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     Within the last year there has been a substantial increase in the pay roll of the Lyons faculty. It la the policy of the present board to secure excellent teachers even though it may have to crowd their rooms a little.

     The course of study is exactly that furnished by the state superintendent and the university. Even at our best work we do not attempt to cover more ground than advised by the course of study, though we may attempt to excel in thoroughness.

DELL GIBSON,          
Superintendent.     

     Within the last five years the McCook public schools have made a steady growth commensurate with the growth and development of the city of McCook. There are in all twenty-six teachers and four janitors employed to handle the children in their school activities. The expenditure yearly for schools approximates $25,000. According to the last school census we have 1,182 children of school age within the boundaries of the school district. The total enrollment for the past year was 1,085, of whom twenty-six were non-resident pupils from the country. During the past few years the enrollment in the high school has steadily increased to 148 for the past year. There are five teachers in the high school exclusive of the superintendent. The high school is on the accredited list of the University of Nebraska and of the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. At the present time McCook is the only normal training high school in the extreme southwest part of Nebraska, though there are some splendid other high schools in this part of the state. Too much cannot be said of the splendid work and organization of my predecessor, George H. Thomas. There is a fine school sentiment in the community at large. The fact that McCook is situated in the midst of a fine agricultural country and at the same time division headquarters of the McCook division of the Burlington, gives us a very fine class of citizens. The people are liberal in the financial support of the schools for everything necessary to make a first class school.

     The present high school building, costing $50,000, was completed two years ago. Around this is one of the most beautiful lawns with canna beds to be found in the state. Last spring the board of education spent $950 on walks and a lawn at the east ward brick building. All buildings have inside commodious toilets and sanitary drinking fountains of the latest improved types. All are steam heated with ventilation systems. All are connected up with electric wiring and the high school is perfectly wired with conduit wiring. Each building has long distance phone.

     Owing to the fact that there is a fine city library of over 6,000 volumes there is little effort made to build up anything but a reference library in the high school. The course of study follows the lines

recommended by the University of Nebraska. Some advance has been made in industrial work and domestic science. As soon as funds will permit the board wants to finish domestic science and manual training rooms in the basement and make those permanent features of the course of study. Next year will see a stereopticon regularly installed in a dark room for work in geography and history.

     The high school students take a great interest in athletic sports. The board has employed a special instructor for that branch of work for next year. In every way the outlook is bright for the future.

CHARLES W. TAYLOR,       
Superintendent.     

     The last school census shows a school population of 651, but on account of several parochial schools the enrollment during the past year was but 460, with an average daily attendance of 365. The growth of the school has not been rapid, though the high school attendance has been increasing yearly, The free high school attendance has doubled during the past year.

     The high school building is a fine brick, located in the center of a city block with well kept lawn in front and on the wings. The building is heated by steam, is provided with good light and ventilation, is equipped with sanitary drinking fountains, and the furnishings are good. At the present writing September, 1910, a fine outbuilding with modern equipments and heated is being constructed at a cost of $3000. There is a north-side four-room brick building in the north part of the city. There is also a one-room school outside the city and in the same district maintained under city supervision for the convenience of the children in that section.

      The high school is provided with a well-selected working library. The course of study conforms very closely to the recommended state course. Industrial work in the shape of hand-work in the lower grades, industrial geography in the intermediate and grammar grades, and agriculture in the high school is emphasized. Music is taught throughout the school by a special teacher.

     This is the fourth year for normal training in the high school. Last year there was a class of twenty-one members and this fall there is a class of twenty-three members. There were nine normal training graduates in the class of 1910 and all are now teaching on good certificates earned before they were graduated. The senior members do the state reading circle work, attend teachers meetings and associations the same as other teachers.

     The senior class, through custom, donates a present to the high school each year and by this means there have been many useful and ornamental pieces of furniture and decoration added to the high school! department.

     "Patron's Day" was introduced the past year and it proved to be so popular that it will probably become a regular feature in the future. The patrons are loyal to the schools and will support any movement that will increase the efficiency of the work. The board of education stands loyally back of the teachers and during the past summer encouraged the grade teachers to attend summer school, to the extent of raising their salaries enough to pay the expense. The board is gradually raising the standard in the qualification of the teaching corps and the teachers themselves are pleased with the move.

