L B 
 
 32.13 
 
GIFT OF 
 
DEC 29 1Q: 
 
 NORTH DAKOTA 
 
 LAWS and RULES 
 
 In Regard to 
 
 T Construction, Inspection, Ventil- 
 ation and Sanitation of School Buildings 
 
 Compiled by Edward Erickson, State School Inspector 
 
 PUBLISHED APRIL 1,1920 
 
 - . 
 
 Published by the State Department of Public Instruction 
 
 MINNIE J. NIELSON, Superintendent 
 
 SMARCK TRIBUNE at>.. STATE PR'- 
 
NORTH DAKOTA 
 
 LAWS and RULES 
 
 In Regard to 
 
 The Construction, Inspection, Ventil- 
 ation and Sanitation of School Buildings 
 
 Compiled by Edward Erickson, State School Inspector 
 
 PUBLISHED APRIL 1, 1920 
 
 Published by the State Department of Public Instruction 
 
 MINNIE J. NIELSON, Superintendent 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 Page 
 
 The Law in Regard to Construction of School Buildings and In- 
 spection, Ventilation and Sanitation Thereof 5 
 
 Introductory Statement 7 
 
 Heating and Ventilating of School Buildings. 
 
 General Statement 8 
 
 Ventilation By Dr. J. Grassick, Grand Forks, N. Dak 10 
 
 Plans and Specifications for School Buildings 13 
 
 Dimensions of School Rooms 13 
 
 Blackboards 13 
 
 Lighting 13 
 
 Color of Walls and Ceilings 14 
 
 Window Shades 14 
 
 Heating and Ventilation 14 
 
 The Jacketed Stove * 15 
 
 The Hot Air Basement Furnace 15 
 
 Steam Heat 17 
 
 Fan System of Ventilation . o 17 
 
 The Furnace Room 17 
 
 Fire Protection 17 
 
 Fire Drill and Guards for Public Schools 18 
 
 Sanitation 19 
 
 County Board of Health Has Authority to Condemn School Buildings 19 
 
 Toilets 19 
 
 Drinking Fountains 20 
 
 Water Supply By Dr. A. A. Whittemore, Bowman, N. Dak 21 
 
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THE LAW IN REGARD TO CONSTRUCTION OF SCHOOL BUILDINGS 
 AND INSPECTION, VENTILATION AND SANITATION THEREOF. 
 
 The state law in regard to construction of school buildings and in- 
 spection, ventilation and sanitation thereof is as follows: 
 
 1489. Buildings Inspected. Plans and Specifications to be Sub- 
 mitted to Superintendent of Public Instruction.] No building which is 
 designed to be used, in whole or in part as a public school building, shall 
 be erected until a copy of the plans thereof has been submitted to the 
 state superintendent of public instruction, who for the purposes of carry- 
 ing out the provisions of this act is hereby designated as inspector of 
 said public school building plans and specifications, by the person caus- 
 ing its erection or by the architect thereof; such plans shall include the 
 method of ventilation provided for, and a copy of the specifications 
 therefor. 
 
 
 
 1490. Construction of School Houses.] Such plans and specifica- 
 tions shall show in detail the ventilation, heating and lighting of such 
 building. The state superintendent of public instruction shall not approve 
 any plans for the erection of any school building or addition thereto 
 unless the same shall provide at least twelve square feet of floor space 
 and two hundred cubic feet of air space for each pupil to be accommo- 
 dated in each study or recitation room therein. 
 
 (1) Light shall be admitted from the left or from the left and rear 
 of class rooms and the total light area must, unless strengthened by the 
 use of reflecting lenses be equal to at least 20 per cent of the floor space. 
 
 (2) All ceilings shall be at least twelve feet in height. 
 
 (3) No such plans shall be approved by him unless provision is made 
 therein for assuring at least 30 cubic feet of pure air every minute per 
 pupil and warmed to maintain an average temperature of 70 degrees F. 
 during the coldest winter weather, and the facilities for exhausting the 
 foul or vitiated air therein shall be positive and independent of atmos- 
 pheric changes. No tax voted by a district meeting or other competent 
 authority in any such city, village or school district, exceeding the sum 
 of two thousand ($2,000.00) shall be levied by the trustees until the 
 state superintendent of public instruction shall certify that the plans and 
 specifications for the same comply with the provisions of this act. All 
 school houses for which plans and detailed specifications shall be filed 
 and approved, as required by this act, shall have all halls, doors, stair- 
 ways, seats, passageways and aisles and all lighting and heating appli- 
 ances and apparatus arranged to facilitate egress in case of fire or acci- 
 dent and to afford the requisite and proper accommodations for public 
 protection in such cases. All exit doors shall open outwardly, and shall 
 if double doors be used, fasten with movable bolts operated 'simultane- 
 ously by one handle from the inner face of the door. No staircase shall 
 be constructed with wider steps in lieu of a platform, but shall be con- 
 
6 LAWS AND RULES REGARDING SCHOOL BUILDINGS 
 
 structed with straight runs, changes in direction being made by platform. 
 No doors shall open immediately upon a flight of stairs, but a landing at 
 least the width of the door shall be provided between such stairs and 
 such doorway. 
 
 (4) Every public school building shall be kept clean and free from 
 affluvia arising from any drain, privy or nuisance, and shall be provided 
 with sufficient number of proper water closets, earth closets or privies, 
 and shall be ventilated in such a manner that the air shall not become 
 so impure as to be injurious to health. 
 
 1491. Toilet Rooms. How Constructed.] No toilet rooms shall be 
 constructed in any public school building unless same has outside venti- 
 lation and windows permitting free access of air and light. The provi- 
 sions of this act shall be enforced by the state superintendent of public 
 instruction or some person designated by him for that purpose. 
 
