The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1907-10-12
INVITED TO INSPECT
BASEMENT ROOM
Supt. Mcdaniel Asks Public
to Visit Lafayette
School.
TIMES REPORTER ACCEPTS
Finds Conditions Far From What
They Are Represented-Apart-
ment Light and Airy.

Owing to the cry that has gone up
recently by mothers who are patrons
Of the Riverside school and whose
children are affected by the change
which was made possible by opening a
school room in the basement of the La
Fayette building, superintendent c. NJ.
Mcdaniel has extended a special in
vitation to the patrons of Hammond
to make a investigation of the sani-
tary conditions that exist in the La
Fayette school.
reporter for the LAKE COUNTY
TIMES visited the school today.
The room is situated in the basement
in the southeast part of the building
and accommodate forty-six sixth
grade pupils. The entrance to the
basement is not inviting, owing to the
furnace and the heating pipes that are
in evidence. The school room how
ever, is separate from these surround
ings and when the door is closed is no
different in appearance from those OF
the upper floors. The walls are ten
feet high The windows are screened
the screens being fastened in such a
manner that they can easily be torn
off in an emergency case. According
to the janitor they are occasionally
| torn off by the pupils during recess
hours. The door leading to the school
room is as wide as any other school
room door in the building.
Toilet Some Distance Away.
The boys toilet is in the basement
at least twenty five feet away from
the school room, in a separate room
which has a self-closlng door and is
situated on the other side of the hal
| way. There is no foul odor percept-
| ible, but there is the odor OF Olsen
| feetant prevalent both in the clas.
room and I'm the toilet room itself. The
foul air shaft which led from tht
tschoof room into the basement has beer
closed up and the air will pass through
! the buildings main foul air shaft. Th'
sewer drain that was located in tht
middle of the cement floor has beer
closed Up and made air tight. TIL,
cement floor has been overlaid with
| wooden floor, the two having an al
chamber between them. The walls ar
plastered with plaster having been ap
piled to laths and not to the brick as i
the case in the upper rooms. Their
is also an air chamber between tn
main walls and the plaster. The no
air pipes which pass through the room
heat and dry the air
The ventilation in the room is a
good as in any other part of the build
ing Should fire start in the neighbor
hood of the furnace the children II
the basement room are nearer to tn
door of exit than the pupils of othe
rooms.
The basemtn halls are darker thai
the upper halls and tend to make tn
| entrance uninviting. There is, how
| ever, as much light in the basemen
room as in the upper rooms. The room
did not seem to be different in temper
ature from rooms in the Central schoo
building and was If anything, warme
than the rooms upstairs.
The odor that is peculiar to al
school rooms was the only one tha
was noticeable in the new room.
M Mcdaniel assured the LAX
COUNTY TINES this morning that h
and the members of the board of edu
cation would be on the constant loo
, out for improvements that can be mad
and that on the whole the room is a
: sanitary as the average school roor
; in Hammond.