The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1923-01-26
NORTH MANKATO
SCHOOL ADVANCE
What Has Been Accom-
pished In That City
GREAT WORK DONE.
History of Education In Com
munity Across the Min
nesota River +

School buildings in North Man
.kato have soon grown too small in
keeping pace with the fourishing
growth OF the city's population. Tho
school building problem is still an
immediate and vital one, according
to j. B. Thompson, principal OF the
North Mankato schools. ....,.
Growth and the present situation
in the school may be summarized In
sentence. The building has every
room occupied and enrolling 90 more
pupils than a year ago. rms year
the new addition that was built two
years ago, is being used in taxing
care of the three new departments
that were ed;--besides relieving
the congestion of the grades.
The three new departments in the
new building are: Home economics
department, which has an enroll
ment of thirty-two students: the
manual training department with an
enrolment of twenty four. There
are also two recitation rooms, one
OF which is used By the fourth grade
and one by the special department.
In the special department, children
that are not up to grade are gwen
individual instruction. =.
The first board OF education IN
North Mankato, after the school was
made independent district NO. %
was organized in 1898. Members OF
the first board were: Nels Anderson,
president: Thomas Taylor, treasur-
er; w. r. Geddes, clerk, and .. e.
Bennett, ]. s. Rolf and T. Rookie. At
the end of the school year they had
an enrolment of 179 pupils, and EN-
ployed -four teachers one OF them
acting as principal. In 1898 the to-
tai expenditure amounted to S3S3P. :
81 an average cost per pupil OF
about S22. During this term the
highest salary paid for teachers, was
the lowest was $50. In 1922 the
highest salary paid was $3.50 while
the lowest was $3.50.
Education Has Increased =.
Education in North Mankato has
Increased since then at an enor-
NOUS rate, both in numbers reach
ed, costs and scope of instruction
offered. @.. :
In the last Jew years there has
been a growth of, about 20 in enroll
ment each year, put last year this
average was far exceeded and the
increase was twice as large consid-
ering the fact that so pupils finish !.
ed work in the school at the end OF
the term last year. Many new stu;
dents are expected to enroll next
week when the new semister opens.
OF the 435 children of school age
in the city, $50 are enrolled in the
North Mankato school, 105 in par
ochial and private schools. There
are abo-: 100 stduents, not included
in the about amounts that are at
tending the high school in Mankato.
The appropriation asked for in
1922 was 100000 which means a
cost of about SCI, for each pupil
served. The school grounds are val
ued at $1,000; new building, $4,000;
old building. $4,000; furniture and
fixtures at $1,000. The total expendi-
ture for 1921 amounted to $54 ,062.3o.
Number of Teachers, Eleven
The number of teachers now en-
ployed with the principle is eleven,
and much credit is due them for the
high standard Of the education pro-
duced in the North Mankato schools.
The teachers employed for this term
are as follows: J. b. Thompson,
principal; Miss Helen Lunde, Kin
dergarten; Miss Glare Waller, pri-
mary; Miss Zaida Price, second;
Mrs. Florence Carlson, third; Miss
Ida Lewis, fourth; Miss Clara Mork,
fifth; Miss Mabel Carlander, sixth;
Mrs. Daisy Nord- Eikum, home eco
Monies and part of the seventh and
eighth grades; Clifford Lusch. man
ual training and part OF the seventh
and eighth grades; Miss Mary Erd-
mann, special department. All
teachers have completed normal
or college preparation.
The programs Of study now include
about twice as many subjects as in
the old days when a few fIndament-
ais were taught. Improved methods
of pedagogy have enabled schools to
teach students more subjects and
has permitted the student to learn
more quickly; and despite the dis
fractions of modern life, commonly
believed to be more pressing in the
attention Of the students than ever
before, the student today gets
more comprehensive grasp than at
any previous time.
Text Books Are Free
Text books are loaned free to all
students. The school library cntains
about 500 volumes, and besides the
complete text, has two sets of sup
Elementary readers for each grade.
Many cdrrent magazines are re-,
ceived each month. Mr.. Thompson
is planning to bring the travelling
library into the school next semis
ter, which will furnish % volumes
every ninety days.
Plans have been made looking to-
wards a junior high school at some,
time in the near future. The junior
high school may be used either as a
means Of vocational training, as is
the case more often than not in the
communities, or it may be.
used as relief to the upper grades
of the high school. AS a vocational
school 1t fits the young for some
definite work and incidentally keeps
them in school a few years longer
rnan the straight grade ands high
school system has been able to do.
Beginning with the next semester
the North Mankato schools will have
dental supervision of all students in
the school. This work will be under
the supervision of DR.. G. D. Long.
The school will furnish a dental
chair and each child will be ex-
amined and a complete record of
each tooth made. Two cards will be
filed out by the dentist; one for the
schol files and one for his files. Steps
will then be taken to have the de-
fective teeth taken care OF either by
the school or by the parents. This
is a new movement.
This year another new feature was
added in the school to look after the
health of the children DR.. 3. R Yer
Mankotn has hadr crftrino