Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-03-08

Congress has been sitting o
stand that, either.
Last fall, parents voiced
were bounced unceremoniousl
across the city, ostensibly to i'm
prove bad conditions in som
schools and correct luxury" con
| ditions at others. (The luxury
was strictly relative)
This is what happened:
In September. when school
were about to open, officials sud
denly became aware that man,
Iof the city's grade schools woul'
be short of teachers.
Hastily they looked around
seized on the schools with expec
tations of smaller classes and or
ldered teachers transferred.
40 Schools Affected
When schools finally did open
pupil and teacher shutting oc
Cured on a grand scale, witt
some 40 or more schools affected
Parents naturally protested
because many classes were dou
bled up, children were shuntet
in with different teachers, and ii
many of the schools with theoret
Iicad luxury" status, new classe
wound UP being as big as SOM
of those in other schools tina
were being supposedly rescued.
Parents were still smarting I'm
der the impact last week. The,
complained to a congressiona
committee about the loss o
teachers and asked that repeti
ton be prevented.
A parent from Hardy Elemen
tary School, James Rogers, tolt
an earlier congressional hearing
1--WE think it is shameful tina
a condition of this kind exist
i'm the Nations Capital"
| School officials were charged
with poor planning. But even i
the shuff1ing hadn't been lief
Ito the last minute. it would havl
had to occur, and the classe
would have ended UP much tn,
same.
May Happen Again
This is because the school
have a strictly limited numbe
of teachers to go around. and
for the first time in their history
they now are distributing then
even-handedly.
Parents called the jugglin,
"robbing Peter to pay Paul.
School officials recently warnet
that it may happen again.
The blueprint that might hav,
made such compulsory robber,
unnecessary or at least soft
ened its impact-dates back t,
February %, 1949. It is a report
$50 pages thick, on an exhaustive,
school survey conducted tn,
year before by a team headed b.
ia Columbia University professor
DR.. George D. Strayer. It wa!
paid for by Congress and cos
100000.
The report made many recon.
mendations. Among them wert
these:
| The District should spene
more on the schools, and tn.
Federal Government should pa,
a fairer share.
More teachers should be hiree
and class sizes reduced.
| Schools should be equalized
to correct serious shortcoming.
in those for Negro pupils.
Help should be given slow chill
dren.
Borrowing should replac,
"pay-as-you-go" building financ
ling. r.
Many More Suggestions
There were many other de
tailed suggestions, includin,
some for improving administra
ton, courses and teaching.
In the last seven years, cit,
officials have ben asked to d.
nothing formally with this blue
print as whole. But some of it
recommendations have beef
adopted, with notifications, b,
school authorities. Most propo
sails involving any major finan
cial outlay have been ignored
The chief of these is the schoo
systems desire for more teach
ers.
At the time of the survey, tn
majority Of the city's elemen
tary pupils were in classes il
the upper 30s or 4Os as the
are now. (But white classe
averaged 80, colored 49,
The report, however, said:
There is no defensible reaso,
why classes in the early elemen
tary school should exceed rs an,
those in the middle grades 3
pupils
| The Board of Education, a yea
ago, made its first major NOV
to give practical application +
this statement.
| The board approved plan t
hire enough additional teacher
to reduce elementary class size
to a city-wide average of 8
pupils. (The city average is no,
about 3d.
The arguments presented b
Supt. Hobart M. Corning for thi
plan, summarized, were these:
/. Both slow and gifted chill
dren are being neglected il
Ipresent classes.
| Q. Teachers can't teach an.
class effectively If it is too big
8. Educational authorities be
lieve rs is the maximum for tn,