The San Francisco call., 1896-06-03
The Sanitary State Of School
houses - Contagious
Disorders.
SOME REMEDIES SUGGESTED.
Reasons for Condemning Schools-The
Superintendent and the
Health Officer.

The good health of the thousand
teachers and the forty thousand pupils of
the public schools of San Francisco is
matter of vital importance to this COM
mun,ty.
Some six months ago the sanitary. or
rather the unsanitary condition, of many OF
the primary grammar schools caused a
lively little tiff between the Board of Edu-
cation and the Board of Health. DR.. A.
S. Lovelace, the Health Officer, personally
inspected the numerous schoolhouses OF
the department and under his advice sew
eral of them were condemned and tempor-
arily closed. The only excuse urged by
the educators for the notoriously bad
sewerage, ETC., existing in many OF the
school buildings was that they lacked
money sufficient to make needed repairs.
The Board OF Health, however, was not
entirely satisfied with this plea. In con-
sequence the Richmond Primary was con-
demned as nuisance to the public health
and temporarily closed until the vaults
had been repaired as recommended by the
Health Officer. In the Longfellow Pri-
mary there was found to be an epidemic
of scarlet fever raging among the pupils,
and it was also closed for week or two
until it was put into good sanitary con-
dition. Since then the epidemic has
abated and all trouble between the Board
OF Health and Board OF Education has
seemingly ceased.
The sanitary condition of the school
buildings, though, is far from satisfactory,
and every possible effort is now being
made for their improvement Super
intendent Babcock has just issued circu-
lar letter to school principals for the pur-
pose Of getting all information, which
may be useful to the authorities in taking
precautionary measures for the protection
of the health of the pupils and teachers.
Among the many questions contained IN
the letter are the following:
Is the schoolhouse built on land which is
high or low in comparison with the adjoining
land?
Is it away from marshes and stagnant pools
and from noisy or Objectionable industries,
stables and railroads?
Is ii near the center OF the district and &C
cessible from the streetcars?
How many cesspools are there in the yard?
How many pupils was the building designed
10 accommodate?
How many now occupy It?
How old is the building?
What is the ma aterial of which it is built7
What provisions are made for fre-escapes2
Is there any fire drill?
How often is it practiced?
What is the method OF producing ventilation?
What is the system OF heating?
What are the duties of the janitor, relative
to cleaning?
What contagious diseases have prevailed
among the pupils during the past year?
Was the illness probably caused by condi-
tions at home or by conditions at school?
How many deaths of registered pupils have
occurred during the years 1994-'95?
These questions are full OF suggestions,
and need no explanation.
Following are the two rules of the de-
partment concerning contagious diseases:
Section 1O3. Any teacher in whose residence
there is a contagious disease shall remain away
from school, and shall Immediately report the
facts to the committee on rules, which COM
1nittee shall determine when the teacher may
return.
Sec. 122. Pupils shall give due attention to
personal neatness and cleanliness, and any
who fail in this respect must be sent home to
be properly prepared for school. Those who
are affected with or in whose families there may