Evening star., 1925-09-20
DAVIS PUSHES PLAN
FOR GREAT SCHOOL
Secretary Proposes Master
High Building in Place of
Present Quarters.

Shortly before the convening OF
Congress in December Secretary of
Labor Davis plans to lay before the
chairmen of the Senate and House
District committees and school au-
thorities the plan he has in contem.
plation for master high school build.
ing for Westinghouse absorb all the
high school population now centered
in the five large high schools of the
city and to serve as a nucleus for a
high school plant which Mr. Davis
hopes may become a model for the
country.
The Labor Secretary first proposed
his plan for a master high school
three years ago. He took it up with
Senator Capper and Ernest Green
wood, member of the Board of Edu-
cation, last Spring after Congress had
adjourned. Dormant over the Sum-
mer months, the project is again to
be revived and Mr.. Davis is planning
a meeting with Senator Capper and
Representative Zihlman, chairman of
the two District committees in Con
gress, with members of the Board of
Education and Supt. Baliou again to
push the project.
Still Another Later.
year school building program as a
program for Improvement and better
ment of the public schools of the Dis
trict of Columbia. This program, he
points out, can be greatly improved
by construction of a large high school
plant somewhere in the northwest
section of the city, in line with the
trend of population, to serve as a cen
trail high school for the city until such
ha1 ha lnI nt..al
High School now is. When that time
comes he proposes construction of an
other great high school plant of hun
dreds of rooms, similar to the first
but in an opposite section of the city.
Technical, vocational and academic
courses included in the present
Washington high school curriculum
would all be offered in the great
master high school proposed by the
Labor Secretary. 1t would serve
under the plans he will outline to
authorities, as a senior high school
for the entire District of Columbia
the present high schools to be re-
tanned as junior high schools, to serve
as feeders to the great central plant
Mr.. Davis regards the present as
the time to embark on such an am
bilious project, with the money avail
able for school construction over five
years to be spent as the school au-
thorities and District officials decide
The great project he has envisioned
he sees as a national shrine of inter
mediate education, combining under
one roof all the courses offered in the
high schools of the city-an educa :
tional center without a parallel In
the Nation, a model for the world
and the most efficient ordination
of high school units possible under
any educational scheme.
Save by Buying Now.
He regards the present as the log
ical time to purchase the property
contemplated-1,0 900 acres or more
to include athletic fields. a stadium
and all the adjuncts to the great
plant he sees growing up on the out
skirts of the city-because real es-
tate values are certain to rise and
to buy now would save money.
Washington has the most wonder
full opportunity given to any city to
lead the Nation and the world, in an
educational project whose scope will
be greater than any other similar
proposal" Mr.. Davis says. Now
is the time to undertake it. and ]
propose to see what can be done
about it,"
The plan has met with the favor OF
Mr.. Greenwood, with whom Mr.
Davis discussed it at length, shortly
before he left on a trip to Europe
during the Summer.
Mr.. Greenwood claims the Central
High School plant would solve the
high school problem of Washington
for many years, pointing out that
the present high schools can only
take care of the present pupil en-
rollment.