File #8414: "MS012_01_25_SB230_1925_fairfieldHall.pdf"

A pproJ:iriations (A. E . B .)

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~N. APPROPRIATION. FOR 'THE STATE·. NORMAL
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·SCHOOL -AT · DANBURY FOO BUILDING PURPOSES · :: ( $ 300,000)
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H earing b efore C ommittee o n A ppropriations h eld M arch
2 5,1925. . . . :
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SENATOR GREGORY: · Two y ears a go a s o ne o f t he m embers o f t he
E ducational _Committee I v isited D anbury f or t he p urpose o f
a scertaining w hether t hey n eeded a· d ormitory o r n ot • . A fter
s crutinizing t he s ituation v ery c arefully t he c ommittee w ere
o f t he o pinion t _hat . the d ormitory w as a bsolutely e ssential
i n· o rder t hat t he s chool c ould f unction p roperly.
The t rain
s ervice t o D anbury i s v eri p oor. I t i s s uch t hat many s tudents
a re u nable t o ·~get t here o n t ime i n t he m orning - they g et t here
a t 1 0:20, some o f t hem.Then we f ound many o f t he s tudents
w ere u nable t o g et s uitable b oarding p laces. t~ny o f t he b est
p eople i n r ural c ommunities w ill n ot l et t heir g irls g o t o
t he n ormal s chool u nless t he·y lmow w here t hey a re.
The d ormitory w ould g ive t hem p roper s upervision.
One o f t he s tate's
p roblems i s t o s upply t he r ural c ommunities w ith t eachers.
T his s chool a ims t o s upply s uch t eachers.
W ith t he b uilding
o f t his d ormitory t hat w ould b e e liminated a s f ar a s L itchfield
a nd F airfield· C ounties a re c oncerned.
G irls f rom t he f arm
horr.es w ould go i n g reater n umbers b ecause t hey w ould h ave p roper
· supervision.
· I f y our c ommittee ·desires f urther i nformation
a s f ar a s t he e ducational c ommittee i s c oncerned I , a s s enate
chairman~ ',and A1r's • L ewis, w ould b e p leased t o come b efore y ou
a ny t ime. ,
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-~SENATOR S HAW:· ' T he · 'people o f D anbury h ave b een a fter t his
~ormal_schQol p r.oposition a g ood many y ears.
we h ave a lmost
r :reache·d ·the· --promised · land.' :·:··LB.tn : .year-the· ~bill was k illed a t t
"l~.s~. _moment_.
_ This i s m ore t han a D anbury m atter.
D anbury
;-;'Peciplei a re· : ror .:.f.t ; ·becatise · ef ~-local p ride --in~·their-~institutioria.
u d o f t he n ormal s chool.
T he S tate s aw f it t o
· ··it~fi_: s chools -"in : Danotiry' a nd ._.they a re ~.-working}not
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..... _.....,_,.,,_ ..... .,;.- .................. u t f "'ortconrte'ct i ci.lt .. •d.;~·~The··:sta.te " has 1 1nvested
- ~at1 · pafibury /.~ · For ··lyears.:-the~.. StS:te ~ Bd-arc;l ..~_
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etion r;o:r- 'l; . a:t ~ plant.
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teache~ :'<f rom .1\he-.· farm.;:. · - ~I · believ:e -he.r b irt.h :and -t-i'ain.ing i s . s uch
. -she· ~has :advanta:gEi's n o c it - .girl · 'ca n h ave .:When ::i t c ~me s ·-to - D::JUilili:IX{~ II ~ ~J
y
--,; ~naging ~ children;.:; -·~ ·_. · · l'his · :.s chool '
reaches o ut ·and ~educates t he
., f armer's ·aalighte:r ·. · from t he t ipper e nd o·f L itchfield U ounty t o ·the
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.: MR • .'WADSWURTH: . What i s t he a t.tendance.?
SENATOR SHAW:
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50% m ore c ould b e a ccommodated w ithout
c hange :of f aculty o f .the .preset;lt- plant! ··
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SEi.IJATuR PIERS) R:
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. -PRI:HCIPAL:c ·: ._ ~we w ould l ike 1 40 •..
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How many w ould yo·u- a ccommodate
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SENATOR PIERSON: What i s t he n et c ost t_o t he stat~ - :per . capita
f or h ousing--a: n ormal s chool s tudent
a · ·aprrnitor.y? ~ .- :· ,
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. PRINCIPAL: -It c osts . n othing e xcept t he d ormitory. .
A c ertain
a.m~unt o f -d epreciation i s ~harged up a gainst .t. he-· .. ·s tudents. " .....
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. -SENATOR .PJE .RSUN:

The b uilding w ould

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SENA,TOR ' PIERSON:
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p ractically

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PRINCIPAL: --- I t hink
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·. smfAToR 'SHAW: . T hese c atal:;gues s how a w onderful i ncrease i n .
•· at~~ndance a t . W illimantic.
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C'c ~ ....TiADS ~_ijl'R: :' : I s _.the attenda~ee j .ncreasing? ·. ·· :· , :. . . ~ • . : "' .; . .. ~ ·~

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"Li t chfielq. w:ho g ave ·.gone t o _ his s chool a nd ,· are t eaching - out i n
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..~ :. Girls c amot . commute f rom L itchfield t o :Danbury
wt).en t hey :·are t aking t heir t raining t eaching o ut i n t he m odel
schqo~a; : and a,~ _
other t imes i t i s d ifficult : b~cause t he c onnections
a re v ery p oor • . '. _ It i s d ifficult t o g et a s uitable p lace t o
l ive·. · T hey h ave t o b e s hoved a round f rom o ne p lace t o
a notherj a nd · put : UP w ith u nheated r ooms.

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MRS. FENNIMAN., .REPRESENTATIVE FROM NAUGATUCK, s aid s he lmew a bout
t he D anbury _ s ituation f rom h aving l ived a t -one t ime i n N orwalk,
a nd e arnestly f avored t he b ill.
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REPRESENTATIVE FROM DANBURY. s aid h e l ived i n t hat s ection o f t he
.town, h as a d aughter t o g raduate f rom t he s chool, a nd k nows a
g ood d eal a bout t he s ituation, a nd t hat i t i s h ard f or t he g irls
t o f ind p laces t o l ive.
W ishes t o g o o n r ecord a s i n f avor.
MRS. NEVIUS s aid s he l ived w ithin f ive m iles o f D anbury, k nows
t he b oarding c onditions t here, a nd k nows how h ard i t i s f or t he
g irls t o c ommute.
s trongly f avors t he b ill.
REPRESE .NTATIVE FRUM ViATERTuWN 1 MRS. COE u F 'dATERBURY 1 MRS. GREEH UF
· DANBURY a ll a sked t. b e r egistered i n f avor o f t he d ormitory. ·
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J;'AYim 0F NEViTmVN _
said hi~ own d aughter w ent t o t he D anbury
··Normal · and _- knows t he h ardship i t w as f or h er t o c ommute t o
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Danbury a nd g et ? ome l ate.
F avors t he b ill •
JUDGE DAVIS u F _DANBURi s aid t he b ill h ad b een

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A ppropriations. ( A.' E. B. )

