Evening star., 1946-12-09

Dr.. Corning Likewise
Urges Buildings Use
For Lii ,'ury and PIoy
The school principals responsible
for the development Of the more
than 400 children attending Chevy
Chase schools were unanimous to-
day In supporting the campaign to
secure the E. v. Brown School as q
combined public library and recrea-
ton center.
The inadequacy Of the present IL
brary quarters and the lack OF rec
reational facilities throughout the
area were cited by the school ON
cials as reasons why the proposed
center Is needed.
In their Endorsement Of the school
project the principals were sup
ported by Dr.. Hobart M. Corning,
superintendent Of schools, who said
the center would provide "the heav-
fly populated Chevy Chase area with
facilities for worthwhile activities
for both adults and children"
Location Seem Suitable.
"The property Is well situated and
the building could easily be cop
verted to the desired purposes" DR..
Corning added. 1T would be an
important community development
at . time when added recreation
facilities are necessary and when IL
brary extension is needed to encour-
age the formation Of good reading
habits on the part Of children and
Ito offer convenient facilities for
adult reading and reference work"
Miss Berthe Backus. principal Of
Alice Deal Junior High School, en-
phasized that teef-age youngsters
need . wholesome place where they
can get together informally. She
said 1t was "just impossible" to pro-
vide this at school buildings without
running into heavy costs for keep
ing the buildings open.
Anybody who passes the drug
stores in this area and sees the
children hanging around would
realize the need for q place where
the children could do something
constructive and not fritter away
their time." Miss Backuu said.
All Books Not Available.
She added 1t was "a disgrace" for
the children of . community like
Chevy Chase to have to 60 down.
town to get all the books they need.
"If reading habits are not estab-
lished in children before they leave
Junior high school. they will never
have them," she added. If we had
an adequate library In this area, We
could do . much better job Of estab-
fishing such habits"
Thomas J. Holmes, principal OF
woodrow Wilson High School, en-
phasized that school libraries do not
have all the necessary reference
books, and the students must be
sent to the public library for COL
lateral reading.
Frequently, he said, the students
must devote several hours to refer
ence books and the present library
quarters st 38l5 Livingston street
NV. are 30 cramped the young peo-
pie find 1t dincult to concentrate on
their work.
Parochial School Head Concurs.
The need for . larger library with
. more. complete book collection also
was stressed by Sister Frances Rose,
principal Of Blessed Sacrament
School. At present, she said, the
teachers have to 60 downtown toI
the Central Library to order baskets
LOT books for distribution to the TOO
youngsters in the schools.
'Tt would be much more conven-
lent and far more educational for
the children" she said, IF the
library In this area was large
enough to take care Of all the chill
dren. It is much better for the
children themselves to use library
rather than have the teachers select
books for them"
Miss Viola Of1utt, principal Of
Ben Murch School, said she felt
sorry "for the boys who are chased
from pillar to post" when they are
simply trying to flnd some place to
play.
Present Library inaccessible.
"If We could furnish some center
where they could CO." she said, I'VE
would have more justification for
not letting them play In places
where they destroy property"
Miss Margaret r. Pepper, princi-
pal Of Lafayette School, said that
the present home of the library
branch is too far away for the chill
dren to walk there from Lafayette
School. q
''If the library was at E. v. Brown
School," Miss Pepper said, ut would
double the attendance of our chill
dren at the library"
The five school principals will
Join DR.. Corning in presenting the
school point Of view to the Com
missioners at their hearing on E.
". Brown School Wednesday in the
District Building,