Evening star., 1934-01-03
Fruits of School Building Delay.

Fruits of School Building Delay.
The city's school system was hard
hit by the lean years of the World
War, when appropriations for every
thing but war machinery were cut to
the bone After the war several years
passed before any real effort was made
to provide the adequate school facilities
that accumulated needs, plus growth
of the city, so urgently demanded. The
five-year school building program be-
came law in February, 1925, and the
first appropriations under that program
we're carried in the second deficiency
bill for 1925 and in the appropriation
bill for 1926.
Commendable progress was made in
carrying out the fve-year program,
although some Of the members Of Con-
gress refused to be bound by its gen.
eral declarations and took the view
that actual conditions sometimes diff
fered from the conditions that were
forecast five years in advance SO that
each years needs should be dealt with
as they arose. The first five-year pro-
gram, which was to have been con-
Guided July l, 1880, should have been
followed by another fiye-year program.
1t was not.
During the years Of the depression
fchool construction has been restricted.
Even when Congress has appropriated
the money to begin construction-as in
the case Of the Anacostia Junior High
School-the Bureau Of the Budget has
prevented expenditure of the money on
the ground that funds would not be
available to carry on the work. For the
past several years there has been a
virtual cessation of Scholastic acquiSi-
ton, which always handicapS orderly
school building. When sites must be
acquired, there usually ensues a year or
more of delay before construction can
be begun.
The effects of such delays are begin
ming to show themselves now. East
ern High School, one of the newer
buildings, Is operating on the stagger
plan. western High School must in
:augurate the stagger plan in February.
The Alice Deal Junior High School in
Chevy Chase Is so crowded that 300
students attend classes in the tenn
sporarily partitioned, unfinished second
floor of the Murch Elementary School
"a considerable distance away Powell
Junior High School in Mount Pleasant
r5s becoming congested because Of the
retention of some Of the class rooms in
the johnson School, across the street,
for the use of the younger children.
The Eliot Junior High School, adjoin-
ing Eastern, is congested, while the
relief of such ongestion-construc-
ton of the Anacostia Junior High
IS delayed. The Dennison Vocational
School for white girls is housed in
an ancient elementary school build
ing and its lack Of equipment and fur
snishings is referred to by school Off
Gals as an outrage" The overcroWd-
ing in some of the high schools IS due
not so much to the inadequacy of the
high school equipment, but to the
shortage Of junior high schools.
Conditions in the Washington pub
lie schools may be good, in comparison
Q with the public school systems of
some other cities. As the United States
Commissioner of Education, George F.
Zook, pointed out a few days ago, the
public school systems of practically all
American cities have suffered in vary
ing degree during the depression. But
this fact cannot condone continuance
of a condition which will rapidly grow
from bad to worse. School needs are
cumulative, and one Of the deplorable
effects of continued failure to build
schools Is that a whole generation Of
children may become the victims of
inadequate facilities, spending their
elementary school lives in crowded
classes wRicb deny them the benefits
Of anything approaching individual in
struction. The signs of growing con-
gCsNon in the Washington schools
should be warning enough to the au-
thorities not to prolong the already
harmful delay in school construction.
This form of building construction is
probably the most beneficial to the
community and the investment which
yields the greatest return.