The Washington herald., 1912-02-07
DAVIDSON FAYORS
LARGER BUILDINGS
District Would Save Money in
Maintenance of Schools, Says
Superintendent in Address.

Declaring that he is In favor Of the
erection OF school buildings Of sixteen
room capacity or larger, Dr. William NJ.
Davidson, superintendent of schools. in
an address last night before the Column
ola Heights Citizens Association pointed
out that the District would have saved
thousands of dollars had It followed the
plan Of erecting its school buildings on
a larger room basis Until recently, he
said, practically all of the buildings erect
ed were of the eight-room type
THE District made a sad mistake when
Il started building its schools on the
eight-room basis said DR.. Davidson.
Every school building should have at
least twelve rooms, and sixteen rooms
are a very desirable number. In ST.
Louis the school buildings have twenty
two rooms. 1t can be seen at once that
Il is more economical to maintain sew
enty-hve or a hundred large school
buildings than 80 eight-room buildings,
as at present.
Would Reduce Cost.
with fewer and larger buildings the
cost OF fuel and heating apparatus, and
the maintenance OF principals would be
greatly reduced. This is a matter which
should have been considered by the Dis
first formed. The District must bear
this burden as a result of its first mis-
take. The difficulty can be overcome
gradually, but only In proportion as the
present school buildings decay and be-
come unfit for occupancy I shall GER
tainIy do all in my power in the future
to bring about the erection OF larger
school buildings"
DIR. Davidson said that there have
Hw.sg NrHNWr m
the large amount Of money devoted to
educational purposes in the District. but
that statistics are now being compiled by
the Census Bureau which will show that
the District Is not extrayagant in its
school administration. DR.. Davidson said
that these statistics will be made public
within several days
The superintendent said that for many
years there has been no common basis
on which to place the educational statis-
tics OF the various municipalities OF the
country. The cost OF some school sys-
TENS. he said. have been based on the
population Of the cities, while the cost Of
others have been based on the number
OF enrolled pupils The figures being
compiled by the Census Bureau are COM
puted on common basis-that OF the
number OF pupils in actual daily attend
ance.
Pay Higher Wages.
Tile elementary schools IN Washington
cost more than this class of schools in
our sister city. Baltimore, but it must
be remembered that We pay higher wages
to our teachers. The cost Of our sec
ondary schools is about on a level with
that OF operating the secondary schools
OF Baltimore
DR.. Davidson expressed the belief that
no teacher should be given more than
forty children under her care.
1T IS a crime against childhood to
place more than forty children in one
room" he said. The teacher loses con-
troll Of the children, and besides. the
health of the pupils is endangered
DIR. Davidson declared that he was
strongly opposed to the movement for
increasing the number of school months
in the scholastic year and decreasing the
number Of holidays.
Stephen Kramer. supervising principal
OF the Columbia Heights public schools.
delivered a brief address. in which he
pledged the members of the association
his hearty support and cooperation in
the work OF training the children Of the
The speakers were introduced by Judge
Charles S. Bundy, president OF the or
ganization.