 1482. Method of Inspection and Adjustment of Grievances.] If it 
 
 appears to the state superintendent of public instruction or his deputy 
 appointed for that particular purpose, that further or different sanitary 
 or ventilating provisions, which can be provided without unreasonable 
 expense, are required in any public school building, he may issue a writ- 
 ten order to the proper person or authority, directing such sanitary or 
 ventilating provisions to be provided. A school committee, public officer 
 or person who has charge of any such public school building, who neg- 
 lects for four weeks to comply with the order of said state superintendent 
 of public instruction or his deputy, shall be punished by a fine of not less 
 than one hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars. 
 
 (1) Whoever is aggrieved by the order of the state superintendent of 
 public instruction or his deputy issued as above provided, and relating 
 to a public school building, may within thirty days after the service 
 thereof, apply in writing to the board of health of the city, town, incor- 
 porated village or school district to set aside or amend the order; and 
 thereupon the board, after notice to all parties interested, shall give a 
 hearing upon such order, and may alter, annul or affirm it. 
 
 1493. Ventilating- Flues and Method of Constructing Same.] No 
 wooden flue or air duct for heating or ventilating purposes shall be placed 
 in any building which is subject to the provisions of this act, and no pipe 
 for conveying hot air or steam in such building shall be placed or remain 
 within one inch of any wood-work, unless protected by suitable guards or 
 casings of incombustible material. 
 
 1494. Approval of Plans. By Whom and Penalty for Violation.] 
 
 To secure the approval of plans showing the method or systems of heat- 
 ing and ventilation as provided for in Sec. 1490 the foregoing require- 
 ments must be guaranteed in the specifications accompanying the plans. 
 Hereafter erections or constructions of public school buildings by archi- 
 tect or other person who draws plans or specifications or superintends 
 the erection of a public school building, in violation of the provisions of 
 this act, shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars 
 nor more than one thousand dollars. 
 

 T-IX.ST r~L.otjf.rLAn 
 
 Basement plan and floor plan of Coal Harbor School. A good plan 
 for a four-room school. 
 
STATE OF NORTH UAKOTA 
 
 INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT 
 
 The purpose of this bulletin is to give some definite suggestions as to 
 how the provisions of this law in regard to the heating, ventilation and 
 sanitation of one-room rural, graded and consolidated graded school 
 buildings may be complied with. 
 
 This law was enacted several years ago. The law is sound and com- 
 plies with the generally recognized standard requirements that make for 
 safe, serviceable and sanitary school buildings. The provisions of this law 
 are however, very general and architects and contractors have differed 
 as to ways by means of which the ends sought to be accomplished by 
 the provisions of the law might be complied with. 
 
 It is a fact, too, that the rules and regulations prescribed by the 
 Department of Education in regard to heating and ventilation to meet 
 the requirements of standardization and state aid have been too indefin- 
 ite. These requirements regarding heating and ventilation though com- 
 plied with have not brought the desired results. 
 
 Several hundred school buildings have been erected under the provi- 
 sions of this law. The heating and ventilation of such a large number 
 of these is so unsatisfactory that the problem of heating and ventilating 
 the one-room, two-to-five room graded and consolidated graded school 
 building is nothing less than serious. This statement is based on three 
 years experience in inspecting these schools in this state. Of the great 
 number of buildings inspected during this period it can scarcely be said 
 that the heating and ventilation in-any of the two, three, and four-room 
 buildings is satisfactory at least where the hot air system is used. The 
 exceptions are very few. The common complaint heard is: "This heat- 
 ing and ventilating system was installed according to the state require- 
 ments but we cannot keep the building warm in cold weather." A num- 
 ber of heating plants that were "installed according to state require- 
 ments" have been taken out and replaced with a system "installed to 
 heat." With the heating system installed in such a way there is not only 
 no ventilation but no standardization and no state aid. 
 
 All school buildings erected in compliance with the provisions of this 
 law meet the requirements for standardization and state aid in regard to 
 building, lighting, heating and ventilation. THERE SEEMS TO BE AN 
 IMPRESSION THAT THE REQUIREMENTS IN REGARD TO HEATING 
 AND VENTILATION NEED NOT BE COMPLIED WITH UNLESS STATE 
 AID IS WANTED. Rather than "taking chances" on a heating and venti- 
 lating system that meets requirements for state aid there are some 
 school boards that have preferred to put in a "heating system that will 
 work and let the little state aid go." 
 
 Now this "heating system that will work" is usually a system that has 
 an aversion to new unused air. In fact every precaution is taken to keep 
 it out. The old foul used air in the room seems to be considered good 
 enough to be used day in day out for the whole term. If the health of 
 the children is of no consideration then there would be no objection to 
 such a system. But the health of the children is of the greatest import- 
 
8 LAWS AND RULES REGARDING SCHOOL BUILDINGS 
 
 ance and therefore every school building to be erected WHETHER STATE 
 AID IS WANTED OR NOT is required to be provided with a heating and 
 ventilating system that complies with the provisions of the law. 
 
 HEATING AND VENTILATING OF SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 
 GENERAL STATEMENT 
 
 Heating and ventilation are inseparable so far as the means used for 
 securing a satisfactory temperature and a wholesome supply of air are 
 concerned. The condition so often found, however, a condition due large- 
 ly to ignorance, is that the devices for securing ventilation are not made 
 use of. Only that part of the plant which warms the room is used. As 
 a result fuel is in some cases saved, in other cases wasted, and in all 
 cases the pupils' comfort is decreased and their energy wasted. 
 
 Heat is distributed by air currents only. By cutting off the air cur- 
 rents or reducing them by means of dampers, there is loss not only of 
 ventilation but of heat as well. The jacketed stove not only fails to ven- 
 tilate but fails absolutely as a heater if the fresh air pipe is not kept 
 open. The foul air pipe or ventiduct must also be kept open all the time 
 in order that the cold, foul air near the floor may be removed. As the 
 temperature of the warm fresh air overhead cools it gradually sinks to 
 the floor and in turn passes out through the ventiduct. By proper opera- 
 tion, therefore, of the jacketed stove, the room is both heated and venti- 
 lated. If not properly operated, it does not ventilate, and heats poorly. 
 
