Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-09-01
SCHOOL PROGRAM
SHOWS PROGRESS
Two of Four Sites Provided
for This Year Already
Purchased.

Considerable progress has been
made by District officials on the 1927
1928 edition of the five.year school
g, building program, according to rec
ords made up today by Municipal
Architect Albert L. Harris and Maj.
L. f. Atkins, assistant Engineer Com
missioner. who acts as the Districts
agent in all negotiations for the pur'
chase Of school sites.
Two of the four sites provided in
the current appropriation act for
school purposes have been acquired,
although the money has been avail.
able for only two months. and Mr..
Harris announced that plans for five
school projects, started July /, are
advancing rapidly in his office. These
plans will be rushed to completion,
as Mr.. Harris hopes to have at least
four Of the Ave schools ready for
occupancy at the beginning of the
term in September. 1928.
Two Sites Acquired.
The only items for school property
In the current appropriation act are
for playground adjoining the Worm
lev school. an eight-room building on
Grant road; additional ground for play
space at the Peabody school, and an
eight-room addition to the Langdon
School. The sites for the Wormley
Playground and the Grant Road
School already have been acquired,
and the ground needed for the Pea
body play space Is now involved IN
condemnation.
Mai. Atkins, however. has not yet
been able to purchase within the rs
ner cent limitation above assessed
value sites provided in the appropria.
zion act for 1926.27 for the proposed
Rrookla nd Woodbridge Junior High
School and a 16.room building In the
vicinity Of Sixteenth and Webster
streets.
A number Of other school sites pro-
vided for in the 1926.1927 appropria.
ton act also are tied up in condemna-
ton. Actually Maj. Atkins has spent
but $4,000 of the $S55.000 approprl-
ated for school property in that act:
The major portion Of this was used
new four-room Potomac Heights
School, and a large part Of the prop
erty needed for the Brightwood Junior
High School. Property for the pro.
jected addition to the Wheatley
School, an appropriation for which was
available last year, is now being pur-
chased. Two other items in the 1926.
1927 act, one for the acquisition Of
property for an addition to the Nor
gan School and the other for the pur.
chase of additional ground for the
Dunbar High School athletic field, are
in the process Of condemnation. An
other item for the purchase of site
for a school in the vicinity OF Four
teenth and Ogden streets has not been
expended, although property for this
building has been acquired, by taking
over District-owned land in the neigh
borhood.
News Increase Aids.
Mai. Atkins attributes his success
IA purchasing school sites so readily
this year to the recent increased as.
sessment levied against property by
Tax Assessor William P. Richards.
The new assessment, he said repre-
eents more closely the real value of
the property. and makes it less diff
cult to acquire property within the
125 per cent limitation.
The plans on which Mr.. Harris Is
working include those for a 24.room
school at Nineteenth street and CO.
lumbia road, the four-room Potomac
Heights School, third-story addition
TO the Bryan School, containing six
rooms; an eight-room addition to the
Margaret Murray Vocational School
and an eight-room addition, with as
sembly hall, to the Barnard School, at
Fifth and Buchanan streets.
With the exception of the Nine
teenth street and Columbia road
project. Mr.. Harris said the other
buildings probably would be ready
for occupancy at the beginning of the
1928 school term. Construction Of the
Columbia road building cannot be
started until funds are appropriated.
The current appropriation act con-
tains only an item for preparation Of
the plans.
The current appropriation act also
provides Mr.. Harris with funds for
preparing plans for an auditorium
addition to the Wheatley School. the
new Brightwood Junior High School
and an eight-room addition to the
Morgan School. These plans will be
started, however, until the other
projects are under way.