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RESULTS OF A SURVEY OF SCHOOL HOUSE HYGIENE IN STARK COUNTY, OHIO.

E. R. HAYHURST, A. M., M. D.,

A survey of sanitation and hygiene of the rural and village schools in Stark County, Ohio, was made by various members of the technical staff of the Ohio State Board of Health. The report herewith submitted concerns only that portion of the investigation covered by the writer, who undertook the question of the hygiene of the school plant itself. The following table gives the number of school buildings and rooms per building:

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Only 5 of the above could be considered modern fireproof structures; 126 were old brick constructions with slate roofs, many showing date marks back to 1875 and earlier. Twenty-five buildings were frame, some with shingle roofs and others with slate roofs.

Floor Level. — In 84 instances the floor level was within 11⁄2 feet of the ground and usually resulted in a great deal of dampness through lack of air circulation.

Gutters. In 1/3 of instances buildings were unprovided with gutters so that the drippings fell alongside of the building walls and added to the condition of dampness both beneath the floor levels and in the walls.

Porches and Vestibules. — In 1⁄2 of the buildings there were no porch roofs over main entrances or other weather protections. In a number of others only a very small canopy was present. In only half of the buildings reported upon were entrance vestibules present.

Exit Doors. In practically 4 of the buildings, there was but one exit door, while in a number of other instances school rooms in large buildings had but one exit door.

Basements. Only 35 buildings had basements with impervious walls and floors. In 36 buildings the so-called basement consisted of a hole or dugout in the ground beneath the building and usually under only a part of the building. Sometimes this connected. to the outside by means of a doorway, but usually not so. Here and there a partial stone wall was present but a floor was absent. In over half of the structures, however, no basements or cellars of any kind were present.

Dressing Rooms, Etc. In over 2/3 of the buildings there were no dressing rooms, the children being required to hang their outer garments upon hooks on the side walls or throw them over the

seats. In only 29 instances were adequate, well-lighted and wellheated dressing rooms provided, these being present usually in the village schools. Small lunch cupboards where the children might store their lunch pails and packages were present in 100 instances in the rural schools.

Desks and Seating Capacities. In the 100 schools visited there were 5,920 seats, although 1,072 of these were the old-fashioned double desks. In less than a half-dozen instances were sizes and positions of desks and seats selected or adjusted to the statures of the pupils. Many of the desks were exceedingly disfigured through long usage. The maximum attendance for any one day throughout the concurrent school year showed a total of 3,842 pupils in the schools, although the average attendance for the year was 2,114. While this apparently shows a sufficient capacity in school buildings and seats, there were, however, 28 schools which were overcrowded either because of too many pupils for the size of the room used, or because there were more pupils to be seated than desks and seats provided. Recitation rooms were not included in these findings.

Floors. In 94 buildings the floors consisted of rough and splintered boards, usually with wide cracks between them, while in only 30 were the floors in good condition even for keeping them approximately clean.

Heating. Hot-air furnaces were relied upon in 96 buildings; stoves in 72; steam heating in 7. A great variety of patterns of heating plants was present, there being no attempt at standardization in this direction. The location of stoves was noted in 169 instances: they were found to be in the center of the room in 41 cases; at the rear of the room in 15; at the front of the room in 19; and in 30 instances there was one stove on each side of the room. Likewise, the furnaces had no constancy of location, in some cases being within the school room and in others within the basement. For the heating of rooms of the same specification, the number and position of furnace flues varied greatly. Fresh air conveying pipes or ducts from the exterior to furnaces were present in 63 instances, but a number of these were permanently closed. Return ducts (drawing air away from the floor or walls of the room to the furnace or heating plant) were present in 64 buildings, so that to this extent a circulation system was present. It was noted that in some school rooms, particularly in buildings having three or more rooms, the teacher was unable to control the supply of heat to the room,-resulting usually in overheating rather than underheating.

