Show SUPT auri JENSENS ANNUAL REPORT to the board of education gentlemen general statement the school year 1913 14 has undoubtedly been one of the most successful that this county has hag thus far enjoyed no untoward circumstances or conditions have entered in to disturb the progress of our school work the only thing which in any way has haa tended to interfere with ane regularity of attendance was the bounteous harvest last fall which necessitated the detention ot of the larger boys and girls for harvesting purposes a condition against which it would be unwise even eveia I 1 for school people to complain contagious diseases and other unfavorable circumstances which occasionally casio nally interfere with school work have been conspicuously absent this year and as a result our school work has been uniformly successful board members supervisors teach ers and office force I 1 orce have worked la in unison to promote the educational advancement van cement of our county comparative statistics it may be of interest to report to you something definite as to the growth and the comparative efficiency of the schools during the last few I 1 years the following figures are g given tv as a means of comparison tor for the years of 1906 07 and 1913 14 the school year closing in the spring ot of 1907 wads was the last year under the old district Isk system stein before the consolidation was effected lumber number of school houses in the county in 1 1906 07 61 14 1 45 anwa AJA r y A T ie ambr eu rolled in 1901 71 1 07 1913 14 number of teachers employed la in 1906 07 1913 14 number of pupils to each teacher 1906 07 33 1913 14 31 no of children entering school for first time 1906 07 1913 14 1 no of graduates 1906 07 no of students in the high school 1906 07 81 1913 14 no of graduates from the high school 1906 07 none 1913 1447 14 47 the foregoing figures are interesting from several points of view blew you will note that we are now housing pupils in 45 buildings an average of to the building whereas I 1 before consolidation we had pupils in 61 buildings an average of 58 to each building increasing the size of the schools has made it possible to place more teachers in each bulletins building and and hence to secure better grading of pupils and much more eff efficient lelent school work we still have too many small mixed schools in which it is almost impossible to do efficient work but as our outlying districts draw new settlers which they are doing rapidly they will grow into more loia communities and faded graded schools wilt will become possible pos possible sibie referring to the figures agin you will note that in 1907 there was an average of 33 pupils to each teacher in 1914 the average was 31 pupils to each teacher while the average C number per teacher has remained practically the same they aro are now more uniformly distributed overcrowded rooms with 60 50 to 60 pupils are now v ilioiu ilao iu ii in the co ca 07 1 the number of small mixed schools schoola with only 8 6 to 15 pupils has been materially teri ally decreased in the larger well graded schools teachers are given from 35 to 40 children in the smaller schools were three four or more grades are under one teacher from 20 to 30 pupils is the rule it will be noted that in 1907 pupils entered school for the first time while in the same year there were graduates I 1 ll 11 e the graduating class was equal to of 0 the beginners class in 1914 there were continued from page two burl JENSENS ANNUAL REPORT continued from first page pace beginners end and graduates in this year the graduates equalled equal led 72 of the beginners class in other words the pupils completing the grades now have increased over as compared with those of 1907 the last year before consolidation the efficiency of any school system or of any other organization is measured largely by the finished product it turns out measured Alea by this standard alone the schools of today are twice as efficient as they were before consolidation it we assume that the beginning class of nine years ago fall of 1905 has lost as many through elimination by deaths retardation special promotions etc as it has gained by by retardation from upper classes special promotion from lower classes and new pupils moving into the county then the graduates equal 85 of the class which entered nine years ago it would be interesting to know how the statistics of unconsolidated counties in this state compare with these figures in antol union there Is strength now that we have gone on eight years instead of a nine year hasis basis we shall expect 40 0 o increase the per of 0 graduates as the most rapid elimination has always occurred in the upper grades it is interesting to note one further fact in the statistics given above it will be seen that in 1907 there were 81 students in ligan school these were all I 1 in the first two years of high school work as the third and fourth years were not then given in 1914 there were students in high school 47 of whom completed the fourth year work this is a record to which we also point with aith considerable satisfaction supervision during the year just passed the superintendent erin has been assisted in the work of supervision by tour four supervisors who are specialists specialist a in their lines of work and whose efforts