New Britain herald., 1923-04-14
THE PEOPLE AND SCHOOLS

THE PEOPLE AND SCHOOLS
 The hay idea has prevailed tha
 the fight against the school commit
 tee and its plans to give proper oc
 commodations to school children O
 this city, has the support of the peopl
 of the city The cry "cut down ex
 penses" has been considered cxcus,
 enough for almost any action, ever that of resembling the authorization of the s625.o00 school bonds. Int officials who engineered and who arc pushing this fight against the schoo board are due for an awakening tha' may be rude. The people of this city are not going to allow, without protest the plans of the school committee tc be entirely brushed aside merely be. cause they. the opponents of every thing the school committee does, cry well save you some money" to the taxpayers.
 The Parent-Teachers' association of the Stanley Street School, situated in the portion of the city which is the stronghold of the Mayor who is lead ing the fight against the school com- mittee, has passed resolutions plead ing for funds for educational purposes before money is authorized for the swimming pool, for instance. Some of the residents of the East end have gone on record as wanting better school accommodations. The people of the city are becoming concerned lest the cry of economy" properly so popular, will carry too far and will threaten the welfare of children who are forced to attend school on part time, with little benefit to them, and who are forced to study under im- proper conditions.
 The Herald has urged the school committee, not infallible as no body of human beings is infallible, to meet the Survey committees" in a spirit of trying to make clear to members of those investigating committees what the needs are. This newspaper has stated the obvious fact that the school committee should know the school needs far better than others in the city, and that most of the school committees plans probably are justi- fled. No good can come, however, from statements of criticizers of the school committee that 1S-inch walls were placed in one school when, as matter of fact, many of those walls are but inches thick, the thickest being but 16 inches. No good can come from stating that school was built regardless of expense" when, as a matter of fact there went into it's construction some of the most inex- pensive material that could be obtain ed for the purpose.
 The people of New Britain will not allow their school system, with the splendid results it has brought, to sink to low level merely because of prejudice on the part of some politi- clans against some of the members of the committee or against the some- times too aloof stand of that commit tee. The people want the children to have the advantage of proper educa- ton under proper conditions, and it would not be surprising if the school committee seeks again the authoriza- tion of that s625,o0o in bonds, if a revulsion of feeling should be seen which will carry those bonds through if a representative number of the members of the city meeting board l attend the meeting that probably will | be called, and if those members of | the city meeting board act as the peo- pie whom they represent would have ! them act. This is no attempt at | Justification of the school committee ! ir all it's acts. It is, however, a pro- | test against carrying criticism of that | committee so far that the chldsen of | the city will suffer from the handicap of ignorance all their lives.