Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-17
TEACHERS PROTEST
DUTIES THAT TAKE
THEIR EXTRA TIME
Spokesman for Union Cites
81 Clerical Tasks That Re-
duCe Instruction Hours.
BUILDING IMPROVEMENTS
ASKED BY CIVIC GROUPS
Annual Joint Conference of School
Authorities and Public Held
in Franklin Building.

|
| joint conference, spokesman for the
Teachers Union were petitioning the
Board of Education for time to teach"
Parents pointed out that buildings
were crowded in some quarters and they
asked for additional classrooms, gym
nasiums, combination assembly hall
gymnasiums and Fairgrounds SO that
their children could have the benefit
of adequate facilities.
A Teachers Union spokesman cited 80
various clerical tasks which teachers
now have to perform and she asked
for the assignment Of clerks and
special teacher to each school 50 that
| the regular faculty may have full time
to devote to the professional activities
for which it was trained-"the training
of minds, the developing of character
and the preparation Of children to be
the citizens CT tomorrow"
Says Library Funds Lower.
Another union delegate advised the
school board that, while the Western
High School library 10 years ago re-
ceived an annual appropriation of $500
for upkeep in addition to having the
use Of approximately $3.50 for reminding
DOCKS WIl6U the SCilUOl Woo
TOO and its faculty was IS, that same
| library today. when there are 100 stu
dents under 20 teachers has an annual
appropriation of $40 and no reminding
| fund.
The meeting at which these needs were
| outlined, held in the auditorium Of the
Franklin administration building, was
! the annual joint conference held by the
school authorities and representatives of
] -, ToAs 4n1F oft q
! large. It was the first of these confer
| ences at which the teachers have I'M
! dertaken to present their complaints,
needs and grievances and 1t served to
presage, through their spoEesmens
| promises of later presentations OF de-
| tailed briefs, of more petitions TO come.
! Mrs Edna Ellis Hilton, teacher at
the Wheatley School, complained not
only of 80 specific clerical tasks, but OF
| the number of organization meetings
which, she declared, Washington school
| teachers are expected to attend. The
| clerical operations Mrs. Hilton cited
| follow:
Lists Clerical Tasks.
Children's records, report cards;
| 2, grades to be entered in roll books;
| 8 physical and vaccination cards,
| showing weiohts, hearing and eyesight
data; 4, compilation of lists Of children
to be weighed and measured; 5, trans
| fer cards. that are made in triplicate;
6, credential requests, that are made in
duplicate; 7, duplicate reports OF two
day absences and suspected truancy
cases for the department of attendance
and work permits; 8, daily health
/ habit cards; 9, school enrolment; 10,
exclusion blanks; IL, clinical eXamina-
tions; IL, nonresident pupil statistics;
Is nativity blanks; IA, bank books; is,
Parent Teacher Association member
ship Of pupils parents 16, pupils spe-
cial reports.
Teachers records, daily register
in roll books and their accompanying
six reports a year; 2, classification
mountaineering with the city, Cb)
| change of pupils addresses and (c)
children's absences; 4, milk orders for
| lunches; 5, bank books, carrying pupils
name, grade, school and teachers in
| closures; 6, list of children'S names and
| their parents for the Parent-Teacher
Association; Z, field trips; 8, intelligence
and achievement rating Of pupils, with
repetition Of age and intelligence quo
| tientS; 8, health charts, with repetition
of names and intimate data; 10, records
of library books; IL, inventory Of text
books and equipment on stock sheets;
! IL, requests for books and supplies; -,
| list of condemned books and equip
ment; IA, ordering of new books; Is,
reports of special problems and tests
for research Departmental all, 80
| clerical tasks.
Among the meetings, which teachers
| are expected to attend Mrs. Hilton
named the monthly conferences with
their supervisors, directors, principals
| these often called weekly and frequently
| several times a WeeR-and parent
teacher association meetings, together
with the gatherings of the Teachers
Institute and the Teachers Advisory
Council. Besides these, she said, there
are meetings with charity and welfare
| organizations, with parents and with
| truancy officers.
| Offers Remedies.
In short, Mrs. Hilton declared that
! teachers in Washington schools are
clerks, welfare workers, mothers, play
| ground supervisors, athletic directors
writer's, college students-for, she ex-
planned, after the meeting, good teach
! er is expected to pursue her own
| studies-and finally, teachers.
The situation she outlined can be
remedied, at least in part, Mrs. Hilton
declared, by providing each school build
| ing with clerk to care for most of the
| routine compilation Of data, and Spe-
cial teacher who would look after the
| physical welfare of the pupils.
Miss Elizabeth DesseZ, librarian at
! the Western High School, presented a
! brief on the status of high school libra
| rians. 1t contained the revelation that
/ today, with IN enrolment OF nearly
| two-and-a-half times as great as it had
| 10 years ago and twice as many teach
ers, that school is receiving actually less
! for the maintenance of its library. ThlS
| situation, she said, prevails in all other
| high school libraries of the District.
Requests for physical improvements
| in the schools were presented, at the
' suggestion of DR.. II. Barrett Learned,
acting president of the board, who pre-
sided at the joint conference, by divi-
sions beginning with the first.
| Among the first needs cited was that
! for an addition containing eight class
rooms, industrial art rooms and COM
bination assembly hall-gymnasium at
the Bancroft School. In defense of this
item delegates of the Bancroft Parent
Teacher Association and the Mount
Pleasant Citizens Association pointed
out that all of the Bancroft Schools
class rooms were filed to capacity, that
/ the school serves a large territory, in
which new building operations will pro-
vide an increased school population and
that at present the pupils OF that
school have to go to the Cooke School
for industrial art work. 1t further was
contended that many pupils now at the
| Cooke School would prefer to attend
Bancroft in order to avoid crossing
Columbia road, an arterial highway,