 When the warm air basement furnace is used, ducts and openings 
 must be properly placed. From what is known regarding the principles 
 governing the circulation of air, the best results both as to heating and 
 ventilation are obtained when the heated air enters the room about eight 
 feet above the floor, and the air next to the floor is drawn out through a 
 ventiduct on the SAME WALL as the inlet. In this way the air makes a 
 complete circuit of the room before it is discharged through the venti- 
 duct. ONLY AIR FROM OUTDOORS SHOULD BE DRAWN INTO THE 
 FURNACE, The air after it has made the circuit of the room, after it 
 has become polluted by the exhalations from the lungs and the bodies of 
 the pupils should be discharged into the open air from the ventiduct 
 which extends through the roof. 
 
 When a steam heating plant is used, the same arrangement of heat 
 flues and ventiducts should be use. 
 
 It is frequently urged that there should be a return duct from the 
 school room to the furnace as a means of saving fuel. This arrangement 
 results in some saving of fuel and would be perfectly proper if used only 
 when school is not in session i. e. in the morning before the pupils ar- 
 rive. The danger, however, is that once opened, it will be neglected and 
 will allow the air to rotate during the school hours; and it is therefore 
 safer to not provide such an arrangement. Where there already is such 
 an arrangement, teachers and janitors must use it only as intended i. e. 
 not during school hours. 
 
 There seems to be much dissatisfaction expressed over having the 
 warm air inlet high on the wall. The children coming to school become 
 
Woodbury School, Stutsman County 
 
 Floor plan and basement plan for the Woodbury School, a very good 
 plan for a one-room school 
 
STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA 
 
 chilled and have no way to warm themselves. Those who express the dis- 
 satisfaction urge that there should be a warm air register in the floor. 
 
 FLOOR REGISTERS SHOULD NEVER BE PERMITTED IN ANY 
 SCHOOL ROOM. 
 
 They allow the air ducts to be filled with dirt and air supplied through 
 such a duct is not fit to breathe. A good way which is frequently used 
 for the children to warm themselves is to provide a seat in the coat room 
 and on the side of the wall under the seat have a warm air register. The 
 warm air streaming out through this will warm their feet. This register 
 being above the floor six or eight inches allows no dirt to collect in it. 
 Another arrangement where the hot air furnace is used is to have two 
 registers in the warm air duct to the schoolroom, one from six to eight 
 inches above the floor and the other about eight feet above the floor. 
 Immediately above the lower register is a damper which when shut al- 
 lows the warm air to come out through the lower register. This may be 
 used in the mornings when the children want to warm themselves. The 
 upper register is needed and must be used at all times, except as above 
 stated, in order that the heat may be distributed evenly over the room. 
 
 We used to think of ventilation as being necessary only to remove air 
 that as a result of having been breathed had had carbon dioxide sub- 
 stituted for a part of the oxygen. Authorities now hold that an accum- 
 lation of carbon dioxide in sufficient quantities to make the air dangerous 
 in school buildings is very improbable under ordinary circumstances. 
 The factors which are at present considered essential to good ventilation 
 are: CIRCULATION, TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY. These three 
 things are essential in order to secure the greatest amount of human com- 
 fort and efficiency. The air must circulate sufficiently to carry off the 
 heat emanating from the body and from the air expelled from the lungs, 
 if not, a feeling of discomfort and indisposition to work results. The 
 temperature must be between 65 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit, and the hu- 
 midity about 50 per cent. Under these conditions people experience the 
 greatest comfort and the best incentive to work. When cold air is heated 
 the relative humidity is lowered. Some means must, therefore, be found 
 to add moisture to the heated air. For small heating plants, the only 
 means is the evaporating pan. It is therefore essential that this is kept 
 supplied with water at all times. 
 
 A heating and ventilating system, therefore, to meet the requirements 
 must furnish a plentiful supply of fresh air at a temperature of from 65 
 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit. The air must be of the right humidity and it 
 must circulate sufficiently to stir up any quiescent air which may form 
 a casing about the body of the individual. No heating and ventilating 
 plant, however expensive, will do this without intelligent operation. 
 
 Where the school district has equipped the school with a heating and 
 ventilating system, it is the duty of the teacher who has the school in 
 charge to learn to operate that plant whether it is a jacketed stove or 
 some other system. The janitor, if there is one, is not as a rule a person 
 who knows very much about the principles governing ventilation or is 
 capable of informing himself in that respect. It is for the teacher to 
 know and see that the system is operated correctly. 
 
10 LAWS AND RULES REGARDING SCHOOL BUILDINGS 
 
 VENTILATION 
 By Dr. J. Grassick 
 (From Grand Forks County School Bulletin, December, 1917.) 
 
