The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-24
Characterised as Unfit, In sanitary, Inadequate"
 and as Fire Traps"
JOHN L.PARKER MAKES A RINGING STATEMENT
President oe Board of Education Issues Detailed Statement of Deplorable Conditions Existing in the
 City's School System

In an official statement given out yes terday. John L. Parker. president of the board of education, in detail goes into the educational needs of Birmingham. In a stirring statement he charactefizes as unfit. insanitary, inadequate and as fire traps some of the buildings of the city which arc being used daily for school purposes.
 The statement, according to the intro- duction by pr. Parker. Is made as the of ficlal position of the board of education on the recent request of the school au- thorlties for bond issue of s1.soo,Ooo for 1 school purposes.
 The statmeent Is given to the taxpayers. but it Is believed the facts therein con tained will be used in statement 10 the commission as was requested subsequent to the conferences between the two bodies last Saturday.
 The statement of President Parker fol- lows:
 "OUR EDUCATIONAL NEEDS"
 "1n view of the fact that the Board of Education has requested that the people | hI lItS CitN EfHI nave the privilege or expressing their sovereign will, In refer endum. upon the question of a school bond issue of one million, three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. the sugges- | ton has been made that this board should | justify it's request by a statement of facts specifying the educational needs of | the city upon which the call Is based. l Tt is right and proper that the Board of Education should take the public into l ife confidence nd fnf ad clearly the grounds upon which such re- 1 quest Is made. The board Is familiar with the educational needs of our city as no other body of citizens can be- It Is also thoroughly informed with regard to the financial straights of our city at this time, and is In most hearty sympa thy 1 with our city commission in It's efforts to reduce the expenditures of the city to the level of It's available revenue It would therefore be presumptious and even foolhardy for any body of men to l urge. without abundant reason a request Involving an expenditure so large as to 1 impress some people with the Idea that 1t is unnecessary and even thoughtlessly extravagant.
 Covers Entire City
 Birmingham Is already a great city, | great in extent population and resources and still greater in the immediate pros
  board covers the entire city. Unfortu- nately. the people of any one section of | the city can fully realize the needs Of that section only and cannot know or l fully appreciate the needs of other sec tons. In its request the Board of Edu- cation has carefully surveyed the entire field. It comes before the people with a frank statement of it's deliberate conclu- sions. In this manner only can the board perform the important duty with which it Is entrusted.
 "The amount of the bond issue request ed may be surprising to many people. This is probably due to the fact that the Fconditions have not been investigated that they are not aware of the temporary character of many of the buildings now used to house our school children; that they have not had an opportunity 10 learn of the insa nltary and even dangerous condition of the majority of the old school buildings in the suburbs of the city. Tho Board of Education could i'll afford to act unadvisedly in matter of such vital importance to the present and future of this city. It has therefore obtained the expert advice of an architect and consult Ing heating engineer in addition to these experts, the city building Inspector and the chief of the fire department have fre- quently expressed themselves. and many of these buildings have already been
  cordance with expert advice and follow ing their best judgment in the matter, 1 the members of the Board Of Education have outlined a policy which provides for the adequate material equipment of the schools of Birmingham. This policy may be briefly outlined as sollows:
 High School Congestion l '1 A new high school site and building for the southern section of the city, to re- lieve the now intolerable congestion of the Central High school AS those fa- mliar with the facts know, this school now overhows into rented frame buildings on the alley in the rear. with several hundred pupils quartered in the Panf Hayne building, in rooms urgently needed for elementary purposes. Fifteen hundred pupils in q school designed to ac- commodate eight hundred should sufflei- entiy emphasize the need of the new high school building. In addition to this, the present high school building which was left in an uncompleted condition on ac- count of lack of funds at the time il was erected. needs certain Improvements to place if in proper sanitary condition.
 "2 The schools in the western district of the city need immediate attention. The building at Vivian is cheap in-