Evening star., 1919-12-28
CITY LEADERS AIM
TO RAISE SCHOOLS
TO HIGHEST MARK
Publicity Campaign to Have
Organizations Support.
Joint Session Held.

| Organizations Support.
! Joint Session Held.
Plans for big publicity campaign
which will result in putting the pub
lie school system of Washington in
condition to meet fully all require
ments now and in the future was
launched last night at a meeting of
| spokesman of the Board of Trade.
Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club
and Federation of Citizens Associa-
| tionS in the office of Roy c. Claf1in,
| 1903 14th street.
The school committees of the four or
| ganiZations. with William b. Westlake.
president of the Citizens Federation. as
chairman. will meet in the board room
at the District building. Friday night.
January 2. to discuss and take action
upon cost estimates and details of the
publicity scheme. which will be prepared
meantime by subcommittee composed
of Roland Robbins. president Of the
Rotary Club: Mr.. Claf1in. chairman of
the school committee of the Board of
Trade, and Charles /. Corby. chairman
of the school committee Of the Rotary
Club.
Listen to Mr.. Thurston.
The unofficial coterie which gathered
in Mr.. C1aflin's Office last night met at
the instance of the host to hear from
Ernest Thurston, superintendent of
schools, what is the matter with the
schools of the city at present and
what must be done to bring them up
to the best mark set by public schools
elsewhere in the United States.
Getting that information from Mr..
Thurston they decided to take course
los fr Il
citizens of Washington to the i'm
perative needs. and to bring to bear
on Congress through force of public
opinion pressure that will result in
satisfaction.
Besides Mr.. Thurston, who was a
gnest5 Mr.. Westlake, Mr.. Corby, Mr..
Claflin and Mr.. Robbins. there were
present at this session Capt. James
f. Oyster. president of the Board of
Trade. and Jesse c. Suter. chairman
zens' Federation. ~ j.
They deci1ed the essentials for i'm
proved schools are: Q) Higher pay
for teachers, CD more teachers, (3)
comprehensive building program, "a
a business manager with additional
clerks and (5) a retirement system
for teachers.
1.-The primary need is much better
pay for teachers" declared Mr.. Thurs
ton. Adequate pay will attract high
ranks. Then the teachers must have
assurance that the public is support
ing them in their educational efforts
to the very limit, and the dignity of
their calling must be given full recog-
milton as such.
Five Years Behind In Buildings.
'In the matter of school housing we
are at least five years behind the
building program. The situation is
really critical. There are in use sew
enty-nine portable buildings. Schools
er structures. In PetwOrth, for in
stance. besides regular school
building, classes are being taught in
five portable structures, q church and
vacant frame dwelling.
I'VE have this year % per cent more
high school pupils than last year, and
10 per cent more grade pupils. with
| no increase in the teaching force A
grade teacher cannot do justice to her
pupils if she has more than forty in
her class. Yet so per cent Of the grade
classes have more than forty pupils
each. A high school class should not
have more than thirty pupils, but in
the city from 400 to 500 classes have
more than thirty pupils in each"
Boys Doing Janitor Service.
Mr.. Suter said his thirteen-year-old
tor service in some portable structures
| because regular janitors cannot be OBJ
tanned under the present conditions.
| The nub of the situation, it was
pointed out, is that appropriations
made for the local schools by Con
gress are woefully Inadequate to the
| barest needs. Estimates submitted to
the city Commissioners are cut be-
! fore they are sent to Congress-, not
through the fault of the Commission
ers. but because they are restricted
under the law.
civic organizations go on record as
heartily supporting the teachers in
| their efforts to obtain higher nav
and fair retirement system, after
| Mr.. ThurSton had described the loss
in the esprit de corps Of the teaching
force by reason Of worry and unset
tied conditions in the school system.
Financial Plan IneIastic,
| Answering Capt Oysters questions
Mr.. Thurston said he believes there
is no need for an entirely new school
law. The present law is workable
he said. but especially in the matter
of financial arrangement the Wash.
ington school system is inelastic"
Out of the suggestion that the city
float bond issue to meet the financia
| needs of the schools and it's rejection
on legal grounds came the suggestion
that the civic bodies invest enough
money in a publicity campaign tc
force the attention of Congress or
the urgent needs and get from "the
hill' relief as quickly as possible
other cities are devoting large
sums to schools. salaries and build
ings, it was said. Buffalo, for exam.
pie. has raised $S,500.000: Cincinnati
$6,000,000; Sacramento. Calf, $5,0OO,.
900. and Johnstown. Pa. s2.ooO.oo0.