Evening star., 1951-11-29
Seen
# Payne, Bryan
Shift Students
$500, 900 Addition
May Not Be Needed
If Swap Is Approved
By Colt HendIey, Jr.

4llC DloCI 1CU A11SIlt SdNC 9OUU,~
600 if the Board of Education
decides to interchange the coll
ored and white students now at
tending the Payne and Bryan
Elementary Schools.
This angle of the proposed swap
of facilities probably will be ex-
plored at the boards next meet
ing. It hasn't been mentioned yet
in the discussion of the controver-
sial proposal.
What School Supt. Hobart M.
Corning wants to do is find some
relief for the colored pupils at
the Payne School, located at Fif-
teenth and G streets Sc, where
part-time classes have been es-
tablished to handle the crowds.
Plan Stirs Up Tempest.
The swapping of the two schools
has stirred up a tempest, since
Bryan is located in a neighbor-
hood almost exclusively occupied
by white families. Payne, while
only a few blocks away, is in an
area where the majority of the
families are colored. White civic
groups in the Bryan area are
aroused and plan to fight any
transfer of the school to colored
pupils.
Right now there are 273 colored
pupils at the Payne School on
part-time classes. Children in
grades 4, 5 and who should be
attending the Payne School are
at the distant Webb Elementary
School.
DR.. Corning threw two solutions
to the school board-and to the
comunity-on November Z.
Capacity Compared.
The first plan would put the
colored children at Payne into
the Bryan School, three blocks
away at Thirteenth and B streets
Sc. Payne only has eight class
rooms. while Bryan has 10. Payne
has an enrolment of SOB children.
with capacity of only 288. Bryan,
with a capacity of 648. has 461
pupils.
If this solution is adopted by
the school board. 288 of the Bryan
pupils would go to the Payne
School, and the rest would be dis
persed to the nearby Eastern.
Tyler and Buchanan Elementary
Schools.
The other proposal would trans
fer the Madison Elementary
School. located at Tenth and G
streets NE, from white to color
ed children. This plan has the
disadvantage that the Madison
Is not close enough to afford
direct relief at Payne and would
involve shuff1ing groups of COL
ored children from Payne to
Maury. from Maury to Lovejoy
and from Lovejoy to Madison.
Where Saving Is Possible.
Here's where the $500, 1000 saw
ing might come in.
Plans have been drawn to
build an addition to Payne con-
sisting of seven classrooms, a
multi-purpose room, a library.
Office, teachers room,
kindergarten, auditorium, lunch
room and playroom. Congress has
appropriated the $539,060 neces-
sary.
Lack Of steel has been holding
up the project, but this week all
that was changed when the De-
tense Production Administration
gave an allotment of steel to the
Payne project as we'll as three
other planned school additions in
the District.
Bids should be advertised with
in the next few weeks but school
officials said that September,
1858. is an optimistic estimate Of
the completion date of the Payne
addition.
Board May Hold Off
The school board may decide
to hold off any shift in the colored
students and wait for the addition
to be completed. 1t may decide
on some temporary expedient to
give immediate relief to the COL
ored children who are getting only
halliday classes.
DR.. Corning has not indicated
what his recommendation to the
board will be in view of the steel
that has bee allotted to the Payne
project.
However, if Payne is turned into
a white school, there may not be
a need for the addition. Some
school officials and Board of Ed
ucation members have indicated
this situation will be explored.
Payne Built IS Years Ago.
Payne is an old-eight room style
OF school, which is not built any
any longer. It was constructed
55 years ago. The principals
Office is makeshift one, parti-
toned off on the second-floor
landing as is the teachers room.
-Four claSSrooms are on the first
floor and four on the second,
That's all there is to the build
mg
Bryan, on the other hand, has
18 clasSrooms and a small prin-
cipal's Office and teachers room.
One section was built AZ years ago.
and an addition was put up "a
years ago.
Both buildings appear to be in
comparable condition, having
been redecorated last year.
Neither has an auditorium or
Madison School is an eight
room building exactly like the
Payne. It was built 81 years ago.
an elementary school steel priority,
This building would replace two
old schools in the southern end of
the city.
Fairfax County. Va ohtained