W. T. STOCKDALE,      
Superintendent.     

     Four years ago Merna schools consisted of ten grades housed in an old building, which was overcrowded. Three teachers had charge of' the entire enrollment, which was more than 160 pupils. Now the school census is between 180 and 190, with an enrollment of 210. A new school building has been erected and seven teachers are employed three of whom give their entire time to the high school.

     The building is constructed of pressed brick, is heated by steam and has a good system of ventilation. It contains six rooms besides the office and library on the two floors. The laboratory is located in the basement. It is furnished with physical and chemical apparatus valued at $300. The library consists of about 400 volumes, composed of two encyclopedias, several dictionaries, reference books in history and normal training, and about 200 volumes of fiction.

     The course of study consists of twelve grades arranged in accordance with the high school manual. A kindergarten is conducted in the primary department and normal training in the high school. The latter was added September 1, 1910. Last year the district received over $600 in tuition from non-resident pupils. Fifteen received free tuition under the free high school law.

     A domestic science club is maintained by the girls of the high school. One meeting is held each week, at which time recipes are given and discussed. During the week the experimental work is done in the home and reports given at the following meeting. Over thirty girls participated in this work last year.

     Declamatory and oratorical contests have been conducted. Last year sixteen took part in this feature of the work. Vera Eddy won first place in the dramatic division and Gladys Gaston in the oratorical. These girls represented the school in the county contest held at Broken Bow, May 14, and won the gold medals offered by the Custer County Literary and Athletic association.

C. W. MOTTINGER,      
Superintendent.     

     The Minden high school has graduated in the last two years thirty-six pupils, fifteen of whom took the normal training course.

     Thirteen of these are now teaching, while eight are attending other institutions of learning.

     The census of the district is 587 and the total enrollment is 465, with an average daily attendance of 380.

     There has been but little occasion for resorting to compulsory means of attendance. We note but one case of this kind.

     Many have taken advantage of the free high school attendance law, forty-five and fifty being the respective attendance for the years 1909 and 1910.

     The high school building has been overhauled throughout, furnace repaired. The halls and laboratory have been newly painted and the furniture dressed and varnished. The heating pipes have, been covered with asbestos and all radiators repaired. The central building has been equipped with a new steam heating plant, which is giving excellent satisfaction.

     The old floors have been replaced with new ones, while the halls have been newly painted and rooms papered. In both of these buildings indoor closets have been made.

     A few new books are added each year to the library, there being some 600 books for reference, besides the text books.

     Our city library of more than 2,000 volumes furnishes the main part of the reading material for the pupils.

     The course of study has been approved by the state superintendent and the University of Nebraska.

     Industrial training has not been established throughout. While some considerable work is being done in the grades, it is the intention of the board of education to establish as soon as possible a good course in industrial work.

     A regular course in athletics is established throughout, including the grades, with athletics for the girls as well.

      Much pride is taken in the normal training department. A good number of excellent teachers have gone out from this department and fifteen members of the senior class of 1911 will have taken this course. I know of nothing in recent years that has done so much for the bettering of the school, or given to the students higher ideals.

     The students are organized into boys' and girls' athletic groups. Also the high school is organized for the study of parliamentary law.

     Also an organization of the high school girls in the study of decorum and propriety.

     There is also a debating organization as well as an organization in oratory. The high school orchestra consists of fifteen members, all taking great interest and advancing rapidly in the work. Music and art are special features of all grades. Much interest has been laken in this work and we hope for still greater development in the work.

J. O. LYNE,          
Superintendent.     

     The school census of 1909 credited Nebraska City school district with 1,646 pupils of school age. Of these 226 were enrolled in the high school. However, thirty of this number were nonresident students so the preceding statement should record 196 of the resident pupils as enrolled in the high school. The senior class of 1910 numbered thirty-six, eleven boys and twenty-five girls. The enrollment in the high school and that in the senior class is the highest in the history of the school. This is due to several causes, chief among which are the semiannual promotions of students throughout the grades and the new free high school attendance law. The former of these was put into operation tour years ago and has resulted in great good in keeping pupils in the school and in the economy of the student's time.

     Three courses of study are presented in the school at present. These are styled English-Commercial, German-Scientific and Latin-Scientific. A sufficient number of electives are offered in the last two years of any course to allow any student to select a well rounded line of study.