 It will not be long before we have to face the rigors of another winter ; 
 with it will come problems of vital interest to every one who resides in 
 the northwest. First, of course, come the problems of existence. Homes 
 have to be built, food provided, fuel procured, bodies clothed, feet shod, 
 etc. After these are more or less satisfactorily solved, it is little wonder 
 that some others of seemingly minor importance should be in a manner 
 overlooked. One of the chief of these is ventilation, because it has to do 
 with the health and welfare of the individual. Its importance has not 
 been fully recognized by the masses. Fresh air is the freest of all gifts 
 and by the very reason of this we are apt to overlook its benefits or fail 
 to appreciate its mission in the economy of health. This is especially 
 true in North Dakota, where the severity of the winter weather makes 
 us often feel we are getting too much of a good thing, and 'we set our- 
 selves resolutely to work to keep it out of our homes. We erect our 
 house with that end in view. We paper and plaster and back plaster and 
 side and double side; we double our doors and windows and felt the 
 joints and stop up every crack or cranny that could by any possibility 
 let in a whiff of God's fresh air. In winter we lock up for the night as 
 nearly as possible in a hermitically sealed box for the purpose of "keep- 
 ing warm" and having survived, we repeat the process in the summer for 
 the purpose of "keeping cool." In our newest public buildings, school 
 houses, and assembly halls, we are in a majority of cases making ade- 
 quate provisions for ventilation, but in the ordinary home, even those that 
 are supposed to be up-to-date and modern, very little attention has been 
 paid to this most important part of the construction. The same may be 
 said in regard to school houses, churches, public halls, etc., in villages 
 and country districts. What does this mean? Simply that we fill our 
 lungs with air charged with oxygen, an interchange takes place and we 
 exhale a vile mixture of carbon dioxide ,waste product, effete materials and 
 disease germs. This we do about 100 times every hour. An easy calcu- 
 lation will show you how many times you are breathing and rebreathing 
 the same mixture unless provisions are made for a fresh supply. You 
 would not think of washing in the same water that the family and the 
 guests have used and reused in their ablutions; yet this would be hygenic 
 in comparison with inhaling and reinhaling the poison laden and disease 
 infected atmosphere of an unventilated home. No wonder that thousands 
 of women and children, who are by force of conditions and circumstances 
 compelled to spend most of their time indoors, are being slowly poisoned 
 by close rooms and bad air. Slowly and insidiously the work goes on until 
 impoverished constitutions and enfeebled bodies tell the story. Remember 
 that bad air is always a poison whether found in the sanctified atmosphere 
 of a church, the sacred abode of a home, the hilarious precincts of a ball 
 room or the vitiated surroundings of the slums, and any air becomes bad 
 by being breathed over and over again. 
 
STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA 11 
 
 We now believe that the regulation of oxygen and carbon dioxide, 
 important though it is, is not the only factor that enters into the intall- 
 ment of modern ventilating systems. The idea is gaining ground that 
 the physical condition of the air on the outside of the body has as much 
 to do with the metabolism as the chemical condition of the air that en- 
 ters our body through the lungs. The body processes are governed 
 through the nervous mechanism, and these are influenced very materially 
 by external stimuli acting reflexly on the central organisms. Tropism, 
 the response of protoplasm in external stimuli and little by little is 
 feeling their effect on improved health and an increased metabolism. 
 
 How to get outside air, fresh air, live air, into our homes in our 
 rigid climate and keep up the necessary warmth is a problem that is not 
 easily solved, but it must be solved if we are to get the best that there 
 is out of it. Inside air soon loses its life-giving principle. This biogen, 
 if we may so name it, has so far eluded our search but is there never- 
 theless. Dead air is deficient in this and may become so by being con- 
 fined, breathed or passed through some of our modern ventilating de- 
 vices. It may be an ethereal something that is abstracted by our organ- 
 Ism or destroyed by heat or mechanical agitation but whatever it is, we 
 know that it disappears when air is subjected to any of these conditions. 
 Ideal ventilation, therefore, would mean a sufficient and free circulation 
 of outside air through natural conditions. This in our modern dwelling 
 would mean open windows. With zero weather, a stiff gale blowing and 
 fuel on the ascendency, open windows are a luxury that few can afford to 
 have. Under such adverse conditions our modern ventilating systems 
 have a legitimate place. They supply us with air, not by any means the 
 best, but under the conditions we have to face, we must be content with 
 choosing between two evils breathing of more or less vitiated air on the 
 one hand or being chilled on the other. Subjecting a person in a room 
 to a draft of cold air even if it is fresh for any considerable length 
 of time unless the individual is protected sufficiently is hazardous in the 
 extreme. Continued for a short time it may act as a powerful tonic, but 
 the time must be governed by the capacity of the body to react. If be- 
 yond this the most serious results may follow. This I believe, is in ac- 
 cordance with plain physiological laws that we often lose sight of in dis- 
 cussing the question. 
 
 Get fresh air by the most approved method that you can, but if you 
 cannot have the best, get fresh air anyway. 
 
 There is not a purer or better air anywhere than in North Dakota, 
 and yet we find persons closing it out of their homes by every method, 
 possible. We are just beginning to wake up to the fact that it is possible 
 to turn every home in our land into a sanitarium where by fresh air and 
 correct methods of living we would not only be able to prevent the devel- 
 opment of new cases of consumption but also to combat and cure those 
 already contracted. Let it be emphatically stated here that it is not so 
 much a matter of altitude or climate, but AIR, good fresh air r that is needed, 
 and North Dakota in that respect can give you a quality of material that 
 cannot be surpassed anywhere. These Northwestern breezes that start at 
 
12 LAWS AND RULES REGARDING SCHOOL BUILDINGS 
 
 the Pacific coast charged with the iodine of the ocean, kiss in their pas- 
 sage the snow capped peaks of the Rockies, come over the western prair- 
 ies perfumed with the balm of a thousand flowers in summer and laden 
 with a germ-free breath of healing in winter and bring us a message of 
 health. They calm the unstrung nerves, and tone up the laggard circula- 
 tion. They give strength to the weak, and the balm of rest to the sleep- 
 less. They implant hope in the heart and let the light of truth shine into 
 the soul. Open your homes for them, for in so doing you may be "en- 
 tertaining angels unawares." 
 
Consolidated School building at Chaseley in Antelope School District, 
 Wells County. This building was erected in 1918 and cost complete with 
 steam heating plant and plumbing $15,100.00. 
 
 Floor plan and basement plan of the Chaseley Consolidated School, 
 good plan for a small four-room building 
 
Consolidated School in Estabrook School District, Foster County. This 
 building is of concrete and hollow clay tile construction with a cement 
 stucco finish. It cost complete with warm air heating plant and toilets 
 $11,700.00 in 1918. 
 
STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA 13 
 
 PLANS AND SPECIFICATIONS FOR SCHOOL BUILDINGS 
 The State Department of Public Instruction has never been prepared 
 to furnish plans and specifications for school buildings. To get plans 
 and specifications it is necessary for school boards to employ an archi- 
 tect. Before adopting plans and specifications prepared by architects or 
 other draughtsmen, these plans must be submitted to the State Depart- 
 ment of Public Instruction for approval. 
 
 DIMENSIONS OF SCHOOL ROOMS 
 
 The most satisfactory dimensions of the ordinary school room have 
 been found to be: 
 
 Floor space: For 30 pupils 23 feet by 23 feet 6 inches or 20 feet by 
 27 feet. 
 
 For 35 pupils 23 feet by 27 feet 6 inches or 21 feet by 30 feet. 
 
 For 40 pupils 23 feet by 31 feet 4 inches. 
 
 There must be not less than twelve (12) square feet of floor space 
 for each pupil. 
 
 Ceiling 1 : No school room must be less than twelve (12) feet in 
 height. 
 
 Coat room: A coat room must adjoin each school room and must be 
 at least five (5) feet wide. It must have at least one outside window, 
 with a net glass area of one square foot to every ten (10) square feet of 
 floor area. 
 
 Doors: Each school room must have a door at least three (3) feet 
 by seven (7) feet, made to swing out, placed preferably near the teach- 
 er's end of the room. 
 
 BLACKBOARDS 
 
 Each school room should have at least one hundred (100) square feet 
 of good blackboard, preferably slate. 
 
 The distance of blackboards FROM THE FLOOR should be, for prim- 
 ary rooms, not more than twenty-four (24) inches; for grammar grades, 
 not more than thirty (30) inches, except that the front board used mainly 
 by the teacher may be from thirty (30) to thirty-two (32) inches from 
 the floor. For a one-room rural school where there are pupils of all 
 grades part of the blackboards should be not more than twenty-four (24) 
 inches from the floor and part thirty (30) or thirty-two (32) inches. 
 
 The width of the blackboards should not be less than forty-two (42) 
 inches. 
 
 LIGHTING 
 
 Amount of glass area: The glass area of all elementary rooms, all 
 high school study rooms, recitation rooms, industrial rooms and library 
 rooms must equal 20 per cent of the floor area of the room. 
 
 Location of windows: Light shall be admitted from the left or from 
 the left and rear of class rooms. 
 
 
14 LAWS AND RULES REGARDING SCHOOL BUILDINGS 
 
 The building should be so placed that each class room shall receive 
 sunlight during some part of the day. Light from the east is most desir- 
 able. Light from the west holds second place. Light from the north as 
 well as from the south should be avoided in school rooms. 
 
 COLOR OF WALLS AND CEILING 
 
 The color upon the walls of the school room is very important, for 
 color affects the nervous system in a very direct way and the reaction is 
 shown in the temperament and disposition of the persons living within 
 those walls. 
 
 All walls should be of a light color, but not white. A light gray, 
 light tan, chrome yellow, or a light olive green are the most hygenic 
 colors for school room walls. Blues are depressing; reds are exciting; 
 heavy or bright greens are irritating. Walls should never be a bright 
 clear color but a tint of a color grayed. The woodwork should be a shade 
 of that same color. It is hard to speak in terms of color for there are good 
 and bad effects in every color, and while the good is always good, the 
 bad is not only bad but positively injurious. Therefore, for safety's sake 
 two colors are recommended light tan walls with brown wood and neu- 
 tral gray walls with darker gray finishings. Either of these walls will 
 make a room look clean, large and airy and serve as a beautiful back- 
 ground for pictures. In each case the CEILING should be a lighter tint 
 of the wall's color with the tan walls, a cream ceiling; with the gray 
 walls, a pearl ceiling. 
 
 WINDOW SHADES 
 
 When building a new school house never leave the windows without 
 shades any more than leave the walls white. The result will be as in- 
 jurious to the children as to leave out the heating plant although the 
 effects will not be recognized as soon. 
 
 It is an economical necessity that every school building have window 
 shades. Shades are needed to regulate the amount of direct light which 
 comes into the room. Direct sunlight falling upon the open books is very 
 injurious to the eyes. Sunlight falling upon the polished tops of desks or 
 glass doors of book cases is reflected into the eyes of the children and is 
 as bad as direct sunlight. Translucent shades should be used. Opaque 
 window shades should not be used. Care should bt3 taken to have color 
 of shades harmonize with color of the walls. The window shades should 
 be the adjustable kind which may be lowered from the top or raised from 
 the bottom at will, thus making it possible at all times to have a softened 
 light over th room which is restful to the eyes and to the nerves. 
 
 HEATING AND VENTILATION 
 
 Temperature: All heating plants, including both direct and indirect 
 radiation, must be of sufficient capacity to maintain a uniform tempera- 
 ture of seventy (70) degrees F. at the breathing plane in all school rooms 
 when the outside temperature does not fall below twenty degrees F. 
 
STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA 15 
 
 Standard temperature of all school rooms shall not be more than sixty- 
 eight (68) degrees F. In corridors and coat rooms the temperature shall 
 be maintained at not less than sixty (60) degrees F. EACH ROOM 
 SHOULD BE PROVIDED WITH A THERMOMETER. 
 
 A system of ventilation shall furnish not less than thirty (30) cubic 
 feet of air per minute for each person that the room will accommodate 
 in accordance with the rules governing seating capacities of rooms. 
 
 The capacity of a gravity system of ventilation shall be subject to 
 test in accordance with this provision only when the difference of temper- 
 ature of the outside air and the air of the school room shall be forty (40) 
 degrees, or more. 
 
