Evening star., 1930-12-14
DISTRICT SCHOOLS
AREF|LLED BEYOND
INTENDED CAPACITY
Western High Suffers Most
by Congestion Which Is
Now Acute.
D. C. HEADS DISAPPROVE
RELIEF APPROPRIATION
Budget Bureaus Estimate Omits
Purchase of Site Suggested
in Undeveloped Area.


With 300 more students on its rolls
than it was designed to accommodate,
and confronted with known net in
crease of another 800 children, Western
High School is threatened with emer-
gency measures of wartime stringency.
This is indicated by the most recent
enrolment statistics and a study Of
conditions which school officials now
are making in an effort to find a solu-
ton for the problems arising from the
congestion which has reached the acute
stage in the senior high schools of the
District.
Western Not Sole Victim.
While Western is suffering more than
any other senior high school at present,
the tabulation for December 3 shows
that it is by no means the sole victim
of congestion. Central, with a maxi
mum capacity of 1900, has enrolment
Of 1850; Eastern, with a capacity of
1000, has 2,119 students; Mckinley,
~.
is caring for 2,475, and Business with a
peak capacity of 1,100, lists 1.1S4 on
its rolls. Similar crowding is witnessed
i'll one OF the three colored high schools
Dunbar, with maximum capacity of
l,400, has an enrolment of 1,444.
The figures representing the Ca
pacity" of school constitutes what
school officials point out Is an "abso-
lutte maximum" and which actually is
higher than the architects estimate at
the time the buildings were planned.
Mckinley, for instance, was designed
to accommodate 1900 children and
Business was planned for only 900 The
so-called Capacities" however, gradu-
ally have been raised by using the audi
toriums as study halls and by making
library rooms, in some instances, into
class rooms.
Budget Bureau Supports Cut.
In the face of these revelations, the
District Commissioners recently cut
from the Board of Education's estimates
an item for the purchase of q new
senior high school site north Of the
Brightwood section This elimination
was supported by the Bureau of the
Budget. which sent its estimates for
1882 to Congress lacking this item. The
school authorities sought the purchase
OF the land while 1t Is still IIndeveloped
and therefore cheaper. They have
pointed out that the site is located in
a definite line OF residential develop
ment progress.
Western High School already has un-
dertaken extreme measures to accom-
modate its overflow of students. It's
library has been turned into class rooms
ana It's assembly hall Is used for study
periods. Further, every laboratory in
its science department is used for
academic recitation purposes during all
the hours in which science classes are
not actually working.
Crowding Expected.
These extreme measures have been
necessltated to accommodate the exist
ing excess enrolment of 3O8. A survey.
Just completed, shows that $50 new
students are scheduled to enter West
ern February /, through promotion
from junior high schools and ele-
mentary schools. At the same time
western expects to graduate only SO of
its present students at the end of the
current term. Thus, the school must
prepare for net increase over its pres
ent Jammed enrolment of 300, giving
mat Scnool SOB more children than it is
School authorities now are under
taking to devise a plan which will
remedy the situation at Western or one
which at least will make it possible to
receive the students scheduled to enroll
tnere: ANY plan necessarily will be
orastic. During an earlier emergency.
PRIOR 70 the construction of an addition
which afforded relief for a few years at
the school, the student body was placed
on Sh1ttS," one-half of the students
reporting to class at $3.50 am and
quitting at pm, and the other group
reporting at pm. and leaving at 4:SO
pm. ~ -'OO
indications also point to a deficiency
IN the number of teachers required to
instruct the anticipated excessive en-
Some Relief Seen.
Relief of the Western High School
congestion VIII be afforded to some de-
gree, school officials believe, when the
Alice Deal Junior High School. now
under construction at Reno, is COM
pleted. The opening of that school
probably will permit the establishment
OF ninth grade-the first year high
school claSs-in the Gordon Junior High
School, which is within block of West
ern. Although the Gordon School now
Is In its second year, its full compile
ment OF grades never has been pro-
v1ded because the extreme congestion |
IN the elementary schools of the Bur-
leith and Georgetown sections has nee
eSsitated the maintenance of that
scnool as a virtual elementary building. |
AT the recent joint conference be-
tween the school board and civic organ |
ization representatives, DR.. Ballou de-
clared that in the face the known an
nual increase in the school population
Oh the District, the school system should
be prepared to provide a new senior