The Territorial report of 1881–82, however, speaks only of “advanced grades” in the Tucson schools, and gives nowhere any indication of the precise degree of advancement. No schools, classified as high schools, are reported in 1885–86, but there is reason to believe that all of the larger cities in the Territory were doing some work of high-school grade, although it was given in small doses and presumably generally counted as a part of the grade work.
In the case of Tucson it was found less necessary to develop the high-school grade because of the preparatory department of the newly organized university, which furnished all the high-school facilities of which the town was able to avail itself. In recent years, as the university becomes stronger and better organized, it has begun to close out its preparatory work, and this in turn is thrown back on the city or other high schools, from which special development may be expected in the near future. This is already becoming visible in some of the cities not only in special high-school work, but in general development and growth. Thus, in the case of Tucson itself, in 1887–88 there was a total of 528 pupils in the whole school; there were 3 buildings and 11 teachers; the property of the district, including library and apparatus, was valued at $68,425; the receipts from taxes and rents were $15,333.95, while the total expenditures were $11,106.14. In 1908–9 the enrollment had increased to 2,160, and the courses offered at that time were 4-year courses in Latin, English, mathematics, and history, with 2-year courses in Spanish and German and in commercial work. By 1909–10 there were 5 ward schools and a high school, and there were employed 53 teachers, 5 principals, and 3 supervisors. In that year the total enrollment was 2,313.
The enrollment in Tucson has steadily increased, necessitating more teachers and more buildings, until in 1915–16 it was 3,139, and there were 6 school buildings and 1 building rented for use as a colored school. There are now (1916–17) 8 principals, 4 supervisors, and 73 teachers, and the enrollment at the end of the sixth month was 3,446. During the summer of 1917 it was expected that a large $100,000 building would be erected in place of the Safford School, and four 2-room buildings and one 4-room building were to be put up, one of the 2-room buildings to be used as a colored school.
The growth of another selected city school system may be taken to represent the general growth and development of the whole.
The Globe School attained an attendance of 1,362 for the year 1914–15, of whom 1,091 were in the public and 271 in the high school. This system adopted the six-and-six plan at the beginning of 1914. Under this plan the six upper grades, from the seventh to the twelfth, inclusive, are organized as the high school and all work is done on the departmental system.
