Evening star., 1920-02-16
BETTERFAC|[IT|ES
FOR SCHOOL
Mount Pleasant Citizens
| Point Out Needs at
) Powell Building.

Conditions pertaining to the pet
terment Of facilities at the Johnson
and Powell schools received almost
undivided attention at the mount
Pleasant Citizens Association meet
ing Saturday night at the Po"eh
School. -..
Ushered in by a report from VII
liam II Linkins. chairman OF the
sociation school committee. the u.
cussion Centercd specifically on pr
vidine adequate walks between porta-
bIes and the main school builotnS,
better nlavroon facilities within the
school building and better Ilen.ins
for the Powell School. Mt, L.'n ,,>ars
mart of the general plan OF the
National capital school Rettermeh'
Council. os;dant
of the District Congress OF No.,
and Parent Teachers Assoc'atlols,
~ VS. elected member OF the
association last night. told memoers
some action on Il new walk iol ~
children attending schooi III '.e
portables is imreratiVe II theE ar -.
avoid had colds and serious iriM or+a-
She told OF having visited the poIas
bles, walking through mud ai;t6s. ,,o
nm to her shooters. and finding "un.h
fbe buildings children sitting Win
soaking wet feet. perhans Ior seF
eraI hours She advocated the laying
e. hoard walk between the porta-
bIes and the main building to pre-
vent such occurrences in the 1uture.
T-nIishted rooms in pubic sChoo's
were declared to be menace 10 the
health of school chlidreh ~ Ia,nson Mr %
Scbool as an example of school
with poor lighting.
ExpIoins JanitOr Troubles
At the request Of Mrs. Rafter and
Dr F F. Sappington, president or
the association. Snowden Ashforu,
municipal architect. outlined reasons
for poor facilities at the Jonnson+
Powell group. He said in support
Of Mrs. Rafter's statements that one
man. with insufficient assistance. had
so many jobs to do that he couIo
not faithfully fulfill his main task
that Of opeTatings the the seboo1 SCAT anu
MI. Ashford asserted that because
of this lack of foresight many thou
sands of dollars of valuable ma
chinery were yearly going to waste
thev cannot attend to their machinery
in the nroper manner He estimated
that of an annual replacement OF
$4,000 for machinery in the DISTRICT
rrblic schools one-third of II was
snent because the janitors either are
;nef5cient or have not time to attend
the machinery. He said he had sug-
rested TO Congress the advisabliity
of securing an engineer to take care
Of every expensive steam plant IN
TIE pubIic schools in the District, and
said such action would save money
IN REPAIRS Mr.. Ashford assured the
association. after one member had Of
fered to do II priva tely. that he would
sec that adequate walks were iald
between the main school buildings
and the pertables.
PIayrOcm Provided.
The association authorized expendi-
ture of 500 TO furnish a playroon for
the children within the main build
ing.
DR.. Charles r. Campbell, chairman
AZ the association health committee.
read a letter, which was Endorsed by
the association, from the street clean
ing department of New York city. ad-
vocating the use of covered wagons
in removing ashes and rubbish. He
said that ashes and dust contain
many germs of dangerous diseases
and that prom ;scuous blowing about
of the refuse of the city is a menace
to health.
Karl Laneenback. vice chairman of
the school committee. reported on
conversation with Charles Moore,
president of the Fine Arts Commits
sion He said Mr.. Moore has under
consideration plans for making 18th
street the main artery of traffic into
Washington, and has already taken