New-York tribune., 1921-03-06
Poor School
lOnditiOnsRule
In 429 Cities
Chamber of Commerce Sur
svey Shows Large Classes,
QvercrOwded Rooms and
an Appalling Fire Hazard
II Per Cent C. ain i'm PUPILS
buildings Are Unsanitary.
Inadequately zig hit e d
and Poorly Heated

and Poorly Heated
In the second report of the inquiry in
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. it is found
that there is a general lack of school
accommodations. resulting in large
classes and overcrowded classrooms,
md that substantial percentage Of
school buildings are insanitary. made
quately lighted, badly heated and venti-
lated and vertable firetraps.
The report is based on facts given by
20 cities out of about $50 cities in the
United States whose population exceeds
5000. 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
growth of 81 per cent in the school
population of these cities in six years
{1914-'20), which has greatly increased
the demands on school plants. If the
growth of school population increases
at the present rate without more ade-
guate accommodations, the congestion
In the school plants will become so
ing out of the educational program, ac-
cording to the report.
q Per Cent Increase
Tables accompanying the report show
that in this city the percentage OF in
crease in school population during these
SIX years has been 27 in the elementary
sr ho S~rL
tables also show that II 1866 children
are housed in unfit buildings" in New
York City and 256.814 are half-tm
pupils. The average annual expenditure
per pupil in the New York schools is
Some of the chief features of the re-
Port, as shown in the summary, follows:
"Size of classes Lack of building ac-
commodatons is mainly responsible for
large classes. Forty per cent Of ali
elementary school classes have forty or
more pupils each. Twenty per cent of
ali kindergarten classes have more
than fifty pupils. Eleven per cent of
all Junior and senior high school
classes exceed thirty-fve pupils each.
In such large classes the individual
pupil cannot be given the care and per-
sonal instruction to which he is en-
titled.
Z y
is provided for city school children.
Half of the children reported have
less than six by six foot plot each for
recreational and athletic activities
Only l9 per cent of them have as much
as the standard minimum of 100 square
feet. The most favored ch Id of the
lowest fourth has only twelve square
feet, less than is allotted to him in
the classroom.
Many Old Buildings
"Buildings- of the children re-
ported are housed in buildings, with
their additions, erected more than
twenty-five years ago One building of
every four now in use was built before
1886. Most of the buildings housing
halfsof these children are unsanitary,
ventilated and do not have room tina.
can be converted properly into the
shops, laboratories and gymnasiums
which are essential to the kind of edu-
cation now demanded in progressive
cities
"a large number of the school sys-
TENS have too many small buildings
either for economy of administration or
effective grouping of the pupils. Half
the elementary school buildings do not
exceed ten rooms each and one-fourth
of them have six rooms or fewer.
Very few school buildings are fire
proof. Fortyfour per cent of all
buildings reported have brick or
masonry walls, but the material of all
floors, ceilings, partitions and stair
ways is combustible. Twenty-one per
cent are wooden frame buildings. At
least 80 per cent of the children in
these cities are housed in buildings
of more than one story of these two
types just described. Only per cent
cf the total number of buildings are
of the types of construction usually
called iireproof.
Mostly Non-Fireproof
although this large percentage of
school buildings are nonfireproot.
only a small number have fireproofng
elements to lessen the fire hazard to
the children. In only 18 per cent of
the two poorest tvpes of buildings is
the heating apparatu in fireproof in
closure. At least rs per cent of the
buildings OF these two types are of
two or more stories and do not have
firc-escape. Thirty per cent of
these two types are without fire ex-
tinguishers and less than 10 per cent
OF them have automatic sprinkler
ings. 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.
fs"Thousands of children in these
cities arc 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
arc using portables. There are $4,000
in rented dwellings, stores and lofts;
$4,000 alr in annexes, 5000 are in halls
and corridors, and 5000 in attics.
: Thirty7one thousand are in Easements
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-five per cent of
the cities report one or more of these
types of congestion. Over six hundred
new thirty y-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 SIG per thousand of the as