Running the Mason City School System is a $2 million annual business.

Setting the policty of education in Mason City is the board of education. The board in turn employs a superinendent who is the chief executive officer of the board and is responsible for the school administration.

Under the superintendent are 250 teachers, 50 custodians and about a dozen other employes (sic). They cater to the needs of approximately 5,000 youngsters of school age.

The school system is organized under a 7-3-3-2 basis. This includes kingergarten plus six elementary grades, three years of junior high school, three years of senior high school and two years of junior college.

In effect in the lower grades is the self-contained classroom - one teacher. Exceptions are specialists in music, art, physical education, remedial reading, speech therapy and guidance.

Organization is based on the community school with a full-time administrative principal in each elementary school.

Although the junior and senior high schools are departmentalized, there are a number of services available.

These services include visual aids, art, vocal music, guidance, testing, safety education, driver education, nursing, transporation, dentist, cafeteria, home instruction, speech correction, census and attendance and others.

There are 11 elementary schools, two junior high schools, a senior high school and a junior college.

IN CENTENNIAL TIES

Properly garbed for the Centennial celebration are the officers and members of the Mason City school board. Clockwise around the table are Leo H. Benson, Vice President F. J. Olson, Mrs. L. W. Swanson, Secretary Bernard L. Main, President Curtis Amen, Treasurer Ralph E. Wiley, Thomas C. Teas, Leslie G. Hawkins, Ralph M. Wallace and Supt. Lawrence H. Shepoiser.

High School Has Classes in Modern Foreign Languages

Spanish and French are taught in the Mason City High School. Language is encouraged to study other peoples and to evaluate their ways of living and thinking.

In the study of Spanish and French, teachers try to develop a practical ability to understand, speak, read and write the language.

Two years of Spanish or French may be taken beginning with the sophomore year.

All Classrooms in School System Are Modernized

The taxpayers never got so much out of their money as they did on the $200,000 spent for improving classrooms throughout the school system.

That is the feeling of those who have inspected the classrooms of the Mason City Public Schools.

Acoustical blocks were laid on the ceilings, rooms were painted, fluorescent lights were installed, bulletin boards were put in place, and built-in bookcases were constructed and in some buildings were equipped with inter-communication systems.

The improvements allow all children to have the opportunity to attend school in a modern classroom regardless of the age of the building.

FILM LIBRARY

Lyell J. Moore, director of curriculum in the Mason City Public Schools, selects a film strip from the schools' film library. Many movie films and filmstrips are rented from distributors for showings that are required only once a or twice a year. The audio-visual department purchases films and filmstrips when instructors find that these can be made available more readily by having them stocked in the library. Filmstrips and films are only a few of the items used in audio-visual instruction.

High School Girls May Select Course in Homemaking

High school girls may enroll in courses in foods, homemaking and clothing and design.

The course in foods gives the student an opportunity to learn how to create attractive and satisfying meals and treats for special occasions, such as parties or teas.

In homemaking the girls study dietetics, family relationships, home nursing and child care.

Clothing, design and crafts are combined in one course with part of each week spent in actual garment construction and part of the time in design and crafts.

DEDICATED

The old Central School Building was formerly dedicated on Oct. 9, 1874. A. B. Tuttle, on behalf of the school board, presented in a formal manner the "magnificent" building to the people of Mason City and to posterity. In December, 1926, the building was completely destroyed by fire.

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Photographs courtesy of Globe-Gazette unless otherwise noted

Some of the photographs did not scan well. In such a case the photograph has been substituted with a clearer copy if available.

Transcriptions and Note by Sharon R. Becker, August of 2015
Information obtained in notes from other Globe-Gazette articles