Evening star., 1932-05-09

n, D. c., MONDAY, ]
School will replace the present Busi-
ness High School, where that kind of
instruction is paramount in the cur
riculum, the item will be considerable.
The proposed tables. school officials
fear. will be virtually useless in four
years, and are convinced they would
have to be replaced after five years Of
service.
Some Items Eliminated.
Perhaps even more serious, however,
are the definite curtailments which
might have to be carried out in the
business practice department. Much of
the Office equipment, including COM
putting machines, filing cabinets and
other equipment necessary to the COM
prehensive teaching Of business prac-
tice will be omitted entirely.
The schools cafeteria also would suf-
fer loss of needed equipment. Likewise,
the auditorium's stage equipment, neces-
sary in auditorium programs in school
life, probably would be reduced.
The House cut of $4,000 from the
$475, 900 sum requested by the Board OF
Education, the Commissioners and the
Bureau of the Budget for repairs and
improvements to buildings will place
definite penalty on Washington's chill
dren. The cut, for instance, will pre-
vent the replacement of six of the re-
naming antiquated hot-air heating
plants, which belch much gas and little
heat into the class rooms they are sup
posed to warm. The school officials are
following a definite schedule in remov-
ing these Objectionable plants from the
schools, and they have made pronounced
headway.
The cut also will further delay the
installation of hot water supply systems
in 80 of the school buildings which
never have known that essential. Public
indignation in recent years has risen to
a high pitch over this gross lack in the
Districts older schools, and the char
acter education groups, which have for
their purpose the acceleration Of pro-
grams which promote that phase of
child training which extends beyond
mere academic instruction, have cited
the absence of this essential facility as
q blow at common decency. Virtually
all If the older schools have single
wash powl with one coldwater faucet,
and yet children are instructed in the
merits of personal cleanliness, the char
acter education proponents point out.
Insanitary Fountains Continued.
The Health Department has consist
emily condemned the type OF drinking
fountain, equipped with 6-inch bowl,
which creates a constant pool OF water
from which children drink. Practically
all of the older schools-and that means
all schools except those completed dur
ing the last five years-have these foun-
tains. The Health Department con-
tends that the catch-bowl in these
fountains offers an excellent source OF
infection, since a child who may be
diseased might easily contaminate the
water remaining in the bowl. A normal
child following Immediately behind the
first would take into his own system
the infection thus left at the fountain.
School authorities estimate these con-
demned fountains could be replaced at
cost of $4,000.
In cutting this $4,000 from the re-
pair fund, the House acted on the same
theory it did with respect to- the fur
niture item Prices are down and less
money should suffice to make the re-
pairs. And, like in the former item.
the House is correct; the only difhculty
being that the school authorities al
ready had recognized the price trend
and had reduced their estimates from
the S492 900 carried in the 1882 appro-
priation to the $475, 900, despite the fact
that more buildings are in use now
than when this years estimates were
framed.
The minor repairs which generally
are made to new schools-replaceme
of broken glass being one of the major
items-muSt be denied "a school build
ings which will be in use during 1888
which were not in existence under the
current appropriation. This would be
due to the cut of 900 in the general
repair fund. These buildings are the
additions to the Gordon, Stuart, Paul,
Hine, Randall and Mcfarland Junior
High Schools, and the Murch, Whittier,
Woodbridge, Orr, Key and Deanwood
Elementary schools, and the new
Eliot, Deal and Browne Junior High
Schools, and the Mann, Lafayette,
Noyes, Stoddert, Hearst, Young and
Shepherd elementary Schools. These
structures were completed during the
current year, and while most of them
were put in use this school year, they
will become eligible for their first minor
repairs in 1888. Besides these the
Roosevelt High School, Douglas-Sim-
mons elementary School, both OF
which will be occupied next term, would
require the minor repair care.
RamshackIe Furnishings
At least seven schools will suffer cur
tailment in equipment If the House cut
of SI1 400 in the general furniture and
equipment item is permitted to stand.
Every cent of the ST. 400 submitted by
the Budget Bureau for this purpose Is
needed, and unless it is forthcoming
school officials will have to reduce facil-
tiles in some instances and eliminate
items of equipment entirely IN others.
The new Kenilworth School would go
without its window shades and the
equipment for its teachers room. The
M street high school building, which
is to be vacated by the Cardozo High
School this Summer, would continue
with the broken auditorium seats, which
after 40 years of constant use were
to be replaced. Likewise, the auditorium
chairs at Business High School, to
which the Cardozo institution will
move, would continue using the 81
year-old seats. Both these schools
would 90 without auditorium stage re-
pairs and equipment.
The Giddings School win not receive
its playground equipment, its visual in
struction apparatus and its window
shades. The Harrison and the new
Douglas Simmons School also will go
without these essential items of equip
ment.
A cut Of $25oo0 in the contingent
expense fund will force the continued
use of worn-out furniture. AS seats
and desks are broken they ordinarily
are replaced with new equipment, but
because of the reduction made by the
House, school officials expect they will
have 10 renlace broken furniture with