The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1937-03-04
PUBLIC FORUM
To the Editor:

To the Editor:
The most important business this
community has had to consider for
many years comes UP for consid-
Grafton March 13. The intelligence
and public spiritedness of Sank
Centres citizens will then come up
for a test when the matter af a
new school building Is voted on.
What will be the answer
It is encouraging to hear from
those in touch with the situation
that the majority of citizens are
expressing approval of the Board
Of Education's action in ending
further delay by calling this cleo
ton. While many have been aware
for some time Of the need for a
new Senior high building, once the
facts Of existing conditions were
made known through the Herald
and a pamphlet distributed Satur-
day 1t was evident that even those
who had questioned building be-
came in favor Of going ahead be-
fore costs of material and labor adj
vanced any further.
Those who have inspected the
old Senior high for themselves
agree it is a disgrace to Sank Cen
ire. It's hard to believe that 225
pupils are being crowded in the
building-50 more than its capac-
ity-but those are the facts that
are making intelligent citizens
want to take steps to remedy a
state of affairs that the State De-
partment of Education would short
ly have demanded be remedied.
Many have probably been fooled
by the exterior of the building,
which is actually poorly con-
structed, outmoded building that
should have never been bilt in the
first place. It takes only a quick
inspection to convince one that it s
| a firetrap Of the worst kind. Any
one walking its wooden stairways
and wooden floors can be heard
anywhere else in the building.
When a door closes on the first
floor it disturbes students in the
chemistry lab on the third floor.
It's floors in places have sagged
away inches from the mopboards.
It is almost as hard to heat as a
barnard it's better not to say
anything about the makeshift APP
! pearance' Of some of the class
| rooms. Altogether, it is no fit place
in which to conduct a school. Is 1t
any wonder that when the experts
who made survey of 200 schools
in the nation visited Sank Centre
they stated that conditions here
were the worst they had encounter
ed?
These experts, who were also
amazed at the small outlay of cap
ftal under which the local school
system has operated over a period
Of years, won't be able to ridicule
Sank Centre when the antique Sem
Tor high, which is a glazing exam
pie Of the evils false economy
brings, has been replaced by a mod
ern structure big enough to care
for not only present needs but the
future growth of the community.
For Sank Centre keeps growing.
AS evidence Of the schools
growth, the increase in enrolment
since the Junior high was built
some 20 years ago totals 267. If the
| increase continues at the same
rate, in ten years there will be an
additional 100 or more to provide
for.
According to these figures, too,
the present buildings were beyond
capacity six years ago. The Senior
high, however, has been beyond
capacity for nearly 10 years.
An increase in enrolment is q
profitable one where nonresident
students are concerned, but their
presence in increasing numbers
not only makes the new building
desirable but imperative.
The school district cannot afford
to be ostrichlike and shut it's eyes
to the need. Wouldn't it be an ever
lasting disgrace if it became neces-
sary for the State Department to
step in?
incidentally, when the new Sen
Tor high is completed, 1t might be
well for the Board to ask the ex-
perts to come back and make an
other report which will remove the
black eye they were forced to give
Sank Centres schools.