Evening star., 1953-07-04
Shea Probes Report
Of Harshness at
Industrial School

welfare Director Gerard M.
Shea today had an investiga-
ton under way to check on
charges made by a resigning in
stitution official that discipline
is "repressive and harsh" at
the Industrial Home School for
Colored Children at Blue Plains.
Mr.. Shea said so far his in
vestigation had supported his
own view that the girls, who
used to be at the National
Training School for Girls, are
much happier at Blue Plains.
The charges of harsh disci-
pline and inadequate program
were made by Mrs. Margaret
McCane. superintendent of the
now-defunct National Training
School for Girls and assistant
superintendent at Blue Plains
until she quit last Wednesday.
Asks Evaluation.
The welfare director said he
had taken these steps to check
on the situation at the now CO.
ed institution:
l. Called in top officials of
the Welfare Departments Child
Welfare Division to get their
evaluation of Blue Plains.
2. Sent Mrs. McCane's letter
OF resignation, with it's charges,
to Wendell P. Tucker, superin-
tendent of the Industrial Home
School, and asked him to answer
each charge as soon as possible.
3. Arranged to spend most of
today at Blue Plains to see for
himself the attitude of the
children.
Fewer Runaways.
4. Checked on the number of
girl runaways from Blue Plains
since they moved in at the end
of March and the population
grew from II girls to a current
~ girls.
Mr.. Shea reported that six
girls have run away from Blue
Plains since April /. He COM
pared this with rs runaways
from the National Training
School between July and De-
cember of 1852. In the three
months this year, before the
girls were moved to Blue Plains,
there were 16 runaways in Janu-
ary. 7 in. February and IA in
March.
The professional case workers
called in by Mr.. Shea for their
opinion of activities at Blue
Plains were Mrs. Alice Smith.
acting superintendent of child
welfare; Mrs. Helen Cooper,
supervisor in child placement;
Mrs. Lenora Field, senior super
visor in the institution and ad-
justment section, and John c.
Smith, supervisor of all male
case workers at the Industrial
Home School.
Change in Attitude.
Mr.. Shea said that since none
OF these workers was directly
connected with the institution,
they could and did speak frankly
on the basis of their visits to
Blue Plains.
He said that they reported a
remarkable change in the attt-
tude Of the staff toward the chill
dren" since the Case Conference
Committee began functioning at
Blue Plains in 1850. He said
they noted the staff at Blue
Plains had worked toward a
reward rather than a punitive
method of handling the children
and there had been an increase
in week end visiting privileges.
They all noted, Mr.. Shea
added, that all members of the
staff-from the counselors to the
cooks-had accepted the idea of
the mental hygiene approach to
the problems presented by these
children. They also reported
evidence of strong ties between
staff members and the children,
with some children returning for
visits after their release.
Mr.. Shea said these workers
were unanimous in saying they
knew of no evidence of physical
force used on the children, and
no evidence of any disturbance
by the girls, who used to riot
regularly when they were housed
on Loughboro road,