Evening star., 1949-10-13

nnu VIC piesenI tenants &young peOple), who
mao nrst chance to buy 1t yet claim it isn't
worth the money. still persist in wanting to
live there because of the rent control law.
think the rent control law was passed
so that there would be no mass evictions
OF tenants in buildings after March I, not
those started before. And don't feel ask
Ing four families to move is mass eviction.
Also consider 1t better to move in cooler
weather than waiting until the expiration
OF the rent control law next June
D1SGUSTED.
Central Parent Teacher Head
Opposes Eviction" Proposal
To the Editor Of The Star:
After long period of suffering from over
crowded and inadequate housing, the white
high school building program practically has
caught up with its needs. This is not the
time to force the Board Of Education to lose
any Of the ground it has gained by driving
the Central students out Of their school home,
giving the CardoZo students Second-han
building, not designed to suit their specific
needs. and calling 1t the solution to the Car
dozo problem.
The present. conditions at Cardozo are
identical with those which white students
endured when that building housed the
Business High School. I know all about
congestion and crowded extra shifts. I
was a student there during the years when
the enrolment was at its peak. We even
had to dash to and from the old Mckinley
High School for our English classes, which
we considered a lark, daily facing the hazards
OF Seventh street traffic, with no extra time
between periods. At the time, we as high
school students were conscious of no particu-
lar hardships. All the other high schools
were crowded, too. We would have been
amazed If told that we were underprivileged,
we we're having wonderful time. Neither do
peileve that my scholarship suffered, feel
that received a splendid high school edu-
cation.
Perhaps We did have neeting moments of
Jealousy Of the Central students (also on
extra shifts because of their stadium and
swimming pool, but since there could be no
racial controversy made of it. no one de-
manded that they be driven out of their
school to make room for us.
Admittedly this was not a healthy situa-
tlon. IL was solved because the faculty,
alumni, citizens groups and the Parent.
1eacher Association combined their efforts
and demanded that the present Roosevelt
High School be built. The present Cardozo
problem must be solved by demanding that
the Board of Education's request for q new
Cardozo High School be granted, and not
oy evlctlng and destroying the superbly
organized Central student body and faculty.
Parents Resent Eviction Move,
As a solidly united group, the parents of
Central students bitterly resent the mere
suggestion, that such large section Of Gen.
trail and Northwest Washington be deprived
OF both Junior and senior high school home
Tor It's children in their own residential area
and that they be forced to 60 far afield in
search OF an education in some strange school.
Each neighborhood is entitled to its own day
school. night school, and recreation center,
its own auditorium. and athletic stadium
Wnere natural group activities, loyalties and
rlvalrles can be built up in the American
tradition. Three nights each week more
than 1900 adult evening school students use
the Central classrooms. There would be
l.400 students If the teacher salaries were
available. Five nights each week the Re-
creation Department uses classrooms, rifle
range, swimming pool music room, stage.
armory and both gymnasiums The audi
tor1um, which seats / 800 is filled many nights
each year by parents students and friends
OF the school attending the fall festival,
commencements. the Christmas Serenade.
ana spring play, the spring serenade, svn-
phony concerts and other community enter
tanments. The Central Memorial Stadium.
wnlcn Is the largest, most centrally located
ana best equipped high school stadium in
the Capital, is used on school days and often
on Saturdays not only by Central cadets and
athletic teams but by students of all the
otner white junior and senior high schools
as well.
Sees Discrimination Against Central.
For families with children there can be no
wel-integrated community living without
these wholesome community activities and
re xr,31l k4l~
being TORN out by the roots unless an
mprovee substitute is provided. There is
no substitute available for the Central High
Scnool plant. Any move to take it awav
Woulo be cause for discrimination suit In
oeeo, because the Central area undoubtedly
pays more in taxes to the District govern
ment than all the remaining school areas.
you cannot ruthlessly destroy living and
iong established school, its loyalties, its TIA
oltlons It's ideals and its continuity without
destroying much that is educationally price,
less In the hearts and minds Of its current
generation of students
we parents do not propose to have our
cnlloren uprooted in the middle of their
hlgh school careers without reason and
scattered to strange schools where their
acnlevements and their identities will be
lost' wnere standings in graduating classes
alreaoy nave been computed, scholarships
awarded class and student council officers
elected, cadet commissions assigned, school
nonors decided, and berths on athletic teams
already won.
To profit one school by destroying another
Is not the way OF progress. We did better
than that when our frontiers were new
No man with II children would think
OF going to the home of another and saving
look, have II children and nv house
IS unit and overcrowded You have only
l3 children. You turn them out among
the neighhQrs or have relatives adopt
them, then can move my children into
your big house and every one will he han,,,r ,,