Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1939-05-29
Senate Group
|nspects Old
DC. Schools
Need Impressed
For Funds to Make
requirements

The need for replacement for a
number of Washington's oldest and
outmoded public schools was wildly
impressed on four members of the
Senate Appropriations Subcommittee
handling the District supply bill to-
lay as the result of tour which took
them in more than a half dozen of
the older structures.
Led by Senator Overton of Louis
lana, the subcommittee chairman,
who left sickbed to make the
scheduled tour, other Senators who
went to see the conditions of which
school authorities had been COM
planning included Senator Capper of
Kansas, Senator Nye of North Da-
kota and Senator Chavez of New
Mexico. They were accompanied by
Supt. Frank w. Ballou, Mrs. Henry
Grattan Doyle, president of the
Board of Education: Mrs. Philip Sid
ney Smith, member of the board,
and other school officials.
The school officials have asked
the subcommittee to include school
building items totaling nearly 81
100000 for six school requirements,
in addition to the items included
in the bill as passed by the House.
Schools Visited. 4
The subcommittee members visited
hte following schools:
The Lincoln School, Second and
c streets Sc, colored elementary
school erected in 1871: the Cranch
School, Twelfth and G streets Sc.
an eight-room building built in 1872;
the Tyler, Eleventh street between
G and I streets Sc, an eight-room
structure built in 1890; the Van
Buren, School and annex, w street
between Thirteenth and Fourteenth
streets Sc, the school an eight
room building erected in 1891, and
the annex a six-room structure
built in 1881: the Peabody School,
Fifth and G streets NE, 12-room
building built in 1879.
The Armstrong Senior High School.
p street between First and Second
streets NV. erected in 1902; the
Abbot Vocational School, o street
between Sixth and Seventh Streets
NV. erected in 1883, and the Will
son Teachers College. Eleventh and
Harvard streets NV, erected in
1918.
AT the Van Buren, the group ar
rived at recess time and was sur
rounded by number OF curious
children.
Here come the people that are
going to tear down the building"
cried one little girl enthusiastically.
Senators Impressed.
Several others cornered Mrs. Doyle
and besieged her with requests for
new school building with an audi
forum. Among the things which
particularly impressed the Senators
were:
l. The cinder and sand playground
surfacing at the Van Buren,. Senator
Nye felt the children could hurt
themselves rather badly by falling
down on such a surface.
2 The arrangement at the Lin
coin, under which all pupils have
to congregate at one end of the
building to get in and out of the
building from the upper floors, caus-
ing considerable congestion at dis
missal time.
s. The need for new plastering at
the Cranch and the use of an old
time school bell to announce recess.
4. A dozen ancient mudscrapers
at the Peabody, relics of the old
days, used by children to clean the
mud from their shoes.
5. Cracks in the walls at the Will
son Teachers College.
6. The five portable wooden build
ings in use at Armstrong to relieve
congestion.
Il have not seen the school systems
in other cities" Senator Overton de-
clared, but I don't see how they
could be faced with such conditions
as these"
DR.. Ballou told the subcommittee
chairman that the District was far
behind" in its replacement program.
The other Senators also expressed
surprise at some of the conditions
they saw and although the tour
broke up at the teachers college at
noon, indicated they would like to
visit some other schools at later
date. They wanted to see some of
the newer buildings by way of COM
parison.
After inspecting the Abbot Voca-
tional School the party. at the re-
quest OF Senator Overton, drove out
to the site in Brentwood Park over
looking Gallaudet College, where
school officials recommended the To-
cation of new Abbot School.
The subcommittee chairman, I'M
der physicians orders, did not go
beyond the first floors of any build
ings visited. He is known to be in
terested in supplanting some of the
old eight-room structures with mod
ern 20 and "a room buildings.
I'VE must build for the future" he
told DR.. Ballou.