The Washington times., 1931-05-06
School Board Refuses to Raze Ancient Grant Building
P. P.T.A.PROTESTS
UNSAN|TARY
CONDITIONS
Only 2 WashboWIs for Nearly
500 Pupils; Policy Is Not
to Tear Down Any Building

oUU TupllS' FOIlCy Is NOk
to Tear Down Any Building
Because of a policy mot to tear
down any buildings" the Board of
Education refused to include in
it's estimates for 1888 the cost Of
new school to replace the
ancient Grant building on G
Street, between Twenty-first and
Twenty-second Streets Northwest,
it was learned today.
The Grant School will be so
years old next year. It has only
a basement room, 35 feet and 6
inches long by Is feet and II
inches wide, in which the nearly
500 pupils can play in bad weather.
The girls lavatory opens on one
side of the room, the boys on the
other. There is no assembly hall,
no gymnasium, no hot water.
Grant School has only two
wash bowls for the nearly 500
pupils.
PIT. A. Presents Facts
These facts were placed before
the Board of Education in q
resolution of the Grant Parent
Teacher Association after a
staff associate of the White
House Conference on Child
Health and Protection, an organ
ization created by President
Hoover to study needs of the
children of the nation, had ex-
planned the provisions of the
Children's Charter.
The resolution forwarded to
the Board of Education follows:
Resolved: That the Grant
School PIT. A. request the
Board of Education to put in
the budget for the coming
year an item for the erection
of new school building in
this section so that adequate
accommodations may be pro-
vided the children of this To-
cality and thereby carry out
the pledge contained in Arti-
cles and of the ChiIdren'S
Charter prepared by President
HOOver'S White House Confer.
ence on Child Health and Pro-
lection"
The Board of Education was
said to have turned thumbs down
on the proposal because "the
policy is not to tear down build
ings."
The PIT. A. then joined with
the Westend Citizens Association
in an effort to get even a compro-
mise victory in its fight for safe
and sanitary school. The compro-
mise anticipated construction Of
new wings on the old building.
However. nothing in the way Of
improvement for Grant School was
mentioned in the estimate sent
the Commissioners.
Floors in Bad Condition
Mrs. Belle Cutler Parker, presi-
dent of the Grant Parten-Teacher
Association, when asked what
some of the major faults with the
building are, said:
''The floors are in such bad
condition that screws in them
will not hold the furniture in
place. Until last year, the
building had not even been
painted for Is years.
"FOr the nearly 500 pupils
there. there are IL classroomS.
1t is SO crowded that many
pupils are on part-time Sched-
uIe. The Board of Education
says Grant doesn't need any.
thing-that when the cOlOred
cOnsumptive school is cOmpIet-
ed that Tower School. which
was taken for the cOlored pu-
pills four or five years ago,
will be given back to the white
students.
"Weightman and Grant are
the only schools in this neigh
bOrhOOd, which is rapidly grow
ing as big apartments are be.
ing built. II will grow even
faster when the Rock Creek
and Potomac Parkway is fin
ished, making this one of the
most beautiful sections Of the
Capital. Weightman is for
crippled children. Grant is the
only school in this section for
white pupils which is south of
PENNSYLVANIA Avenue"