Evening star., 1936-10-19
CROWDED SCHOOLS
OPENED TO NEARBY
PUPILS BY COURT
District Faces Taking in
$500 if Appeals Body
UphoIds Ruling.
STATUTE PASSED IN 1915
DECLARED MANDATORY
Board Perplexed by Order Apply.
ing to Children of Non-Resi. I,
dents Employed Here. Il

Justice Jennings Bailey Of District
Court held today that school officials
may not exclude from schools Of the
Capital children of nearby Maryland
and Virginia parents employed in the
District.
With the concurrence Of the Board
Of Education. the superintendent of
schools, Frank w. Ballou, this year
had laid down rules excluding pupils
from nearby communities. The rea-
son given was acute overcrowding,
particularly in the junior high schools.
Justice Bailey's decision was made
in the case of John S. Kemp, Works
Progress Administration official, who
asked that DR.. Ballou be compelled to
admit his 11-year-old daughter, Lois,
to Gordon Junior High School. The
Kenps live in Clarendon, Va. So ..
Case to Be Appealed.
At the request of Assistant Corpora.
ton Counsel Vernon West, Justice
Bailey deferred issuing the requested
writ of mandamus giving West five
days in which to file an amended
answer to the suit. West served
notice on the judge that he would
appeal from his ruling. and said he
wanted to amend his answer merely
to amyplify the record, which he will
take to the Court Of Appeals. He
added that he did not think anything
he would state in the amended answer
would change the decision Of the court.
$500 Non-residents Enrolled.
With every junior and senior high
school in the city already accommo-
dating more than their capacity num-
Der of pupils, school officials were in
a quandary to find means of taking
care of approximately 2,300 non-resi.
dent pupils who were enrolled last
year.
DR.. Frank w. Ballou. superintendent
of schools. frankly said that he didn't
know what to do.
I'VE are terribly overcrowded now"
he said; Il don't know what we'll do.
Our schools are taxed far beyond ca.
pacity."
Declared Matter of Appropriations.
Mrs. Marion Wade Doyle, president
of the Board of Education. was both
philosophical and critical about the
results of the decision.
I'VE will just have to make the
best of the situation she said. This
problem Of looking out for our chill
dren will be a matter of appropria.
tions. 1t is up to the Bureau OF the
Budget and Congress. Our greatest
single worry will be the size of our
classes. Our teachers necessarily will
have more pupils, and consequently
our pupils will have less individual
attention.
The lorg years when We haven't
had enough money for our District
children because of niggardly appro-
priations will be brought to the at.
tention of those persons responsible
because of the acuteness of the prob
lem brought about by this court
order
Henry Gilligan, vice president Of
the board, expressed regret at the
congestion which will result in the
schools, but as a lawyer agreed that
the courts decision was correct.
After Justice Bailey announced his
ruling, which was made without even
calling on. Kemp's attorney, Robert
E. Lynch, for argument, the question
arose whether Lois might attend
school after the writ Of mandamus
was issued, but before the appeal Is
disposed of. West pointed out, how.
ever, that the appeal would have the
effect Of temporarily suspending the
writ.
Lynch objected to Vests first re-
quest for delay, which was for 10 days,
and Justice Bailey gave the District
(See SCHOOLS, Page A-3,)