The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-05-12
Board ofEducation Asks S300,- 900 Bend Issue for Im-
 provementS and Extensions
ClTYS GROWTH MAKES IT
 DIFFICULT TO KEEP UP
All Schools Are Now Crowded, and Greater Birmingham Will Make Further Demands On the
 city's Facilities.

Birmingham are entirely inadequate to meet the pressing demands made upon | them.
 An address has been issued to the city council asking that the voters of Br- mingham be allowed to express them selves on the issue of $300000 in bonds for extension and improvement in the city schools. The address points out that when Greater Birmingham becomes a re- ality next year the demands on the schools will be greatly increased, and some steps should be taken to meet the emergency.
 At the regular monthly meeting of the board yesterday the following address was unanimously adopted:
 Address To City Council.
 Address to the City Council, Adopted by the Board of Education May Il, 1908: | To the Honorable City Council, Birming ham, Ala.
 1 Gentlemen We the undersigned, mem- bers board of education, respectfully beg to call your attention to the needs of the public schools of our city in the way of educational accommodations. When the Greater Birmingham becomes a reality in 1909 the pressure upon the central schools of the greater city will be largely in- 1 creased, inasmuch as a great deal of ter ritory contiguous to these schools will have to be provided with school accom- i modations. Several of school build- l ings were designed with especial reference 1 to their expansion and enlargement by l means of additions as the increase of population might demand. The time has l arrived, in the opinion of this board, when these additions are imperatively demand | ed, and when provision should be made to relieve the present congested conditions l in the schools and to meet the inevitable | pressure of the near future. 1 The Ullman school. consisting of four rooms, is now entirely inadequate to meet l the requirements of that rapidly growing | section of the city We recommend that 1 the lot immediately in the rear of the school be purchased and that an addition of ten rooms be made to the present building.
 l The Lakeview is likewise a four-room | building and is entirely too small to meet the requirements of the district as a pri-
 
 of the Lakeview district proper, but the | large expanse of territory already brought into the city, requires the addition of ten rooms to the present building for the ac- | commodation of the enlarged district. The South Highland school, now consist ing of 12 rooms, was originally designed with special reference to the doubling of | it's present capacity when occasion should require. We recommend that F more | rooms be added to this school. The orig inal design provides for the addition of two wings to the present structure con- taining six rooms each.
 By these additions the three schools on the South Highlands will be converted from primary schools to full grade schools which will accommodate all the elementary pupils south of the railroads This will relieve the Paul Hayne school, which now accommodates all the grammar grade pupils south of the rail- roads, and will enable the board to con- vert this building into use for the relief of the high school. The limit of accom- modation in the present high school is only 1OOO and the present enrollment is
 
 high school attendance will reach from 1500 to 2000 pupils. The present Paul Hayne building is conveniently located for high school purposes, and we feel sure that the plan of converting this property to that use will appeal to your wisdom and will meet the approval of the people of the city.
 The Martin school in the Fountain Heights district has been entirely inade- quate to meet the demands of that sec- tion of the city for the past two years. The eight rooms in that building have been congested and but for the relief off, fered by the Barker school it would have been impossible to accommodate the in- creasing population of that district The Barker school, consisting of eight rooms, is now filed and the admission of more pupils will be impracticable. The addition of at least one wing of four rooms to the present building is impera- tive to meet the demands of this rapidly growing section of the city. Need For Negro Schools. Our negro school accommodations are insufficient and inadequate, and duty calls upon us for some acton at once. We beg to call your attention to the fol- lowing extract upon this subject from the last annual report of the superintendent of schools:
 .No new school building has been erect ed for the negroes during the last fifteen years. and during that time one nine-room building was destroyed by fire, which has not yet been replaced. During these fif- teen years the census enumeration of ne- gro youth of school age in the city has increased from 4657 to 6207, and the enroll ment in the schools from 106S to 2627. During the past year the average number enrolled per teacher was n. In some in- stances the rooms >were so crowded that two teachers were assigned to room. Mayor Ward in his annual message to the City Council has already emphasized the absolute need of more and better accom- modations for negro youth The facts here given corroborate his position. The building inspector reports that some of the buildings now in use may not be ex- pected to last more than two or three years longer
 Frame buildings, erected In the earlier years of the city's development. were far