Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1925-04-08
IMPROVEMENTS
IN LANCASTER'S
SCHOOL SYSTEM
New Seats, Better Lighting,
kindergarten Discussed
The Cost of Teaching.

Thursday of last week Miss Kibbe
OF the state department of education,
visited the Lancaster city grades In
conference following the visit attent-
ION was called to a number of things
that were known but have not been
made much of for some time because
there was no possibility of changing
conditions. Now that we are to have
more room there is some possibility of
making adjustments according to
these recommendations. Among the
conditions which were observed were
the following:
Wants New Seats
1. Lancaster is probably the only
city in Wisconsin where three-fourths
OF its pupils sit in double, non-adjust-
able seats When we move from our
scattered locations to the South
building now used for high school
purposes, it would be fine thing if all
the old seats could be thrown away
and new adjustable seats installed to
take their places. To do this there
will need to be provided for the 3rd
and 4th grades of the So. school, 40
seats; for the 3rd and 4th grade of
the North school, 40 Seats for the
5th-6th grades of the South school, AZ
seats; and for the 7th-8th grades, "a
seats Making a total of 206 seats
that should be purchased at once. The
new building equipment will care for
the high school students.
Light is Inadequate.
2. The light for the rooms in the old
high school building is not adequate
and does not come into the rooms as
is required in a modern school. That
is, the all light should come from the
left hand side of the room. This mat
ter can be adjusted by closing up
some of the windows and making new
openings on the proper side to admit
the necessary amount of light. This
could be done with small expense.
Kindergarten Needed.
g. A kindergarten should be estab
lished in both the North and South
schools because of the great distance
from one end of the town to the other
A morning session could be held in
the North school and an afternoon
session in the South school. In this
way the same teacher could handle
both rooms. With a kindergarten in
our community long cherished
need-the children will have had a lit
tie school attendance before entering
the first grade.
This will make it possible for the
first grade to be in school for longer
period of the day than is now possible
on account of the tender years of the
children. Under present conditions
the ware in school only until first re-
cess, or until 1890. This gives them
a very small number of school hours
IOi1 CHI ho in
1880 at least in the morning and I'M
til $3.50 in the afternoon.
Teachers Should Have Small Groups
4. The number of children in most
of our rooms is too large to be hand
led by one teacher. Children should
be grouped in such a way as TO make
it possible for the addition of at least
one more teacher in the grades of the
South school. The teachers have been
handling large groups but they can do
much more for the children with a
smaller number to look after.
s. There has been much discussion
concerning the cost of operating our
schools in Lancaster during the past
year, especially during tax paying
time. 1t may be of interest to those
who wish to give the matter serious
consideration to have some facts
The per capita cost of running the
schools of Lancaster for last year was
$50. The median for the state of Wis
consin was SOB. That seems that
Lancaster is running her schools for
$23 less per student than the average
of the state There are those who
think it is costing Lancaster too much
for teachers. The cost for teachers in
the high school averages $50 per pupil
while the cost for teachers in the
grades is SAT per pupil. In our ad-
iacent city of FennimOre the cost per
pupil in the high school, even though
they pay lower salaries than Lancas-
ter, is $63S0 per pupil, a difference of
about 81.
Enrolment Has Doubled.
The enrolment has more than doub-
led in the last ten years in the high
school. During that period there has
been an addition of but one teacher
so that in 1915 nine teachers were
teaching 129 students, while in the
present time ten teachers are teaching
260 pupils or more than double the
number handled by practically the
same number of teachers ten years
ago 1t is true that the salaries paid
in 1915 were not as large as the sal
aries paid at the present time but the
purchasing power of money at that
time was more than double what it is
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