 THE JACKETED STOVE 
 
 (Smith system, Waterbury system, or some similar system.) 
 The jacketed stove such as put out by the Smith or Waterbury system 
 is an excellent heating and ventilating system. It must be installed ac- 
 cording to directions for installing these systems and operated properly. 
 The foul air pipe and fresh air intake pipe must be kept open. If these 
 two pipes are closed the jacketed stove not only fails to ventilate but fails 
 absolutely to heat. It is necessary to have a properly built chimney in 
 order to get the best results from such a system. Install the system ac- 
 cording to directions furnished by the company selling the system and 
 operate also according to the directions furnished. 
 
 THE HOT AIR BASEMENT FURNACE 
 
 Furnace requirements: The law requires that all furnaces and 
 furnace installations must be approved by the State Department of Public 
 Instruction before contracts are let. 
 
 The "PIPELESS HOT AIR FURNACE" does NOT meet state require- 
 ments for heating and ventilating school buildings and cannot be ap- 
 proved by the State Department of Public Instruction. 
 
 If a building of two or three or four rooms is to be heated by the hot 
 air furnace it is recommended that two furnaces be used. A large num- 
 ber of two-room buildings heated by one hot air furnace have been in- 
 spected and not one has been found that was heated satisfactorily. 
 
 The cut on page 23 illustrates the proper way of installing two hot 
 air furnaces. 
 
 Design of furnace: The furnace must be designed to heat an ade- 
 quate amount of outside air to a degree which will insure a comfortable 
 temperature in school rooms and provide at the same time proper venti- 
 lation. 
 
 The cross section area between the heating surface and the casing 
 must be of such proportion to the fresh air supply duct that no percep- 
 tible resistance is encountered by the air in passing to the hot air leaders. 
 
 Grate area: The grate area of furnaces in which soft coal is used 
 as fuel shall not be less than one square foot to every 2500 cubic feet 
 of school room and not less than one square foot to every 3500 cubic feet 
 
16 LAWS AND RULES REGARDING SCHOOL BUILDINGS 
 
 of corridors, coat rooms and other rooms not continuously used for reci- 
 tation or study. 
 
 The heating surface in direct contact with the fire or with hot gases 
 in a furnace in which soft coal is used shall be twelve (12) feet for each 
 thousand (1000) cubic feet of school room and twelve (12) square feet for 
 each 1500 cubic feet of other space to be heated in the building. 
 
 Fresh air intake: All air to be heated shall be drawn from outside. 
 The fresh air intake shall have a cross section area equivalent to not less 
 than eighty (80) per cent of the cross section area of all warm air ducts. 
 
 Warm air ducts: The flues for admitting warm air to any room on 
 the first floor shall have a cross section area of not less than one (1) 
 square foot for every one hundred sixty (160) square feet of floor area 
 in the school room. The warm air ducts for the second floor shall have a 
 cross section area of three-fourths (%) square foot for every one hund- 
 red sixty (160) square feet of floor area. 
 
 The hot air register should have its lower edge about eight (8) feet 
 above the floor. 
 
 Foul air ducts or ventiducts: As has already been stated before 
 where the hot air furnace is used to heat a two or three room building, 
 two hot air furnaces should be installed. There should also be two chim- 
 neys like the chimneys shown on page 27. This is a foul air flue with a clay 
 tile smoke stack in the center. A. foul air flue of this kind has been found 
 very satisfactory. A metal smoke stack of No. 12 gauge iron might be 
 used instead of tile but iron will rust out in time. 
 
 If separate ventiducts are used then those from the first floor must 
 have a cross section area of not less than three-fourths (%) square foot 
 for every one hundred sixty (160) square feet of floor area of the school 
 room. The ventiducts from the second floor must have a cross section 
 area of one (1) square foot for every one hundred and sixty (160) square 
 feet of floor area of school room. Vent openings MUST BE at the floor 
 level, on the same side of the room as the warm air flues. 
 
 Satisfactory provision must be made for stimulating an upward cur- 
 rent in ventiducts. Where the hot air furnace is used this is impossible 
 except by using the chimney with the clay tile smoke stack as the foul air 
 vent. 
 
 Where a steam system is used it can be easily accomplished by an 
 accelerating coil. In that case each vent shall have the equivalent of not 
 less than twenty (20) square feet of accelerating coil. 
 
 Floor registers : Floor registers MUST NOT be used in any school 
 building, but heat registers in coat rooms may be placed eight (8) inches 
 above the floor. Any heat duct with an opening eight (8) feet above the 
 floor may also have an additional opening near the floor. This lower 
 opening is to be equipped with a register and the heat duct with a damper 
 which will deflect the air current through the register. 
 
JLJU . L - J-J 
 
 This shows a good way of installing a hot air furnace. By means of 
 the fresh air chamber the supply of air is regulated 
 
STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA 17 
 
 Foot warmers: Foot warmers if installed will be permitted if reg- 
 ister is placed in the wall with edge at floor level. No floor register will 
 be permitted. 
 
 Rwirculation of air: .Return ducts for reheating air should not be 
 used and if used these ducts must not have floor registers. It must be a 
 register in the wall near the floor and on the same wall as the hot air 
 register. The register must be provided with a valve so that the return 
 duct can be closed during school hours. 
 
 STEAM HEAT 
 
 For buildings of four rooms or more the steam heating system is 
 recommended. 
 
 Where the steam heating system is used the heating system shall be 
 combined with the ventilating system, and whenever practicable, the 
 direct radiation and the indirect radiation shall be connected to separate 
 mains. 
 
 Where the gravity system of ventilation is used in connection with 
 the steam heating system the heat ducts and vent ducts shall each have 
 a cross section area of not less than one (1) square foot for every one 
 hundred sixty (160) square feet of floor area of the school room. 
 
 Heat ducts shall be supplied with not less than fifty (50) square feet 
 of indirect radiation for each square foot of cross section area of duct. 
 
