Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 February 1917 — JASPER COUNTY CONSOLIDATING SCHOOL [ARTICLE]

JASPER COUNTY CONSOLIDATING SCHOOL

Progressive Township Trustees See " the Advantage of Cbnsolidirtlaai"" of Rural Schools. - On account of the road conditions and the sparcely settled conditions, there being so many large farms and ranches in this county, the matter of consolidating the district schools has received but little attention here until quite recently. In the last year or two there has been quite a tendency toward the discontinuance of small schools. Lately there has been built consolidated schools at DeMotte. which is located in Keener township; at Tefft Which is located jn Kankakee township, at Parr, which is located in Union township. All off these schools are located in small towns. The first consolidated school located in the county has just been completed and is located in Marion township, about three miles south and east of Rensselaer. , Two teachers are able to do the work and take care of the pupils from seven districts. The seven districts were the Putts, James, O’Meara, slaughter, Wasson, Wood and Pleasant Ridge. The building was erected at a total cost of SIO,OOO, which includes equipment. ‘The architect was A. Wasson

Coen, of Chicago, and the contractors were Medland Brothers, of Loeansport. —' —— It has two rooms in the basement 28 by 36 fete, and two rooms the same size above. These rooms are well lighted and thoroughly ventilated. The ventilation -is arranged in connection with the hot air furnace so that the air in the school rooms is replaced every seven minutes. There are sixty-five pupils enrolled in these two rooms. The primary department is in charge <rf Mis 9 Myrtle Wame. She has the pupils of the first, second, third and fourth grades. The advance department is in charge of Mis s Lenar~Bloom, and she has the pupils of the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grades. It requires four different conveyances to haul the pupils to and from THe school. There are. now three school wagons and one automobile bus being used. The automobile bus is jin experiment but it is thought that it will be very satisfactory. This bus makes about a fifteen mile trip each morning and evening. It hauls one pupil who lives nearly five miles from the school. •_ < ' Trustee Harvey" Wood and his advisory board are to be commended for this forward step. The advantages of the consolidated school with its many conveniences is a great improvement over the small ungraded district schools.

The small district school lacks enthusiasm, is always poorly ventilated and seldom well heated. The consolidated school gives to the rural pupils the advantage of the well graded city school with its special teachers and high degree of efficiency. It may have some disadvantages, )ut these can be largely overcome and the patrons of the consolidated schools of the county should co-op-rate with the school officers and teachers and in the end all will be able to fully appreciate the advantage of consolidation. ,