     Outside the regular work of the school, an attempt is made to encourage legitimate athletic activities in the way of football, basketball, baseball and track teams. Participation in these sports is dependent upon scholarship. One feature of this phase of the school life is, an annual high school fair, which was originally intended to raise money for the athletic association. While this feature is still maintained, it is now urged that pupils make exhibits at this fair of whatever they themselves have done in the way of domestic science or manual training. Last October this was a novel and praiseworthy feature.

     A class of fifty girls took work in domestic science last year under the supervision of Miss Fay Forbes, a regular graduate of Nebraska University department of domestic science.

     Debating and public speaking is encouraged through the Forensic club of the high school. This club was first formed in 1905 and has grown steadily until at present it is probably the strongest of the activities outside the regular work of the school. One pleasing feature of its work is that its membership has adopted the custom of leaving some appropriate gift each year as an adornment to the high school. Usually this takes the form of a piece of statuary.

     For many years the high school has been hampered by a lack of room and equipment. Happily this is to be done away with, as on May 24, 1910, the citizens of the city at a special election voted $80,000 in bonds for the purpose of erecting and equipping a high school building. It is the intention of the board of education to enlarge the grounds and build a strictly modern structure, capable of accommodating the present enrollment and that of many years to come.

     In the grades a strong-effort is made to enforce the compulsory attendance law. Now that the majority of the patrons are familiar with its provisions, the difficulty of administering it effectually has diminished.

     In 1909 the hoard of education established a graduated scale of wages for the teachers of the grades. Increase of wages may be granted for increased efficiency as teacher or for evidence of improved scholarship. A minimum wage of $450 per year and a maximum wage of $585 per year was established for the teachers, while ward principals may receive $810 per year. While this system has been in force but a year, its results are already apparent in better work in the school room and a desire to advance along scholastic lines.

     Altogether the outlook for the next two years is encouraging in educational lines in this city.

GEORGE E. MARTIN.          
Superintendent.     

     Neligh has always been an active educational center, and the public schools have never lacked the hearty support of the people. The city has experienced a very rapid growth during the past ten years, especially, and the school has kept pace with that growth.

     Two buildings are now in use for school purposes and bonds have recently been voted to erect ward building in the west part of town. This building will be ready for occupancy about January 1, 1911.

     Free high school attendance is not as large this year as in the past, due perhaps to the change in the law. The janitor of the school has been named truant officer and every effort is made to enforce the compulsory education law.

      Nothing in the line of school work received more hearty support from the pupils than normal training. A class of nineteen was graduated from this department in 1910, and a like number are carrying the work during 1910-11.

     The high school course of study follows the recommendations of the high school manual with a few exceptions. Bookkeeping is not offered in the ninth grade, but is offered in the twelfth grade as a business course, including commercial law, arithmetic, etc. This is given instead of chemistry. No German is offered, four years of Latin being required. General history is given in the tenth grade, one semester of English history in the eleventh and American history in the twelfth. Civics is taught in connection with American history.

CHARLES A. MOHRMAN,     
Superintendent.     

     The present high school building is a brick building of eight rooms above the basement, one finished in the basement and two un-

finished. It has large, roomy halls, is well lighted and is heated by steam. The building is in excellent state of repair and affords plenty of room for the school. The high school assembly room is seated for ninety-eight pupils and is very conveniently arranged. This building was erected in 1891. In the spring of 1892 it was badly damaged by a tornado and the debt incurred in repairing it had to he met partially from the general fund, which has somewhat hampered the development of the school in the past. At present, however, the district is in excellent financial condition. Its assessed valuation is about $300,000 and a tax levy of 20 mills with the other sources of income affords ample funds.

     The 1910 school census for the district is 317. The enrollment for the year 1909-10 was the same number-317. The average daily attendance was 250.

     The Nelson high school is unusually large for the size of the whole school. The enrollment for the year 1909-10 was eighty-two. The non-resident attendance would do credit to a good many larger schools. The non-resident enrollment was thirty-three, and will be more this year, although there were few eighth grade graduates in the rural schools of the county this year. Both the board and the citizens take a lively interest in the non-residents. This year two of the board who are busy men gave their time to get out over the county after non-resident pupils.

