Evening star., 1946-02-03
toPress
.ToRestoreFund
For Hine School
Junior High Called
Unsonitory Fire Trap.
By Alarmed Heads

Shocking" insanitary and FIRE
threatening conditions at the Hine
Junior High School have SO alarmed
officials that they have decided tc
plead with Congress to restore new
Hine building funds omitted to the
1946-47 budget.
"We must do something about
this" Robert L. Haycock, superin-
tendent of schools, announced yes
terday. He said that part of the
school, at Seventh street and Penn
sylvania avenue Sc, was built In
1895 and the other part shortly after
1900. Principal Harold Warner be-
gan branding the school a fire.
trap" about 10 years ago. But at
tempts to get funds for a new one
always have failed, the principa.
said.
The Hine School has third-floor
assembly hall with a huge attic"
above it that would never be in
eluded in modern building. and is
Ia fire hazard" Mr.. Warner said.
The cafeteria is equipped with
about 20 cracked marble-top tables
and an ancient cookstove for 900
pupils.
Boys Showers Crowded.
The gymnasiums are in the most
"deplorable and shocking" condi-
ton of all the Hine equipment, ac-
cording to Hardy Pearce, director OF
the physical education department.
A reporter saw so boys trying t..
Dathe IN five minutes under. tvs,
trickles of water from old shower
heads in cubicle about seven fee5
square. The boys had another cubicle
about Is feet square in which to
dress, with no lockers or even
benches on which to place their
clothes during exercises.
The girls gymnasium also was
crowded, with ceiling too low to
play basket ball, the mainstay OF
their athletic program.
There are six showers for classes
of about so girls each, but none o.
the girls will take showers because
the water leaks all over the 20-foot
square room they have to dress in,
Mrs. Blythe Hedge, physical educa-
ton director, said. Two old-fash-
Toned wash basins were found
clogged with filth.
The girls have no benches. nc
dressing room and no place to hanr
their clothes. In the entire build
ing, only 30 toilets are provided fos
400 girls and 500 boys.
Girls Want Mirrors.
The girls, in addition, complain
particularly that none of their lava
tories have mirrors.
Cant we just have a mirror?
Well put up with the rest" one
student told The Star reporter.
The new Kramer Junior High
School, for example, is in sharp con-
trast to the aging Hine. Marble,
concrete, brick and stone combine
to make it fireproof. 1t is equipped
with gymnasiums with skylights and
plenty of lavatories. Auditorium,
cafeteria and classrooms are sup
plemented with separate quarters
for the orchestra rehearsals and
the student counseling that is
crowded into corners of classrooms
at the Hine.
Gymnasium Fund Out,
Also knocked from the l946--
budget estimates was a gymnasium
for Eliot Junior High School bows.
Mr.. Pearce said. So far, only the
Eliot girls have a gymnasium, while
the boys do calisthenics in a room
about 20 feet square.
The Eliot boys do have a play
field, however, Mr. Pearce said, The
Hine boys and girls share their So
foot field with the Wallach Ele-
mentary School students nearby.
The only way Frederick McCaw, the
Hine athletic director, can stage a
lO0-yard dash is to route the bows
around the building. Sometimes he
finds them playing football on the
concrete sidewalk, he said.
Mr.. Haycock said he would seek
permission this week from Walter
L. Fowler, District budget officer, to
plead for replacement of the Hine
funds when. District officials meet
with congressional appropriation
committees at the end of this
month.
He said he understood the item
had been removed from his original
estimates because it would put the
total District budget estimate above
the level desired by the city heads.