The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1900-10-31
AFFAIRS OF TIVE DISTRICT
Superintendent Stuart Discusses
School Building Plans.
Criticfses the Structure In Course of
Erection at South Carolina Avenue
and Second Street-A Radical De-
Dnrture From the Standard Type.
Points Ont Objectionable Features.

In reply to the request of the Engineer
Commissioner. a. P. Stuart, Superinten-
dent of Schools, has submitted his views
with reference to the plans of new school
buildings now awaiting acceptance by the
Commissioners. Mr.. Stuart says that for
school houses designed for the occupancy
OF large numbers of children there is
conventional ground plan, in which the
arrangement and size of rooms and the
location and size of exits are determined
largely with reference to safe, easy,
and orderly handling of large bodies CT
children. Such a ground plan, he says,
has the sanction OF long usage, and IS
approved by the experience of principals
and teachers. He informs the Commits
sioners that this plan contemplates school
rooms large enough to comfortably place
forty-eight to fifty desks aud chairs. with
ample aisles and with spaces in front and
rear sufficient to provide safe passage
way for exit at all times. Continuing,
Mr.. Stuart says:
There should be ample entrances and
exits for boys and girls on opposite sides
of the buildings, with stairways leading
directly from the main floor. The rooms
should receive light from both sides-that
is to say, they should be corner rooms.
II possible to avoid it, room should DE
lighted from enc side only A COMPARE
son of what are known as inside rooms
81 the Franklin or Jefferson schools with
the corner rooms in the same buildings
is invited. The objection to the room
with windows on one side only is found,
not alone in bad distribution OF light,
but such rooms are warmer in summer
and more difficult to ventilate at all times.
The school building now in course Of
construction at South Carolina Avenue and
Second Street southeast is a radical depart
f,-o,> rH, nj heXvi no
opposite entrances for boys and girls L is
difficult TO see how 4G0 children can be
safely or eXpeditiously handled in school
house in which all the avenues OF egress
on the main floor lead TO a single front
door None Of the architects plans sub
mittsd contain so glazing fault as thiE,
although several Of them do not provide
the arrangements for exits that are desir-
ed.
u call attention to the fact that the
schooITooms in many OF the plans sub
miJted are too small, being only "A feet
wide. To comfortably seat forty-elght to
fifty pupils rooms should be % to IS feet
wide and from % to 50 feet long. am aware
that the rooms conform to he require
msnts of Is feet floor surface TO each pu-
pill but this is the minimum requirement.
which some of the architects seem 10 think
need not be exceeded. l cali attention to
the ample size of school rooms in some OF
cur older buildings: Franklin, 81 by =
feet; Seaton School, 40 by y feet; Curtis
School, 322 by 81 feet; Abbott School, 35
by % feet; Dennison School, sc by % feet,
Grant School, So by 26 feet, and Webste.
School. 33.5 by 26.2 feet.
While it Is true that ii has been, arc
yet is. the steadfast policy OF the schoo
authorities to materially reduce the mum
Der of pupils per teacher. the reduction
thus far accomplished does not warran:
the planning of smaller schoolrooms, foI
many reasons, chief among which are the
need OF room for bookcases, number ia
bIes and other appliances not formerly
found in such abundance as at present
and the space required for physical exer-
cises now in daily practice in all cur
schools, demanding wider aisles and larg-
er floor space
4 suggest that in future plans for school
houses inside blinds be omitted, as ex-
-qensive and practically useless, substi-
tuting a window shade over gTounf-glass
windows. Also, that the blackboard ledge
shall never be more than two and half
feet from the floor"
The letter of Prof Stuart was submitted
to the Commissioners through Richard
Kingsman Chairman OF the Committee or
Buildings, Repairs, and Sanitation of the
School Board, who added the recommends
ton that, if practicable. all water closets
be placed outside the school buildings in
suitable annexes and that, safeguard
against possible contagion, the clothing Of
pupils in cloakrooms be separated by par
titions, projecting far enough from the
wall to prevent contact.