     In 1907 the Nelson high school was accredited as a twelve grade high school, and since the present normal training law became effective has been a normal training high school, graduating all told twenty-eight normal trained students.

     Last year well equipped physics and chemistry laboratories were put in and the science work was put on a substantial basis clear through. The chemistry laboratory accommodates a class of sixteen at one time at well equipped chemistry tables for individual work. The physics laboratory is also well equipped for entirely individual work. Among other things the equipment for geography includes a set of weather instruments. Classes are required to keep a weather record and the local papers are furnished an accurate weather record.

     In January, 1910, the Nelson high school adopted the per cent point system of requirements for graduation, making the requirement 2,600 per cent -points and graduating this year's class under these requirements. This system makes excellency of work count as well as extent. The Nelson high school was the first in the state to adopt this plan.

     Instruction in music is given considerable emphasis in the Nelson schools. A new high grade piano was put in the high school last year. For eight years past the Nelson schools have had a special music instructor and a special feature of the commencement week each year is the concert given by the grades and high school.

     A number of new things are being worked out for the coming year. Domestic science is to be given in the high school on the Crete plan. The women's club of the town is planning to handle this work. A start is also to be made in manual training. A new feature in the academic work is embodied in the following paragraph taken from the high school manual gotten out this summer:

     Each class in English will devote one recitation per week to a careful study of current events and developments. A good supply of the best periodicals will be kept on the reading tables. The pupils will be trained in getting at things worth while effectively and with discrimination. A systematically and carefully written paper covering the entire period of study will he required."

     The building is to be materially improved this year by having the halls and auditorium wired for electric lights. It is also to be plumbed for city water, the water for drinking purposes being supplied by bubble fountains.

     The Norfolk school system has shown a steady but not phenomenal growth during the last few years. Three teachers have been added to the corps within the past two years, one the high school normal training teacher, the others grade teachers in the Washington school.

     The building equipment of the school system consists of a high school building, modern in every particular; one six-room ward building known as the Grant school. three four-room ward buildings called the East Lincoln, the West Lincoln and the Washington schools; and one one-room ward building--the Jefferson school.

     The high school accommodates the high school proper and the departmental work of the seventh and eighth grades,. Five class rooms, a laboratory and a large assembly room are devoted to the high school proper. A principal and five other teachers are employed for the high school work. Four rooms of this building are used for the departmental work in the seventh and eighth grades, for which four teachers -are employed.

     The grounds of the Grant and the Washington schools each occupy one-half a city block. The two Lincoln schools together have the same amount of playground. The high school ground is much smaller. The high school building is, however, surrounded by a beautiful and well kept lawn.

      Each ward building has upon its grounds a school garden. Home garden clubs are organized each spring, and an exhibit of garden products is made in the fall.

     The high school, which is a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, offers three courses--the Latin, the German and the normal training. A commercial course is a prospective addition for another year.

     Normal training was made a part of the high school course in the school year 1908-1909. The first year's class numbered sixteen, the second twenty-one, and the class this year (1910-11) numbers twenty-seven.

     The last two graduating classes from the high school have numbered nineteen and twenty-eight respectively. There are at present thirty-three in the twelfth grade.

     The departmental work in the seventh and eighth grades and the three kindergartens mentioned above were new and more or less experimental features introduced in the school year 190910. They have proved successful, however, and are now permanent features of the school system.

     The teaching corps numbers thirty-one in all. The high school teachers are paid from $70 to $95 per month. The salaries of grade and kindergarten teachers are fixed by an automatic schedule. The minimum salary paid is $405, and is paid only to teachers who begin with the minimum qualifications accepted. For every year's experience or educational training above the high school, in addition to the minimum equipment, an additional $22.50 is paid. There are three maximum salaries--$495, $540 and $585--depending upon the kind and grade of certificate held.

FRED M. HUNTER,        
Superintendent.     

