The Washington herald., 1920-01-28
THREE SCHOOLS
OVERLOOKING
Peabody. Carberry and
Hilton Schools Unable
To Serve Territory.
NO RELIEF In SIGHT
New Semester May Add to
Present Congestion in
Northeast Section.

with all classroOms crowded to
tne point of overfiowing. with worse
conditions coming and no relief In
sight. was the condition found by
Ihe Herald representative yester-
oay when he visited the Hilton,
teaoody and Carberry schools in
the northeast section of the city.
Not only are these little children
1.3l4 of them = suffering under
crowded conditions in the schools
they now attend, but everyone of
without any public playground
space. In one school, the Carberry.
the furniture il so old and worI.
mat the children many times go
nome with spIinters in their flesh.
fhe Hilton School is on Sixth
street northeast, between & street
ana Stanton place, the Peabody at
- street and Stanton place. anu
. tne Carberry on Fifth street nortn-
east oetYeen d and L streets. All
-, "ftHin radICs of two blocks,
and together. they cover the terri
lory bounded by East Capitol.
E'Shth, North Capito street and
fhth streets northeast. Two of the
buildings. the Hilton and Carberry,
are OF the eight-rOom type. and the
ieabody is tewlve-room school
building.
, The Carberry School now is
working up to its limit in seating
capacity. and any increase would
hecesSItate distribution OF children
I" other districts a greater distance
from their homes, as there is no
srace on which to construct one of
the make-shift portables. now an
important figure in the local school
building system.
No Playground Space.
This school has absolutely no
liaS ground space, the school being
surrounded by a small brick paved
YARD about fifteen feet in width,
ucscrlbed by the principal as a
postage stamp" playground To
protect the children during the re-
cess periods it is necessary for the
school teachers to have the street
r"ped OF to prevent accidents.
AFTER school hours. the children
Rave no place to go. as the terri
tory now is well built up and there
are no large vacant lots which
could be used for playground pur-
poses
In order to train for athletics, II
Is necessary for these pupils to go.
under the escort of the teacher. to
the Rpsedale Fairgrounds at Nine
teenth and Gales streets northeast.
many blocks away. Athletics are
encouraged in the school. but
neither the boys nor the girls have
any place to do any training except
by the long trip mentioned.
The furniture in the class rooms
Is in a very bad condition. Many
o. the seats are worn almost
I through. and it is an easy matter
TO pick splinters of wood from
either the desks or seats. There are
cases on record where children have
taken parts of the furniture home
imbedded in their flesh.
One mother wrote to the principal
and asked if she couldn't have the
chair OF her child covered with
Ecayy leather. saying she dida't
Hnind the splinters getting in the
clothing. but when il went into the
mesh she wanted to give what pro-
lection she could Son'e of the chill
dren in the rooms Of the school Wis
itcd -by the Herald representative
have met tn" situation by putting
books in the chairs.
Many Families Scattered.
Owing I" the very crowded con-
ditiUns in the schools in this DIS
tTict families of children are seat
tered. Some parents have children
in several schools. one mother hav-
ing a child each in the EdmOnds.
Carberry. Hilton and Peabody.
The classes in the Carberry are
ALREADY overcrowdcd. There is not
a class in the building with less
than forty-cight scholars. The
Carberry has only eight of the six
teen grades now forming the local
school system At the present time
il has the "A" grades.
one problem puzzling the teach
eTs now is what to do with the
, children who fail to pass this year
Thc classes already being up to
seating capacity, and with classes
of forty-eight coming up to fill
the rooms. the children who will
have to take this semester over
will have to seek seats in some
other building.
Peabody Building Old.
The Peabody School is one of the
very old buildings of the city. Like
other buildings of the group. it is
up to it's limit in seats While it
has no assembly hall. it has spa
cious corridors in which the chill
dren may assemble for general ex-
ercises. This building is equipped
with sewing school. which is
used by all of the schools in the
ncighborhood.
Tire playrooms in this building ure
hardly large enough to accommodate
one class of the size in the school
to say nothing of the fourteen classes
in the building, and, like the Car
berry, there is absolutely no plav-
ground space. The school fronts on
a large public park. but this cannot
be used for playground purposes.
Within block Of this is the Hill
ton school. known some years ago
as the Peabody Annex 1t was
originally intended as an overflow
hOol for the pupils for the Peabody
and was built on its present site be-
cause there was no more available
ground adjoining the Peabody build
ing.
There are 403 children on the rolls
Of this school and 37S seats in the
building. However. all classes except
the first and second grades, allowed
by law to go only half a day, are
going on full time.
Corridor Space Scarce.
The corridor space in this build
ing is exceedingly scarce. and hard
ly class can be assembled outside
the classrooms at one time. II Is
one of the small types of eight
room buildings. There is very little