First Aid

Soon after James David MacConnell became associate dean of Stanford University's School of Education back in 1947, he began to have callers from the school systems of overcrowded California towns. Most of them were superintendents who "thought they needed more schools or additions but didn't know how to go about getting them. I was struck," says MacConnell, "by how lost some of them seemed to be."

A onetime school superintendent himself (in Beaverton, Mich.), Dean MacConnell thought he knew how to help his callers out. His scheme: a special School Plant Planning Department at Stanford which would not only aid small communities but would also give Stanford graduate students some first-hand experience in practical administration.

18 Ceilings. By late 1949, MacConnell had his new department, plus a headquarters "laboratory" of construction and equipment specimens, e.g.: 18 different types of ceiling, five types of flooring, and just about every shape and size of chair, table and desk a school might need. Meanwhile, MacConnell and his graduate students were busy answering calls for help.

The first call came from the town of Campbell (pop. 9,500); shortly there were calls from Los Altos (10,700), Redwood City (25,342) and Soquel (school district 4,000). MacConnell & Co. moved to each town in turn, went to work.

Sometimes they merely gave advice on what sort of furniture to buy, what soundproofing, chalkboards or gym floors. In overcrowded towns, they analyzed population trends, decided just how much more space each school district would need to take care of its students properly. In the town of Soquel, for instance, they found that the elementary-school population had risen more than 16% in a single year, that the school had tried to make room for 282 more pupils than it should, and that it had only half the desirable amount of playground space. In Los Altos, the Stanford group recommended a $1,185,408 building program--a recommendation complete down to the last bicycle rack and incinerator.

Fustest & Mostest. But MacConnell and his students did not stop with recommendations: in some towns they undertook to persuade citizens to vote for school bond issues. They arranged radio interviews, hired airplanes, snapped aerial pictures of likely school sites. In Campbell, they persuaded local merchants to plump for a school bond issue in special ads.

Last week calls for help had come in from a town in Utah and another in Montana. MacConnell was looking forward to sending his first teams outside the state. "We're sure other universities will take up our idea if we don't move fast," says he. "We want to get there fustest with the mostest."

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