H. B. 2 30 .. - 4

MRS. "LEWIS, HvUSE CHAIRMAN ·CuMMLTTEE 0N EDUCATiuN: · The e ducational c ommittee l ast s es·sion ·felt t his was b adly n eeded. we
t hink t he n eed i s · even .greater now.
B oth a s a r esident o f F airfield :County .and a s House C hairman o f -the E ducational C ommittee
I am v ery much i n f avor.
PRINCIPAE HIGGINS: We a re n ot a sking t his f or D anbury.
We a re
a sking f or s omething t o l ::enefit t he s chools o f t he s tate.
We
f eel t hat ·. is t rue ·b ecause t he n ormal s chools a re d esigned t o
e quip t eachers. · we s hould :'have ·two f actors - people t rained f rom
a s ource t hat i s r ight a nd s ufficient c ontrol o ver t he t ime o f
t hese g irls t o · see t hey l ive u nder r easonable l iving c onditions.
T here a re two s ources o f s tudents - one t he r ural s ource, t he
o taer t he i ndustrial c enters.
I f we h ave a s chool w ithout a
d ormitory we a re a lmost c ertain t o f ill i t l argely w ith p eople f rom
t he i ndustraal c enters.
We n eed a lso s tudents f rom t he r ural
s ources.
T hey a re b etter e quipped, b etter q ualified n aturally,
a nd w illing t o go b ack home a nd t each
I t i s d ifficult t o g et a
g irl b rought up i n t he c ity t o t each a nywhere e xcept i n h er home
t own.
~~~ xperience a t W illimantic s hows a g reatly i ncreased number o f s tudents who c.ome f rom r ural s ources.
The y ear b efore t he
W illimantic d ormitory o pened t hey h ad 61 s tudents; t he y ear f oll::>wing t wice a s many.
T his y ear w ith t hree o f t he f our s chools
d ecreasing i n n umber, W illimantic i s t he o nl y one t hat h as i ncreased.
I t i s n ecessary i f t he s chool i s t o d o t he b est
w ork t o c ontrol t he c onditions u nder w hich t he g irls l ive.
A se
s chool c an d o v eri l ittle a bout t he c haracter o f i ts p upils i f t hey
h ave t hem o nly i n c lass,-and t he s tudents commute o r l ive u nder
c onditions w hich we c annot c ontrol a t a ll.
The e xperience o f
WilliBJBintic shows t hat t he m orale o f t he s tudent b ody i s v ery
g reatly b enefited.
D anbury i s a s mall c ity a nd l iving c onditions a re p articularly d ifficult.
I t i s h ard f or t he g irls t o
g et s atisfactory p laces t o l ive.
C onditions a re much worse
t han t hey u sed t o b e.
The s tudents who commute c annot g et
t here u ntil 1 0:20 i n t he m roning a nd we h ave t o c rowd o ur w ork
i nto v ery. s hort t ime.
I d o n ot n eed t o t ell y ou t he d emorali.c.i ng i nfluence o f c ommuting, s pending t ime i n t he r ailroad s tation
a nd o n t he t rain.
By e xtending o ur c ontrol o ver t he l iving c ondi- ·
t ions we f ully b elieve a d ormitory w ill i mprove t he ~wxx~gsx q uality o f .t he w ork t he s chool c an d o.
The i ncreased v alue o f t he
p rcduct _will come w ithout i ncreased c ost, a s h as b een s aid.
The
. : school c ould now h ave f ifty p ercent more s tudents w ithout a ny
add:ti;.tto.nal .expense f or i nstruction a nd o nly s light e xpense f or
books ~ and ~ supplies:· · ·· The 'movement f or d ormitor _es i n C onnecticut
i
· i ri ~ connectipn w ith t he n ormal .schools was b egun i n 190'1" b y t he
u..~- • p:cinc J: p~
. t he _Danbury ,school.
F or t en y ears h e w orked : t o g et
t he
ad_?pt_ b y " _ S ~a ~ e B oard. · In ~- 1917 , money ;Was a ped
the
O a s ite. · · W h ave b een t rying e ver. . s· i11c~ t o .get .' the
f"
e
~~--'li~' ''r..n· ..,, .., ;,.,, ',.. .... . ,..iation t o_:- garry t hrough ~d h ave t his . opmftpry .
d
:the~ ·. ~alue af ~ the · ork we · are d oing. · 'W~ < ·h ave h ere
,.. .....~ .--vfve of the- .al.w:ilni a~d ·!'~presentative ' of t he stqden~ . .
y ear we . ~had 2 50 ... s t_
udents.
We h ad t~& B ridgeport · No
e nts • . ' T hey l eft i n a b 0dy b ecause t he y- es ~ ablishea a
;~d'"'~tW')J[c~irJi~ :L ~ s chool a t B ridg eport ..
o ur ente~ing< c!ass t h:ts ""' . .
J:' t han l ast< year~ .

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m itories.
F or t hat r eason t he B oard h as i ncluded i n i ts r e.quests. !"or ' the ,;-: last t hree s essionfi a t · l e.a st t he p roposition f or
e rectien o f a d ormitory a t D anbury, h oping t hat i n t ime e very
s chool, u nless New Haven, s hould h ave a d ormitory.
we b elieve
i t would:· b e .:·an i nvestment o f ·great v alue t o t he· . teaching o f t he
:s ta·te.:·>:. , ·: .~·~,·<"
A l arge number o f p eople, i ncluding W .P.Bailey, s tate a uditor,
Postm.ast~r Edward . bailey, A mericanization D irector,. C ol. Wildman,
D ept. Commander G .A.R., F rank H. L ee, J ohn D orr, M artin J . C~~~~•. ~ 5 11
.h.am,-. lawyer,. ·Miss Weaver· o f New M ilford, a nd many o thers r egistere
i n f avor o f t he .. ill.
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SUPERINTE1IDENT UF THE DANBURY SCHOOLS a lso s poke b rief"ly i n f avor.

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