Background of the pr problem. Newcastle, Wyoming, county seat of Weston County, is located on the eastern border of the state. It is the only town in School District Number One. The school district encompasses an area of approximately three thousand square miles. In 1954 it included eleven rural elementary schools, two city elementary schools, a junior high school, and a senior high school. Newcastle has grown from a population of approximately two thousand in,1945 to five thousand in 1954. 1 During that same period the population for the district increased from nine hundred to fourteen hundred pupils. 2 This relatively large increase has placed a great strain on the schools. Difficulties in school administration and management have originated from this rapid growth of the community. The Gertrude Burns Elementary School, one of the two elementary schools in Newcastle and the school used in this study, was completed and first occupied in the fall of 1951. At that time 250 children were enrolled. In May 1954, the same building was housing 480 children
