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Show llf Battle Creek Continuing our discussion of the problems confronting the patrons of the Alpine District High Schools, we hereby direct our attention at-tention to questions 3 and 4, in last week's column. 3 Using the $2,900,000 made available by the recently approved bond election, can the Board of Education spend $300,000 to complete com-plete the Orem Senior High School, and then build three more! Senior High Schools out of the remainder? "Dividing $2,600,000 by three, we get $866,666. If the Orem building is costing $1,600,000, it's just common com-mon sense to assume that a reasonable reason-able facsimile could not be constructed con-structed for one-half as much money. Even a magician can't take more rabbits out of the hat than he puts in. We just as well face it; it can't be done. The thing to decide here and now, is how to spend the $2,600,000 where it will do the most good; and politics has no place in the consideration. 4 Taking our Alpine District Administrators at their word regarding re-garding the hopelessly overcrowded overcrowd-ed condition of our high schools, how can the students be housed1 until the three new units are built? Remember, there is no possible pos-sible relief in sight for at least two or three years. The best solution to this one lies in making the best use of the facilities fac-ilities we now have; and to do which we have made no serious effort in the past. In fact, if we exclude the 52 Sundays in the year, the buildings are now in use for instructional purposes only an average of 3.5 hours each day. This certainly is not getting the best possible use out of our multi-million multi-million dollar investment. Our schools usually operate 176 days for 6 hours each day. This totals 1,056 hours yer year. Until the emergency is passed anyway, why not operate the high schools in two shifts Senior High from 8 to 12, and Junior High from 12 to 4, or vice versa. This would eliminate at once the undesirable situation of mixing the two age levels . Under this plan, the schools would need to operate 264 days, or 44 weeks of six days each. The time spent would then total same 1056 hours. Since the students would be in school only four hours each day, Saturday school would be no hardship. Such a plan would still allow a Summer vacation of 8 weeks, which would seem to be ample. Teachers would work four hours each day, instead of the customary six; but would be on active duty 44 w-eeks instead of the customary 36. No extra teachers would be needed at present; unless all oversized over-sized classes were reduced to optimum opti-mum size. This of course could be done by utilizing the extra classrooms class-rooms thus made available. Light, heat and janitorial costs would be little . more than at present, since more use could be made of the natural light and heat of the late Spring and early Fal days. Before we waste too many tears bemoaning our deplorable higl school housing, we might use oui heads a little and get more adequate ade-quate use of the facilities we now have. We haven't even tried tt solve the problem yet. So long 'til Friday. |