TEACHERS' COTTAGES 



Idaho. 



Illinois. 



on the piano to the school children, and takes care of the school lunches 

 which are served every noon free by the district to the children. Before 

 the cottage was built the district had never employed the same teacher 

 for two consecutive years. The present teacher will be there as long 

 as she stays in the school work. 



The second building was built two years ago and is a frame build- 

 ing. It cost $1,200, and has five rooms with closets and bathroom. The 

 ground belonging to the district is a 10-acre lot which is used as an 

 experiment station for the school. Two acres of the ground has been 

 parked and seeded down with blue grass and white clover. The people 

 of the district take great pride in the cottage and grounds, and in this 

 district, as well as the first one mentioned, from the pride that has been 

 taken in the school grounds the patrons have been led to take better 

 care of the houses and yards at their homes. 



The third cottage was built in an Italian settlement, and consists 

 of three rooms. It cost not to exceed $400. This building was built so 

 that the teachers who could not find a good place to board could have 

 a place to live. At this school there are now three young ladies teach- 

 ing, and they occupy the cottage. It was built two years ago, and since 

 then the same teachers have taught the school. Before that time it was 

 almost impossible to get teachers, and we could never get a teacher to 

 go back the second year. Everything now is kept much neater about 

 the school yards, and the children seem to take more pride in keeping 

 their clothes and bodies clean. This is an improvement that was needed 

 very badly. 



The fourth cottage has been occupied by a family of the district that 

 were too far from school to attend. This family moves into the cottage 

 at the beginning of each school season. 



Since these cottages have been built a number of the other districts 

 have taken up the plan, and will build as soon as times get better. The 

 cottage in this county has come to stay, and I hope in the future to see 

 one in almost every district in the county. ( J. W. Ramsey, County Super- 

 intendent, Sandpoint, Ida.) 



* * * * 



"Something must be done soon as the boarding place for the rural 

 teacher is an unsolved problem." State superintendent reports that 

 some districts have been able to make patrons open their homes by 

 threatening to build cottages. One community building near Coldwell 

 has not proven a success on account of the difficulty of getting a good 

 principal. In Shoshone County the trustees permit the teachers, a man 

 and wife, to live in the basement of the school building because all the 

 ranch houses are small and there is no other place for the teacher to 

 secure accommodations. Freemont County reports two cottages for the 

 teachers and another in progress of construction. These are two-room 

 cottages and have proven quite successful for the weather is very severe 

 in winter and the snow deep. It gives the teacher much more time for 

 her work and solves the boarding problem. These districts, having a 

 great mileage of railroad, are in good financial condition and can afford 

 to build these buildings. In district 52 the building is used for domestic 

 science and manual training because the teacher is a home girl living 

 within easy reach of the schoolhouse. All of these cottages are well 

 furnished and well equipped for the teacher, free. (U. S. Bureau of 

 Education.) 



The teachers' cottage at the John Swaney Consolidated School was' 

 remodeled from the old one-room schoolhouse. The school employs six 

 teachers. The teachers board with the janitor, and his family. The 

 Directors secure the janitor, and make all arrangements for the comforts 

 of the teachers. The teachers pay their board. (See illustrations, 

 pages 29, 30. 



Page Twenty-eight 



