The Washington herald., 1922-06-04
Cracked and Dilapidated
Buildings House Pupils
In Fifth Division.
LOOK LIKE PRISONS
One Frame Structure, Rented
Rooms and Crowded
Classes Revealed.

BILE shift" classes in dark prison.
like buildings. a few modern school
buildings, together with a universal
atmosphere of bravery and hope
fulhess on the part of teachers
these are conditions in Fifth divi-
sion schools. downtown Northwest
section. as revealed by a survey
completed by The Herald yesterday.
While approximately seven of the
fifteen buildings in the Fifth divi-
sion are serviceable. the survey
shows some of the worst conditions
that have been met with in the
school investigation by this paper.
In general the school buildings
resemble well built stables or jails.
In no school is there evidence that
an attempt has been made to make
the buildings objects Of beauty as
well as service.
Arthur school DIIspidated.
m addition to the generally re-
pulsive appearance of Fifth divi-
sion schools. most of the buildings
have surroundings that should dis
qualify them for use as institu-
tions Of public instruction. Filthy
backwards. questionable tenements.
heavy traffic and cramped play
space are attributes of schools in
which thousands of elementary
grade children of Washington are
receiving training.
Arthur School. located on a side
street between Indiana avenue and
B street northwest. is a dilapidated
brick structure. Cracks in the
sides of the wall have been flled
with cement. The school ground
is surrounded by an ugly brick
wall that hides worse sights
within.
Many Of the teachers in this
school have two grades, OF the A
and B sections OF one grade. There
are Jas many as forty-eight pupils
In q room 4 majority of the chill
dren in Arthur School have for
eiEn-born parents. necessitating
greater amount of work by the
teachers in doing Americanization
work and holding special coach
classes for the backward pupils and
for those who do not understand
English. The wornout building and
crowded conditions add hardship
to instruction. The building is so
that nothing short Of a new plant
will meet the situation.
Blake School Barniike.
Blake School. between h and l.
streets on North Capitol. is one of
the barn-like types OF school archi-
lecture. Built only ten feet back
from the sidewalk. 1t is subjected
to all the noises Of traffic on this
thoroughfare. 1t is surrounded by
a playground that can be crossed
In one jump at any place except In
the rear. where there Is an irregu-
lar plot approximately fifty feet
square The school gardens are
twenty inches wide and twelve feet
long. An implanted board fence
fails to shut out the view Of buck
cts. rags and other unsightly OBJ
jects in the rear of buildings that
are backed up to the school. The
interior of the school compares
favorabIy with the type of building
worn slate steps. dull walls and
floors, unsavory basement and old
plumbing.
Abbot School. New York avenue
and Sixth street. is regarded as one
of the outsta nding school disgraces
of the District Of Columbia. The
building occupies more than one
half of the school site. which is
triangle bounded by sidewalks. As
there is practically no school
ground. children play in the streets
Built in 1873. the school walls are
cracked from the basement to the
roof. Steel supports have been
placed, which apparently have made
IL safe for the time being. In ap-
pearance Abbot is a dirty-gray
building. covered with dust from
the cinder-and-dirt playground.
There is an antique heating plant
which forces air through dust-lined
air chutes. The system of ventila-
tion is regarded as a health menace.
Toilets are old and are in dark
rooms below ground. A splendid
school site is said to be available
just south of the present location.
This .schooI- Not Named.
What purports to be a school is
located above an awning store at
PIP II street northwest A picture
of the building appears in another
column. Although this location has
been used as a manual training and
domestic arts school for twenty
years IL has not been named. 1t is
believed that the unntness of the
location accounts for its being des-
ignated by code number "363." As
shown by the picture. there is
nothing about the building to indi-
cate that 1t is used for school pur-
poses. Access is gained to class
rooms by ascending a long flight
of stairs between two stores. APP
parently the rooms used as class
rooms were built to rent as cheap
nats.
Although s16,500 is paid annually
for renting buildings for school pur-
poses, it Is believed that few wash
ingtonians know that children are
receiving their education in struc-
turss of this type
Henry and Polk chools. Seventh
and streets, are the old type. Sell
den, n. Ely. supervising principal
of the fifth school division, described
theSs schools as examples of build
ingA that were built to hold pupils,
but Without any beauty of design.
There is no contrast between the
schools and the other Seventh street
buildings in this vicinity. An in
terested citizen described the
schsols as blending perfectly with
the sickening appearance of the vi
cinfty." While both buildings are
badly in need of repairs, It is be-
iieved that conditions warrant a
modern twenty-room plant that will
be INHERENT from anything this
nsizhborhood has experienced in
schools.
Few schools Modern.
EckinRton Schoof nod.rn