Jasper County Democrat, Volume 22, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 September 1919 — HOW A SCHOOL BANK WORKS [ARTICLE]

HOW A SCHOOL BANK WORKS

Savings System In Eastern Institution Results In $50,000 Deposits, Averaging Weekly More Than $l4O. Twelve years ago a New England school principal called a meeting of the mothers and fathers in his district, and proposed that they help their youngsters and himself start a school savings bank. If children were to patronize such an Institution, they would have to have money, and he suggested that parents help them earn money by their own labor. He told them that the bank was to be part of school training, teaching thrift, industry, prudence and wisdom. Today this school savings bank, in the Henry Barnard school, Hartford, Conn., has deposits of more than $50,000. The average weekly deposit during twelve years has been more than $l4O. The largest deposit by any child since the opening of the bank Is $1,480, and the smallest less than sl. Operation of this bank is” Solon P. Davis, the school principal, describes It: Deposits are received every Monday morning during the first half-hour of school. The pupils of the eighth grade act as tellers, each being assigned to a given room. Each child Is provided with a pass book in which his deposits are entered by the teller. Deposits are made at the teacher’s desk, in the presence of the teacher and the teller, who enters them in his roll book. The teacher and teller then verify all deposits and place them In an envelope, which the teller delivers to the school secretary, who compares roll book and envelope, verifying the items. The envelopes are then forwarded to the Hartford Society for Savings, w%ere the accounts of the school are pledged. At Interest periods, December, March and June, the roll books are examined by the secretary, and a personal account Is opened at the Society for Savings for each pupil who has $2 in the school bank. After this, at these periods, all amounts of $1 or more, standing to his credit on a pupil’s school deposit book, are added to his personal account. If any pupil wishes to withdraw his money a written statement from the parent or the parent’s personal application is required.