     The North Platte high school is housed in a $40,000 building, modern in appearance and ample in proportions for the present needs of the school. There are nine teachers in the faculty. A normal course is maintained and quite popular with those who are to teach. The commercial course is a new departure, but it is starting out fine. All subjects in the high school are elective with the rule that not less than two years' work will be credited in Latin, German, English, mathematics, science, history, typewriting and shorthand. Instrumental music on organ, piano and violin are credited if given by approved teachers and under school regulations. Vocal music, physical culture and military drill are also a part of the school course. A cadet company numbering seventy was maintained last year. "The Round-Up," a student publication under faculty control, has gone through two years of successful issue and is more popular than ever. A literary club for the study of Charles Dickens met regularly during the winter, as did a debating society. The school is a member of the Central Nebraska Debating association, the Western Nebraska Declamatory association, the Nebraska High School Declamatory union, the Nebraska High School Debating league, and is accredited by the University of Nebraska and the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. Agriculture is emphasized because of the location near the city of the sub-station of the Nebraska experimental station, the officers of which are free with help to the students.

     The Lincoln school is a new $25,000 brick building containing six teachers and doing work to the high school. There are rooms in this building for manual training, domestic science and kindergarten and an assembly room holding 400 people. The plumbing, heating and ventilation are modern and the playgrounds are ample. Bubbling fountains supply an abundance of fresh, clean drinking water, while lavatories with the new paper towels give no excuse for children having soiled hands. All text-books are covered and both buildings and texts are disinfected at least twice a year under the supervision of the board of health.

     The Washington school is an exact counterpart of the Lincoln school, having cost $25,000 and being built on the same plans. It has seven teachers and carries all grades to the high school. In sanitary matters it is up-to-date, as also in matters of convenience.

     The East school is a four-room frame building having four teachers and carrying four grades. It is well built and has good plumbing and sanitation. The floors are oiled to keep down the dust while in the new buildings sweeping compound is used for this purpose.

     The Bratt school is a one-room building having one teacher. It is light, clean and comfortable, but does not have city water.

     The Baker school is a one-room building having one teacher. These two last named schools are in outlying parts of the district and supply local wants. There is some sentiment in favor of consolidation.

     The Central school is located in the high school building and has two teachers, each teaching two grades. This school has all of the advantages of the high school in sanitary and comfort conveniences.

      The compulsory attendance law has been enforced in the main during the last year, seven labor permits being issued.

     Thirty-one pupils were given free high school privileges by their home district and attended the North Platte high school last year. The school is attempting to do all that can be done with the means at hand and backed by a strong board of education and a progressive community it only remains for the school itself to accomplish the work set before it.

WILLIAM TOUT.          
Superintendent.     

     The Oakdale high school has an enrollment of forty, eight of the students being non-resident, taking advantage, of the free high school law. Two of these non-resident pupils graduated from the three-year schools last year. The present senior class is the largest there has been for some time. There has been but one larger in the history of the school and that was when it was still a three-year school. Since it has been a four-year school the classes number, four, 1909; six, 1910, ten, 1911.

     Our building is the oldest in Antelope county. There is a movement for a new building. The library contains about 500 volumes, most of which are books of reference. The laboratory is small, but well equipped with apparatus for chemistry, physics and agriculture.

     Three years ago the state course of study was adopted by the board of education and another teacher added.

     The students are organized into a literary society, which gives eight programs during the school year. This gives each pupil an opportunity. to take part in rhetorical exercises four times.

E. R. SCHIEMANN,          
Superintendent.     

     For many years the people of Oakland have pointed with pride to the school house on the hill. In September, 1910, that pride seemed justified when seventeen of these boys and girls were enrolled in the State University of Nebraska alone.

     Eighty-two pupils have enrolled in the high school for the new year, four years ago the enrollment was sixty-one. For the year 19091910 the school census was 379, the enrollment 290, the average attendance 235. The high school enrollment was seventy-seven.

     At present eighteen pupils in the high school reside in rural districts and avail themselves of free high school attendance privileges.

     Last spring domestic science was introduced into the high school following the Crete plan. This fall (September, 1910) Virgil, German, and mediaeval history have been added to our course. The normal training course has been given for three years.

     Our high school organizations include the Boy's Glee club, the High School orchestra, the Improvement league, whose members carry on the rhetorical work, a girls' basketball team, a baseball team, a football team and the Athletic association.

     For the last two years our students have published a high school paper, the Acorn. The last issue for the year 1909-10 was dedicated as follows:

     "To W. H. Myers for his faithful work as superintendent of the Oakland school and for his interest in the progress of the school and the community, this annual is respectfully dedicated."

