Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-12-29
School Building Delays.

An article in yesterdays Star de-
scribed scme of the causes for delay in
school construction between the time
that school officials first request funds
for purchase of a site and the time
that the new building is opened The
delay runs as long as six years in some
cases. That is ineXcusably slow. 1t is
especially so in view of the obligation
on the part of school officials to Justify
their original request for school sites
In other words, the justification for the
site must be based on necessity. But
when the necessity arises the building
should have been ready. The needs of
the school system should be antici
pated. Instead, the necessity must al
ready be apparent when the request for
site purchase is made, thus meaning
that the necessity cannot be met until
several years have passed.
1t is impossible to place the blame
on individuals in the school system or
in Congress. The fault lies in the
method. If the officials concerned are to
be criticized. it is on the ground that
there have been no serious and con-
sistent attempts to correct the system.
The five-year building program may
have been a stab in that direction. But
it failed to strike home.
1t ought to be obvious to everybody
that the purchase of school sites should
be made far ahead of the time that
the site will actually be needed for the
building Economy alone should JUS
tify the practice. The Park and Plan
ming Commission has recommended, in
this connection, that the District be
given a five-million- dollar Treasury
advance for purchase of school and
library sites, the loan to be repaid in
annual installments approximating in
size the annual appropriations now
made for such purposes. That is a
good suggestion that should be consid-
cred during the school hearings this
year. The year-to-year plan of school
site purchase and building construc-
ton now followed does not anticipate
the needs of the schools far enough
ahead, but represents at best a futile
effort to catch up with the necessities
The disgraceful congestion at Western
and at some other schools is the result
Had it been possible to expedite the
enlargement of the Gordon Junior
High School when the necessity for
such enlargement became apparent the
congestion would have been prevented.
Even after the site is obtained and
the appropriation for the school build
ing becomes available, another interval
OF delay ensues while the plans for the
building are being prepared. The plans
cannot be drawn until the site is Sc
lected and bought or until the school
building appropriation is in hand. Why
would 1t not be possible to prevent this
delay by setting aside a special fund
for the preparation in advance of
school plans2 They would not be used,
of course, until the building was APP
propriated for. But once the appro-
priation was made, the bids could be
advertised, contract let and by the be-
ginning of the new fiscal year, when the
cash is In hand, construction could
begin. While the plans depend upon the
amount Of money Congress is willing to
appropriate, there is no reason to be-
lieve that Congress would not follow
the advice Of the experts.
There is nothing to be gained by
seeking to blame individuals for delay
L
gained by concerted action to revise
the system and prevent delay. Every
body agrees that it should be done
There is no reason why it should not
be done