Evening star., 1932-02-13
An Ill-Timed Emergency"

Representative Simmons of Nebraska
is little unjust when he intimates that
| there must be something sinister in the
hasty abandonment of the Wilson
Teachers College Building, at Eleventh
and Harvard streets, and in the close
watch ordered by the authorities for
! progressive cracks in the walls OF the
nearby Ross Elementary School just as
hearings on the local appropriation bill
are beginning. OF course, and the
secret might as well be let out now, the
residents Of the District, in order to
impress the members of Congress with
the need for abandoning the old port
! able school buildings, did hold what the
reporters call secret conclave" in a
moon and arranged to have wind
storm visit one of the portables and
| take off its roof and the same residents
of the District, 1t should be confessed,
did conspire together for the visitation
Of transforms, snowstorms and other
such manifestations of civic indignation
in order to show up the weaknesses of
portable school buildings. And Mr.
Simmons was perfectly right in calling
these portables propaganda buildings -
utilized chiefly for securing permanent
buildings.
But undermine the foundations of
the Wilson Teachers College? Crack
the walls of the Ross Elementary?
No! Never! Intimations to the
contrary notwithstanding, the citizens
of Washington and their able school
| officials had absolutely nothing to do
with the defects that for the time be-
| ing have placed these noble structures
under suspicion. They have been up
to weightier and more important things
They have been secretly tinkering with
the foundations, the walls and the roofs
of the Bradley School, the Force
School, the jefferson School. the Lin
coin School, the Webster School-all
of these buildings having been recon-
mended in 1908 for early abandonment"
and they have been quietly and per-
Sistently trying to make the Tenley
School" subsequently recommended for
abandonment"-and the old Brightwood
School, fall down. But they have reli-
giously kept their hands off the Teach
ers' College Building and its neighbor
q 1,n CT fln ole 1fo,-x
In the case of the Teachers College
building, it was the last building in the
! world that the school officials wanted
to have unfavorably publicized at this
time. The Teachers College has Just
been made a college in order to allow
| the sons and daughters of local tax
| payers to receive an education that
would place them on a fair competitive
/ basis with out-of-town applicants for
| teaching positions in the Washington
schools. The Teachers College, with
its four-year course. has no legislative
or other standing as college Through
! the valuable cooperation of Mr. Sim
| MONS money was put in the appropri-
alton bill, and the school authorities
merely said, This is a college" and,
| lo there was a college This year the
| school officials were hoping to have the
Teachers College formally recognized
in legislation, giving it permanent and
| recognized status among other teachers
colleges of the United States. And
now the building has gone back on
| them!
Since 1920 the grand total of 487
class rooms in the District public school
system scheduled for abandonment has
been reduced to 204. the reduction made
| possible by construction of new build
ings. The school building program has
been making encouraging progress But
one had been inclined to believe this to
be due to the intelligent cooperation of
our legislators and not to the well
timed emergencies that Mr.. Simmons
intimates are arranged just as the hear
| ings on the appropriation bill are about
| TO start.