Vents. Ceiling vents were absent in 110 instances out of 142 places inspected for the same. Where present they usually consisted of a trap door with a hole for the bell rope, and simply opened into the attic of the building. True foul air outlets were present in but I instances out of 132 schools inspected. Window boards for the purpose of inserting below the lower sashes of windows or in front of the same in order to provide circulation without draft, were found in but two schools. "Unable to open windows" was a common complaint of teachers. Sometimes but one window out of ten could be opened.

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Thermometers. Thermometers were present in 110 out of 112 places inspected, but they were of many patterns and very cheap and unreliable, or were broken, or otherwise out of order. In nearly all instances they were located too high from the floor (11⁄2 to 2 feet being considered the proper height, inasmuch as this brings the bulb of the thermometer on a level with the seats rather than on a level with the head or higher.)

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Artificial Illumination. Very few of the schools had any need for artificial illumination except for unusually dark days. For this purpose, however, oil lamps were supplied in 106 schools, gasoline lamps in 31, and electric lamps in 6. In 25 schools there were no means of artificial illumination.

Natural Illumination. Illuminating experts claim that natural light for eye work should be three times stronger than artificial light, or almost 10 to 15 foot-candles in strength on working planes (desk tops, school boards, etc.). The ratio of the total window area to the floor area was ascertained in all schools with the following results: Total window area from 2 to 4 of total floor area, 10 rooms. Total window area from 1/5 to 1/7 of total floor area, 104 rooms. Total window area from 1% to 1/10 of total floor area, 77 rooms. Total window area from 1/11 to 1/13 of total floor area, 22 rooms. Total window area from 1/14 to 1/16 of total floor area, 4 rooms. Total window area from 1/17 to 1/25 of total floor area, 5 rooms.

(A ratio of from 1/3 to 1/5 is considered correct, provided the entire window area is used for illumination.) The use of window shades, however, are a serious factor in obstructing natural light. Dark green shades impervious to light, and usually pulled down half way, were used in over 3/4 of the school rooms. In many instances these shades were unable to be raised or lowered. (Shades in school rooms should be light in color and translucent to light, and should be used only for the purpose of keeping out direct sun rays. They should be attached at the bottom of the window and pulled upward, although a better arrangement still is to have them on a sliding arrangement so that they can be raised or lowered to any position in the height of the window. It must be remembered that much more light comes through the upper half of the window-that part exposed to the sky brilliancy— than to the lower half that part exposed to the landscape. The human eye is also adjusted to this natural relation of "sky lights" and "dark grounds". In a very large part of the country school houses inspected, heavy steel screens, having a mesh of about one inch, were provided over all of the windows, which further detracted from natural lighting. These screens were especially a potent cause for the dirtiness of the windows because of the accumulation of dirt, cobwebs and leaves, and because they were difficult to get off in order to get to the window panes to clean them. Indeed, the inquiries showed that windows were habitually cleaned but once a year-i. e., in the autumn before school began. In many instances also window panes were so small as to render the sash-work an additional obstruction to light and to the cleaning of the same. Twenty-four small panes to the window constituted a very common form of window. Furthermore, in some school buildings the teachers, in order to beautify the interior

of the school rooms, and "supply a home appearance," added sash curtains and other similar obstructions to the pathway of natural illumination. Pupils' desks faced the light in 22 rooms; teachers' desks, in practically all instances. There was little consistency in the color of walls. In 23 rooms they were blue; in 22, green; in 15, buff; in 12, white; and quite invariably, the colors were very much too dark. In most instances, painting or redecorating had not taken place for several years. Likewise, a great lack of constancy was observed in the color of ceilings, which were yellow in 23 rooms; dark blue in 22; green in 11; light blue in 9; white in 9; while a very large number were stained wood panels which had become very dark with age. Good blackboards were noticed in but 12 schools-poor location, poor lighting and too great height from the floor for the little pupils, were the chief faults. As regards lighting, many of the rooms were very sombre and uninviting places, even in the midst of the days when the sunlight without was excellent. Occasionally shade trees were too close to buildings, and thus greatly hampered natural illumination. The best window arrangement is considered to be one in which light comes from the pupils' left only, or left and rear at the most, with ample window area and proper shades when the "left" chances to be on the sunny side.

