Education: Price of Neglect

As if it were not enough to be one of the ugliest cities in the U.S., Pawtucket, R.I. (pop. 81,000) has in the past also been one of the most corrupt. Under the long rule of Democratic Mayor Thomas P. McCoy, its school buildings crumbled with neglect while Democratic bosses boasted of the city's low tax rate. But McCoy died. Though his successors in the city hall were also reluctant to allocate adequate sums for school repair, in 1954 Pawtucket got a school superintendent named Edmund J. Farrell who had an urge for reform....

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