424 PARKS 



7. Boards of education and parks. School boards, with their growing 

 tendency to secure larger and larger grounds, are doing much to provide 

 playgrounds for children of school age. They are important factors in con- 

 tributing these areas and other facilities such as athletic fields, stadiums, 

 swimming pools, gymnasiums and auditoriums. The function of the board 

 of education in regard to recreation facilities is usually discharged through 

 a division or department of the school administration, such as the physi- 

 cal education department, department of school extension or a recreation 

 department. While there are a few instances in which school boards actually 

 control parks, such as Revere, Massachusetts, and Winston-Salem, North 

 Carolina, the chief function of the board of education in relation to parks 

 is that of a cooperative working relationship, the schools often using the 

 facilities of the park. 



SECTION II 

 COMMENTS ON THE VARIOUS METHODS OF GOVERNING PARKS 



1 . Government by council or committee of council. In villages, small towns 

 and cities possessing only a few park properties this method of government 

 may be adequate, but in communities of any size initiating a plan for a 

 definitely organized park service the method has a number of drawbacks, 

 among them the following: (a) There can be little permanency of plan or 

 policy, since most city councils are liable to change every two years; at the 

 most, every four years, (b) The executive organization is likely to be 

 uncertain, since the executive officer is not sure of his tenure of office if 

 the majority of a new council are new members. It would be difficult to 

 interest trained executives to accept service in park departments under such 

 conditions, (c) With many different functions to engage their attention 

 the council has a divided interest, with the result that parks are not likely 

 to receive the attention necessary to a continuous carrying forward of plans. 

 (d) This form of government is open to abuse of political power, especially 

 in the appointment of park employees. 



2. Government by a commissioner in a commission governed city. The 

 commission form of government is acknowledged to have many points of 

 merit over the old ward system of municipal government. In the adminis- 

 tration of parks some of its advantages are as follows: (a) It fixes definite 

 responsibility on a single individual so that the citizens may know where the 

 responsibility for efficiency or inefficiency lies, (b} It provides for direct 

 administrative and executive action, although in point of fact the city com- 

 mission as a whole concerns itself with governmental policies and plans, so 

 that the commissioner having charge of parks and recreation does not have 

 an entirely free hand, (c) It is presumed to be more economical for the reason 