     With the exception of the two years in which he was assistant superintendent at the industrial school in Kearney Mr. Myers has had supervision over the Oakland schools since 1899. He leaves us now to take charge of the schools at Blair.

MINA MAUDLIN,            
Principal High School.     

     Compulsory educational law has not been well enforced in last few years.

     At present only three scholars are availing themselves of free high school privileges.

     A new $25,000 building is in process of construction and is to be completed by January 1, 1911. It is to be heated by steam and ventilated by the direct and indirect system. The building will contain ten rooms exclusive of the playroom, gymnasium and the superintendent's office.

     The laboratory is equipped with a small amount of apparatus for physics, physiology, agriculture, botany and physical geography.

     Our library for the entire school consists of 300 books and except fourteen all of these are reference books.

     Our course of study corresponds with that recommended by the high school manual with the exception of language. We have two years of Latin, found in the tenth and eleventh grades, and one year of German in the twelfth grade.

     In the new building will be found one room each for manual training and domestic science. The school expects within the next few years to introduce instruction in both the above branches.

     Normal Training: The senior reviews have been made a part of the regular course of study and normal training will be added as soon as the number of those desiring to take up the work warrant the foundation of a class-probably next year (1911-12).

W. H. COLEMAN.          
Superintendent.     

     The Ohiowa schools during the past few years have not had any marked growth. There has been a small, steady increase which bids fair to continue. The census for 1909-1910 is 204. The enrollment for the same year was 164 and the average daily attendance 130.

      There was but one violation of the compulsory attendance law.

     The free high school attendance pupils have increased yearly. In 1907-1908 there were three. The year following there were five and this year there were seven. Besides these were a number of tuition pupils, both in the grades and in the high school.

     All the work is carried on in one building--a two-story frame structure. There are six rooms besides a gymnasium and storeroom. The high school makes use of an assembly room, a recitation room and a laboratory, which also serves as a recitation room.

     The rooms are all so seated that the pupils receive the light from the left or from the left and rear. The windows are large enough and sufficient in number to give ample light. The heating is accomplished by means of stoves and there is no special provision for ventilation.

     The equipment is quite complete. About $150 worth of physics apparatus was added this year, thus giving complete equipment in physics, botany and physical geography.

     The library, including reference books, numbers some 550 volumes.

     The Ohiowa course of study was adopted two years ago. This course with the changes and additions adopted since is followed today. The work is laid out by grades for each teacher. The course follows closely the Nebraska course of study and the Nebraska high school manual.

     No industrial education has been attempted except hand work in the grades such as raffia work, paper cutting, folding and weaving and sand and clay modeling.

     Normal training has not been introduced.

     There are no high school student organizations except a literary society. The society is divided into three sections for giving programs and each student must appear on programs at least five times during the year.

R. O. SEVERIN,          
Superintendent.     

     The Omaha public schools consist of an elementary school department, a high school department, a system of night schools and a training school for teachers.

     The elementary school department comprises nine full years of work, and is divided into a kindergarten school, a primary school and a grammar school department.

     The kindergarten school department comprises one full year of kindergarten work.

     The primary school department comprises four years of school work and consists of the following grades: First year A grade, first year B grade, second year A grade, second year B grade, third year A grade, third year B grade, fourth year A grade, fourth year B grade.

     The grammar school department comprises four years of work and consists of a junior and a senior year covering training of teachers B grade, sixth year A grade, sixth year B grade, seventh year A grade, seventh year B grade, eighth year A grade, eighth year B grade.

     The high school department comprises four years of school work and consists of the following grades: Ninth year A grade, ninth year B grade, tenth year A grade, tenth year B grade, eleventh year A grade, eleventh year B grade, twelfth year A grade, twelfth year B grade.

     The night schools comprise one term of five months of school work each year, and are open to students of either sex and of all ages.

     The training school for teachers comprises two years of work and consists of a junior and a senior year covering training of teachers for work in the kindergarten, primary and grammar school departments, and in the training of teachers for work in manual training. Membership in the training school is limited as to numbers.

     Omaha has one high school and thirty-four ward schools, requiring the services of 473 teachers distributed as follows: In the high school,

sixty-four teachers; in the grammar and primary grades, 309 teachers; in the kindergarten, fifty-six teachers; in the night schools, nine teachers. In addition to this number there are six supervisors, eighteen supervising principals and eleven manual training teachers.

