Evening star., 1926-01-18
ARTICLE NO. 9.

of the city, all scheduled under the
hve-year building program, are expect
ed To wipe out the alarming conges-
ton which has prevailed in the senior
hiSh schools during and since the war
period, handfCappinG Washington bows
and girls in the most crucial stage of
! their educational life
| Today there are 613 more students
IN Central High School than it's rated
capacity Of 1900 pupils. while Busi-
ness mas an excess of 23I pupils: East
eln, l29 pupils, and Mckinley. 1S2 pu-
! pils Western High School, recently
| improved by an addition costing
| So 900 and remodeling of the old build
ing at a cost of S47.500, is running on
a normal basis.
1t Is the view of Assistant Superin-
| tendent of Schools Stephen f. Kramer
| that the five-year program will relieve
every section of the city except that
! part of Northwest Washington which
| relies upon Central High School.
Maintenance of Central High
| school at somewhere near its 1900
! pupil capacity" declares Assist. Supt.
! Kramer, lis our biggest problem
We are hopeful that the new north.
west junior high schools will do a
| great service by keeping freshmen out
OF Central and we are also counting
| on the possibility that the new pro
| 1ected Business High School, TO be
! located near the Macfarland Junior
| High School. will take on academic
! phases. thus absorbing students who
! might otherwise enter Central. 1t is
difficult to forecast just what the fu-
ture holds in this respect. but we can
do nothing more at this time than be
| optimistic that as the fivc-year pro
gram is carried out the bulk of Cen
trail High Schools excess will be grad
ually eliminated"
While it is not provided in the five
| year program, school officials feel con
tdent that within the next several
years a new high school. possibly CO
ordinated with the proposed plans
TO create a Fort Slocum park, will be
erected to take care of the far-f1ung
Chevy Chase section.
1t is also their view that the day
is bound to come when still another
high school must be erected farther
north than Central High School, to
take care of the Petworth, Takonla
Park and upper Sixteenth street sec
tions. This latter. however. is de
scribed way in the future"
Senior high school development at
present is centered in the completion
OF plans for the new Mckinley, for
which bids probably will be let about
March /. \ million dollars already
has been appropriated to start work
on the schools, while S300,0U0 addi-
tlonal is carried in the pending ap-
preparation bill. The new school will
occupy a 25-acre tract at Second and
L streets. acquired at cost of s215,-
900. The site is the largest in the
District, running Jointly with the site
OF the Langley Junior High and ample
space will be available for a stadium
The school is expected to be COM
pleted in three years and possibly in
slightly shorter period.
Possession of a site and an apppro-
priation of $4,000 in the pending bill
to be used in the designing of plans
IS the present limit of progress on
the new Business High School No
doubt is felt, however. that erection
of the school will move along rapidly
after the initial appropriation is made
by Congress and graduates of the
school already are engaged in a cam
pa1gn to prevent the projected new
school to be named the Roosevelt
High School instead of the Business
High School.
While the new Eastern High School
is an infant, as school ages are count
ed, it is already overcrowded. and 1t
would not be surprising if additional
senior high school accommodations
for the eastern section of the city will
have to be taken up in earnest. pos
Sibly within the life of the building
program. The most prompt relief
which Eastern High School can count
on is the erection of Il 100000 eight
room addition to the Hine Junior
High School on the site of the old
Eastern, which will care for scores of
freshmen, who would otherwise begin
their final year of junior high school
Of IO,- nh
w. Ballou, superintendent Of schools,
also is counting on a new Junior high
school across the Eastern Branch to
serve Anacostia, Randle Highlands
and the Good Hope section. which
would serve to relieve Eastetrn High
School of its present strain.
Two high schools, the Dunbar and
Armstrong. are caring for the colored
high school students of the city, but
eSta blishment of business high
school in the building now used by
the Shaw Junior High School and i'm
provementS to the Dunbar and Mar
garet Washington Vocational School
are provided in the building program.
A total of 100000 has recently been
spent in additions to the Armstrong
Technical High School, eliminating the
portables and other make-shift ar
rangements which had been existing
at this school,
Opening of the new colored busi-
pess high school is expected to absorb
much of the 900 excess at the school
now, as it virtually will be the trans
fer of the present business depart
ment of the Dunbar High School into
separate entity. Appropriation of
SIS, 900 already has been made for a
site near the Margaret Washington
Vocational for the erection of an
recommended this year by the Board
of Education for it's construction was
disapproved by the budget director.
Confidence Is felt the money will be
obtained next year.
Athletic facilities for colored high
school students will be taken care of
through the construction of stadium
ut the Dunbar High School under
the five-year program. Much of the
land for this purpose already has been
bought.
In making up statistics to be used
in connection with the five-year build
ing program it was ascertained that
the average annual increase in en-
rollment in high schools from 1913 to
1920 was 245 pupils: from 1890 to
1924 it was 927 pupils, and for the
whole period it was 492 pupils.
1.-The striking increase in enroll
ment," it is observed by school Off
Gals, during the past few years may
or may not continue in the immediate
future Perhaps an increase of 927
pupils per year may not be antici-
pated: certainly an increase of 492
pupils per year is too low to use as
a basis for computing future needs.
considered from all points Of view. it
would appear that adequate prepara-
ton for increased enrolment will re-
ouire increased Accommodations each
year for at least $50 high school