Evening star., 1922-01-28

End of the investigation Of the local
school system by the joint congress
sional committee Is in sight. Within
the next two weeks the committee will
begin q study of the voluminous record
Of information gathered at It's hearings.
and will prepare a report to both
houses, containing recommendations for
making the local system a model for
the country.
Representatives of civic associations.
including the Board of Trade. Chamber
of Commerce. Federation of Citizens
Associations, District Of Columbia Fed
Grafton of Women's Clubs, parent
teacher bodies, etc, will be heard next
Thursday afternoon by the committee.
Invitations will be sent out Monday to
the heads of these organizations. Or
ferins them the opportunity to appear
If they have any constructive recon-
mendations to make to the committee.
Only one afternoon will be given to
this hearing, and q time limit will be
placed on those who appear In order
to permit every one possible to be
heard, However, there will be no at
Tempt to hear representative from
every citizens association. The idea
Is 10 get d summary VI AuSdS shAou9h
the general bodies.
VIII Hear School Omcials.
The week following. school officials
will be heard by the committee. Senator
Capper Of Kansas. chairman, said. With
the testimony OF the school officers the
public hearings will be concluded and
the committee will begin study OF the
Information collected.
Criticism Of the methods under which
the District school system had beer
cared for In the past was made before
the committee by J. ]. Tigert, United
States commissioner Of education. a
pointed out that he had never been In
any of the schools nere, but that his
remarks were based on information on
file in the bureau.
The school buildings of Washing
ton are in a very deplorable condt-
s4 fSn hers he said oot 0ps y Fl itS a arc
to-date. These buildings. he testified
were put up rather to meet an emer'
gency more than as part OF any
general program over q long PERIOD
Of years. Economy has always been
penditures were up and the result
has been that the schools have suf'
Commissioner Tigert said that II
was difficult to get full Information
on the schools here. and pointed ou
authority to demand the Information
He regretted that the contact between
the bureau and the school system
here was not ih any manner as goo(
as the contacts with the states.
He absolved the superintendent
from any blame for this. however
pointing out that the administration
,.ta
Would Revise Salaries.
Salaries of the teachers here, hi
said, need a drastic revision. He sait
the matter of salaries paid teacherI
on entrance into the system. the!
rapidly fall in the matter of promo
tion, until when the higher salariei
are reached Washington stands q
the very bottom Of the list of citie'
Of 100000 population or over.
Questioned by Representative Wal
on the matter Of paying higher sal
aries to high school teachers, he re
piled that it was a question among
school people. Pressed by Mr.. Wal
ters. the commissioner replied tina
the majority of school people believ,
that there should be graduation O.
salaries. but said It was his per
Of school teaching are the most diff
cult. He said he didn't know any
thing that required more skill thar
teaching in the early grades, ant
some consideration should be givel
those teachers. The bureau has fre
quently found that teachers will
much training are not as efficient a,
those with little training.
He recommended strongly agains
the suggestion Of Representativ,
Walters that the local schools b,
placed under the bureau of education
He said there was q prevalent feel
ing now that the federal ofice wa,
trying to get q hand in the local ad
ministration, but added that this wal
not true.
"Fed Up With Overhead
Conditions here, he told the com
mittee. will have to be handled as {
separate question. There Is no cit,
in the country to which a compari
son can be made. Superintendent
here for years have been able to max,
able to keep pace. The fact that they
have gone elsewhere and have mad,
successes in handling city school sys
TENS indicated that there was moth
ing wrong with the superintendent
In other places, he said, the schoo
superintendent is responsible to thl
people. and if he runs smuck. tn,
people can change him. Here the SUI
perintendent Is fed up with "over
head" He has over him the Boart
Of Education, the Commissioners ant
Congress.
II wouldn't take the job here a
two or three times the salary" tn,
witness asserted.
Continuing, he said. he would worI
out an: effective school system here
with adequate buildings and efficien
teachers. But. he added. it wouldn'
stay that way long II the superfn
tendent was atffettered" as he now Is
It has been the experience all ovel
the country, that where the schoo
boards are responsible to the city Of
ffcials they have uniformly been
failure, he said. There should be {
REORGANIZATION here which woulf
ciotlie the superintendent with sum,
cient authority to permit him to d.
things.
"Thats a rather c4ustic criticism
Gaia RAorAaontStiv0 WSltePa "yVonif