Part 10

The Gary plan, which includes all the grades in one school plant wherever possible, prevents these chasms more successfully than even such schemes as the junior high school which are being extensively experimented with elsewhere. The Gary school has an extraordinary hold on its pupils. There is no incentive for leaving school, since the school provides for the needs of the most diversely equipped children, gives them the practical vocational training they may want, and even allows their working part-time while continuing with the school. All those problems of “pupil-mortality,” whereby half the children in our public schools are said never to pass beyond the sixth grade, are almost automatically avoided in a school which deliberately sets itself to meeting the individual child’s needs. The success of the Gary school in holding its pupils is indicated in the fact that, in spite of the short time the Gary schools have been in existence, the proportion of high-school pupils in Gary is said to be almost twice as large as that in the schools of New York City.

“11. A saving in the cost of instruction by reducing overhead charges for supervisors, making it possible to pay better salaries or reduce the number of pupils per teacher, or both.”

“12. A plan which brings together, in a unitary way, with economy and efficiency in management, the other recreational and educational agencies of the city.”

These evaluations of Dean Burris’s sum up the various aspects of the Gary plan as it appeals to practical educators. It must be remembered that the Gary school represents not a rigid system, or a static and completed mechanism. Its chief value is that it provides a flexible program and facility for change and development. Any examples of details in the curricula or details of administration can only be tentative, for it is an experimental school, where every one is constantly studying and learning. It is a growing organism. The only limit to its growth seems to lie in the imagination of teachers and pupils. Even when it starts with an admirable equipment, its life is only begun. It is the use of the equipment, the constant appeal to the imagination and to expression that is the real education. In such a school, the cultivation of resource may go on indefinitely. Such a school provides that “embryonic community life” which Professor Dewey expresses as his ideal of a school, where in actual work the child senses the occupations and interests of the larger world into which he is some time actively to enter.

We may say, then, that the Gary school has national significance because it is the first public school system in successful established operation which has been able to solve the pressing and apparently insoluble problems of the city school; which has kept pace with changing industrial and social conditions, and adapts the school to every kind of a child; which synthesizes the best educational endeavors of the day, and provides the facilities which educators have vainly sought to provide for all the children, but have only succeeded in providing at great expense for the more advanced and older pupils of the community; which marks a distinct advance in democratic education; which realizes the ideal of a truly public school, in providing for all the people all of the time; and, which, in its simple organization and ingenious financial economies, furnishes a practical working-model for imitation and adaptation in other communities, large and small.

APPENDIX

I

DISTRIBUTION OF EXPENDITURES

_August 1, 1914-July 31, 1915_

_Schools of Gary, Indiana_

REGULAR SCHOOL (TEN MONTHS, FIVE DAYS PER WEEK, EIGHT-HOUR DAY)

───────────────┬──────────┬──────────┬────────────┬────────── LARGEST THREE │ Emerson │ Froebel │ Jefferson │ All SCHOOLS WITH │ School │ 1847_ │ 764 │ schools NO. OF PUPILS │ (895) │ │ │ 4789 ───────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────────┼────────── Instruction │ │ │ │ —Salaries of │ │ │ │ supervisors │ │ │ │ and │ │ │ │ principals, │ │ │ │ and │ $2,750.19│ $4,189.95│ $2,016.60│$13,745.75 miscellaneous│ │ │ │ Salaries of │ 27,954.77│ 46,373.36│ 16,713.70│113,533.24 teachers │ │ │ │ Supplies │ 854.66│ 758.58│ 367.00│ 2,660.09 ───────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────────┼────────── Total cost of │$31,559.62│$51,321.89│ $19,097.30│$129,939.08 instruction │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ Operation and │ │ │ │ maintenance— │ │ │ │ Janitors’ wages│ $3,908.80│ $4,936.02│ $1,131.11│$12,203.15 Fuel, water, │ 4,815.03│ 5,234.70│ 1,205.11│ 13,799.49 light, │ │ │ │ supplies │ │ │ │ ───────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────────┼────────── Total cost of │ $8,723.83│$10,170.72│ $2,336.22│$26,002.62 operation │ │ │ │ Maintenance │ 7,420.40│ 6,050.67│ 7,418.36[3]│ 26,574.62 ───────────────┴──────────┴──────────┴────────────┴──────────

Footnote 3:

Includes new heating plant.

