Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1922-11-01
LACKING
IN SCHOOL REPAIRS
Superintendent Says Change
in Policy Is Needed to
Save Confusion.
FRICTION POINTED OUT,
Education Authorities Must De-
pend on District of Columbia
for Improvements.
FRICTION POINTED OUT.

Absence of clearly defined authority
and responsibility as is shown in the
procedure of repairing school build
ings wilz-inevitably result in the
future as it has in the past in con-
fusion and friction between school
authorities and officials of the Dis
trict government
This is the candid opinion of DR..
Frank w. Ballou. superintendent of
schools, who points out that the sue
cess of such procedure depends al
together too much on the personal
amiability of the persons concerned.
Friction has heretofore existed be-
tween municipal architect and the
school officials and the school board"
said DIR. Ballou "At times, friction
also has existed between the men in
the repair shop and the janitors of
school buildings. Such friction is
always likely to arise at any time as
long as the opportunity for it con-
tinueS to be as great as it is under
the present system of doing business.
Changes in engineer commiss toner's.
in assistants to the Engineer Com
missioner and in municipal architects
bring changes in procedure in the
officials. superintendent and school
principals and others likewise bring
different views to this problem"
Repairs Made by District Of Columbia
Explaining the present system Of
making repairs to school buildings.
the superintendent said the appro-
priation for repairs and alterations to
school buildings is expended by the
District Commissioners and not by
the board of education. School off :
cials keep no accounts for this item.
They only know the estimated cost
of itemized repairs. The actual cost
is not reported to the school board.
The Commissioners allct the appro-
priations for repairs and alterations
to school buildings between the two
halves of the school year, the larger
part being allotted for the summer
months when the schools are not in
session. A fixed amount is set aside
for emergency repairs for each half
year. Such repairs as furnaces. water
closets, roofs, etc. are classified as
emergency repairs.
Prior to May l of each year all
school principals are requested by the
superintendent Of schools to submit
items of repairs and alterations for
their respective buildings and grounds
classified as urgent" necessary" or
desirable" From the principal this
list Is transmitted to the supervising
principal, the school officer detailed to
handle all repair matters, to the mu-
-nicipal architect, to the superintend-
ent of repairs. The latter has each
request Investigated and the cost es-
timated.
DR.. Ballou emphasized that it is
always the case that the requests
are far in excess of the available
funds. Hence. the superintendent of
repairs checks the items which he
considers the most important up to
/, list thus checked-known as the May
LISTS forwarded to the superin-
tendent of schools for him to ap-
prove, or. if he disapproves, to sug-
gest changes The list is then re-
turned to the Superintendent of re-
pairs and is the list by which he
works from July 1 to December 81.
Non-Emergency Items.
Items in the May list not attended
to, together with the items accumu-
lating after the May list is made
up, are not attended to as emergen-
cies. This list goes through the pro-
cedure described for the May list and
is the list which the superintendent
Of repairs works from January 1 to
June 80.
1t will be understood that there is
q constant flow of requests, through
the channel indicated, for emergency
repairs. These are attended to as
soon as received by the superintend-
ent of repairs, the cost being charged
to the allotment for repairs. If these
emergency repairs exhaust the emer-
gency allotment, approved items In
the May or December lists must be
eliminated in order to release addi-
tional funds for emergency repairs.
In addition to the repairs listed by
the school authorities. the superin-
tendent Of repairs receives and takes
favorable or unfavorable action on,
repairs to school buildings suggested
by thsOsalth department and by the