General Cleanliness - Only 19 schools were considered good in respect to cleanliness. Twenty-one others were fairly clean, while 115 were decidedly dirty places for assemblages. Poor construction. of floors was the chief fault, but unsatisfactory janitor service was also especially important. In most instances no provision was made at all for paid janitor service. In others the teacher was allowed $1.00 per month for attending the same. The usual rule was to rely for the service upon gratuitous help of the pupils. In a number of in-. stances, the inspectors visited schools at the time of cleaning, and were covered with a cloud of dust and dirt which was being stirred up with a broom from a rough splintered floor by the teacher or some pupil. In several instances the teachers themselves had provided floor compounds in order to be able to sweep without creating dust. In III schools no oiling of the floors had ever been attempted, while in but 18 were they apparently regularly oiled.

Comparisons and Summary. - The above is meant to give but a brief synopsis of the conditions of general sanitation and hygiene found in the rural and village schools in one of the most typically representative counties in the State of Ohio. This county contains also the cities of Canton, Massillon and Alliance (not included in this investigation). While the rural populace has evidently greatly enriched itself during the past generation or two, to judge from the general excellence of roads, fences, houses, barns, silos, etc., it appears satisfied to leave the education of the youth to the antiquated buildings which ancestors erected and upon which some districts, apparently, have spent practically no money since their erection. Indeed, in certain instances, grange halls and other public buildings. erected alongside of archaic educational structures, greatly surpassed the latter in the matter of cost and particularly of sanitary construction. In but one or two instances had any thought apparently been given to

centralized schools and the conveniences of automobiles and other modern means of transportation in conveying the pupils to the same.

While the "little red school-house" may be a fine enough thought in American lore, it must be remembered that in most instances the little building is not what it was when it was built a half-century or more ago, that it is likely to be overcrowded at the present time, that the character of the populace in this vicinity has changed in many instances, that the prevalence of communicable diseases has greatly increased with the increase and change of population, that the cleansing and care of the old building is very difficult because of its lack of repair, etc. No doubt proper standards could be maintained in practically all features of sanitation and hygiene, at very little additional direct expense, and with positive and immediate gain from the precluding of indirect expense-disease, wear and tear and inefficiency in the management of the isolated, old and dilapidated school house, but for counties of the character of the one covered, the districts should provide centralized schools and derive the manifold benefits which such centralization of efforts would offer. It is further suggested also that the teacher, after being properly informed as to the correct standards for heating, lighting, ventilating, cleaning, etc., should appoint a "pupil sanitarian" every week or so, whose duties should be to supervise sanitation and school-room hygiene during his or her week of appointment. This should be done whether janitor services are provided or not, as much to help in the education of the pupil in matters of personal and environmental hygiene, as in the better health conditions of the school premises themselves. "Prophylaxis against disease should result from an ingrained knowledge from a public school education."

BETTER SANITATION NEEDED IN RURAL SCHOOLS. In the interests of efficiency and health there is increasing necessity for the application of scientific medical and sanitary knowledge to the administration of the public schools, in the opinion of the Public Health Service.

In general, the faults observed in rural schools, the annual report of the Service declares, are due to a lack of skilled advice, especially in regard to the location, construction and equipment of school buildings and disregard of sanitary principles governing water supplies, the disposal of sewage, ventilation, temperature, illumination, and the arrangement of school desks and blackboards. During the past fiscal year surveys have been made in rural districts of several states and many thousand school children have been examined. These examinations have included thorough testing of the eyes by competent oculists, tests of mental capacity, and the effect of sanitary environment on school progress, as well as inspections for the customary physical defects.

The conclusion is reached that there is great need for improvement in rural schools and that communities themselves will benefit if conditions are bettered, the schools serving as object lessons for surrounding sections. Conditions in country districts have been found

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