HISTORY OF WOOD COUNTY



No. 4, Seneca Township, was about to build a new brick schoolhouse. Mr. Leu
notes in his report: "A good teacher at from $40 to $50 per month is
by far cheaper
than a poor one at from $25 to $30.
   On Feb. 11, 1903, the board resolved to establish a county training school.
The city of Grand Rapids (which now included Centralia) offered the use of
the
necessary rooms, with free heat, light and janitor service for three years
or more.
E. P. Arpin was given a vote of thanks for his activity in promoting this
matter.
At this time the children of school age in the county numbered 9,700, there
being
4,871 between the ages of 7 and 14. The number'attending public schools was
3,264; private schools, 1,113. There were 149 teachers. The superintendent
was
Robert Morris.
   The Training School was opened Sept. 1 the same year (1903), in the Lincoln
High School building, E. P. Arpin being chairman ot the Training School board;
Prof. M. H. Jackson (from Columbus, Wis.) principal, and Miss Etta Michaels
as assistant to the principal. The initial attendance was 49.
   The report for 1904 gives the number of children of school age as 7,377;
a gen-
eral attendance of 4,416 (3,719 between the ages of 7 and 14); public school
at-
tendance 2,536; private school attendance, 943, which seems to be a discrepancy.
The number of districts was 99. Eleven graduates of the Training School began
teaching; also nine other graduates who had had some previous experience,
and
nine with only a part of the Training School course.
   The number of children of school age in 1905 was 7,467 (4 to 20 years);
4,591
attended. The record of children between 7 and 14 years was 3,648, of which
2,585 attended. There were 126 teachers, 18 male and 108 female, and 99 dis-
tricts. Robert Morris was superintendent. In this year the city of Grand
Rapids
granted 668 acres, for the site of a separate training school, and voted
the sum of
$20,000 for the building.
   The figures for the year 1906 were: Children of school age, 4 to 20 years,
7,664;
7 to 14 years, 3,951; attendance, 2,780. There were 124 teachers, with Robert
Morris superintendent. There were 25 graduates from the training school in
June.
In 1907 the number of children of school age was 7,000 (exclusive of Grand
Rapids
and Marshfield). The public school attendance was 4,371; the number of teachers
124, number ot districts 104. The Training School had 90 graduates.
   In 1908, with Robert Morris still superintendent, one more teacher was
added,
the number of districts remaining the same. There were 4,182 pupils enrolled.
The graduates from the Training School numbered 115. In 1909 it was reported
that 58 of the 103 districts in the county had drawn on the Training School
for
teachers, and that in over 56 per cent of the rural schools the positions
were filled
by its graduates, of whom there had been 144 up to that time. Sixty of them
were
teaching in the cities. For the same year the number of children of school
age
was given as 7,293 (exclusive of Grand Rapids and Marshfield), the number
be-
tween the ages of 7 and 14 being 3,705. Public school enrollment, 2,484;
paro-
chial schools, 491. There were 103 districts, requiring 126 teachers. The
number
of teachers employed during the year was 131.
   The number of districts remained the same in 1910. Of the 103 districts
94
had one department; three had two departments, and three had three departments.



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