SATURDAY SCHOOL (TEN MONTHS, EIGHT-HOUR DAY)

────────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┬────────── SCHOOLS │ Emerson │ Froebel │Jefferson │ All │ │ │ │ schools ────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────── Instruction │ $1,782.20│ $2,721.57│ $860.28│ $6,909.52 Operation │ 1,713.63│ 1,690.83│ 344.65│ 4,332.31 ────────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────

SUMMER SCHOOL (TWO MONTHS)

───────────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┬────────── SCHOOLS │ Emerson │ Froebel │Jefferson │ All │ │ │ │ schools ───────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────── Instruction— │ $831.56│ $1,349.65│ $543.75│ $3,375.20 Salaries of │ │ │ │ supervisors │ │ │ │ and │ │ │ │ principals │ │ │ │ Salaries of │ 4,213.63│ 3,678.08│ 779.58│ 10,602.91 teachers │ │ │ │ Supplies │ 38.61│ 33.30│ 30.50│ 114.31 ───────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────── Total cost of │ $5,083.80│ $5,061.03│ $1,353.83│$14,092.42 instruction │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ Operation— │ $1,317.98│ $1,542.37│ $251.03│ $3,424.34 Janitors’ │ │ │ │ wages │ │ │ │ Fuel, etc. │ 794.37│ 1,308.42│ 131.25│ 2,421.95 ───────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────── Total cost of │ $2,112.35│ $2,850.79│ $382.28│ $5,846.29 operation │ │ │ │ Maintenance │ 1,149.41│ 689.79│ 1,682.55│ 4,165.90 ───────────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────

SUNDAY-SCHOOL (TWO PLANTS, FOUR HOURS WEEKLY)

───────────────┬──────────┬──────────┬────────── SCHOOLS │ Emerson │ Froebel │ All │ │ │ schools ───────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────── Salaries of │ $103.00│ $128.00│ $231.00 teachers │ │ │ Operation │ 954.56│ 847.60│ 1,802.16 ───────────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────

EVENING SCHOOL (FIVE EVENINGS WEEKLY OF TWO HOURS EACH, NINE MONTHS OF SCHOOL)

───────────────┬──────────┬──────────┬────────── SCHOOLS │ Emerson │ Froebel │ All │ │ │ schools ───────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────── Salaries of │ $1,091.07│ $1,731.45│ $3,813.24 supervisors │ │ │ and │ │ │ principals │ │ │ Salaries of │ 5,112.89│ 5,828.00│ 13,675.73 teachers │ │ │ Supplies │ 340.54│ 471.68│ 1,042.84 ───────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────── Total cost of │ $6,544.50│ $8,031.13│$18,531.81 instruction │ │ │ Operation │ 2,283.91│ 2,392.68│ 5,872.55 ───────────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────

PUPIL _PER-CAPITA_ YEAR (TWELVE MONTHS; ALL ACTIVITIES)

───────────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┬────────── SCHOOLS │ Emerson │ Froebel │Jefferson │ All │ │ │ │ schools ───────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────── Per-capita cost│ │ │ │ for │ │ │ │ Instruction │ $35.26│ $27.79│ $25.00│ $27.13 Operation │ 9.75│ 5.50│ 3.06│ 5.43 Maintenance │ 8.29│ 3.27│ 9.71│ 5.55 ───────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────── Current cost, │ $53.30│ $36.56│ $37.77│ $38.11 total │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ Permanent │ 11.43│ 7.81│ 14.43│ 10.88 improvements │ │ │ │ ───────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────── Grand total │ $64.73│ $44.37│ $52.20│ $48.99 │ │ │ │ General control│ │ │ │ 3.54 Other payments │ │ │ │ 7.75 Auxiliary │ │ │ │ 1.02 agency │ │ │ │ ───────────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────

ENROLLMENT

────────────┬──────────┬──────────┬────────┬────────┬──────── Day School │Enrollment│ Average │ No. of │ All │Enrollment │ │ daily │teachers│Average │ per │ │attendance│ │ salary │teacher ────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────┼────────┼──────── Emerson │ 895│ 769.80│ 31│ $915.78│ 27.56 Froebel │ 1,847│ 1,591.06│ 57│ 813.56│ 31.50 Jefferson │ 764│ 661.70│ 22│ 759.71│ 33.50 All schools │ 4,789│ 4,043.98│ 142│ 802.59│ 33.70 Summer │ 1,700│ │ │ │ schools │ │ │ │ │ Evening │182,348[4]│ │ │ │ schools │ │ │ │ │ ────────────┴──────────┴──────────┴────────┴────────┴────────

Footnote 4:

Number of student hours.

