Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-05

the congestion on Cofnmbia Heights and
| the Henry 7. Blow, an eight-room build
| ING In the sixth division. which will3relieve
/ The Pierce and Webb schools, will be oc-
eap.cd early in the next school year. while
, appropriations have been made for the
/ erection of a new eight-room building in the
fifth division, the Anthony Hyde. and one
! in the thirteenth division the Francis +
| Cardoze. The latter buildings will be ready
| Ter occupancy in the fan of 1906
The new Business High School building
| VIII PROBABLY be finished before Januar ~
| I, 1906.
| The crowded condition of the class rooms
| IN the Mckinley Manual Training School
| building, which still necessitates the use
OF TWO school rooms in the Henry building
and one in the Central High School build
| ing, makes II Imperative that an extension
OF this building contemplated in the orig
maj plans should be built at the earles.
| possible day.
The land needed for future extension OF
! the Armstrong Manual Training School
should also be purchased. These with the
other more pressing needs, were recon-
menoed IN their estimate by the Commits
| sioners. who also transmit all the recon-
| mendations of the board of education for
! additional buildings.
Inc necessity of providing a suitable
nome M 1or the Washington Normal School
| no. 1, grows more serious in the esti-
| nation of the board of educa ton every
year 1t has been found necessary in order
| 10 supply our local demand for trained
1 " iHCiedSe the membership OF
| TINS school. Owing to the discontinuance
OF the Hearst kindergarten Training
Schoof whence our chief supply of trained
| thllndergarteners has heretofore been drawn
10 organize kindergarten department in
me normal school, which has stu further
Increased the enrolment and as the new
department of Normal School No. / could
10. ne accommodated in the Franklin build
ihIg, 1t was necessary to occupy rented
premises IN the neighborhood
or these reasons 1t becomes more jr,nor-
.aa. each year to secure a site for a per-
iiiaieht nome Tor this school, as has here
toIofe been recommended with ground
enough for a normal school building. such
Pidctice SCHOOLS as are needed and grounds;
rol sShool gardening. Such a site may be
Iouhd IN the lots adjoining the John w
Ross School on the east extending TO
Eleventh street, and southwark on Elavent h
street TO Princeton street. 1t is hoped tina I
laVorabie action will be obtained from
purchase Of this ground
In spite or the Increase in the school en-
roilment the provision for new buildings.
winch mas been made during the last few
years, VIII cause marked reduction in the
number of halliday schools above tho seq
ond grade tN
Notwithstanding the steady Increase in
the NUMBER of graduates from our high
SCHOOLS ana manual training schools the
number of girls entering the normal school
NO 10 he trained as teachers is ,nuch
smaller than formerly, and for the last two
yedl-S no boys nave applied for admission
Niean"hlie the demand for trained teachers
increases, and during the year lust c'osed
the losses caused by the frequent changes
IN The teaching corps exhausted the entire
iLst Oh eliglbles of the normal school and
II was FOUND necessary to replenish our
teaching force as vacancies occurred by the
selection of such graduates of approved
normal schools elsewhere as could be in
auce e 10 come TO Washington. In nearly
every instance these
relatives or friends living here. which in
part overeame the objection to the small
remuneration offered A better scale of
salaries, particularly in the higher grades
and pfincipalshps, would induce more of
our own graduates to choose the profess
sion or teaching and would attract some
young men to the normal school
we are now suffering, on the one hand
from the loss of experienced teachers who
go elsewhere to get better living salaries.
and, on the other hand from diminished
output OF trained normal school graduates
IN arranging permanent scale of sal
afles for teachers and school officers it
should be kept in mind that it is not the
salary paid to the beginner that deter
mines the character of the pay schedule.
but the assurance that continued and etii-
cient service will be rewarded by a SUBJ
stantial increase of pay
Ihe initial salary III Washington is not
much below that paid to teachers in cities
of corresponding grade. A weak point in
our method of paying teachers, in the judg-
msnt of the superintendent of schools lies
IN the absence of any definite annual or
periodical advance after reasonable term
OF effective service. If this is corrected
the outflow of seasoned teachers from
which we have suffered for a number OF
years, viii be checked. 1t will also serve
as an inducement to the graduates of our
high schools to choose teaching as a per-
manent occupation.
Public Fairgrounds.
loCt
uuence of the recommendation by the Com
missioners, made provision for public play
grounds to the extent of appropriating
$1,oG0 for those connected with the public
schools, and S2,Go0 for those not so con-
nected, the former appropriation to be APP
piled to equipment, the latter to equipment
and maintenance. These were understood
to be experimental appropriations made
in view of the successful efforts of the com
mittee of citizens to maintain public play
grounds throug private contributions. The
appropriations We're expended in co-opera-
ton with the citizens committee which
raised $1,350 from the citizens to supple
ment the amount of the appropriation. and
such good work was done in nineteen play
grounds that the Commissioners felt war
ranted. in the interest of the children of
the community, in recommending an esti-
mate of 500, COO for the purchase of ulay-
ground site selected by the citizens com
mlttee as the one that should be first pur-
chased and also $12S00 for the equipment
and maintenance of general and public
school Fairgrounds.
Large expenditures for this form of pop
ular education have been made in a num-
Der of the large cities of the country with
such satisfactory results that the practice
of making such appropriations has been
well established and with general approval.
The Public Library.
The report of the trustees of the Public
Library of the District of Columbia shows
that the year was enc of forward move
ment in every department in the lbrary's
activities.
There were 11,322 volumes added to the
book collections, and the net strength of
the library at the end of the year was
70 .045 volumes. There was an increase of
IL per cent in the number Of registered Dor
rowers, of whom there were IS, 779 at the
end of the year. The total home circula-
ton of books was 353, 493, an increase OF
75,30S volumes, or a gain of 81 per cent
over the previous year. The daily circu,a-
ton increased from sos, the figures of last
year, to LAG. With this great increase in
circulation there was a decrease of u per
cent in the proportion of fiction circulated
In the juvenile department the increase In
circulation was 53 per cent over last year
accompanied by a reduction in the proper