Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-31
EQUIPMENT NEED
FOUND IN SCHOOLS
Seventh Division Lacks Mod
ern Heating, Plumbing and
Other Facilities.

to portray the school systems faults in
an ercepeTdted H0ht. The two reporters
uho pisitee each school BUILDING are
merely presenting the conditions as fhey
satU them.
The seventh article dealing rita another
school system diUision toilI appear To-
B7orToU.
Wide differences in buildings and
equipment and in the size Of classes
are found in the seventh division OF
the local public schools, but the con-
trasts within the area are not so sharp
as in some of the other divisions of the
system.
some of the oldest school buildings
In the city are in this division, which
embraces all the elementary white
schools in the Southwest and Southeast,
including Anacostia, Congress Heights,
Randle Highlands and the rest Of
Southeast Washington lying east Of the
Anacostia Rivers buildings in all.
Nowhere In this division Is there
q school building as up to date In all
particulars as several Of those Just
completed or nearing completion IN
other sections of the city.
There is crowding Of pupils, but less
than elsewhere, and part-time classes
are rare.
MANY oversize classes were found, but
not as many as in some other parts OF
the city.
Althoueh In most buildings of the
division the total number of avail
able desks and chairs exceeds the total
enrolment of pupils, there are some
times classes In these same buildings
that have not enough desks and chairs
of the proper size to accommodate the
nupils. In these cases furniture that Is
either too small or too large, or bent
wood chairs with various kinds OF Ia
bles, are used as makeshifts.
Important Activities Impossible.
MANY of the buildings have little or
no room for important activities that
are necessarily conducted outside OF
the regular class rooms, and IN many
instances pupils have to walk to other
buildings for manual training ana do
mestic art work-in one case more than
q mile.
The enrolment In some of the build
ings has been decreasing in recent years,
notably in the Southwest. In other
buildings it has been almost stationary,
while in still others it has been slowly
increasing. The latter condition obtains
principally in the Southeast.
There are approximately 70 classes,
or nearly 40 per cent Of the whole num-
Der in the division, In which the num-
Der of pupils exceeds IS, the desirable
maximum for one teacher in q modern
school system, in the opinion OF local
school officials and educators.
In Is of these classes the enrolment
exceeds 40 pupils. the practical maxi
mum fixed by Dr. Frank w. Baliou,
superintendent of schools, within which
the local school officials, under present
conditions, are striving to keep the size
Of all classes.
Seventh Division.
Glasses whose enrollments exceeded
IS pupils were found as follows: Roselle,
/; Amidon, 2; Bowen, 2; Greenleaf, l;
Brent, q; Dent. 8; Lenox, 4; Wallach,
6; Tyler, !; Cranch. 4; Buchanan, 2;
Bryan, scramble Highlands, 5; Orr,
4; Ketcham. s.; Van Buren,, 8; Van
Buren, Annex, J.; Congress Heights, III.
Included In the above classes are
those with more than 40 pupils each:
Dent, 1; Wallach. i; Randle Highlands,
2; Orr, /; Ketcharn, q; Van Buren,, 3;
Congress Heights, 3.
These figures do not include kinder
eartens, which are generally under di-
rection of two teachers. kindergarten
work, too, Is different from that Of the
regular graded schools. The kinder
gartens normally are larger and are
half day schools.
There are four part-time classes In
this division above the kindergartens
Two are in the Tyler School and two
in the Buchanan. II there were sum-
Gent room In the buildings In which
these classes are housed, they would.
of course, be placed on full time, like
all the other graded classes In the de
vision.
Three Of the buildings Of permanent
construction are not large enough to
accommodate the children in their
neighborhoods even by crowding and
i've classes. in the division, which would
otherwise Be accommodated in these
buildings, are housed IN temporary
wooden portable buildings Of one room
each. Five other classes are In annexes
Of antiquated type.
Only Two Assembly Halls.
In the entire division there are only
two assembly halls and they are both
in the Southeast, In the Bryan School
and the Ketcham School. No school
building of this division in the South
west has an assembly hall.
Some of the needs of the buildings
may be summarized as follows:
ing, especially toilets: sufhcient toilet
facilities not only for pupils but for
teachers; separate toilets for kinder
garten pupils; more wash basins and
drinking fountains; more rooms for
special activities for children; comfort
able rooms for speech correction teach
ers, hearing teachers, nurses headquar-
tiers and medical inspectors ofices,
rooms for giving individual tests, rest
4rq~ ed ~ NJ and
for sick teachers, comfortable rooms in
which teachers and children may eat
lunch, better ONCE space for principals,
more assembly halls and gymnasiums
and better indoor play rooms and out
door Fairgrounds.
One Modern Building Needed.
It is hoped by residents and teachers
Of the Southeast that at least one mod
ern school building. like the newest
buildings in the Northwest, may be
erected in their section. They point
to the fact that while the enrolment
has been falling of in the Southwest, II
has been holding its own or increasing
in the Southeast. It has been sug-
gested that a big model school building
be erected in place Of the old Cranch-
Tyler group.
Summary by Schools.
Outstanding features of each school
building in this division, as observed
by The Star reporters during the last
three weeks, are as follows:
Bradley.
Bradley, Linwood place and d street
southwest: Eight class rooms; seating
capacity, 1872; enrolment, 250: no part
time classes; lighting satisfactory; ole
hot-air furnace, but heat fairly salts.
factory: old-style toilets; playground
small and surface in poor condition
with mud in wet weather and dust In
dry weather; exterior surroundings IN.
slightly. This is an old building, which