Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1922-12-06

equipped With apparatus Tor CARVING
on the work of teaching, and why
should it not be so located that all
the schools can avail themselves of
this apparatus and equipment.
A grade school in the present high
school is utterly impossible The high
school assembly room has a capacity
of $50, and an 1S-foot ceiling. Cut
ting it in two would give two rooms
seating 125 each, as a seating space
for grades Of about 40 each.
There are two rooms on the second
floor in which grades cannot be housed
because of small size, and one other
room which will house a grade only
by considerable alteration. 0ne-fourth
of the building would be waste space.
The building itself was built as
high school and when used for grade
purposes would be a mere patchwork,
and one of the state men estimated
the cost of preparing it for grade
work would be $4,000.
A junior high school will be a val
liable Improvement. The present high
school can be adapted to junior high
school use with practically no expense.
A pupil may not fail an entire grade
because he fails a single subject.
Those of the adolescent age-pupils in
the 7th, Sth and 9th grades-have in
terests different from those older, and
should be grouped together Many
pupils drop out after the 9Th grade
under the present system. Pupils
need supervised study particularly at
this age. The Junior high school is a
vital necessity because of the above
reasons.
From every angle, the decentrali-
cation of our schools will cripple their
efficiency and add to the cost of main
tanning them. Our schools should be
so grouped as to provide the maxi
mum training for every pupil within
them. This is by far the most i'm
portant consideration in the site Sc
lection problem. An assumed super
iority in athletic field or scenic adj
vantage or other claimed advantage
pales into insignificance when the
equal right of access by all pupils to
all of the school resources is consid-
cred. Let US see that every pupil from
the kindergarten to the senior class
has this opportunity. Only central
lied school plant can accomplish this,
unless the district wishes to add thou
sands of dollars to the school equip
ment and extra salaries. This is of
course pure folly, when the same re-
suits can be obtained without one dol
lars extra expense.
Much misinformation has been cir
culated as to the relative cost of the
two sites. 1t has been claimed that
the East site would be twice as ex-
pensive as the West site. This is not
true. The hitching ground has beer
offered as gift to the school dis
trict. Practically the same people
comprise the district as the city, and
the "gift" is almost equivalent to Civ
ing them something which they al
ready own. Besides, if the hitching
ground is given over to the school site
another must be purchased Grant
ing that another convenient hitching
ground can be procured land there is
none which can be- the transaction
would be merely the giving away of
one site and buying another, a situa-
ton which might not appeal to Viro-
qua city tax payers. I he hitching
ground value MUST be considered in
the purchase price of the school site.
If this is done, and the extra cost of
constructing the basement and pre-
pairing the grounds on the west site
is considered, then the west site would
be more than double more expensive
than the East site, and the difference
would purchase and equip the finest
playground and athletic field in this
part of the state. 1t has been stated
that the East site would cost SAC, 600
The WHOLE block east of the school
house can be bought for less than
$4,000.
(Since writing the above, we are in
formed that the council refused to en-
dorse a resolution giving the hitchine
grounds to the school district, which
disposes of the smaIl-cost argument
in favor of the west-site).
Your school board has devoted days
of time to the study of which is the
better location. We have used the
best Judgment of which we are capa-
BILE, employing the services and seek
ing the advice of men of ability and
leading state school officials, also tax.
ing into consideration every local con
dition, and it is our positive judgment
that the East site is vastly superior
to the West site. Freely and frankly
we have outlined above the reasons
why we think so. We cannot helu
but feel that you win arrive at the
same conclusion. We sincerely be-
lieve that we have made no misstate-
ment of facts in the reasons given
above, and have presented them for
your consideration exactly as. we see
them.
A determined attempt is being made
to nullify the action of the voters ex-
pressed at the special meeting on No
vember 9th, at which time a major
ity of those present selected the East
site. THIS meeting was legally called
and most fairly conducted. An open
debate lasting two hours was INDUCED
in. More voters were present than
have ever attended meeting in the
district before. Il was in all WAYS
representative and fair. We see no
reason why the decision of this special
meeting should be questioned. How
ever, second special meeting has
been called, and will be held next
Monday evening, December 18th, COM
mencing at 1880 o'clock. The call for
this meeting is so worded that if a
majority of those present vote mo"
the east site viii be retained. If a
majority vote "yes" the West site will
be selected. If you believe the East
site is the better location, attend the
meeting and vote mo" II you be-
lieve the West site is the better, vote
Eyes,"
Without bitterness, and with the