Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-04-26
Detroit'S Forehanded Policy
Effects Huge Saving,
He. Finds.
MICHIGAN CITY BUYS
IN ADVANCE OF NEEDS
District Investigators Returning
Home With Economy Ideas
Cleaned in West.
BY JAMES +. CHINN.
stan Corresp dent Of The Star


DETROIT, April 25.- Impressed
with the wisdom of the policy of the
Detroit school authorities in acquiring
school sites far in advance of their
need, DR. Frank w. Ballou, superin-
tendent of the District public schools,
will urge the Board of Education upon
his return TO Washington to include
in the school budget for the next fiscal
year an item for $500, 900 for the pur-
chase of property on which TO locate
schools needed after completion of the
/ Efive-year building program, in 1880.
DIR. Ballou made this announcement
tonight following survey of the De
troit schools in search Of new ideas
in schoolhouse architecture
The Detroit trip, DIR. Ballou indi-
Gated, has served to re-emphasize
more forcibly than ever Washing
tons short-sighted and uneconomical
plan of waiting until a new school is
projected before buying a site. This
policy. the superintendent pointed
out, must be abandoned if proper
progress is to be made in school build
lns expansion in the future.
Pick Site Early.
Ju.a as soon as a farm or a large
estate in the outlying sections of De
troit I! subdivided, the school authori-
ties Pick out a choice site, containing
between s and 10 acres. and con
denim il for future use. AS the sub
division develops the need for school
| facilities arises. portables. such as
! those which have been used in Wash
| ington since the war. are placed on
| the property temporarily. When the
| community has a school population of
| 500, permanent building is erected
and extensions are made from time
! to time as the demand for additional
| accommodations increases.
Throughout the vast suburban areas
recently annexed by the City of De
troit. Superintendent of Schools Frank
Cody took DIR. Ballou and Osgood
Holmes, an assistant municipal
architect. today. Every few miles
! DR. Cody would point to a field covered
with the decayed remnants of truck
| garden or to a cattle pasture and an
nounce laconically:
There's another school site we've
! just acquired. The nearest house is
about a half mile from here, but De
troit, you know, is growing fast, and
we probably will have to build school
there in a few years"
! In other sections closer TO the city
| limits, where home developments are
under way, colonies of portable schools
were observed. They are only
temporary facilities Supt. Cody
would remark. I'VE will build a new
school there this Fall"
Getting Cheaper Schools.
| DR.. Ballou and Mr.. Holmes are en-
route home tonight convinced that
| Detroit has well planned and artists
ally attractive school buildings, far su-
perior TO those which Washington can
build for the same price. 1T is per-
| fectly obvious to me-" said DR.. Ballou,
that Detroit is getting cheaper school
construction than we are in Washing
! ton"
| DR.. Ballou said he observed that all
of Detroit's new elementary schools
are of the two-story type, without
! Easements. This is the type of
schools which we will continue to de-
velop in Washington" he declared.
The architectural finish put on De-
troit's schools, Mr.. Holmes said, made
the deepest impression on him. We
could not put such architectural treat
ment on the schools in Washington, ="
he explained, because it would in
crease the ultimate cost of buildings
materially"