Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-09-08

members of the board had in mind
as to the plan of organization of tho
present schools, but l do know that
the superintendent and principals
who have been responsible for The
planning have never had any other
conception of the plan of organiza-
ton than the one l have outlined.
which is the one now in operation.
When the plan was incidentally
mentioned and informally discussed
in the spring in the presence OF
some of the members of the board
(the budget committee, think,) the
present criticism was forecast, and
it was suggested that all of the
eighth and ninth grades of the en-
tire city be taken care of in the
new schools and that the seventh
grade continue as in the past. While
| this did not appear to me as ful-
filling the full purpose of the
schools, still the possibility of this
plan of organization was studied
carefully, and it was found that by
such a plan we should be unable to
accommodate anywhere in the up
per end of the city between two
| hundred and two hundred and fifty
of the seventh grade pupils who
would be affected.
Having thus outlined briefly the
| basis of the action already taken,
| will state that our organization at
present is as follows: The Edison
| school is accommodating all of the
pupils OF the seventh, eighth and
. ninth grades in the school buildings
| east of the Pennsylvania Railroad
| and also all of the ninth grade pu-
pills west of the Pennsylvania Rail-
road and on or south of Locust
street. The Camp Curtin school is
accommodating all of the seventh
| grade pupils west of the Pennsyl-
vania Railroad on or north of Ham,
| ilton street, all of the eighth grade
| on or north of Reilly street, and all
of the ninth grade north of Locust
street. This leaves us approximately
five hundred pupils of the seventh
and eighth grades living in the GEN.
trail section of the city below the
! limits mentioned,
Recognizes Disappointment
IT appreciate keenly the disap-
po:ntment occasiored. The criticism,
I think. is but natural and was to
some extent expected. / havel no ex-
planation to offer so far as I am
personally concerned, except that 7
! desired to see the schools organized
| in accordance with uniform eduCa-
| tional practice, and 1t seemed I'M
possible to do this and at the same
time accommodate all the pupils OF
| the city who were concerned. III
other words, it was impossible to get
5000 pupils into buildings of 2,400
or $500 capacity. To state it an
other way. it was impossible to get
into two buildings as many pupils
as were supposed to be provided for
eventually in three buildings.
However, I am very desirous of
having the board take some steps
looking toward supplying. to some
extent at least, to the pupils in tho
central section of the city who are
| affected, the advantages of which
they have been deprived. Many sus-
gestions have been made to remedy
the difficulty, but most OF them have
been found to be impracticablc ;.
| Only two, I think, are at all feasible.
They are as follows:
Two Suggestions
"First. the after school plan:
BY this plan the regular ses-
sions of the junior schools
would open at $50 and close at
3.15. The pupils affected of the
central section would be dis
missed from the grade schools
at 2.45 and would then go TO
the junior schools to pursue
such studies, under regular
schedule, as they will not be
able to pursue in their grade
schools. All pupils of the sew
enth and eighth Grades on or
south of Locust street, would
E.s go TO Edison and all above Lo-
Gust street would go to Camp
Curtin. Acceptance of the priv
ilege should be optional with
arentS in order to avoid the
forcing of children of this age
to go such long distances to
school. OF course in instances
where the privilege is not ac-
cepted, pupils would remain I'm
their regular schools until
o'clock, as usual. The studies
to be taken in this way wouIl
include, commercial branches,
Latin or French, algebra, gen.
cral science, physical training,
sewing. cooking and manual
work for boys, all, of course,
in accordance with the pupils
grade and the -N~escribed course
of study. The plan would in
yolve the added expense of re-
J munerating such teachers as
, might he concerned for the ex-
, ira service rendered. 1t also has
, the disadvantage of imposing
n slightly longer school day, es-