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Show I i COLONEL WONDER INTRUDES I ON LOCAL SCHOOL AFFAIRS : Ynquires as to What the Mills Board of Education Did with School Money and Finds a Peculiar Condition Remodel- . ing of Grant School and Proposed Changes at the H Madison School Are Investigated A Big H ? Waste of Money. H ' Editor Standard: Since -my last H appearance in your columns I have j been hobnobbing with some of the t champions at the "University o Utah H ? and I have also visited the gymnas- I ium at the Latter-Day-Saints college ; in Salt Lake City, and am also told H they have a splendid gymnasium at H the Salt Lake High School, which 1 1 shall visit later on. I see that there H t is trouble again In Ogden, and I can H ' nat refrain from taking a hand in H : the affair, and H ; I Wondered H ! Why the Ogden public school sys- H ' tern has not a gymnasium. For somo H ' time I have been nosing around school H affairs In Ogden City and I have con- H ; eluded there has been a tremendous Hi waste of money. For Instance, I flnd that the Grant School, a beautiful building, was remodeled at a cost of 32,000, some say $37,000, and after IK its remodeling I find that the Grant Hi i school is still an old building, and It I; I Wondered, j f' Why Superintendent Mills and his IE f school board did not put up a new It - building in place of remodeling the II ; old school. A nice, plain building If ' which would have cost 32,000, would If have given them a whole lot more II t room than was secured in remodeling If f the Grant school, and the old Grant It , school, with the repairing of the steps It i and floors at a very small cost, would l h still have been useful as a good school 11 ; building. I ! I had just fcaen reading Superin- l l tendent Mills address issued to the I k voters of Ogden when the bond elec- H tion vas on, and I see that he asked 1 ! for $35,000 to remodel the Madison l school, so I took an architect with me It and we went through the Madison j school, and II ; I Wondered, M f What Superintendent Mills was golf go-lf ing to do with the $35,000 in remodel- H IUAUlI.. ly," ' 'li.i'i t ' HIHIIII HI' F 5SEBEBBi ing the Madison school. As we entered ent-ered the building the following conversation con-versation took place: I said, "See, these steps are worn out." "Yes," said the architect, "it Is a shame to allow the steps to become worn as they are Fifty dollars worth of lumber would have repaired these steps." Then we walked to the upper up-per floor and I said: "See, tho flooring is worn where the children have marched for the last ten years In and out of school." "Yes," said the architect, "it Is a shame, but I will take $1500 and repair re-pair all 'this in good first class shape. It looks to me as though they have allowed this to wear for the express purpose of pointing it out to show that the building needs remodeling. But no $35,000 is required." "Well," I said, "come, let's look at the rooms. There is something wrong." We entered a number of rooms and the architect said. "I see nothing wrong with the rooms. What's the matter with them?" I said, "Mr. Mills says they are too large." "Allright," said the architect, "let's put a partition in the big rooms and make two rooms." I said, "They are not that much too largo, they are about five or six feet too large." "Well," said the architect, "I suppose sup-pose it is a crime to let the children have a few inches more of air space than is absolutely required to keep them alive while In school." "Hold on," I commanded, "Let's go in to the basement. It is unsanitarj'." "As wo entered the basement a stench met our nostrils and the architect archi-tect sniffed and said, "Yes, the janitor jani-tor has not been doing his duty, I'll bet he has been instructed to let this go so that people who would visit the '-IAJJ'" g -t i i jib mm ugTuajm-L school could condemn It on smelling the stench from the basement This neglect is for the express purpose of creating a sentiment in favor of remodeling re-modeling the school, and I said, "You know that modern schools have the heating 'plant and 'the toilets out doors." "Yes," he said, "That is the way they build them now, and, unless the Board of Education has a surplus of funds, I would not recommend the remodeling re-modeling of a school like this because these toilets can be kept clean and sanitarj', tho same as tho house-wife keeps her toilets pure and clean in the home. A few dollars spent in disinfectants dis-infectants and a little elbow grease, water and proper instructions will make this basement as sanitary as a toilet in a modern home," and, I Wondered, As the architect was pointing out all these things whether we really had a competent superintendent In charge of our public schools. I then undertook under-took to see some member tit the school board, and I met one of the gentlemen who "was then In the mln-orltv mln-orltv on the board and he told me things that I am ashamed to put In print, but I concluded that If we have a school treasury that was short of money and was borrowing money from the banks that the taxpayers themselves them-selves ought to get busy and Investigate Investi-gate just how their funds were used and for what purpose and why there i were complaints of unsanitary conditions condi-tions when the very inexpensive methods meth-ods of maintaining s'tay schools were not resorted to, anil Js.Hl sign myself. NDER. |