Milford chronicle., 1925-01-16
PARENTS ARE INTERESTED In
SCHOOL BUILDING PROGRAM
CONTINUED from arst DageJ

buildings now in use are violating
practically all of the health stand
ards which it is the duty of the
schools to teach to the children. 1t
is declared that to a large extent
health is a purchasable commodity
and the price is education. At the
present time forty per cent of the
one to four teacher schools in Della
ware are heated by old fashioned
coal or wood stoves. In some instan-
ces it has been found that some chill
dren in Delaware schools are COM
PEELED to sit within twelve inches of
the fire bowl of the stove. The ma
tural consequence of this is that the
children sitting nearest the stove are
too warm and those sitting further
away from it are too cold. There is
no way to ventilate these schools ex-
cept by raising a window and this
means that children get the draft
which is OccasiOned and contract
colds. One parent in Delaware tells
of conditions in the school which his
children attend. There are six coal
and two wood stoves heating the
school building and these are con-
nected with the chimney by las feet
of exposed pipe. 1t is is impossible
to properly ventilate the room and
on November 25 when the eXamina-
tion was made there were three tea
chers under a doctors care and
eighteen children absent from
school. This man is positive that
this was the result of the improper
heating and improper sanitation of
the school building.
1t is declared that fifty per cent
of the class rooms in Delaware have
less than the standard amount of
windows for lighting and many of
them are cross lighted which is con-
trary to all ideas of proper lighting
in schools. This is hard on the eyes
Of teachers and children. The water
supply of many schools is also mad
equate and it is difficult for the tea
chers and parents to teach the gOs-
pei Of clean hands when there is not |
the water with which to wash. In |
some places it is necessary to carry |
water for the schools from neigh |
boring farm houses in buckets and |
The children, when they desire a
drink, are compelled to dip their |
cups into this bucket, a practice
which is not considered to be con-
1ucive to good health
In many instances the schools are |
IN sites which are poorly drained |
and totally untitled for school pur-
poses. One school is described as be-
ng situated on an unimproVed road |
and surrounded on the other three
sides by wood. There are probably
)thers which are just as bad. In the
asst seven years 124 new school
houses have been provided in this
itate, largely through the generosity
# one Delawarean. These school
houses conform to the latest stand
lrds of school construction and IRE
egarded as model buildings of their
lind. Delaware now knows exactly
low to erect high class school build
ngs at the lowest possible cost for
hat kind of construction. Something
,ver one-third of the children in the
tate are now attending school in
buildings which are properly design
d and properly situated. It is the
piniOn of the members Of the Par
Associations that all
hildren in Delaware have the right
o attend school in the same kind of
To postpone their con-
truction over long period of years
1Ould result in harm to the children
nd to the teachers. For this reason
he members are studying the plan
carefully and well.