in tb the e coun coun i i v jv fy schools haye shown most commendable i n re gutla I 1 4 I 1 primary supervisor the primary supervisor has devoted her energies to the direction of work in the first tour four grades with a new course of study to be tried out tor for the first time this year and a new point of view in the fe methods of primary work the ta t imposed upon the supervisor was no easy one so gratifying have been the results however that a great step in ia advance has been made during the past year children have gained a facility and an independence pen dence in reading language and the mechanics of expression which is very encouraging the work has been well adapted to the various grades and the work of the third and fourth grades especially has been advanced and vi to such an extent asto as to make the course of study in those grades almost entirely new As our teachers familiarize familiar ze themselves Aes with the methods introduced this year increasingly better results will be had bad art and sewing the work in art has justified the prediction made when a special super visor was engaged the work lias has improved materially during the past year pupils have shown much inter est in the work and considerable enthusiasm thusia sm has been awakened in the aesthetic appeals which our varied environment viron ment makes to the observant eye home decoration and the beautifying of our surroundings have been emphasized pha sized and the pupils standards of judgement jud gement for that which is beautiful have been much improved the work in sewing was was taken up with commendable zeal by the girls of the upper grades exhibits of the work vork done were had in several of our largest schools toward tn e close cloae of at the school year ear 7 at these exhibits gava gave unmistakable evidence of the value ot of this practical work tor the grammar grade girls W we e hope that in the near future we may be better equipped with sewing and cooking rooms and utensils so that this work may be enlarged upon and made to more fully serve the needs of our girls in the preparation for lifes work in a few of the schools cooking was also introduced notably in willard and bear river city these schools demonstrated to our entire satisfaction the practicability of introducing this work in the grades in no work have the girls shown more earnestness and in none of their efforts brought forth more gratifying results while the first cost of equipment for this work is high the cost of main cenance Is not great and we trust the he board of education will see its way clear to extending this work to ail schools in which it Is practicable to offer it we can well afford to spend a little less time and energy in the sady st ly of geography history habits and customs of our antipodes and to do a little more toward training for lifes real work until our schools are better equipped to do the actual victual demonstration and practice work we shall have to be content to lo do the theorizing in school in most instances and to use the home kitch en as our laboratory asking the mothers to cooperate with us in in seeing that the work Is actually done by the girls and reported to the teacher music never before have the boys and girls of box elder county been so enthusiastic in their enjoyment of music as they were this last school year the splendid work begun in the two previous years provided provid d a basis upon which this years work could be continued and the spirit of song has been carried into every school and home thru the unceasing and ad untiring efforts of ar air whitaker who has become endeared to every boy and girl in the county it has been the aim here first to inspire a love of good music second to install a desire to produce it b by developing in the children good must musli cal voices third to familiarize the pupils with the theory and mechanics of music so that they might become competent sight singers and fourth to foster thoughtful and worthy musical appreciation and rendition agriculture I 1 the work in agriculture received a slight set back when mr air barrows left us to take post graduate work at berkeley university mr air glenn our present supervisor entered upon the work rather late in the season and at some disadvantage from the fact that he had not been in touch with grade work in his bis line previous to his coming coining here from his bis first entrance upon his duties however he has made rapid progress much bluch interest has been awakened in practical agriculture and some twenty odd clubs have been organized in the county nearly all of whom are now engaged in active flub work if glenn is following up the club work in the various parts of the county during the summer months and in this way Is keeping in touch with both the club members and their fathers on the farm the schools are becoming of vital interest to all our farmers and are stimulating atten tion ion to the more modern methods and problems ot of agriculture during the year a number of farmers and club workers conventions were held la in various parts of the county and such experts as prof IIo gensen and evans of the U A C and sir eldredge of at salt sa it lake city have given very instructive tive lectures the meetings pr proved oved to be interesting enlisting the sympathy and