NEGenWeb Project
Resource Center
Schools

has offered to donate $2,000 toward the expense of the building, and there is every reason to believe that the building will be erected in the near future.

     The school has not been able to qualify to draw state aid for normal training work for one reason only, viz.: There have never been enough pupils in the advanced classes of the high school to fulfill the requirements of the law in regard to the number receiving normal training instruction. The high school course of study, however, has been modified to make it especially suited to the needs of those who expect to teach.

     The Bloomfield school has had very little increase in attendance during the last four years. There were 382 pupils enrolled during the school year of 1909-10. The largest enrollment at any one time was fifty less than this number. It is an interesting fact that there were exactly the same number of boys enrolled as girls. The average daily attendance was 260. The fact that one of the primary rooms was discontinued for nearly four weeks on account of a diphtheria epidemic, reduced the average attendance considerably. The school census for 1910 showed that there were 459 children of school age in the district. Three parochial schools take about eighty children from the public schools.

     Athletics have always had a place in the school. A high school association is maintained and its affairs are managed by a committee composed of two students, elected annually by the high school, one member of the board of education, one citizen appointed by the mayor, and the superintendent of schools. The school belongs to the. Northeast Nebraska High School Athletic League and sends teams to the annual field meet each year. The girls' basketball team won first place in this league last year, defeating all of the other teams without the loss of a game.

     The school board has had a large piece of ground east of the school house graded at considerable expense and it is being fitted up for a playground and athletic park. It contains a basketball court, a baseball diamond, and is large enough for a circular track of considerable length.

     Arrangements have been made to fit up the playground with apparatus. A giant stride has been erected, and a second one will soon be put in place. The giant stride is a success, if success is to be measured by the interest taken in it by the children and the amount of fun they get out of it. They stand in a circle three deep waiting for a chance to ride, and will go without dinner even to be sure not to miss their turn at the ropes. The giant stride is a simple affair and cost only $6. It is composed of a solid oak post set firmly in the ground, and surmounted with a wagon wheel, from the rim of which ropes are fastened. Children do not need to be shown how to use this piece of apparatus. Just give them the end of the rope and they will learn how it works.

---

---

---

© 2003 for the NEGenWeb Project by Ted & Carole Miller