TOTAL EXPENDITURES—TWELVE MONTHS—ALL ACTIVITIES (REGULAR, SATURDAY, SUNDAY, SUMMER, EVENING SCHOOLS)

Instruction $169,703.83 Operation 43,855.93 Maintenance 30,740.52 Total current cost 244,300.28 ────────── Total expenditures $362,325.73

II

SUPERINTENDENT WIRT’S REPORT

ON THE

REORGANIZATION OF THE BRONX SCHOOLS, NEW YORK CITY

_Showing how the Gary Plan may be adapted to the Usual School Plant_

THESE twelve schools, I am informed, are the most congested of any group of twelve schools in New York City. There are only 25,331 sittings in these schools and 35,580 children were registered December 31, 1914,—10,249 more than sittings. The registration is 140 per cent of the sittings. But 2500 of the present sittings, representing 50 classrooms, are unsatisfactory. There are 779 classes in the schools and only 480 satisfactory classrooms. The classes are 162 per cent of the satisfactory classrooms.

Two new schools are under construction, and a leased school-building of fifteen classrooms is nearing completion. These three buildings will provide accommodations for 4500 children and 103 additional classes. When these three buildings are completed, there will be 583 satisfactory classrooms for 779 classes. The registration of the twelve schools increased 4000 pupils from December 31, 1913, to December 31, 1914. At the present rate of increase the new buildings will not take care of the increase in school attendance during the construction of the said buildings. Four new buildings in addition to those under construction are needed now to give each child attending the schools a satisfactory school seat. Because of financial limitations the Board of Education is asking for only six new elementary-school buildings for the entire city, and _two_ of the six, _to cost approximately $1,000,000_, are proposed for the relief of the twelve schools named. If the two additional schools requested, together with the three under construction, could be made ready for use to-morrow, there would still be 4000 children without satisfactory seats and no provision for normal growth in the immediate future.

I herewith submit a plan for the reorganization of the twelve schools named, so that 1022 classes may be satisfactorily accommodated in place of the 583 now provided for.

Under the New Organization unsatisfactory annexes are vacated, and unsatisfactory classrooms are used for auditorium, playrooms, laboratories, and workshops. In place of the 779 classes and 35,580 children now in the schools, room will be secured for 242 additional classes and a total registration of 46,000 children. A future increase in school registration of approximately 10,000 children will thus be provided for.

To accomplish this reorganization, rather extensive annexes are necessary at four schools, costing approximately $475,000. The remaining eight schools need only slight structural changes and additional equipment, costing approximately $44,500. Additional land should be purchased for four of the schools, costing approximately $225,000 [a total of $744,500 for twelve schools, as against $1,000,000 for two new plants on the old plan].

The cost of the four annexes, the remodeling, the equipment, and the additional land will be much less than the cost for buildings, equipment, and sites for the proposed two new schools. If the proposed two-new-schools plan is followed, a total satisfactory capacity on a five-hour single-school system for 671 classes will be secured, which is 108 classes short of the present enrollment. If the reorganization at less cost than the two-new-schools plan is followed, satisfactory accommodations in a longer school day will be secured for 1022 classes, which is 243 classes more than are now enrolled,—a difference of 351 classes and 16,000 children.

The true economy of the New Organization is to be found in the greater educational facilities provided for all of the children, rather than in the great capacity of the plants secured under the new plan.

The upper grades, 511 classes, will have a daily school program of the following type: 80 minutes in classroom for academic work; 40 minutes in gymnasium or play-yard or grounds for physical training and play; 40 minutes for general exercises in the auditorium; 60 minutes for luncheon; 140 minutes in classroom for academic work; and 80 minutes for drawing-rooms, science laboratories, or manual-training and workshops. The lower grades, 511 classes, will have a program of the following type: same as for upper grades, except that the last period of 80 minutes will be given to play, excursions, library, church instruction, or at home. As a rule the children will have 380 minutes in school in addition to the luncheon hour, in place of the 300 minutes provided in the regular full-time school. Such a study-work-and-play school removes the children very largely from the demoralizing life of the street, and gives ample time for academic, physical, and prevocational training.

────────────────────┬───────────────┬─────────────── │ Average time │ Average time SUBJECTS │per week under │per week under │ regular │ New │ full-time │Organization in │organization in│ Bronx schools │ New York City │ (minutes) │ (minutes) │ ────────────────────┼───────────────┼─────────────── Opening exercises │ 75 │ 100 Music │ 60 │ 100 Physical training, │ 120 │ 200 recesses, │ │ physiology, hygiene │ │ English, geography, │ 1010 │ 1100 history, and │ │ arithmetic │ │ Nature-study and │ 80 │ 133 science │ │ Drawing │ 85 │ 133 Construction work │ 70 │ 134 ────────────────────┼───────────────┼─────────────── Total time per week │ 1500 │ 1900 ────────────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────

Under the old regular full-time organization, only manual-training and cooking-rooms are provided, and for seventh and eighth grades alone. Science laboratories for individual work, and drawing studios with special equipment, are not provided at all.