 Each ventiduct shall have the equivalent of not less than twenty (20) 
 square feet of accelerating coil. 
 
 The fresh air must be taken directly from the outside and should be 
 taken into the fresh air chamber which must be kept clean at all times 
 and must not be used for storage purposes. 
 
 All dampers in ventilating systems must have brass tags with an ex- 
 planation of their use. 
 
 FAN SYSTEM OF VENTILATION 
 
 For all buildings "of six rooms or more the fan system of ventilation 
 should be installed. 
 
 THE FURNACE ROOM 
 
 Care: Failure to heat a school building properly is often due to the 
 reckless condition in which the basement is kept. 
 
 Equipment: The basement should be equipped with storm doors and 
 storm windows and a good coal chute is absolutely necessary. 
 
 Coal chutes where built of cement with wooden outside door, should 
 also have an inside door to be kept closed. 
 
 In fact all coal chutes should be provided with inside doors. Much 
 coal would thus be saved as those in charge are found to be frequently 
 careless about closing the outside opening. 
 
 FIRE PROTECTION 
 
 The law regarding fire escapes: 
 
 1200. Exits Required.] All school houses having more than one 
 school room shall have the doors in the exits opening outward, and it is 
 hereby further provided that after the passage of this act school houses 
 
18 LAWS AND RULES REGARDING SCHOOL BUILDINGS 
 
 of more than one room thereafter erected shall be provided* with an exit 
 not less than four feet six inches in width. All doors to be kept unlocked 
 from 8:30 a. m. to 4:30 o'clock p. m. on school days. 
 
 1201. Fire Escape, How Constructed.] There is hereby required a 
 stationary fire escape, consisting of iron stairways, attached to school 
 houses having more than one story, with iron landings easily acces:3ible 
 from each school room above the first floor, guarded by an iron railing 
 not less than two feet six inches in height. Such landings shall be con- 
 nected by iron stairs not less than three feet wide and with steps not less 
 than six inches tread, and protected by a well secured hand rail of iron 
 on both sides and reaching to the ground. Provided, however, that the six- 
 foot section immediately above the ground shall be hinged to the main 
 escape so it may be swung out of the way when not in use; further pro- 
 vided that this section shall not affect school houses now constructed 
 and provided with adequate fire escapes. The way of egress to such fire 
 escape shall at all times be kept free and clear from all obstruction of any 
 and every nature. 
 
 1202. Duty of School Officers.] Trustees, boards of directors 
 boards of education, or any other person having charge of such schojl 
 houses shall comply with the provisions of this act within six months a? cer 
 its passage and approval. 
 
 1203. Penalty.] Any person or board violating any of the provi- 
 sions of this act shall upon conviction thereof, be deemed guilty of a mis- 
 demeanor and shall be punished by a fine of not less than twenty-five 
 dollars or more than one hundred dollars. 
 
 The law regarding fire drill and guards: 
 
 FIRE DRILL AND GUARDS FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS 
 
 An Act requiring fire drills in the public schools, providing for fire 
 
 guards, and prescribing penalties for the violation thereof. 
 Be it Enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the State of North Dakota: 
 1. Duties of Teachers and Superintendents.] It shall be the duty 
 of all teachers in the public schools of this state where any school has 
 more than one room, to give at least two fire drills each month, and no 
 such teacher shall draw his salary for any month until he has certified to 
 the clerk of the school board that such fire drills have been given; provid- 
 ed, that in districts having a superintendent, such superintendent shall 
 prescribe rules governing such fire drills for the schools under his sup- 
 ervision, and he shall not draw his salary until he shall have certified to 
 the clerk of the school board or the secretary of the board of education 
 that at least two such fire drills have been given in each school under his 
 supervision, as provided for in this act. 
 
 2. Duty of County Superintendent,] It shall be the duty of the 
 county superintendent of schools to prescribe reasonable rules for giv- 
 ing fire drills in the rural schools of his county, with special reference to 
 prairie fires, and any school board may direct that no teacher shall 
 draw his salary until one fire drill each month shall have been given. 
 
STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA 19 
 
 3. Fire Guards.] It shall be the duty of every school board in this 
 state to provide such fire guards as they may deem reasonable around 
 schools in their districts. Should any school board fail or neglect to pro- 
 vide such fire guards, it shall be the duty of the county superintendent of 
 schools to notify such school board of such failure, and it shall be a mis- 
 demeanor for any member of such school board, after being so notified, to 
 draw his salary until such guards have been made. 
 
 SANITATION 
 
 County Board of Health law: 
 
 404. County Board of Health. How Composed. (Session Laws 
 1915.)] The're is hereby established county boards of health, composed 
 of a president, vice-president and superintendent; the state's attorney in 
 each county shall be president of the county board; the county superin- 
 tendent of schools shall be vice-president, and the board of county com- 
 missioners shall at the first meeting of the board each year appoint a 
 superintendent of public health for the county, who shall be learned in 
 medicine, and hold a license to practice medicine and surgery within the 
 state, and the several persons appointed shall hold their offices for one 
 year and until their successors are elected and qualified. 
 
 Provided, however, that whenever the state board of health has rea- 
 son to believe that the county superintendent of public health is failing 
 to perform his duties as prescribed by law they may report the case to 
 the board of county commissioners, and the latter may, after proper hear- 
 ing, at their next meeting declare the office vacant, and appoint another 
 physician in his place for the remainder of the unexpired term. 
 
 COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH HAS AUTHORITY TO CONDEMN 
 
 SCHOOL BUILDINGS 
 
 1186. County Board of Health.] Whenever the county superintend- 
 ent of schools shall report to the county board of health that a school 
 house or any school out building is in an unsanitary or unsafe condition, 
 or that any of the pupils or any person of school age is alleged to be de- 
 fective in mind or body, it shall be the duty of the said board to investi- 
 gate the report without delay and to direct the school board or a person 
 in charge of the alleged defective to take such action as shall seem to be 
 for the best interests of the persons immediately concerned. 
 
