The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-01-27

best schools in the country are offer ing, and at no higher per capita cost than if the old-time class room school were substituted. Furthermore, they are substantial in construction, are safe, properly lighted and ventilated. These buildings, fifty years hence, will still be in good condition and not in the state of deterioration of many of the cheaply built schools, which Bir. mingham Is now fettered with, and which have served altogether too short time. It is unfortunate that only the initial units of these buildings are pos sible at this time. The full educational advantages and the economies will not be realized until the completed plans are executed.
 Initial Unit of Phillips High School
 Completed in 1923
 The first unit of the John Herbert Phillips High School is completed and in service. The normal capacity of this initial unit is 1,500. As this new build Medical College and a group of tenn porary structures, all of the students from the Medical College buildings have been transferred. The remainder, how ever, must use the Paul Hayne build ing and temporary structures until the new high school is completed.
 The new John Herbert Phillips High School includes in its complete plan all facilities demanded by modern high school curricula. It Is again unfortu- nate when the whole plant is so sorely needed that finances will permit of only a part of the building at the pres ent time.
 Deterioration and Obsolescence
 The age of most of the Birmingham their rapid deterioration. Premature de- cay is due instead of po"r construction. The new buildings and the more re- cent additions are the only ones that are fire-resistive. All others are either of Type "B" or "C" construction. Type "B" is non-fire-resistive and "C" is light frame construction. (See Tables and 2.) Many of the outlying com munities, incorporated in 1910 into what is now Greater Birmingham, had built cheap school houses. The Board of Ed ucation, therefore, was faced very sud denly with an obsolete and wornout set of school buildings. It must be borne fire-resistive construction was accepted among the smaller communities. Elm phasis on safety, the increasing cost of lumber and upkeep have resulted in a greater number of substantially con- structed buildings for small as we'll as large cities.
 Non-fire-resistive construction Eay be construed as economy. at the out set, but time and use testify to the waste which always follows in the trail of insubstantial material and workman ship for structures of permanence. The cost of skillful planning and substan- tial construction Is greater at the out set, but in the final analysis, they rep resent true economy. Furthermore fire-resistive construction Is an essen tial factor in building for safety of school children, factor which cannot be sacrificed at any cost.
 Too Many Basement Rooms
 All except seven of the white ele- mentary schools include basements There were in January, 1923, 465 white elementary children in basement rooms Owing to the usual defective lighting ventilation and insanitary conditions basement rooms are unfit for children to work and study in, and represent nc point of economy as to costs. Present day school planning eliminates base ments except for the mechanical plant
 Birmingham had in January, 1923, 5I temporary class rooms in the white ele mentary schools aside from the base ment rooms. These, as every one knows, are makeshifts, deterioratt rapidly, and are difficult to heat, dight and ventilate. In January, 1923, there were 1,666 white elementary school chil dren in temporary class rooms. One hundred and eight children were housed in old stores.
 Congestion In Elementary Schools
 Unfortunately, the number of chil- dren in the basement rooms and tenn porary buildings does not represent the amount of congestion in the first seven grades of the white schools. Prac- tically all of the class rooms in the main buildings are overcrowded and a number of small accessory rooms that were never intended for class room use have been pressed into service. On ex- amining the rolls one finds scores of rooms with forty-five and fifty chil- dren to class when present-day standards fix 35 pupils as a normal group for class room work. The total number of white elementary children without satisfactory class room accom- modations in Birmingham in January, 1923, was 4,S63 or about % per cent of the white school enrolment If kinder gartens were included, as they should be, the congestioSA would. of course, be considerably IT, Table 8 reveals