     The last published report shows that there was a total enrollment in the public schools of 19,567, distributed as follows: High school, 2,051; grammar school, 6,240; primary school, 8,365; kindergarten school, 1,975; night schools, 936. Of the total enrollment 19,063 were white pupils and 504 colored.

     During the last ten years the school enrollment has not shown a material increase, but there has obtained a more satisfactory distribution of the pupils through the various grades showing that the question of retardation has been rapidly disappearing in the Omaha schools. There were many more children in the kindergarten grade and in the primary grades ten years ago than there are now enrolled, but today there are many more pupils enrolled in the grammar grades, as well as in the high school than there were ten years ago.

     Ten years ago the high school enrolled 1,518 pupils, and the average daily attendance was 1,192. Today the enrollment in the high school is 2,051, with an average daily attendance of 1,627. This is a significant fact and marks a distinct progress and improvement in the education of the youth of the city. It shows that methods of instruction have improved, resulting in less retardation and a consequent better classification, and it also shows that the youth of the city are remaining in school longer than they formally did. As a result more, pupils are classified in the seventh and eighth grades and in the high school than ever before and more students are being graduated from the high school. Ten years ago, the graduating class numbered 134; last year it numbered 272, a gain of more than 100 per cent over what it was ten years ago.

W. M. DAVIDSON,       
Superintendent.     

     In the past three years the O'Neill high school has increased from a membership of fifty to sixty-five and has carried each year a nonresident membership varying from fifteen to twenty from the surrounding rural schools.

     Since the modification of the high school law we have but four students under the class of free tuition, yet this has not decreased the non-resident attendance. Young men and women eagerly pay their tuition and complete the four years' course.

     The census of 1909 shows 502 children of school age la the district, but St. Mary's academy maintains a mixed school for the first eight grades, so the enrollment for the public schools was 240, with sixty-five in the high school. There was an average daily attendance of 194 in the entire school and fifty in the high school.

     The high school is principally composed of boys since St. Mary's takes the Catholic girls. The O'Neill boys stay by their school until they complete the four years' course and then a majority of them take a college course..

     The compulsory attendance law is well enforced. The strong public sentiment In favor of education and a vigilant truant officer solves this problem very successfully.

     The school grounds occupy a half block on a prominent elevation, and are neatly enclosed with an iron fence, bordered by shade trees. The grassy lawn and carefully cultivated flower beds are a matter of pride to the janitor and to the school.

     The building is an old one, and is made up of several awkward additions. A new modern, well ventilated, well equipped school house is one of the crying needs of the community. This will be realized in the near future, for by the careful financial management of the school board composed of Messrs. Hanley, McCarthy, Gilligan, Brennan, McNichols and Flynn, the district is practically free from debt--no bonded indebtedness and a floating debt of about $2,000.

     The school. library contains 605 volumes of well chosen reading matter for the different grades. This nucleus, with a permanent, substantial increase made possible by the school library law will build up a fine school library.

     The course of study in the grades is practically the same as the Nebraska state course for public schools. The high school has a full four years' course, having a possible accreditment in thirty-six points, but only thirty-two credits allowed.

     This course includes three and one-half years of English, three years each of Latin and mathematics, two years of history and normal training, one year each of German, botany, physics and chemistry, one semester each of United States history, civics, agriculture, physical geography, physiology, bookkeeping, senior reviews and mechanical drawing.

     The N. T. classes are composed of both seniors and juniors. The subjects of reading and grammar, geography and arithmetic are presented in alternate years. Our first class was composed of seven members, our second of twenty-six, our third of eighteen. Thirty-two have completed the course and of these twelve became teachers and eleven are taking a college course. Eighteen of these thirty-two are young men.

     Industrial education is being gradually introduced as an integral part of the course. Paper cutting, weaving, knitting, sewing, embroidery, hat and basket making, drawing, painting in water colors have been successfully introduced.

     The high school has an athletic association maintaining football, basketball and baseball teams; a debating club auxiliary to the State Debating league, a declamatory association, auxiliary to the state organization. A domestic science club will be organized by the seniors

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© 2003 for the NEGenWeb Project by Ted & Carole Miller