Evening star., 1951-09-25
|Wefore Board Awaiting Study
On OyerhouIing Training School
Continued From First Page

Continued From First Page)
stitution has been going on sine
June 90. Welfare officials call i
an administrative survey" bu
it's actually a top-to-botton
analysis of what makes the insti
tuition the way it is. The surve!
was made by a special three
member committee and the boare
will get the results Friday.
Some Run Away.
In its report, the committee i.
likely to devote more attention tx
talking about the future thar
discussing the past but a visit tt
the institution disclosed:
/. The percentage of girls run.
ming away from the institution
far exceeds that of any Other
District institution for children
While Star reporter was visiting
there yesterday. two girls rar
away and the reporter was tole
| two girls had absconded the pre-
yious night.
| 2. Training schools like thu
National Training School fol
Boys, for instance-are supposed
to be designed to start young peo
Iple out all over again, give then
schooling and train them in som,
vocation so they can earn thei
own way when they get out. TIL,
reporter found eight of the q
girls in the school room. The res
were divided between the kitcheI
and the laundry. One girl wa
swabbing the kitchen floor, anothe
girl was ironing. The rest Wer,
idle and there were no signs O
any active teaching going on out
side the school room.
Domestic Science Rooms Empty
| 3. Rooms set up like kitchen
and equipped with electric ant
gas stoves and sinks to teacl
domestic science were empty. S,
was room with half a dozel
sewing machines.
4. The training school superin
tendent. Mrs Ethel c. Gregory
said the girls should be trainet
in baby and child care to fit then
as practical nurses but she can
do that without another teacher
Next door. at the Industrial Hom'
School annex. are scores of babie
and pre-school youngsters. Th'
head of the annex, Miss Winifret
Thompson said she offered tt
have nurses teach the girls bab!
care but the program was aban
doned when the girls failed tt
show up regularly.
! S. Disciplinary problems wer'
lcoped with by putting girls il
solitary confinement in a cell
block. TIE Survey Committe,
saw girls there and Welfare Di
rector Gerard M. Shea issued
ban on using the cellblock.
/ Nails Hold Windows.
s. To make absconding NOR
difficult, the windows of the build
ing were nailed down to leav
only a narrow aperture for all
Mr.. Snea. fearing the girls woul'
be trapped in case OF fire, ha
Iordered the nails pulled out.
| Z. The delinquent girls and tn
Idependent ones are housed on tn
same floor and mingle in the sam
school and workrooms, despite tn
fact that some of the aggressive
lily delinquent" girls are known t
ibe homosexuals and a few ar
dope addicts.
| The combination Of cricum
stances that brought the depend
ent and delinquent girls togethe
came about this way:
The District Government ha
been trying for years to chang
the law under which the Juvenil
Court sent girls DIRECTLY to tn
National Training School for Girl!
The argument was that the Dis
trict was supporting big insti
tuition with more staff than in
mates. The Commissioners want
ed the girls committed to tn
Board of Public Welfare, whic
could then decide what was bes
for them.
i Passage Assured.
Although the proposed bi
brought a storm of controvers
every time it came up, it wa
assumed that it would pass an
time. .t..,- ....
Meanwhile, the buildings on tn
National Training School fo
I Girls reservation were shiftin
from one institution to anothel
A movement was afoot to sepa
rate dependent children from de
Ilinquent ones.
Thus, the Industrial HON
!, School annex was created in Jun,
1948, to take care of young chill
dren needing shelter. It took owe
some of the space on the reserva
tion and started to grow.
S Then the Children's Receivin
Home. in February. 1949, move
off the reservation and into il
new quarters on Mount Olive
road NE. The Children's Receiv
E ling Home was to house childre
t Awaiting court action-mainly de
Ilinquent children.
Left Behind in Moves.
= Left behind in this shift wer
some 20 teen-aged colored girl
dependent children. They becam
: the responsibility of the Indus
t trial Home School annex, but tn
, rapidly growing annex had n
place to put them.
Next door was the Nations
Training School for Girls wit
plenty of room. And there wa