cooperation of the fathers and mothers as well as the grammar grade boys and girls of the county the cash prizes which were distributed tri buted to the successful competitors coin peti in the beet and tomato growing work and more content to 10 reir remain iala at home instead of seeking employment elsewhere give the boys a financial interest in farm arm work and you will have no trouble in keeping them at home S school c hoo I 1 credit for home work the practice of giving school credit for home work was continued throughout the year with very satisfactory results in most schools the home work plan was left optional with the pupils so that the few parents who saw no merit in the system might noi not be troubled with cooperating with the school if it were objectionable with them to do so the credits earned by the children were used to their advantage only never to their disadvantage in the final grading of pupils it if the home credits were low and would lower the general average standing of the pupil the teacher was instructed ted to omit the home credit grade as we felt that the child should not be made to suffer from the unwillingness of the parent to cooperate with us in this work dinst institute tute box elder county teachers attended in a body the sessions of 0 the great N E A held in salt lake last summer in this they received substantial encouragement from the board of 0 education who also were in attendance institutes have been held haild regularly throughout the year and ana the attendance of teachers and the grade of work done have tended materially to increase the effi efficiency clency of the class room work throughout the county school buildings the eleven new buildings erected the year before were added three buildings this year those at thatcher penrose and woodrow Wb AVo the last named was not a new building but was moved from junction to woodrow or Al oulton and placed in condition before the school opened there last tall fall the buildings at thatcher and penrose are an all additional credit to box elders well equipped and cR capacious school buildings As was suggested in last years annual report tremonton Tre monton would probably he be next to craim our attention in the matter of additional room in response to that need the board has already under way a magnificent addition to the school plant at that city the high school has been overcrowded during the past two years in the wood working department the contract his has already been let for an extension to that department of our box elder high school teachers thru the careful selection of teachers rs from a list of several hundred applicants cants last year we were enabled to strengthen up the teaching force very materially with very few exceptions our teachers have given general satisfaction during the past year probably Pro bally the most imperative need in box elder county schools is more home teachers very few towns in a the county furnish enough teachers to supply the local demand most of our teachers come from other parts of the state and a few are imported from other states it is difficult to hold these people from year to year it if we could give all successful teachers a raise in salary each year we should be able to hold most of t them hem but our taxes are insufficient to do so we the money As a consequence as soon as teachers make good here and are able to secure good recommendations dat ions and are offered higher salaries elsewhere they leave us they feel that they have nothing to lose by leaving since they must be kway away from hom om I 1 ethey ethey I 1 may as well fo go where they can earn the highest salary they do not see ee that that these frequent changes are ara usually temporary gains and that in the long run they would probably do better financially and certainly professionally fessio nally were they to remain longer loneer in the same system our own box elder boys and girls would have other additional interests to hold them here and thru working tor for several years within the same system and in the same community their efficiency adf teachers would be superior to that now secured with about 50 of our teachers going out each year the matter of encouraging our own oven young people to take the normal course at college should be urged in every town and hamlet wo we want more of them in the schools as teachers we want them thoroughly prepared for the work before they make application for school but it if they come came well prepared having had a thorough normal course we shall in every case give preference to our home product and can assure all successful normal graduates positions it they will but go and properly lire prepare pare tor for the work we extend to the graduates ot of the box elder high school art an invitation to join the ranks of 0 the county teachers as soon as they can complete a normal course at one ot of our normal colleges box elder high school the high school has had an exceptionally tio nally successful year the faculty consi consisted Aed of eighteen teachers each one of whom is a specialist la in his line of at work the enrollments enrollment as stated above was students of whom came from outside of brigham city these students represented 20 box elder cou county nty towns the provision of the board of education in paying |