Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-08-28
MANY THOUSANDS
OF SCHOOL CHILDREN
TO BE HALF TIMERS
From $4,000 to 10000 Boys and
Girls Will Be Restricted to
One Session Day Because
of Lack of Room
SHIFTS IN POPULATION
Buildings Formerly Graded Now
Sparsely Filled-Others Have More
Than They Can Hold

Thousands Of Philadelphia boys and
girls will be forced to content themselves
with half OF an education when the
new school yeor begins on September I.
Although their parents pay full taxes
and they would be prosecuted II they
failed to have them enrolled. these young
sters will be required TO learn the multi
plication tables I'm half the time allowed
their more fortunate cousins and devote
half as much time TO exercises in penman-
ship and reading.
None Of the school authorities will at
tempt to state the number OF boys and
girls who will be subjected to this un-
fortunate condition. IL is variously es..
timated from 1900 to 10000 About 11,005
youngsters were half timers" when the
school year ended in June. An exact ac-
count of the short classes will be avail
able at the end of September. whet- new
pupils have been enrolled and classes
have been definitely organized after a
month of unsettled conditions.
Members of the Board Of Education at
tribute the inadequacy Of the public
school system to the constant shifts
Of Phladelphia's population. They point
to the fact that schools that are over
crowded one year are so sparsely at
tended in the next that they are neces-
sarily merged with other schools. Neigh
borhoods that once were filled with fac
tories suddenly become residential sec
tions.
The result is the appearance OF new
child population that must be cared for
erected the little folk must double up
with other pupils so that each receives
half of the usual amount Of instruction.
Classrooms that are emptied at noon
must accommodate a different group of
children in the afternoon.
There are also schools which once were
overcrowded, but which now are almost
useless because the districts i'm which
they are situated have been converted
from residential sections to manufac-
turing centres The Hollingsworth School.
on Locust street, above 18th, was once
well attended by the children of the
neighborhood Residents are being forced
out of the neighborhood because of the
advances of business due to the clty's
progress
The Newton Boys Grammar School,
36th and Chestnut streets, is near the
University Of Pennsylvania. The increase
in the number of students boarding
houses resulted In a decrease in the
number of families in the neighborhood,
and the effect has been recorded on the
rolls of the school.
The Horace Howard Furness School,
at Sd and Miffiin streets, built two years
ago, is one of the largest elementary in
stitutions in the world. 1t was, neverthe-
less, overcrowded during the last term.
a slight decrease in the part-time evil
will probably result from the establish
ment of continuation schools in January.
These will be located for the most part
in buildings abandoned because of q d.
minished enrolment. Registration in the
continuation schools will represent a re-
lief in the elementary grades.
A parental school to be situated in By
berry is also planned. The opening of
this institution will take away many
hundreds of boys who are enrolled in or
dinary classes, but who will be commit
ted to the parental school because of re-
peated truancy.