Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-16
EDUCATION BOARD
POSTPONES ACTION
ON K|NDERGARTENS
DR.. BaIIou Presents Stats
tiCaI Data While Citizens
Make Appeals.
JUDGE Mccoy PLEADS
FOR WEBSTER SCHOOL
Asserts Service Rendered Mothers
in Americanization Training Makes
Work Especially Important.

an hour, and after receiving a mass of
statistical data on these classes from
DR.. Frank w. Ballou, superintendent,
the Board of Education late yesterday
postponed definite action on the pend
ing reorganization of the kindergarten
system until its meeting on Novem-
Der S.
Speaking particularly on behalf of
the under-age kindergarten class in the
Webster Americanization School, the
continuation of which, he contended,
involves adult education more than 1t
does child training, former Chief JUS
tice Walter /. Mccoy of the District
Supreme Court headed the group of
six kindergarten defenders who adj
dressed the board. In his address
Judge Mccoy said he hoped the board
would continue all the regular kinder
gartens, but he pleaded specifically that
the Americanization School class be
preserved, not only because it AFFORDS
strategically needed training for chill
dren, but because it actually makes IL
possible for the mothers seeking scnooi-
ing in American principles TO attend
the citizenship classes there.
DIR, BaIIou Submits Data.
The data which DR.. Ballou submitted,
following its compilation by George u.
Strayer. school system Statistician.
showed that of the cityS 119 kindergar-
ten classes "a have had an average
daily attendance Of less than 70 pupils
so far this year. Twenty-Five was Ine
standard established by Representative
Rnbert G. simmons of Nebraska as the
minimum number of children each IN
dividual kindergarten class should have.
of these "a below-Standard classes nine
are in the white schools and the re-
manning is are in the colored schools,
1t was shown. -,
DIR. Ballou's statement showed also
that nine kindergarten teachers OF the
white schools had been transferred 10
elementary grades, while none mao
been shifted in the colored schools. he
showed further that IA white elemen-
tary grade teachers had been relnSTateu
from educational, maternity or illness
leaves of absence, and that 10 had been
replaced in the colored grades from
similar leaves.
The school accepted this data Tor
study until the next meeting, when, II
was agreed, it would arrive at den-
mite decision concerning the continued
maintenance of the classes.
Before the boards regular business
was taken up, DR.. H. Barrett Learned,
vice president, who was presiding IN
the absence of DR.. Charles F. Carusl,
who was i'll, announced that the walt
ing spokesman for various interests
would be heard. Judge Mccoy, an
ardent supporter of Americanizatlon
work, was called upon first.
Mccoy Pleads for Mothers.
Judge Mccoy declared that regular
kindergartens actually mean child well
fare and urged that all of them be treat
ed with that understanding in mind.
In the under-age kindergarten at the
Webster School, the continuation OF
which he said was his specific reason
for addressing the board, however, Judge
Mccoy asserted that child education
is only a by-product." That class, he
said, involves the question of "how we
shall educate the mothers who have
children that make up that class"
The former chief justice told of the
problems which the foreign-born
mothers face in attending the citizen
ship classes. The Webster kindergar-
ten, he pointed out, gave them an OPP
portunity to leave their children in
good hands, where they knew the
Youngsters we're receiving training as
valuable to them as their own citizen
ship schooling Is to their elders. He
cited a citizenship class in which IL
foreign languages were spoken to show
that the Webster School presents an
entirely different problem than any
other school in the city.
Public school rules which are made
to apply to regular classes OF children
cannot apply to the Webster School, y
Judge Mccoy asserted Therefore l
urge you to place the Webster School
in class by itself, governed by its own
set of rules that are made expressly
for it,
Continuing. he voiced the hope that
in dealing with kindergarten reorgan-
ization the School Board would get
the point of view that the Webster
School is different from any other
school. and that it will be treated as
an exception and have its kindergarten
continued despite any other action.
d. A. r. Speaker Adds Appeal
Mrs. E. C. Rittue, representing the
Daughters of the American Revolution,
spoke next, and she also appealed espe-
cially for the Webster School. She
pointed out that the current appro-
priation act contains no language de-
manding the abandonment of a single
kindergarten and contended under-age
tional value. Abandonment of the
Webster kindergarten, she said, would
amount to the boards taking action
contrary to the principles OF the
Americanization school, She pointed
out further that % adult students of
that school take their children to its
kindergarten, and commended that with
out the training those children get in
the kindergarten they would suffer a
lack of English language training which
their foreign-type homes could not pro-
vide.
Herbert S. Wood, president of the
District of Columbia Public School As
ISOLATION, subscribed to Judge MCCOY
statements. adding that he would re-
greet the closing of under-age kinder
| gartenS anywhere, because, he said,
| such move would be backward step
that will have to be retraced later.
Pleaded for Kindergartens.
Mrs. Anna E. Murray, speaking for
| the District of Columbia Federation of
| Colored Womens Clubs, pleaded for all
underagc kindergartens, asking par
| ticularly that the class be restored in
! the Slater-Langston Schools.
| A j. Driscoll of the Mid-City Citizens
Association Endorsed Judge McCoy's plea
| particularly IN Its reference to the
| Webster School kindergarten.
| Mrs. Giles Scott Rafter, past president
| OF the District Of Columbia Congress- OF
Parent-Teacher organizations, who an
| nounced that she did mot represent the
| Parent Teacher Associations" but Il
stand here as the representative of every
child and every parent in the District