Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-26
of that kind comprise a decided
minority.
Some Relief in Sections,

of that kind comprise a decided
minority.
Some Relief in Sections.
Although virtually every community
experiences some congestion as we'll as
a few of the "roomy" classes of the
minority, the reporters found the most
serious crowding in schools located in
the more recently developed residential
sections. Foremost among these, per-
haps, is the territory adjacent to Con-
necticut avenue in the Chevy Chase
Cleveland Park district; the COM
munities adjacent to Rhode Island ave-
nue. northeast, including Langdon and
Woodbridge, and the general territory
lying between Rock Greek Park and
Fifth street and embracing the Pet
worth and Brightwood communities. As
this is printed, however, some relief
for the Langdon- woodbridge section is
about to be afforded with the opening
of the new Langdon School at
Twentieth and Franklin streets north
east, and the Petworth- Brightwood
area by the pending opening of the
new Paul Junior High School and the
new w. B. Powell elementary School
at Fourteenth and UpShur streets.
In its physical equipment Washing
tons school system closely approximates
patchwork quilt, the new structures
In which the mortar is hardly set
representing the bright patterns Of new
fabric, and the antiquated structures
Of old vintage paralleling the faded and
frayed patches" which help make up
every traditional patch quilt.
On one hand are such magnificent
school structures as the new Adams
School at Nineteenth street and Column
bia road; the new Langdon School, the
new Brightwood School at Thirteenth
and Nicholson streets and the James
F. Oyster School at Twenty-ninth and
Calvert streets. These have modern
steam-heating plants, modern toilet
facilities, adequate auditoriums and are
Of thoroughly f1reproof construction.
On the other hand are the old build
ings, which were erected from 20 to so
years or more ago. Among these, for
instance, are five school houses which
the School House Commission of 1908
recommended for early abandonment"
nearly ~ years ago. They are the
Force School on Massachusetts, avenue
near Seventeenth street; the Lincoln
School at Second and C streets south
east and the Bradley School at Thir-
teen-and-a-half and G streets south
west, all of which still are in use as
regulation elementary school buildings,
and the Abbot School at Sixth street
and New York avenue. now a vocational
school, and the Webster School at
Tenth and H streets, now occupied by
Americanization classes. The Berrett
School at Fourteenth and @ streets,
also recommended for abandonment in
1908, still Is used for certain annual
training classes, although 1t Is destined
very soon to lose even these so that 1t
can accommodate school administration
officers.
Heatings Systems Vary.
Some of the older buildings of this
general class have been partly modern
lied but they can not be favorably COM
pared, especially in their equipment,
with the newer structures
Heating systems vary widely. Many
Of the older buildings have been
equipped with modern steam-heating
plants but many others still have their
old hot-air furnaces which. heat the
rooms and halls unevenly, fill the at
moSphere with coal gas, and blacken
the walls and furniture with SCOT.
There even are some buildings, pernla-
nent in construction, which are heated
wholly or in part by tall iron stoves set
up in the corners of the class rooms.
These are fired by the janitors, who have
to carry coal in scuttles from the base
ment and return the ashes in the same
annex at Thirteenth and v streets
southeast, Anacostia, Is one example of
this type of antiquity, while the wooden
annex to the Congress Heights School Is
another. The Cardozo School, colored,
at First and streets southwest, an old
building in generally poor condition, has
a hot-air furnace which heats the upper
floors, while q class room and the prtn-
cipars office on the first floor depend
upon separate iron stoves for their
warmth.
An example of building inadequate
ly heated by hot-air furnaces which not
only fail to supply the upper floors with
sufficient warmth but belch coal gas,
SCOT and dust into corridors and class
rooms in the Addison School on p street
near Wisconsin avenue. Among other
buildings in which heating conditions
are similar are the Van Ness, Fourth
and M streets southeast the Randall
Highlands, Thirteenth and r streets
southeast, and the Orr, Twenty-second
and Prout streets southeast
With the exception of several build
ings with recently modernized plumbing,
the toilet facilities in the old schools of
the District are startlingly different
from the strictly up-to-date tile and
pressed steel equipment in the new
structures. The old type toilet rooms,
generally located in the basement, are
cold and damp, badly ventilated and
poorly lighted, and are so equipped as
to demand constant attention by the
janitors and frequent treatment by the
District repair shop to maintain condi-
tons which remotely approximate
sanitation.
Like Rural Conditions.
But even these conditions, so general
throughout the city, are climaxed by
two glowing examples Of the rural
school builders art. The Stanton
School at Alabama avenue and Naylor
road southeast, and the Chain Bridge
School at Forty-ninth and GARFIELD
streets, have old-fashioned outhouses
which lack running water and sewerage,
and which are devoid even of septic
tanks. Both these structures are set
far back on the school lots necessitat-
ing the children's travel frequently
through snow and ice and still more
often through mud.
Equally bad from the standpoint of
heat, light and ventilation are the base
ment play rooms with which the older
buildings are provided The windows
In these yaultlike chambers are small
and are situated near the ceiling.
Similarly the heating equipment,
whether warm-air vents or radiators,
are located near or on the ceiling. The
Addison School provides one Of the