Evening star., 1920-01-15

tai School Bctterment Council was
Citizens Association at a meeting in
the Elizabeth V. Brown School last
night.
Conditions in the schools featured
a two-hour discussion of various To-
cal topics, after which officers for the
ensuing year were elected.
Capt. Steward New President.
| E. B. Carrier, president, declined to
| consider another term, and capt.
| Frank c. Steward was unanimously
elected to head the organization.
Other officers were elected without
! opposition as follows: E. B. Carrier.
| first vice president; f. A Emery. sec
ond vice president; H. S. Ridgely,
secretary, and ]. S. Davidson, treas
urer. w. B. Westlake and Jesse p.
Crawford were reelected delegates
| to the Federation of Citizens Asso-
| Citations.
A motion by Mr.. Westlake to in
| struct the executive committee to ar
range to have a clergyman and the
ater manager present ooth slues on
the question of closing amusements
on Sundays, at a future meeting. was
| laid on the table by vote of IL to
II after a lively discussion.
The discussion was started by W.
l.. Peet, who suggested that If Dr.
1 j
Commissioner he might work for
Sunday closing law, and that it would
be a good idea for the association
to hear arguments on both sides. He
said he merely suggested 1t as an IN
teresting topic to discuss at future
meeting.
! DR.. E. A Bryant opposed considera-
| ton of the question of Sunday closing
and said he knew DIR. Van Scha1ck
would not advocate it if confirmed
He declared that if a stop is not put
| to restrictive laws in this country II
| will foster revolution.
| Mr.. Suter Discusses Schools.
| Jesse c. Suter of Petworth and chair
! man of the education committee of the
| Fedora ation of Citizens Associations, ad-
dressed the meeting on conditions in
| the schools.
| 1t is apparent, he said. that some-
| thing is the matter with the SchoolS
| and that, in his opinion. lack of Suffl-
cient appropriations is the root of the
| trouble He said he was glad the asso-
| citation voted to join the school better
ment council, because the council, ne
| said, will convince Congress of the
urgent needs of the local educational
system.
He referred to the many plans that
have been suggested for reorganization
of the schools and said that, while no
doubt there are some good features in
all of them. the people of Washington
should exert all efforts now to obtain
the four big needs of the schools More
teachers, better pay for them, more
buildings and a business manager for
the schools.
Asked by Mr. Carrier if it is true
that there are many vacant seats in
the school system despite the heavy
enrolment. Mr.. Suter said that in some
of the older buildings in the heart of
the city there are vacant seats be-
cause the population has drifted out to
the suburbs away from these schools.
This growth of the city's suburbs has
seriously congested the outlying schools,
he showed
F. A. Emery wanted to know If the
school system has fallen behind in
building space because of the indif-
! ference of Congress in appropriating or
through the failure of local authorities
properly to foresee the needs of the
city
Mr.. Suter replied that it was large
ly due to the fact that Congress, in
making initial appropriations to start
buildings. has limited the total
amount to be spent on the structures
and that building materials and labor
have been rising so steadily that the
municipal architect. has not been able
to get contractors to bid within the
limit allowed for the school build
ings.
Tells of Teachers Trials.
Miss NJ. E. Given. principal Of the
E. V. Brown School, made a brief
talk, in which she outlined the tribu-
lations of the grade school princi-
pals, who must teach a class and
supervise the building at the same
time. She also advocated the en-
ployment of coaching teachers in the
grade schools to aid backward chill
dren and those who lose time through
! sickness. She said these teachers
would soon repay the system for the
amount expended on them
| There was a brief discussion of the
question of whether it is within the
! province of teachers to tell their girl
! pupils not to use paint or powder
thin hosiery or pneumonia waists
DR.. Bryant said he thought it was
the parents place to regulate how
the girls should dress. d. L. Selke
took the opposite view, commencing
1 teachers who put a ban on these
features of modern fashion.