Evening star., 1951-10-18
Board Resciinds
Shift Of Pupils
From Lafayette
Reverses Cornihg's
Order, Sets Nov. !
For Re-trunsfer

School Supt. Hobart M. Cornin
today was under orders to trans
fer back to the Lafayette Ele
mentary School 80 pupils h
shifted to Murch School whel
the fall term began last month
The Board of Education, in
surprise reversal Of DR.. Corning
yesterday ordered the shift mad
by November l..
DR.. Corning had transferre,
the pupils from Lafayette by tn
device Of changing the boundar,
lines between the two schools. H
said the change was necessary +
avoid diversified classes at tn
Lafayette School.
Parents of the transferred chill
dren put up a dogged fight, ap
pearing before the Board of Edu
cation on numerous occasions Il
the last two months. It all ap
peared to no avail when last weel
the Buildings and Grounds Com
mittee Of the. board voted unan
imously TO support DR.. Corning
Yesterday, however, DR.. Philli,
T. Johnsons started the stamped,
in the other direction by with.
drawing his approval of the com.
mittee report. He said investiga.
tion had revealed that a room
designated classroom at Lafay.
cite was ebing used as a teacher
room. c. Melvin Sharpe. boarc
president, then withdrew his sane.
tion also. and the board voted DR.
Corning's shift down, with only
DR.. James A. Cannon supporting
him.
Three Not Voting.
Absent and not voting on the
matter were Albert E. Steinem
Mrs. E. G, Magdeburger and Mrs
Arcadia Near Philips.
In addition to ordering DR.
Corning to shift the pupils back
the School Board told him to con-
vert the. teachers room into a
classroom and to install a teach
ers' room In the room adjacent
to the principals Office. now useo
as part of that Office.
DR.. Carl F. Hansen. associate
superintendent in charge of ele-
mentary schools. said the pupils
will be moved back by the re-
quired date. He said he was
unable to say how soon the trans.
fers will be undertaken. He anc
DR.. Corning appeared unhappy
over the reversal.
The present teachers room
that now will be converted back
to a classroom, is on the first foo,
Of the building next to the girls
toilet. It measures % feet by "a
feet, the size of the average class
room.
Was Home Arts Room.
When the school was built In
1881, it was designated as home
arts classroom. Equipment at that
time included one toilet and a
bathtub, sink. range and laundry
tray. It was used for home eco
nomicS classes for the girls.
The principals Office was in an
other room, measuring 80 by %
feet. This had been petitioned
into two sections, one of which
had a toilet. This was the only
toilet facility for the teachers
then.
The school was expanded by an
addition in 1887 and it was de-
cided later that one toilet was
not sufficient for the more than
20 teachers. So. the home arts
room was converted in l943 by
adding three additional toilets
and another washbasin. The
principal moved her Office into the
old teachers room and used the
other half Of that set-up as a
conference room and working
space for the clerk.
Furnished as Sitting Room.
The teachers room now has
been decorated by the Home and
School Association. It is comfort
ably, furnished with sofas, chairs
tables.
Under the orders of the School
Board, the teachers room will be
dismantled. the toilets removed
and the teachers will go back to
the original setup, using half o1
the principals Office with its one
toilet as teachers room.
DR.. johnson called for study
reorganizing the setup of the
schools to make it more nearly
equal in accordance with the en-
rollment. There are now more
colored children than white in the
schools.
The board approved DR.. john
sons suggestion, and DR.. Corning
said he will begin the study.
Division Changes Suggested.
DR.. johnson suggested a revi.
sion is needed of the school divi.
sions. At present they are di.
vided, / to 9 for white schools ane
10 to 13 for colored schools. HI
also said the study would deter.
mine the number of teachers il
the white schools as compared tt
the number in the colored schools
DR.. Corning commented tha'
the division numbers have no sig.
nificance. Divisional director
were changed into city-wide dir
ectors of subject matter las
school year. The divisions ar