STATEMENT OF SCHOOLHOUSE COMMISSIONERS AS TO EXPENDITURES FOR NEW SCHOOL– HOUSE SITES, NEW SCHOOL-HOUSES, AND THE SANITATION OF OLD STRUCTURES. MAYOR'S OFFICE, To the City Council : I transmit here with a communication from the Schoolhouse Commission, containing a report showing how the Board has expended the money provided by chapter 473 of the Acts of 1901, and the amendment thereto, for new school-house sites, new school-houses, and the sanitation and ventilation of old structures, and also explaining the necessity of an additional appropriation for said purposes. Respectfully, CITY of Boston, SCHOOLHOUSE DEPARTMENT, 120 BOYLSTON STREET, December 29, 1904. HON. PATRICK A. COLLINs, DEAR SIR, - The present year, 1904, is the last year covered by the loans authorized by chapter 473 of the Acts of 1901 and chapter 386 of the Acts of 1902; it seems therefore a proper time, even in advance of the regular annual report of this department, to make to your Honor a statement of how this money, thus provided, has been expended. According to the provision of the act, there were fortytwo items, the cost of which was to be met by this-act, and these items were supposed to represent accommodation needed up to January 1, 1902. Of the total list, twentynine have been undertaken by the Board, and are either completed or in process of completion, and of the remainder, every item has been either met in other ways or has been partially undertaken by the purchase of land. These twentynine items are as follows: Items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 36, 37, 38, 41, and 42. These items, with what has been expended on the other thirteen, will practically exhaust the appropriation, and it is seen that there are yet thirteen items not in this list as completed. Of these thirteen, four — Nos. 31, 32, 33 and 40 — were found impracticable, and their needs have been met by enlarging the other items in this neighborhood. The figures of attendance will show that the children of these districts are now accommodated. These may therefore be considered complete. Two items — Nos. 16 and 21 — represent the same accommodation, the Model School for the Normal filling the needs of the Prince District, which latter is not a pressing necessity; the land is purchased for this building. Item 29, as explained in the accompanying statement, has been taken care of by Item 18, and may be considered complete. Item 34 has been set aside as not an immediate necessity, and the same applies to Item 35. Item 39 the Board propose to take up and execute in their own office, but have not as yet begun upon it. It appears, therefore, that the items not as yet complete are all connected with higher education — the Mechanic Arts High, the Charlestown High, the Normal and Girls' Latin. For all of these the land has been purchased. Every grammar and primary need has been actually filled. It remains, therefore, for the Board to explain to your Honor why they have been unable, with the appropriation provided on the lines of their own recommendation, to complete all the items on the list. The act referred solely to the condition of the city at the end of 1901, and contemplated an annual appropriation to meet the yearly increase. As this has not been available, it has seemed to the Board both wise and economical to increase the accommodation in each case to meet not merely the needs existing in 1902, but also those additional needs existing at the time of the erection of the building. In all cases this has been done, and the Board in so doing have acted in accordance with the advice of the Superintendent and the School Gommittee, as well as in accordance with their own best judgment. If this had not been done, thousands of children would now be without school accommodation. In this way each item, where continued growth has occurred, has been increased to meet this growth. The first item read, “A large grammar and primary school-house,” and this was made the largest in the city. Items 13 and 14, mere additions to existing buildings, giving 10 rooms, resulted in a complete new grammar building of 14 class-rooms and the land therefor. The “large ’’ grammar school on the Gibson site (and by “large ’’ a building of 14 to 18 rooms was meant) resulted in a 24-room building; the large primary on the Ware lot in another 24-room building. The “grammar” on Meeting House Hill developed into a 32-room building, the largest now in the city — and so with nearly all the items. This increase in the size of each item was then one reason why the Board was unable to complete the full list. Another reason was the cost of land. In many cases the price finally paid by the city not only exceeded the amount contemplated originally by the Board, but exceeded also the amounts named to the Board by brokers and owners. Moreover, in response to a growing demand, the Board have thought it right to purchase enough land in all cases to provide suitable grounds around the buildings, and in all cases the building contracts have covered the complete finishing and planting of these grounds. The purchase of land being a matter over which the Board have no control, it was impossible for them to estimate accurately the necessary expenditure. It will be noted, however, that in all possible cases they have avoided enlargement of old lots (see Items 31, 32, 33 and 40), where it is almost hopeless to control the price, and have utilized existing lots rather than purchase new land. A third reason is the large amount of money spent in response to urgent need in replacing old and unsanitary systems of plumbing and heating with new and first-class plants. Seventy-five schools have been given new plumbing systems, or have had the old systems put in good repair, at a cost of $474,449.92,” and fourteen schools have had their heating and ventilating systems put in thorough order at a cost of $126,237.68. These are the three principal reasons to account for the |