Evening star., 1929-12-19
PORTABLES TO GET
WIRING FOR LIGHTS
Late Afternoon Sessions of
Part-Time Glasses Make
Plan imperative.

Washingtons portable schools which
are not to be moved within the next
year or so are to have electric lights.
This was decided by the Board of
Education late yesterday, when its COM
mittee on buildings. grounds and equip
ment which had made study OF the
illumination Of the one-room frame
structures over q period of several
months, recommended that lighting IA
cilitieS be installed on specific plan.
Under that plan, as adopted by the
school board, lights will be installed.
first, in the IL or Is portableS which
house late afternoon sessions of part
time classes; second, in those other
buildings which are not scheduled for
transfer to new sites within the next
year, and, finally, in any others which
may need lights.
At the conclusion of the board meet
ing at which the lighting action was
taken, DR.. H. Barrett Learned, chair
man of the buildings, grounds and
equipment committee, said the work of
wiring the fiimsy structures will be un-
dertaken at once. Repair fund moneys,
he explained, will be used to defray the
cost.
Had to Use Flashlights.
Yesterdays action of the school board
occurrence in the portableS at Grant
road and Thirty-sixth street when the
late afternoon classes were obliged to
use electric hand flashlights to locate
their hats and coats. The classes had
spent the afternoon and an hour of the
morning without any textbook lessons
because of the eyeStrain of attempting
to read in the Semi-darkneSs. The
school boards action yesterday, how
p1iVf1o yod Sf11du nf tho O h1a
school lighting problems over a period
Of several months, and was not neces-
Sarily the result OF the recent handicap
imposed upon the Chevy Chase pupils
by the darkness of the other day.
In recommending that the portableS
be lighted, DR.. Learned declared that
the estimated cost of wiring each port
able was 5000, in addition to the cost
OF connecting the building wires with
the street conduits or pole power lines.
The total cost Of wiring all of the port
ableS now in use, he pointed out, would
approximate $4,000.
At the suggestion of Dr. Charles r
Carusi, president of the board, DR..
Frank w. Ballou, superintendent, Of
fered reasons why the portables had not
previously been electrified, in order, as
the board president suggested, ito stem
any recriminationS which have been
heard or which might be heaped upon
U.s." DR.. Ballou declared that 1t was
only within the last two years that all
Of the permanent school buildings had
been artificially lighted, and that funds
FOR that purpose were available to wire
only few of the schools each year.
He added that the need for lights In
portableS had become acute only in the
last two years or so. when school ON
cialS were obliged to assign part-time
classes to portable buildings. This
move. which was avoided as long as
possible, he said, made 1t necessary for
classes to be in session until 4:30 o'clock
In the afternoon.
Committee Appointed.
Yesterdays meeting of the school
board was marked also by the an
nouncement by DR.. Ballou of the ap-
pointment of committee to study the
question of character training in Wash
ington schools. The committee, COM
posed OF teachers from the normal
school grades down through the system
to k1ndergartens and ungraded classes,
will report TO the board with a plan
following its study. which is expected to
take approximately four months. It
was indicated that in framing its plan
OF character education the teacher COM
mtttee will work with an advisory COM
mittee composed of non-school system
members, which the board empowered
DR.. Carusi yesterday to appoint when
and as he sees fit.
DR.. Ballous committee includes the
following:
Normal schools-Miss Ethel Sunny,
Instructor in the principles of educa-
ton and teaching at the Wilson Teach
ers' College, and Miss Hope Lyons,
practice teacher at the Miner Teach
ers College.
Senior high schools-C. D. Houston
principal, Armstrong High School; DR.
e. B. Henderson, head of the depart
ment of physical education in the coll
ored schools; Lynn Woodworth, instruc-
tor in physical training at Business
High School; Miss Mildred Dean, in
structor in Latin at Central High
School; Mrs. Helen Staples, instructor
in mathematics at Eastern, and Mrs.
]. T. Perkins. instructor in biology ct
Armstrong.
Junior high Schools-Mrs. Agnes I.
Kinnear, principal Of the Columbia Jun
ior High School; Mrs. H. H. Plummer,
principal Of the Francis Junior High
School; L. T. Walter, instructor in gen.
eral science at Columbia: Miss J. Anna
TennySon, instructor in mathematics
and clerical practice at Langley Junior
High School, and Miss N. E. Boyd, in