New Britain herald., 1918-04-13
SCHOOL BOARD BANS
 STUDY OF GERMAN
Substitute Spanish in Curriculum
 at High School

The effect of the war as reflected in the schools of New Britain was noted at the monthly meeting of the school board last evening. The study of German will not be offered at the school hereafter, excepting to those who must have it to qualify for en- trance to college. The course in i. German was one of the elective studies, but the school board will sub- , stitute the study of Spanish. Attend ance at school is affected by the war conditions. There is a demand for pupils taking the commercial course at the school and 8 plan for excusin g pupils in the senior year as early as May 1, was approved. At the pres ent time over 250 pupils of the school are engaged in war work in the city.
 A report was made by the special committee on the revision of teach CTS salaries. The amount necessary to give the increases will cause an overdraft of about $7.000 in the amount already estimated the school conn nmittee when securing its appro priations for the fiscal year. The amount at that time was supposed to be sufficient to carry through the year and also to make the usual increases. The members of the board were fur nished with copies of the report of the committee. Judge John Walsh insisted that before voting to allow the increases that @ report be made to the board of finance and taxa ton. By Informing this board of the possible overhaul the school board will not be so liable to criti- cism. No transfer of funds can be made at this time, however. The re- port makes provision for the appoint ment of a woman probation officer at & salary of s1,2oo. The choice of the woman truancy officer was not made, but it is understood that Miss Mary Campbell may be selected.
 Drop Study of German
 Principal l.. P. Shade of the High school, reporting the curriculum for the next year, called attention to the fact that German was dropped as one of the studies and Spanish was offered as a substitute. 1t was decided to have 2,500 copies printed for dstri- button. The report outlines 1t as fol- lows:
 First year mathematics cover both algebra and geometry, the purpose being to continue this combination through the second year in 191S-1919 and thus displace the present ar engagement whereby algebra only Is given in the first year and geometry in the second year. Intermediate al- zebra and review history are made elective as to the time they may be taken. Typewriting is combined with stenography instead of being kept separate, and plane geome etry, com mercial science, salesmanship and re- tail saiesmanship are eliminated be- cause the call for these subjects has never been considerable and the of fering of the subjects has added to the confusion in arranging the sched- ule of exercises. Geometry and sci ence may be taken by special ar rangemcnt and it is unlikely that pro- vision for salesmanship will be made The course in trade education for women has been omitted.
 Chairman H. P. Roche of the eve- ming school committee reported fa- vorably on the petition of the Ru- thenian Greek Catholic church for the establishment of evening school classes for instruction in English The class will open April IS, and continue 6. Twenty-ei eight have already enrolled. MT. Dillingham; of the English de- partment at the high school will be the instructor. pr. Martin thought someone who spoke Russian would make a better teacher. Supt Holmes replied that the experience of instruc- tors has been that foreigners learn better from an English speaking teacher. rather than through an in terpreter.
 War Calls Pupils.
 Definite rules regarding the release of pupils during the senior year were asked by Principal Slade. Tn his opinion no student having g standing of less than so per cent. should be excused. D. M. Pratt said that such plan would serve as encourage ment for pupils to leave school. Judge Gaffney said he had opposed grant ing permission to leave school before graduation but there are many par ents who need the financial help and further the pupils gain much through actual experience. It was voted to permit pupils having a standing of 80 per cent. to leave, but the choice of them must be made by employers from the three having the highest standing. No pupils will be excused before May 1, any year. They will be awarded diplomas at graduation time
 Since war work began Principal Slade reports 500 different pupils have engaged in the service. At pres ent 92 vocational school pupils and 165 from the vocational high school are engaged in the work. Pupils will be required to make up the work missed. The action of the principal was approved and he was authorized to continue the practice as long as necessary.