Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-02-12
Supt. BaIIou Acts After Con.
ference With Health Of
fiCer Murphy.
PARENT-TEACHER BODY
SEES ITS AID ADEQUATE
Officials Will Await Data for De-
cision as to Financing
Food for Poor.

An Official survey of the public school
system to determine the number of
children attending classes without
proper nourishment and lacking funds
with which to buy lunches was launched
To-Day by DR.. Frank w. Ballou, superin-
tendent of schools.
DR.. BallouS orders for the investiga-
ton followed a conference he had this
morning with Dr. Joseph A. Murphy.
District health officer for the schools,
and a meeting late yesterday with Off
GERS of the District of Columbia Con-
gress of Parent-Teacher Associations,
Meanwhile, Mrs. Giles Scott Rafter,
member of the board of the Parent
Teacher Congress, issued a statement
in which she asserted that the parent
teacher associations are capable of
meeting any relief needs thrust upon
them by underprivileged pupils without
the necessity of congressional appropri-
ated aid.
BallOu Awaits Survey.
DR.. Ballou, however. refrained from
expressing an opinion pending the COM
pllatlon of facts on the needs. He took
the position that until an accurate
survey is completed there is no way of
knowing accurately how adequately the
needs are being met at present.
Impetus was given consideration of
the matter of underfed children by
school authorities question which al
ready had been placed before the Board
OF Education by Dr. Ballou-yesterday
when Senator Royal S. Copeland of
New York suggested that study be
made by the Health Department in con-
junction with the school board to de-
termine what steps might be taken to
provide lunches for poor children. SEN
ator Copeland's suggestion followed
testimony by John S. Noonan to the eff
1ect that large number of children at
TENDED school without proper food.
DR.. Ballou advised the School Board =
at its meeting a week ago yesterday that
needy children were receiving the milk
and-cracker lunches at present, whether
they could pay the daily stipend or not,
through the generosity of parent
teacher associations and the teachers
IN the schools where the needs Arise.
He suggested at that time that the
School Board call the attention of the
Congress of Parent-Teacher Associa-
tons to the situation with view to re-
newing that body'S interest.
Wants Burden Shared.
The superintendent explained today
that it was his belief that if figures
prove a considerable need for aid to
rangement be made by which parent
teacher associations throughout the Dis
tr1ct and school officers and teachers of
the whole system share the expense of
aiding the needy. He said he felt it un-
fair to permit the teachers who happen
to be assigned to schools attended by
poorer children and the parent-teacher
associations of those particular schools
to carry the whole burden He sug-
geSted that at schools where the need
for lunch money is greatest, the finances
of the associated parent-teacher groups
would be automatically less by virtue of
the economic conditions of those COM
munities.
When DR.. Ballou and DR.. Murphy
were II conference this morning. the
communication from Senator Copeland
had not been received at the District
Building. The health officer, however,
went into action with the school au-
thorities without awaiting official notifi-
cation from the Senate.
Although complete plans for the sur
vey of the school system had not been
made early this afternoon, it was the
opinion at the Franklin Administration
Building that most of the facts would
have to be gotten from the teachers
themselves and from the individual
parent teacher associations.