The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1921-12-17
DECLARES SCHOOLS
SHOULD Be MODELS
FOR ENTIRE NATION
Pennsylvania Educator
Outlines Plan for Con-.
gress Committee.

WV
Free textbooks and school sup
plies.
A definite building program for
the public schools
A school board appointed by the
President to serve without COM
pensation.
Larger school buildings contain
ing between twenty-four and thirty
rooms. having adequate play
grounds and recreations rooms. and
the necessity to proceed immedi-
| ately with the building program.
regardless of the price of building
materials.
These were the outstanding fea-
lures of the recommendations given
the Joint Congressional Committee
on Public Schools yesterday by DR..
Frank w. Finnegan. of Harrisburg.
Pa, superintendent of instruction
for the State of Pennsylvania.
should he Nations Model
Senator King explained the local
school situation 10 DR.. Finnegan.
emphasizing the imperfections and
inadequate housing facilities. DR..
Finnegan then told the committee
that in the event IL carried out its
plan to make Washington an edu-
cational center. il would be an ad-
vantage to the entire nation
Leading laymen and educators
would come from all sections Of the
United States to get examples and
such n movement would have the
support of the entire country
First of all, according to DIR. Fin
negan. there must be n sound plan
Of administration. and to do this
the school board must have suffi-
cient authority and be charged
with full responsibility. The board
could either be elected or appointed
and owing to the unique situation
existing here it might be neces-
sary to have the board appointed
by the President. This Or. Finne-
gan thought might lend a certain
dignity to the office
Senator King then asked IL il
were not true that certain cities
were involved in school troubles ov-
ing to the fact that the school
boards were clothed with too mich
authority.
Spur to Efficiency.
DR.. Finncgan replied that no mat
ter whether the school board acted
independently on under the superNi-
sion OF officials. there would always
be charges Of extravaganza. An in
dependent school board is the most
efficient. he insisted.
A business manager. to have
charge of the administrative de-
tails,under the supervision of the
superintendent. was advocated by
DR.. Finnegan. who explained that
the duties of the superintendent
were too voluminous to permit OF
his giving attention to tEa detail
matters.
In the matter of awarding con-
tracts the school board alone
should have jurisdiction. and at this
point the doctor took occasion to
state that compensated Board of
Education that holds determining
power, especially as to the appoint
ment of teachers. is a vicious plan.
Representative Walters. Pennsyl-
vania. brought UP the question of
surveying the schools and asked
who, in the opinion of the doctor,
should conduct these surveys.
Scorns Usuni surveys.
Il am not in sympathy with the
average survey of schools" Dr. Fin
negan declared II think they do
more harm than good, especially
when conducted by outsiders. The
professional staff should be able
to give information, and ii ght be
a good thing for the men who hold
the purse strings to look over the
schools occasionally" He added
4. \
men of horse sense than depend on
technicians.
That is a very sensible remark"
Senator King declared.
Schools should be built with the
idea of adding to them il the neces-
sity arose. and the original struc-
lures should be reasonably large in
the first. place, containing not less
than twentyfour rooms. DR.. Fin
negan told the committee.
Senator King concurred in the
large unit idea, and asked IL II.
would not be possible to give a
building program for twenty-five
years.
DIR. Finnegan said he would esti-
mate the population for period OF
ten years or twenty years. This
would be possible, he pointed out,
by requesting the help of the tele-
phone and traction companies. who
compile statistics of this kind in
order to anticipate their future
needs and expenditures.
At the request of Senator Capper,
DIR. Finnegan agreed to furnish the
committee with figures showing the
amount of room that should be pro-
Continued on PAGE Fire.