The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1890-09-12
HOW THE SCHOOLS LOOK.
The $4,000 Well Expended
for Repairs by the Di-
rectors.
MUCH REMAINS TO Be DONE.
But the Buildings Are Fairly Clean
and Habitable Except No. g.
Yesterdays Review.

At the conclusion of the meeting of the
Board of Finance, yesterday morning,
President Edelstein and Commissioners
Allen and Bray, the only members of the
Board who were present, were joined by
several members of the Board of Educa-
ton and started on a tour of inspection
among the schools which had been re-
paired during the summer vacation. Mr..
Bray complained of feeling Ill and did
not join the party.
1t will be remembered that the Board
Of Finance appropriated $4,000 for re-
pairs to the schools, and as there are
twenty-five schools in the city it can be
seen that small sum only could be
spent upon each school. The buildings
visited yesterday showed that the money
had been expended economically and
laid out to the best advantage. They also
dem monstrated that The JERSEY CITY
NEWS was right when it insisted that the
schools and taxpayers would derive more
benefit from the money ii 1t was expend-
ed by the Board of Education instead of
by the Board of Public Jobbery, which
His Fraudulency the Acting Mayor en-
deavored to have handle the money.
A careful examination OF the buildings
inspected yesterday which were chosen
at random and which were situated in
different parts of the city clearly demon
Strated that whatever may be said of
some of the proceedings of the Board of
Education, the members have in this par
ticular faithfully discharged the duties
involved upon them and clearly shown
that the confidence the public reposed in
them in entrusting In their hands the ex.
penditure of this large sum OF money
was not misplaced. One dark spot stands
out clearly in this bright prospect and
| that is that many OF the schools require
twice as much money expended upon
them again TO make them anything but a
| disgrace to the city. Although the men,
bers Of the Board of Eincation have
carefully husbanded the money at their
| disposal and made it go as far as possible,
several of the schools look as though
! they had not even been touched and
would not be tolerated a single day in
| many backwoods school district.
THE TOUR BEGINS.
| The first building visited was the High
| School on Bay street. Director Muldoon
| has had charge of the repairs to this edi-
| flee and has acquitted himself of that
| charge faithfully and conscientiously.
| When the pupils return from their va
| cation they will hardly recognize their old
| building. The entrance and halls have
! all been kalsomined and the ceilings or
namented in attractive designs. new
! carpet and new railing have been placed
| in the clerks room, while the room in
| which the Board meets has been SO
frightened up with lsaisomine and paint
| that it looks almost like new apart
ment Tine furnaces have been taken cut
| and overhauled, and The kindergarten
| gallery seats, to which Mr.. Muldoon is
uncompromisingly opposed, have been
| replaced by modern benches.
! There is much which this building yet
| needs. The plaster ceiling around the
| furnaces (what little is left of it) should
| be taken down and replaced by tin. The
4 outside woodwork around the windows is
! innocent Of all paiut and In danger of de-
| caying. Principal Sweeney says that if
the large assembly room was altered SO
| that it could be divided into smaller
rooms by sliding doors he could accom-
| modate 200 more pupils. Some repairs are
badly needed in the laboratory and in the
plumbing of the closets on the boys side.
1 From No. 5, the party, which now con-
sisted of President Edelstein and Com
| missioner Allen, of the Finance Board,
and President Voorhees, and Directors
| Reid, Pfingsten, Moran, Muldoon and
| Kelly, of the Board of Education, pro-
ceeded to No. 8. Here the visitors found
that the small amount of money appro-
| priated to this school had been judi
| ciously expended. New furnaces were
in, and all the sash cords were new. The
plumbing had been all overhauIed, and a
/ new skylight put in. New carpets were
| on the platforms and in front of the prin-
cipafs desks. Still considerable yet re-
mains to be done TO place the building in
/ first class condition. School No. / was
the next visited. The main portion of
this structure is the Oldest school build
ing in the city, and was erected in 1S47,
Since then two wings have been added
to the structure, the east one Of which
now has bad crack extending up the
front wall almost from the pavement to
the cornice. Here new tin roof has been
put on, the furnaces and plumbing over
hauled, and the entire building bright
ened up generally.
AS the party was about to leave this
school Finance Commissioner Allen said
that he had seen enough to demonstrate
to him the wisdom of his Board in en-
trusting the money for the repairs into
the hands of the Board of Education and
he would withdraw. He did so and the
remainder OF the party proceeded to
School No. 81. The first thing which at
tracted attention there was the fine APP
pearance the front of the school pre-
sented in It's new coat of paint. Director
Moran took much pride in showing the
visitors to what advantage he had dis
posed of the share of the $15, 900 which
came to him. The walls were all kali
somined, new cutters were put in and
the blaekboards throughout the entire
building repainted. Like all the other
school buildings No, u needs more re-
pairs.
From No 81 the party drove to No. 10,
at Crescent avenue and Astor place.
This school is President Voorhees, espe-
cial pride, and he insisted upon telling
every one that it wa, the finest school
building in the city. 1t certainly is q fine
structure. and although the President
has made every dollar go as far as posi-
BILE there is considerable which could yet
be done to the school. President Voor-
hees used much of his money to securing
perfect ventilation.
lie found that the air shaft which runs
up through the middle of the chimney
had rotten away, ana instead of carrying
away the foul air drove it out into the
class rooms. This defect was roinedied
at a large expense.
One of the four furnaces was found SC
completely gone that it had to be replaced
by new one and the other three were
completely renovated. President Voor-
| hees added accommodations for l20 more
pupils to the school by turning the quar-
tcrs occupied by the janitor into class
rooms.
Director Reid was in his element
| when No. IA, the next school visited, was
reached. The first thing the party did
upon alighting in front of the school was
to heap invectives upon the heads of the
Street and Water Board for allowing the
street and sidewalk IN front of the school
to remain in such barbarous condition
1t is uneven, broken, below grade and sc
deplorable generally that it is menace
TO the safety of the children No Ia was