Under the New Organization, manual-training, cooking and sewing-shops, drawing-studios with special equipment, and science laboratories for individual work by students are provided for all the above grades. Besides, there will be sixty-three additional prevocational workshops with special equipment and teachers distributed advantageously in the twelve schools. Also there will be provided gardens, better auditoriums and music-rooms, better classrooms, gymnasiums and playgrounds.

DESCRIPTION OF SCHOOLS

_Indicating in Detail Necessary Changes to introduce Wirt Plan_

_Public School 28_ has fifty-eight regular classes in forty-five regular classrooms, with one wood-working shop and one cooking-room. The ground floor play-yard and fine basement playroom provide ample play space for nine classes at one time. There is a large gymnasium on the top floor that is not desirable for play, and should be used for drawing-rooms. The auditorium on the fourth floor should be made into six regular classrooms by installing permanent partitions for the sliding partitions. The wall partitions should be removed from the four combination auditorium and classrooms on the second floor, and the auditorium thus secured should be seated for a permanent auditorium. Since four classrooms are thus used for the auditorium, there will be left only forty-one regular classrooms. Thirty-six of these should be used for regular class work. Two of the five remaining classrooms should be used for science laboratories, one for a music studio, and two for workshops. These five special rooms, with the manual-training shop and cooking-room and drawing-studios, will provide facilities for nine classes in science, drawing, music, manual-training or shopwork, at one time. Seventy-two regular classes may be accommodated in this school with thirty-six classes in thirty-six classrooms, nine in the auditorium, nine at play, nine in special work, and nine primary classes with an extra period for play, religious instruction in churches, excursions, library work, etc.

With a full register of classes, seventy-six teachers should be employed. Fifty-six teachers should teach the history, geography, arithmetic, language, and reading, and manage the auditorium. Two teachers should have charge of the music, four of the play and physical training, one of the library, two of the drawing, two of the science laboratories, and nine of the manual training, domestic science and art, and the shopwork.

There are thirteen regular classes in the eight-room frame annex, which must be used for class purposes in order to enable the city to hold the property. A special program can be arranged for this annex, to accommodate twelve classes.

Public School 28 and the annex can therefore accommodate eighty-four classes, a gain of thirteen classes over the present enrollment, and thirty-one classes more than the normal capacity of fifty-three classes in a single-school system.

The only expense will be the placing of permanent partitions in the auditorium classrooms, and the equipment of the auditorium, laboratories, studios and shops,—approximately $10,000.

* * * * *

_Public School 5_ has twenty-seven classes in nineteen regular classrooms, a good auditorium and two portable schools. Four classes are now using the auditorium as classrooms, with only curtains for partitions. There is play space in the basement play-yard for six classes to play at once.

By removing the portable schools a satisfactory outdoor playground can be secured. The basement has a fine shoproom, large enough to accommodate two small shops. In these shops and the nineteen classrooms, with the auditorium and play facilities, thirty-two classes may be accommodated by using sixteen of the most desirable rooms for classrooms. This is five classes more than are now in the school, and thirteen more than the capacity of the main building on a five-hour single-school system.

The cost of moving the portables should be charged to the school to which they are moved. The cost for equipment and remodeling should be approximately $5,000.

* * * * *

_Public School 32_ has sixty classes in thirty-eight classrooms, with one workshop and one cooking-room. Five classrooms and one cooking-room are now in a gymnasium with only curtains for partitions. Three classrooms are unsatisfactory basement rooms, one is an unsatisfactory attic room, and twelve classrooms are combination auditorium and classrooms.

By placing permanent partitions in the combination auditoriums, twenty-nine satisfactory classrooms and five shoprooms may be secured. The gymnasium and play-yard are ample for a large school. The building is close to Bronx Park for large outdoor play-yard and for gardens. The present site can be enlarged without great cost. I believe that it is desirable to make Public School 32 a seventy-two-room school, which will enable it to accommodate twelve more classes than are now in the school.

An annex should be built containing swimming-pool, auditorium, five shops, and seven classrooms, costing approximately $100,000.

III

SUPERINTENDENT WIRT’S REPORT

ON THE

REORGANIZATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOL 89, BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

_Showing the Adaptation of the Gary Plan to the Usual School Plant_