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“tect we could not decide 
PRIMARY SCHOOL. 
(Continued from Page 1.) 
some recommendations which the 
town will be called upon to accept 
or reject. 
The hearing was called to order 
at 8 o’clock Monday night by Chair- 
man E. S. Knight of the committee. 
Secretary Needham read the ma- 
jority and minority reports of the 
School Committee, as presented by 
Messrs. Ashley and Floyd, and by 
Chairman E. A. Lane, respectively. 
What Was Said and Done at 
Primary School Hearing. 
Samuel Knight—‘We find our- 
selves confronted by the question 
as to the actual need of the times. 
I hold in my hand the report of the 
school committee, in which is the 
superintendent’s report, which I as- 
sume is endorsed by the commit- 
tee.” Mr. Knight then read _ the 
part of the superintendent’s report 
bearing on the question at hand. “It 
seems to me,” he said, continuing, 
“one of the first points to establish 
is whether we want a four, six or 
eight-room building. We have 
here in the report of the committee 
a recommendation for a four-room 
building. The chairman of the 
committee also recommends in his 
minority report a four-room build- 
ing.” 
H. T. Bingham—‘When we met 
here last Friday night (the finance 
and school committees) a majority 
of the school committee gave their 
reasons why the committee wanted 
a six-room building. Perhaps- the 
secretary can read us that report.” 
Secretary Needham—“I did not 
take the report in full. But I un- 
derstood the gentleman to say at the 
close of his remarks he had plans 
for a four or an eight-room building 
if desired.” 
Rev. Mr. Ashley—‘‘If the matter 
of an architect was settled I believe 
the school committee could come 
to an agreement. Because the com- 
mittee could not agree on an archi- 
on the 
style of building, hence we brought 
in plans for four, six and eight-room 
buildings, and recommended a six- 
room building. We did it with a 
-view to the future, not the present 
needs. 
of births, with the increased num- 
ber of pupils 
town have made 
The increase in the number 
that come into the 
the attendance 
large. The lowest estimate for the 
coming year is over 60 and nearer 
0. 
“The superintendent recommend- 
-ed that the ninth grade be brought 
from the high school building to the 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
Priest school, that the three lower 
erades be removed from the Priest 
school to a primary school building 
of four rooms. This means five 
rooms instead of four, for if we 
have 60 or 70 in the first grade, it 
will take two rooms for them in- 
stead of one, and if the kindergarten 
recommendation is carried out that 
will take another room—five in all. 
If we need five rooms, there is no 
use beginning with four. Because 
of the increase of population, and 
dividing the. primary grade. (for 
there should not be over 35 in a 
room), a five-room building would 
be nearer the needs. It is folly for 
the town at this time to erect a 
building which they would have to 
add on to. 
“Up to the time of choosing archi- 
tects, the committee had no trouble 
in discussing all the points beauti- 
fully and pleasantly, and I believe 
if we could have agreed on this we 
could have come here and agreed 
on some definite plan of building.” 
E. A. Lane—After some prelimi- 
nary remarks relative to the selec- 
tion of architects, Mr. Lane said: 
“There has been practically no in- 
crease in the number of pupils in the 
last three years; 451, 456 and 446 
are the figures for the past three 
years,—a falling off of four, for the 
addition of the Cove pupils makes 
the number total 452,—practically 
the same as four years ago. 
“With regard to a  four-room 
building, the primary school chil- 
dren should be by themselves 
Two hundred primary school chil- 
dren is too many to occupy one 
building—150 is enough.” 
F. K. Hooper—‘“Is the greatest in- 
crease in the children in the primary 
or in the upper grades?” 
Mr. Lane—“The greatest increase 
is in the primary department and 
in the high school.” 
Mr. Ashley—“I should like to re- 
fer the committee to the school 
committee’s report. I don’t like 
misunderstanding in the matter.” 
W. C. Rust—‘“I have no children 
and don’t suppose I will ever have 
any, but I look on this matter in a 
business way. When we erected 
the Priest building we were told it 
would be good for 20 years, but 
within the 10 years it has been built, 
two additions have been made. The 
same is true of the high school. 
The enlargements cost as much as 
the buildings. It seems to me we 
should anticipate the time when 
we shall need greater capacity in the 
schools. $40,000 seems to me to be 
too much for a primary school mat- 
ter; put up eight rooms at little 
more ‘cost and leave the rooms un- 
‘the educational system. The 
21 
finished. It has been said the in- 
crease is small. There may be a 
lull now, but there is no doubt but 
business will increase in the near 
future. So it seems to me an eight- 
room building is the best.” 
G. F. Allen stated he had some- 
thing to do with the erection of the 
Priest school, that there was a 
strong opposition at the time to put- 
ting up such a big building. The 
town had at that time 235 children 
in school and the committee thought - 
the building it recommended would 
be sufficient for ten years. It has 
been enlarged twice, however. He 
thought it was a mistake to have a 
four-room building. 
W. J. Johnson—“Judging by the 
past, a four-room building is not 
large enough. The years past have 
been phenomenal as to large in- 
crease, but conditions are such that 
increase must be more than is es- 
timated by the chairman of the 
school committee. 1 advocate a six- 
room building.” 
F. K. Hooper—“It seems to me 
we are already providing for 200 
pupils in the proposed four-room 
building, which we are to remove 
from the other building, and with 
an increase of ten a year it would 
take twenty years to make up. I 
should like to hear from the superin- 
tendent and get from him his ideas 
on the general matter of schools.” 
Superintendent Fish stated this 
was by no means a new subject, for 
it had been brought up at various 
times before. He read the report 
of Supt. Armstrong of 1903. Mr. 
Fish said he didn’t want those pres- 
ent to think that by “four,” the 
number of rooms he recommended, 
there was anything sacred. He 
was of the opinion the primary 
grades should be separated. He 
stated that the general average 
showed the number of pupils in any 
normal community was one-sixth 
the population of that community, 
and vice versa. 
“Considering the question as a 
matter of seating capacity,’ he 
continued, “if you build an eight- 
room building with a seating capac- 
ity the same as the other rooms— 
49—you would have room in your 
sixteen rooms for almost 800 pu- 
pils, which would, carrying out the 
ratio, equal a popuation of about 
4800 people. If you have a four- 
room building you could, by this 
same ratio, have room for almost 
600 pupils and a population of 3400. 
“My suggestions were not for the 
seating capacity but for benefiting 
rea- 
sons for separating our primary 
school children from the others are 
