Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-30
DIR. BALLOU DEPLORES DENIAL
OF $12I, 900 TEACHERS FUND

CONTINUED from First Page)
did not seem to be able to get the
viewpoint of DIR. Ballou on extenu
ating circumstances surrounding vari-
Gus figures he brought to them.
| This was forcibly brought out dur.
| ing a discussion of the number of
rooms at the Grant School. DIR. Bal
lou stated they had IL regular class
rooms in the school, 10 in use and 3
special claSSroomS in use. This pro.
voked Mr.. Simmons to say:
II admit that sometimes / am not
good at arithmetic, but you show here
IL regular classrooms. You say here
you have IL regular classroomS and a
minute ago you said there were 10
| regular classrooms in use now. You
say there are 10 regular classrooms,
with special classrooms, which
would make 49, According to your
other statement, you have only IL
rooms"
DIR. BallOu Explains.
After an extended controversy over
this feature DIR. Ballou was permitted
to explain that the Grant has 10 reg
ular classroomS in use by regular
classes and three other, rooms used
for special classwork, two OF the lat
ter being regular rooms.
Evidently sen sing that the subcom-
mittee members were bent on the
elimination of the appropriation for
the ~ additional teachers, DIR. Ballou
frankly told them If they did this they
would seriously hamper the proper
functioning OF the school system. lie
said the new teachers were needed 10
take care of the new rooms which
will be opened up during this school
term and the next school term.
He further explained that the in
crease in the enrolment this year
could not be taken as criterion Tor
next year, inasmuch as this was what
is known among schoolmen as the
lean" enrolment year, while next year
will bring a peak increase, IL past ex-
perience is carried out.
$4,000 Saved i'm Year.
DIR. Ballou pointed out that the
school officials have an uneXpended
balance of approximately $4,000 in
teachers salaries which was saved
during the past fiscal year. He said
that no teacher was engaged unless
imperatively needed. that none OF the
" teachers asked for are special
teachers and that as much money as
possible is saved through turnover"
OF teachers.
After a bit of pickering concerning
discrepancy in figures by members
of the subcommittee; DIR. Ballou
stated:
THE evidence shows that this build
ing program should be carried out.
There Is no question about that at
all. / feel that / am here as the at.
torney for the children. and l am pre-.
senting the evidence to the best OF
my ability.
Discrepancy Appears.
II regret If appear to be irritated
| by these questions, and | wish there
were an opportunity to sit down and
| in a deliberate way go over the evi.
oence. l desire to present the evil
dence In the form in which you
wanted it presented. / shall do the
best | can to organize the case and
| present Ii.
'sIt would appear from some of the
questions that have been asked here
| that there is a discrepancy of five
children between the enrolment and
some other figure, and, of course.
| there is likely to be a discrepancy.
1 or course, any one can take these
| figures and indicate that additional
| Information ought to be presented,
and we will present it.
I'VE only want the evidence pre-.
sented, only the truth and the facts,
and we stand upon that evidence alb.
solutely and unqqualif1edly.
rs Per Cent Clause Holds.
The report on the hearing on the
hill Indicates that the Commissioners
made an urgent plea for removal OF
| the Is per cent limitation provision.
Engineer Commissioner j. Franklin
| RelI pointed out that only one school
site of the many provided for in the
current appropriation act has been
nurchased within the restricted price
| Col ReIl also told of the plea that had
heen made TO the civic and other or
co nizations to aid the Commissioners
to bring pressure to bear upon the
owners of desirable school sites to sell
within the limitation.
| representative Funk, however, re-
nlied that the failure to buy the sites
was due Done or two things. Elt.lt
the assessed value has been TOO low
and you could not operate under ane
I25 ner cent limitation" he said, Oh
thew ithe owners) are holding then
for outrageously high prices. The
Committee took the position that while
the limitation will have the effect Of
DELAYING acquisition, by continu
ing to focus public attention upon tns
matter a more satisfactory situatlor
would result.
i New Purchasing Plan.
one new feature of the bill whicf
a,acards the present system of pur
chasing District supplies by compel
ling the District to buy from tn
Federal supply committee. thus put
ting the District in this respect OF
the same basis as other department.
ana agencies of the Federal Govern
ment. officials of the District do no
believe will result In any economies
q Hargrove, District purchasing
agent points out that there are fev
items that the Federal Government
through it's purchasing agency, ]
able to get at lower prices than tn
District Government.
Il OF ID items on the Ynerai suppl.
committee schedule, Nj. Hargrov