Evening star., 1937-01-31
BY JESSIE FAINT EVANS.

BY JESSIE FAINT EVANS.
Back in 1877 Q Washington school
board fittingly named its newest school
house in honor Of Thomas Jefferson.
President Of the United States and
for three years president Of Its Public
School Board as well - the largest
contributor in the sum Of 5000 to the
fund which made q public school
education possible for the boys and
girls Of this community.
This school was located in what was
then known as the fourth school dis
trict, which was one Of Washington's
largest and finest residential areas.
Here were the homes of eminent
scientists as well as established Wash
ington families. Such distinguished
names as Bird, Church, Hazen, Daniel,
West, Polkinhorn. Riley, Johnson.
White, Galliher, Reside. Lloyd and
q score or 50 more made professional
and commercial history for this city at
the time.
Dedicated with impressive cere-
monies in the presence of the most
distinguished ofdcials in the Nations
Capital during Grants administra-
ton, deplorable trafic and educa-
tional handicaps with which the JET
ferson School is beset today. could
not have been forecast,
The original school house, designed
by Adolph Cluss, one of the famous
school architects Of his era, was
burned shortly after its completion.
Upon the original site at Sixth and
D streets southwest. its immediate
successor. long since antiquated and
inadequate in every respect. now serves
as the Jefferson Junior High School.
Within q stones throw railroad
tracks Of great transportation system
parallel this building and its grounds.
Nearby Is the procurement division
Of the Treasury Department with its
numerous employees autos filling every
available foot Of parking space along
the curb. Since their hours Of ar
rival and departure nearly coincide
with those Of the pupils. congested
auto traffic adds still another element
Of danger to this school neighbor-
hood.
Glasses Under Handicaps.
In addition to the trafic hazards.
classes are conducted under such
handicaps as these: An express train
thunders by. and the reverberation and
vibration attest the speed with which
it has passed. Then q more leisurely
freight train Is lurching past. There
were 20 nat wheels on that one,"
says q voice. "Humph. they'll have
plenty Of trouble with those hot boxes
before they get to Richmond" says
another. "Some Of her couplings were
mighty thin, too," comments third.
Acrid spirals Of dense smoke swirl In
through windows open for proper"
ventilation. There are sundry spfut-
tering coughs, and sensitive eyes are
wiped because of the sulphuric irri-
tation from this source.
Specks Of SCOT settle down every
where and apparently by some sort OF
q pre-concerted arrangement on the
part Of the teachers and pupils are
wiped away at frequent intervals by
squads Of pupils. Tell-tale traces. how
ever, streak faces and clothes, desks,
composition papers and books. BY
noon pupils and teachers alike have
something Of the appearance Of the
grime-streaked employees Of . soft
coal mine, emerging into the open
from q day shift.
Often during each school day only
the noise Of passing trains or chug-
ging engines is heard where there
should be the sound Of happy boys
and girls about their lessons or their
play. Glasses automatically desist
from recitations at q nod from the
teachers as the familiar sounds from
the trains surge in upon them. At
another nod they are resumed.
All of this makes for . sort OF
perpetually strained attitude Of at
tention upon the part Of every one
in order that the general purport Of
questions and answers may be Is
quickly interpreted as possible. Com
batting such odds. "a courageous
teachers. motivated by the schools
principal, Hugh Stewart Smith, strive
to better flt some TOO junior high
school boys and girls for life.
There isn't room for but 900 pupils.
but the extra 100 had to be crowded
into this ancient school plant be.
cause there was no other place to
send them. How aged some Of its
equipment Is may be judged from
the fact that several years ago the
Smithsonian Institution asked and
received permission to remove. at its
expense, the Jefferson Schools broken
down clock system, 80 old and 80
unique that 1t now constitutes .
valued museum exhibit.
Class rooms open directly into each
other without intervening corridors
between them, 30 that any one going
on an errand from one to another
may have to trek through all Of those
in the building before he finally
reaches his destination. The audi
torium on the third floor wasn't PLAN
ned for any such influx Of school
attendance a. prevails today, 10 as
semblies have to be managed in two
shifts. Nor has the well-packed sar-
dine anything on the situation. Since
I was too train conscious" to be
able to follow the order of the exer-
cises carefully I spent most Of my
time wondering how we had all man.