The Connecticut labor news., 1921-03-11
POOR SCHOOL CONDITIONS RULE
 IN 429 CITIES
Survey Shows Large Glasses, Overcrowded Rooms and an
 Appalling Fire Hazard.

In the second report of the inquiry Tn regard to school conditions throughout the country, directed by the national committee for Chamber of Commerce cooperation with the public schools and the American City Bureau, 1t is found that there is general lack of school accommodations, resulting in large classes and OvercrOWded ClassrOOms, and that a substantial percentage of school buildings are insanitary, made quately lighted, badly heated and ventl- lated and veritable hretraps.
 The report IS based on facts given by 2o citeis out of about $50 cities in the United States whose population exceeds 1000. The population of the cities re- ported is 70 per cent. of the total pOpu- lation of this group. New York City IS included.
 The report states that there has been a growth of 21 per cent. in the school population of these cities i'll six years O914-'2O), which has greatly increased the demands on school plants. If the growth of school population increases at the present rate without more ade- quate accommodations, the congestion in the school plants will become so acute as practically to block the carry ing out of the education program, ac- cording to the report.
 Tables accompanying the report show that in this city the percentage ot 1n- crease in school population during these six years has been 27 in the elementary schols and B in the high schools. The tables also show just 11,966 children are housed in unfit buildings III New York City and 256,814 are half-time pupils. The average annual expenditure f64.24.
 Some of the chief features of the re- port, as shown in the summary, follows:
 Size of classes-Lack of building ac commodations is mainly responsible for large classes. Forty per cent. of all elementary school classes have 40 or more pupils each. Twenty per cent. of all kindergarten classes have more than 50 pupils. Eleven per cent. of all junior and senior high school classes exceed 5 pupils each. In such large classes the individual pupil cannot be given the care and personal instruction to which he Is entitled.
 "Playgrounds-Very little playground is provided for city school children Half of the children reported have less than a six by six foot plot each for re- creational and athletic ctivities. Only lo per cent of them have us much as the standard minimum of 100 square feet. The most favored child of the lowest fourth has only 12 square feet, less than is allotted to him in the classroom.
 "Buildings-Half of the children re- ported are housed Ill buildings, with their additions, erected more than g years ago. One building of every four now in use was built before 1886. Most k1. 1,o14 If children are unSanitary, inadequately lighted, badly heated and ventilated and do not have room that can be converted properly into the shops, laboratories and gymnasiums which are essential to the kind of education now demanded in pro- gressive cities.
 "A large number of the school sys- tems have too- many small buildings either for economy of administration or effective grouping of the pupils. Half the elementary school buildings do not exceed 10 rooms each and one-fourth of them have six rooms or fewer.
 "Very few school buildings are fire proof. Forty-four per cent. of all build ings reported have brick or masonry walls, but the material of all floors, ceilings, partitions and stairways is combustible. Twenty-one per cent. are
 
 per cent of the children in these cities are housed in buildings of more than one story of these two types just de scribed. Only five per cent. of the total number of buildinsg are of the types of construction usually called freproof.
 Although this large percentage of school buildings are non-freproof only a small number have fireproofng ele- ments to lessen the fire hazard to the children. In only IS per cent. of the two poorest types of buildings IS the heating apparatus in a freproof enclos- ure. At least 25 per cent. of the build ings of these two types are of two or more stories and do not have fire escape. Thirty-nine per cent. of these two types are without fire extinguishers and less than 10 per cent. of them have automatic sprinkler equipment i'll any part of the buildings. Only II per cent have automatic fire alarms. Such facts as these demonstrate the existence of a real menace to the children of these cities.
 "Thousands of children in these cities are housed in makeshift build ings unsuited to school use, or are on half time because of lack of space. One hundred and thirty thousand children are using portables. There are 43,OOO III ISlllCu dWSlIlllSS, stores ana lO1CS , 55,000 are in annexes, 5000 are in halls and corridors, and 5000 in attics. Thirty-one thousand are i'll basements which are inadequately lighted and more than three feet below the ground level. Two hundred and forty-eight thousand children in these cities are on half time. Seventy-hve per cent. of the cities report one or more of these types of congestion. Over six hundred new 30-room buildings are required to correct this one phase of congestion in the schools of these cities.
 Expenditure and Tax Rates.-These cities vary widely in their tax rate for school purposes and in their annual ex- penditure per pupil attending school. The median tax rate allowed for school purposes is .1J per thousand of the as sessed valuation. Half of these cities allow a rate between $9 and $25 per thousand. The range for all cities re- porting is from $1.60 to $6O. The amount of income from local taxation for each pupil attending any kind of school in the city last year ranges from $l6.50 to $132. The median for all cities reporting is 35689 The middle half of these cities expend between $45 and $71 a pupil.
 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
 COST NATION $1O,338, ,5O9