School Improvements – Mansfield MA

Description

The schools of Mansfield, Massachusetts received assistance throughout the New Deal. Early New Deal-sponsored improvements came from the Civil Works Administration and the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, saving the town’s taxpayers money.

The town’s 1933 Annual Report states:
“Late in November, the Civil Works Administration approved a request of the School Department for $1,558.20 for the employing of seven local men in a program of repairs to school buildings and equipment. … Besides numerous small jobs of repair work … several larger projects are planned. These are, a new chimney at the Main Street School; a new floor in a basement room at the Junior High School; and a shower bath, and a locker room … at the same school. Several women have been employed with CWA funds, on repairing school books.” Improvements benefits various schools in the town.

Further CWA funds were received in 1934 “for repairs and improvements on school buildings, equipment, and grounds.” That year Federal Emergency Relief Administration funds were used to hire unemployed Mansfield residents to teach evening school classes; 125 residents enrolled. By the time classes ceased on June 21, 1934, “seven unemployed citizens of the town received a total of $408.86 in salaries.”

The town saved several hundred dollars in 1934 due to the efforts of “women E.R.A. workers,” who repaired about 500 books at Mansfield’s Junior High School, Main Street School, and Spaulding School. E.R.A. labor also duplicated the school record cards of 1,400 graduates for storage in the Town Hall’s vault.