 TOILETS 
 
 Location: In order to secure convenience of access, adequate light, 
 efficient ventilation, proper care and other sanitary conditions, toilet 
 rooms should be located on the first floor rather than in the basement. 
 This is especially desired in the one room school. All toilet rooms MUST 
 have outside light. 
 
 Toilet rooms must not open directly into play room. Boys and girls 
 toilet rooms must be so placed that the strictest privacy is provided. 
 
 Fixtures: The number of fixtures cannot be fixed by rule, but in 
 general it may be said that there should be one watercloset for every 
 twenty girls, one watercloset and one urinal for every twenty-five boys. 
 
20 LAWS AND RULES REGARDING SCHOOL BUILDINGS 
 
 Inside toilets installed with water pressure system should provide a 
 means of flushing the urinal. 
 
 Liquid soap and paper towels should be provided in lavatories. 
 Where outside toilets are built they MUST be built with an entry so as to 
 keep out the snow. 
 
 DRINKING FOUNTAINS 
 
 In selecting fountains the nozzle should be of a type which will not 
 permit water which has touched the lips to fall back upon the stream 
 from such nozzle. 
 
 Common drinking cups and common towels must not be used. 
 
STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA 21 
 
 WATER SUPPLY 
 
 From "Health Activities in North Dakota Public Schools," by Dr. 
 A. A. Whittemore, Bowman, N. Dak. 
 
 The number of schools having no adequate supply of pure water is 
 surprising, and the number of poorly constructed, unclean toilets that 
 are neither weather-tight nor fly-proof is not at all encouraging. 
 
 (1.) Water Supply 
 
 Without knowing the geological conditions of each county in detail 
 specific information is impossible. In general, however, it is necessary 
 that every school be abundantly supplied with pure water with bubbling 
 fountains or individual drinking cups, paper towels, and lavatory fa- 
 cilities. 
 
 (2.) Dug Wells 
 
 This type of well is not usually conceded to be desirable or even safe 
 under most conditions and requires more care than is ever given it. It 
 is always a shallow well invariably becoming contaminated and unsafe 
 from the growth of organic matter at the bottom and along the walls. 
 Gophers, mice and other small animal life soon fall into it. The surface 
 drainage is usually too flat and inadequate and the platform leaky and 
 unsanitary. If in addition to this there is an over-abundant supply of 
 water, no matter how pure its source, the water is sure to become un- 
 wholesome, even if the well is cleaned and pumped out once a year, 
 which is, by the way, seldom done. 
 
 (3.) Driven, Bored and Drilled W r ells 
 
 These types of wells when conditions are at all favorable, and pure 
 water can be obtained in sufficient quantities, are the only ones to be 
 seriously considered. Organic bacteria are not usually found in numbers 
 detrimental to health five or six feet below the surface. If these wells 
 are properly curbed with drainage tile or galvanized iron tubbing extend- 
 ing a foot or more above the surface and the catchment area has been 
 carefully inspected to see that the surface drainage is good and that im- 
 pervious strata do not lead from sources of contamination, the water from 
 these wells ought to be good, if they are properly cared for. 
 
 (4.) Cisterns 
 
 There are a few places in the state where wells of any description 
 cannot be had. In these places storage tanks or rain water cisterns have 
 to be resorted to. 
 
 The element of time and sedimentation in stored waters is very much 
 in their favor; but the primary source and mode of transportation should 
 receive careful consideration. 
 
22 LAWS AND RULES REGARDING SCHOOL BUILDINGS 
 
 Rain water cisterns may be made safe when the school .house is not 
 too closely situated to well traveled roads or to other sources of contam- 
 ination accessible to flies and birds, and the roof is large enough to sup- 
 ply the demand. The first washings should be discarded. The storage 
 tank in any case may be a simple cistern with well cemented sides, top 
 and bottom, situated in an accessible place. The water should be first 
 run through a coarse sand filter. A soft brick chimney well and tightly 
 laid in cement mortar run up on the inside of the cistern may be con- 
 structed for a supply pipe, or the water may be run through either a 
 pressure or a gravity filter. A number of excellent filters are on the 
 market. The whole system may be constructed for $200.00 to $250.00, not 
 much more than the cost of a first class well. The water may be purified 
 if it has bacterial content, by the use of a very small amount of chloride 
 of lime (.016 of an ounce to 1,000 gallons). If you will write to "Health 
 Information Bureau," of the American Public Health Association, Boston, 
 Mass., and tell them your troubles, they will, without cost, inform you 
 where any desired information on any health problem may be found. 
 
 Any water supply whether in wells or in storage systems should be 
 examined bacterially and chemically at one of the State's Health Labora- 
 tories frequently, and the report kept on file as a permanent record. Spe- 
 cial containers will be furnished upon application to the nearest Public 
 Health Laboratory. 
 
This is an excellent floor and basement plan for a small four-room 
 school. Thare ar two large clais rooms and two small class rooms. 
 
LA /I 
 
 It also shows the proper way to install hot air basement furnaces. There 
 
 are two furnaces and two chimneys like the one shown on page 
 
 This is the best way of providing good ventilation where the hot air 
 furnace is used. This basement plan with two furnaces and two chim- 
 neys is recommended for two-room schools also. 
 

 This shows construction of chimney that should be built for all school 
 buildings having hot air basement furnaces or the jacketed stove. It is 
 a combination chimney and foul air vent flue. An 8-inch vitrified tile 
 stack is used as smoke flue. The smoke flue heats the air in the foul 
 air flue giving the air the upward movement and causing the desired 
 draft. 
 
ATE 
 
 AY A ND * !* S CEN ON P 
 
 1 
 
45871.8 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CAUFORNIA LIBRARY