Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1922-02-08

AZ matter Of information, possible
location Of schools In Wilmington, the
number of pupils according to grades,
the approximate cost of building, the
assessed valuation OF additional sites
and tho total cost. followed by certain
general remarks. We also leave with
you large plan Of the city showing
the outlines OF tho districts contribu-
tory to each school. These are out
lined In red. Tho sub-districtad in
which the smaller schools may BIO To-
Gated, namely, those caring for the
lower two or three grades, are out
lined in yellow. The colored schools
are shown In blue. The districts for
the colored schools are not outlined
because 1t Is presumed that all the
children except those living in the
immediate neighborhood OF Second
md Washington streets and Fifth
and Scott streets, will attend the new
consolidated colorcd high school which
Is to take the place OF the Howard
High School.
First Step.
A belief has>becn growing upon us,
and we believe upon members OF the
Board of Education and also ON City
Council, that 1t would be advisable
at this time to build only ono new
school. This school should be OF
1000 or more capacity: II should be
upon the most approved plan, but
without any unnecessary frills and
fads; severely plain In architecture
and adapted to carrying out the work.
study-play or platoon system of ad-
lministration.
There are three possible sites for
such an experiment.:
First: Eleventh And Kirkwood
streets. This would be school OF
2,4oo pupil capacity. II would involve
the purchase OF the balance of the two
small squares bounded respectively by
Tenth, Eleventh. kirlxwood, Spruce.
and by Tenth, Eleventh. Spruce and
Bennett, and the street In between,
namely, Spruce, could be vacated by
the city without any detriment to the
public because il already ends al
Eleventh. The assessed valuation of
that total property Is $llS,400. We
are estimating the cost of building at
1915 per pupil. or $40 cubic foot, 20
include all architects fees and equip
ment. This would mean approximate
~ 100000 or a total OF sl,000,00 II
this school We're built the following
schools could be Abandoned. Num-
bers !, 3, 6, s, 20. &c, II, which means
that this one school would take the
place of seven existing schools. be-
side relieving the high school of the
ninth grade pupils. The pupils of this
school would have the advantage OF
kirkwood Park as playground. One
other remark about this possible pro-
Ject may be made, namely. that
Eleventh street is to be widened a,
some time, and the city Will have 70
condemn all of that frontage at a
separate expense, even II the school
is not built. our feeling is that tho
first school should be built In the mos,
thickly populated part OF the city
ana adjacent to a public park or
playground. To build such building
would require approximately twelv,
months. and bond issues of two year,
could be merged into the project.
located on the squares between Tween.
ieth and Twenty y-first streets and be
tween Tatnall and West, and wes
and Washington, Your Board alrcad,
owns the major portion OF the lattei
square, your holdings being lare,
enough upon which to erect the schoo
: building itself. while the portion 10,
playground purposes is being secured
1 This school has a contributory popu
lation of approximately 400 an,
( should be built either to have extr,
available space or so constructed tha
IT can be readily enlarged to have a,
ultimate capacity of 1000. The as
sessed valuation of the additiona
: ground required is $4,000. We esti
mate the cost OF. the building to ac
commodate n pupil enrolment of ,4Ot
at s675.oo6, making a total cost o
s7o5.ooo, TO care for the present pupi
4 population. II this school were bull
1t would close numbers 80 and - an,
d take portion of the grammar schoo
pupils now attending "a. In tn
event of this school being built numbe
4 % school might be retained. addition
al ground purchased for a PLAYGROUND
y and used TO take care OF the lower tw,
or three grades In the immediat
l vicinity. The cost OF this is probe
matical, depending upon what is don
: TO the building. We have presume
that $4,000 will be more than ampl
to cover this expense and the assesses
valuation Of the additional site woul
j be 81 200.
e Third: A third location for thi
n first school might possibly be In tn
e southwestern section of the city. Sue
: a location might well be the square
e between du Pont and Clayton streets
t from Elm TO Linden and from Lin
;. den to Maple. with the vacation O
: Linden street from du Pont to Clay
: ton. This school as outlined woul
e have a capacity of $500. 1t woul
Y be erected at an estimated cost c
o $s50,000. The ground is assessed q
d sl3 ,525, making a total cost OF 1867
i 525. This would take care OF the pu
S pills from number 25, 10, 10 and a por
i tion of those in Is. Along with TIL
II school It seems likely that number 2
o would have to be retained or enlarge
Is and an additional small school fc
S the lower two or three grades bui
Ir at a location in the vicinity of Mint
II avenue and Duncan streets. tn
d ground around number 20 is owne
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