old Southern Hotel and convert it into a continuation school seemed unwise to a majority of the members and at the close of the year it seemed that the only arrangement possible would be to use some rooms in several of the downtown public schools and also authorize the holding of these . classes in department stores and other commercial establishments and factories.

Progress in the high schools was marked by several important steps. On the recommendation of the Superintendent provision was made for two high school supervisors, one of commercial subjects and the other of English. While it was not possible to find suitable candidates for appointment to these positions during the year, yet it is hoped that in the future these two very important fields of high school instruction may be very much improved by the expert guidance and help which these supervisors should give.

This year was the first for two new and important courses adopted during the latter part of the preceding year, one a half-year course in Community Civics, and the other a half-year course in Vocational Information. As requirements of all students it is hoped that these two subjects may prove of lasting benefit to every pupil entering the public high schools of the city.

An advanced step was taken in musical instruction during the latter part of the year in the authorization of allowing high school credit for applied music instruction given under proper supervision of the schools, by private in

structors.

The success of instruction in printing in the evening schools justified the promotion of this phase of vocational training by the organization of a two-year printing course in the day high schools.

On a proposition received from the Federal Government the organization of a Reserve Officers Training Corps in the high schools was approved by the Board, but delay in the plans of the Government resulted in the failure to organize this military training during the year.

Before the year ended it became necessary for the Board to seek a new athletic field for the accommodation of the high schools, and fortunately it was able to secure the centrally located Handlan Park.

In the grade schools an important provision was made in the adoption of new books in Geography, Language, and Physical Training. In these adoptions an important new principle was followed. Instead of supplying enough copies of each book so that each pupil might have one, a less number of copies of each text were authorized, thereby permitting the adoption of a larger number of different texts. It is hoped thereby to enrich very much the available material for instruction.

An interesting development in music in the elementary schools has been the growth of school orchestras. Near the end of the year the many schools which had organized orchestras justified the Board in creating the position of Supervisor of School Orchestras to further promote these organizations and improve the quality of their work.

In the forms of special care of children, especially in their physical environment, several important steps were taken. In November the Board approved cooperating with the St. Louis Tuberculosis Society in the establishment of a Resident Open Air School to which fifteen girls from the Taussig Open Air School were transferred. These children were the ones in greatest need of special care and the results obtained by having them in an open air environment both day and night were so satisfactory that at the end of the year the Tuberculosis Society proposed to enlarge the plant and the Board of Education approved continuing its form of cooperation with the Society in this experiment.

In the poorer and more congested districts of the city the Children's Lunch Association conducted penny luncheons, selling portions to pupils at actual cost of food without charge for the volunteer service given by the Association. The good work of this Association was also ex

tended during this year to the Webster, and Shaw Schools. The Board also granted to the Women's Jewish Council permission to conduct a milk station at the Jefferson School, where much good was accomplished by the supplying of simple luncheons at nominal expense to the children.

The excellent work of the Dental Clinic for white children at the Central High School stimulated the colored citizens of our city to make similar provision for the care of the teeth of indigent colored children in the schools, and with the approval of the Board of Education such a clinic was opened on May 26th in Special No. 6, with the Board of Education supplying the nurse and paying certain of the current expenses and with the expense of the operator borne by private funds.

Early in the year the Charles A. Stix Scholarship Fund was created by the donation of an annual fund of $1500 by Mrs. Charles A. Stix for the aid of needy, capable children in completing their public school education. This fund and funds from other sources were administered under the organization of the Child Conservation Scholarship Fund, with a Director in charge whose salary was paid by private funds. The beneficent work of this fund suggests its worth to other citizens of our community who may seek a useful field for philanthropic donations. It is to be hoped that many individuals and organizations will make this work the object of their charities.

As a measure to follow up the food conservation movement of the war the United States Department of Agriculture and the Missouri State University enlisted the cooperation of the Board of Education in the furtherance of home garden work in St. Louis during the season of 1919. A representative of the University and of the Agricultural Department worked in cooperation with the Supervisor of School Gardens and an assistant whom the Board appointed for this special work, and as a result a large num

ber of home gardens and community gardens were conducted throughout the city.

The summer schools were again conducted and with a larger attendance than they had ever known. In several ways the organization of the summer school activities was extended. The Boys' Classes were opened for the first time for the summer period. A Physical Training instructor was assignd to the City Department of the Industrial School to employ the children in physical activities for the afternoons. A nurse and an Inspector of Hygiene were detailed for summer term service. The Eads Manual Training Center was opened for the classes of the Madison Grade Manual School and the Wyman Manual Training Center was opened for the manual work of the pupils from the Taussig Open Air School.

While baths had always been opened in the schools where the summer term grade manuals were conducted it was an interesting departure to open the baths at the Jefferson School for the regular summer term grade pupils.

School accommodations were a matter of concern, as they had been for years. Some provision for the future was made in the purchase of an addition to the O'Fallon School playgrounds, the grading of the Cleveland Stadium, and the purchase of the Old Picker Cemetery as a site for a junior high school. A special report of the Superintendent of Instruction made to the Board in May, however, showed that nine new elementary buildings should be erected in the immediate future and that provision would soon have to be made for additions to several buildings now in use, for the erection of seven junior high schools, and also a new senior high school. The total estimated cost of the required sites and the new buildings was placed at nearly five and one-half million dollars, thereby presenting to the Board of Education a problem of finance which the present source of its revenue makes most difficult of solution.

Important as these developments are, however, they are small compared to the needed readjustments and the

necessary expansion of the school system if it is to function properly in the great city of St. Louis. The growth of new industries, the wider commercial relations, and the greater complexity of the social, economic, and political life of the city will require of its citizens in the years to

come,

1. Better and more varied vocational preparation.

2. More knowledge of our nation outside of St. Louis and of other new world nations.

3. A more intelligent social conscience for cooperation in the economic and social relations of the city's life.

4. A firmer foundation in the principles of American life and the development of stronger personal character.

If our schools are to play their part in supplying this better educated citizenship then they must without fail make the following provisions:

First, above all things there must be efficient teaching and capable leadership. Every teacher, principal, and supervisor of the city must be paid a compensation to justify the most careful and thorough preparation for their work, and this compensation must be adequately attractive to compete with the commercial and professional fields for the best brains of the community.

Secondly, every child of the city must have that which is only justice to him, a seat in a confortable, hygienic, and pleasant school room and an adequate space for play.

Third, the activities of the schools must become more varied in character for the children of the regular school age, and further provision must be made for the after school education of youths and adults who have passed beyond the walls of the school room and yet whose training has not prepared them for the fullest participation in the broader life which this community will live in the years

to come.

The St. Louis public schools have in the past progressed sanely and thoroughly. They have been guided by true