grades, something over forty
pupils in the seventh and eighth
grades, Lafayette building, and about
eighty pupils in the high school fresh
man class. These, together with al
lowance for a future growth of fifty
pupils, would require a building sui
ficiently large to accommodate three
hundred twenty-five pupils. Could
such building be made, and the
freshman class be removed from the
high school,, and also the pupils re-
moved from the second floor of the
central building, the pupils from the
library building could be moved into
one of the three rooms thus vacated,
while the normal department could
occupy ano' her Of these rooms, and
then leave third room for the over
flow from the Garfield and Lincoln
buildings. Thus we would have the
Lincoln, the Lafayette, the Garfield,
all but the attic Of the central build.
ing, and the two rooms in the high
school building, fully occupied by
grade children. This would probably
make it possible to move the border
line between the Lincoln and high
school districts from Third street
East to either Second or First street,
and likewise make it possible to move
the border line between the Garfield
and high school districts from Sixth
street West to Seventh or Eighth
streets. Many pupils, living near to