River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1923-07-12
New Building Needed
For Our High School

FOR SOule years eiiHiool 49, 49,
who thot about it at all, has felt
that a new high school building IS
needed. How badly " is needed is
not apparent until YOU have a re-
port of all the conditions present.
Since the present school building was
built, and its many additions made
a part of it, school building stand
ards have changed, and it is there
fore not at all surprising to find that
it does not make very favorable
showing.
The method used for checking it,
is a set of school building standards
arranged in the form of score
card by Strayer & Englehart.
There are Id items listed on the card
and the scoring is done by giving a
rating to each point, each point
having an assigned value on the
score card 1000 points is perfect
score.
In order to make the rating as
fair as possible it is done by three
different individuals and their scores
are averaged.
In spite of the fact that the form
and size Of the grounds do not quite
come up to the standards set up by
the best authorities, the score for
site was very good. Because OF the
nature of the soil, and the desira-
bility Of the environment it was con-
ceeded by all of the scorers that 1T
is probably the best location avail
able.
From the standpoint of construc-
tion. most of the building is OF wood
with brick veneer. This is not a
satisfactory type of building in which
to house children. This is especially
true when the crowded conditions
make it necessary to have large
numbers of children on the third
floor most of the day. The survey
states in this connection: The
River Falls public school building IS
highly inflamable and indeed mighs
be called a veritable fire trap with
out exaggeration Not only is the
building itself exceedingly danger
Gus, but the projections against fire
are little better than none."
The natural lighting OF the class
rooms is very poor. Very few OF
them get the direct sunlight except
for a very small portion of the day
The halls and cloak rooms are very
dark unless artifically lighted. Even
the artificial lighting with the ex-
ception of The new addition Is not up
to standard in either amount or KIND.
The standards call for at least four
lights in each room and some form
of indirect lighting.
The new part of the building has
an up to date ventilation system that
is in working order, but the old part
has a makeshift SYSTEM that was IN
stalled when the new heating plant
was built in all probability, which is
entirely inadequate in cold weather
There are no provisions for cleaning
the air, or for providing the proper
amount of moisture.
The building does not have sui
ficient number of drinking fount-
aims, the bathing facilities are not
satisfactory, and the toilet facilities
"are miserably inadequate" The
new fixtures that have been put In
recently are of very good quality but
there are not enough of them.
This is sufficient to give an idea
of how the building was scored, all
of the ia points being taken into
consideration. Out of the possible
score of 1000, the high school build
ing made score of only ago, and
10 of this score was allotted to site
The building itself scores only 4l%c
of what it should.
The survey made the following
summary of the present school build
ing plant at River Falls:
1. According to the Strayer Engel-
hardt score card for city school
buildings the present school building
of River Falls School District No. l
is decidedly less than half as eff
ficient and adequate as it should be.
2. The elements on which the River
Falls school building is most de-
ficient are special rooms, heating and
ventilation, and fire protection.
8. The lighting of the River Falls
school building, both natural and
artificial, is extremely poor and in
adequate.
A. The heating system needs to be
repaired and the ventilation system
is practically useless. Thermostatic
control is needed thruout the build
ing.
8. The fire escapes in the River