The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1942-04-02
Thirty-four Per Cent OF Families Here
Have Children In School, Survey Shows
Figure in Line With Nation
wide Trend of Reduced
School Enrollments
Totals Show TIA Families i'm
District with 244 having
Children i'm School

In line with the nation wide trend
of smaller families and reduced
school enrollments, only "a per cent
of the total number of families in
the Bluffton school district have
children in attendance at the public
schools here, it was announced this
week by Supt. A. J. B. Longsdorf.
AT the request of the Bureau of
Educational Research of the Ohio
State university at Columbus, a sur
vey of the Bluffton school district
was made by students in the junior
high school social science classes un-
der the direction of Orden Smucker,
instructor.
RURAL AND Town FIGURES
The survey was made to include
separate sets of statistics for both
the Bluffton corporation and rural
territory outside the corporation in
cluding portions of Richland, Orange
1 and Monroe townships.
In the Bluffton corporation the
survey showed that there are Ass
families with lat of them, or 80 pei
cent, having children in attendance
at the Bluffton schools. In the out
| lying rural districts there are 25l
families with 81, or 38 per cent, hav
ing children in the schools.
TIA FAMILIES
The totals for the district showed
TIA families in the school district
with 244 having children in tht
schools, or an average of Sd pei
cent of the total families in attend
ance at the schools here.
The "a per cent figure does not in
clude children younger or older thar
school age, it was stated by Supt
Longsdorf. Neither does it show
anything concerning the size of th'
! family. The Columbus research bu
reau wanted figures only on the pro
portion of families in the school dis
trict who have children in attendance
at the public schools.
SHARP DECLINE
While there has not been a surve,
|, of this nature conducted here in pre-
vious years it is believed that thi
, figure represents sharp decline il
the proportional totals.
Attendance figures at the higl
school have shown a steady declin
for the past several years. Attend
ance totals, as of September for eacl
, year, are as follows: 669 in 1887
E 648 in 1885, 610 in 1899; 585 il
1910; 532 in 1941.
1t has been pointed out, however
that there have been other factor
4 influencing the steady decline. Chic
. of these is the Orange TOWNSHIP
! school district litigation in whic
|, quite few students have trans
ferred to Hancock county schools.
ACCURACY OF SURVEY
While there may be some error
in the survey, it is believed tha
these are slight because the student
Z who conducted the survey were a!
signed the districts and section
the town and rural areas in whic
: they lived or with which they wei
= familiar. In most cases the student
i were helped by their parents in d.
Il termining the families having chile
{ rem in the schools here.
In making the survey, the defin
Y ton of family as made by the Uni
ed States Bureau of Census w;
C used. The bureau considers a far
y lily to be "a group of persons r
q lated by blood or marriage or ado
ton, who live together as a hous
= hold usually sharing the same table
e The Bluffton figure of 81 per Gel
is almost identical with the figure
35 per cent, which is the gener
average of several other school di
tricts in Ohiom aking similar su