Evening star., 1934-07-09
Or. BaIIou Places Blame in
Reply to Criticism of
Fine Arts Group.
DECLARES LIST ASKED
WOULD BE OF NO VALUE
Gotwals Says Arts Commission S
Indecision Held Up Wilson
School Program.


mission OF Fine Arts Of the delays at
tendant upon public school building
construction. DR.. Frank w. Ballou,
school superintendent. today laid re-
sponsibility for the delay upon the
District Commissioners.
A copy Of DR.. Ballous letter, made
public with his acquiescence by the
Commissioners, was sent TO Engineer
Commissioner John G. Gotwals. who
promptly promised "a torrid reply"
10 both Ballous and the Fine Arts
Commissions letters in the near fu-
ture.
The Fine Arts letter to DIR. Ballou.
written by Charles Moore. chairman,
asked the Board OF Education to pro-
vide II with list of schools proposed
for construction IN 1896.
In his reply DR.. Ballou pointed out
that any list Of proposed buildings
which the school authorities might
have for 1886 would be OF little value
to the Fine Arts Commission because
the School Board estimates would be
so much reduced by the District Com
rnissioners and the Budget Bureau
that the fine arts group would be
wasting time reviewing such proposals.
Figure Set at Minimum.
1T is appropriate to point out in
this connection" Ballous letter as
serts, that the Board of Education
quite uniformly submits estimates for
school buildings and grounds involV-
Of M r1NriV0 q tAl
$4,000 900. which is believed by the
school authorities to be the minimum
appropriation for such purposes In
view Of the growing school system
and the need for replacement of anti
quated buildings 1t has been impoS-
sible to secure that amount of money
for that purpose in most years and
during the period of the depression
the school-building program has been
almost completely abandoned A large
part of this building program is elm
mated by the Commissioners and fire.
quently the Bureau Of the Budget still
further reduces the number of con-
struction items carried in the esti-
mates.
Under these circumstances 1t is
NAAAANhAe " oNN JAoN AAON VIZ OSAAAAA4n
sion of Fine Arts might use list OF
school buildings which the Board of
Education includes in its estimates for
1886. Inevitably, if past practice is
any indication of future practice. many
of these items will be eliminated by
the Commissioners and others will be
eliminated by the Bureau of the Bud
get. The Commission of Fine Arts
would find itself reviewing items at
this time which might not be actually
carried in an appropriation bill for
several years"
willing to Submit List.
Ballou added, however. that if the
commission wanted such a list and
the Engineer Commissioner and mu-
nnicipal architect did not object, the
school authorities would submit such
a list to the Fine Arts body.
Ballou also pointed out to Moore
that the Fine Arts chairman's letter
interests me because it is addressed
to the superintendent of schools rather
than to the authorities at the District
Building, who are IN charge of school
house construction. The school au-
thoritieS, Ballou wrote, have held the
opinion that they had no official re-
lationship to the Commission of Fine
Arts, but that the municipal architect
and the Engineer Commissioner. who
are in charge of the designing and
construction of school buildings. are
the officials with whom the Commits
sion of Fine Arts would carry on their
work relating to the construction of
new buildings"
The school superintendent also
pointed out that the school authorities
do not undertake to dictate the sTchi-
tectural design of school buildings,
leaving that matter TO the municipal
architect. In school house construc-
ton. he said. the school authorities
undertake only TO set forth the educa-
tionsl facilities and their relative 10
cation within a school building.
Cites Wilson School.
In his letter to Ballou. Chairman
Moore cited the case of the Woodrow
Wilson High School as a striking ex-
ample of school building delays. He
wrote.
The delays and changes we're due
10 the fact that Congress ordered plans
adapted to fiat ground to be used on
a hillside
Mai GotwalS today took issue with
this statement and with Ballous
failure TO correct in his letter this
kind Of rotten, lying history"
We don't build all our school
houses from the same plan, Gotwals
declared We make them all diff
ferent. The delay at the Woodrow
Wilson High School was due entirely
to the Fine Arts CommiSSion's chang
ing its mind on the location of that
building. We had adopted one plan
and then the commission said they
wanted a romantic setting, and ii
took them long time to decide what
they meant by that. I mean to write