Evening star., 1921-10-24
FAVOR SELECTION
Of SCHOOL BOARD
|BY commissioners
recommendations Made to
Joint Congressional
Committee.
SUGGESTIONS SUBMITTED
: FOR IMPROVING SYSTEM
Commissioner Oyster and supt. Bal
lou Also Urge Appointment Of
a Business Manager.

Recommendations for Improvement
in the school system of the District
Of Columbia made to the joint special
Iscommittee today by Capt. James F.
Oyster, District Commissioner, and
Superintendent Ballou of the public
schools included:
1. The appointment of the board
of education by the District Com
missioners instead of by the JUS
tices of the District Supreme Court.
2. The appointment of a busi-
ness manager for the school sys-
tenn to take from the shoulders
of the superintendent strictly
business matters and leave him
free to handle the educational end.
3. The elimina ton of the super
vising principal system, now in
vogue. and the substitution of a
principal for each sixteen-rOOm
school or it's equivalent, and the
appointment of several additional
assistant superintendents. one for
the elementary schools and two for
the high schools
4. \ school census.
D. More adequate compulsory
education laws. and supervision to
certain extent over the private
schools. so that the authorities may
know whether the children are
really being given the schooling
required by law
Harmony now exists between the
board of education and the District
Commissioners and the municipal
architects office. according to the teS-
timony given by Commissioner Oys-
ter and DIR. Ballou. In recommending
that the appointment of the board of
RI hs H. r. l..
District Commissioners. DR.. Ballou
said that he did not wish to imply
that there is not the closest harmony
between the Commissioners and the
board of education. He said, however.
that it was essential that the Com
missioners and the board of education
ahould always work in harmony.
This. he said. might not always hap
pen if the authority was not central
lied.
Selection Of sites Criticized.
Capt. oyster directed attention to
the lack of harmony that sometimes
existed between the Commissioners
and the board of education and be-
tween the board of education and
ths municipal architect in the past.
He cffticfs&a Hast5caiaiiy. the work
of the municipal architects office
under the former municipal architect.
Snowden Ashford.
He said that the Powell School had
been wretchedly located below the
level of the street and also that mis-
Mckinley Manual Training School
and the Business High School. A
school in Brookland. he said, had
been placed on top of a hill. appar-
emily. but. in fact. had been located
in kind of a cup, disadvantageously.
Before the meeting of the Joint com :
mittee adjourned today the District
Commissioners and the superintend-
ent of schools were asked to reduce
to writing all the recommendations
they wished to make with regard to
the schools for the use of the COM
mittee, and SO that these officials
might be cross-eXamined later.
At the suggestion of Senator King
of Utah, Maj. Brown. assistant to the
Engineer Commissioner. was asked
to supply the committee with list
all kinds of building material. both
pre-war and present prices. Senator
King said that he was convinced a
nationwide conspiracy existed TO
terials. He and Representative Ham
mer suggested that the matter should
be taken up by the Department OF
Justice.
ing the methods of appointing boards
of education here and elsewhere. with
the suggestion that possibly the board
should be elected by the residents of
the District. Then he made his recon-
mendation that the District Commits
sioners should make the appointments
of the board.
Representative Hammer asked if
such a plan might not result in the
board Of education becoming "a Gre
ature' of the District Commissioners.
To this Dr. Ballou replied that it
was a sound idea to centralize the au-
thority in the District Commissioners
ci
He said that if they were representa-
tive citizens they would have great
interest in the schools. In this con-
nection Senator King said he be-
lieved that the President of the United
States in the future would pay more
citizens of the District to the office
of Commissioner than has been done
in the past, where politics sometimes
had their part. He said he was in
clined to believe that the responsible
ity should be centralized in the Com
miSsionerS.
Progress on New Buildings.
Mai. Brown was closely questioned
by the committee as to the progress
made in the construction of new
school buildings authorized by Con.
made on the Gallinger Hospital.
Senator Capper, chairman of the
Joint committee, suggested that it
might be wise to have an architect
appointed to make plans for the
schools, who was a specialist on
school buildings, saying that it SEEM
ed evident that Washington was 60
ing to spend millions of dollars in the
near future on new school buildings.
Mai Brown said he saw no reason
why, since the main duty of the
municipal architect is the building
of schools, he should not be called
the school architect if it were desired
with regard to the Gallinger Hos
pital Mai. Brown said that the psyche
pathic group of buildings would be
practically completed in about a
month. He said that the hospital, il
was hoped, would be in operation by
July. He said that the hospital was
being constructed to accommodate
900 patients, but that it was being
built so that additions could be made
to it, if necessary, to accommodate
1000 patients.
He described the progress of the
Eastern High School and also of the
plans for the school buildings au-
thorized under the emergency school
building plan adopted by Congress
several months ago.