Thus of Public School No. 51, located almost in
the center of the notorious "Hell's Kitchen" section, we read: "The play
space which is provided is a mockery of the worst kind. The basement
play-room is dark, damp, poorly lighted, poorly ventilated, foul
smelling, unclean, and wholly unfit for children for purposes of play.
The drainpipes from the roof have decayed to such a degree that in some
instances as little as a quarter of the pipe remains. On rainy days,
water enters the class-rooms, hall-ways, corridors, and is thrown
against windows because the pipes have rotted away. The narrow stairways
and halls are similar to those of jails and dungeons of a century ago.
The classrooms are poorly lighted, inadequately equipped, and in some
cases so small that the desks of pupils and teachers occupy almost all
of the floor-space."
Another school, located a short distance from Fifth Avenue, the
"wealthiest street in the world," is described as an "old shell of a
structure, erected decades ago as a modern school building. Nearly two
thousand children are crowded into class-rooms having a total seating
capacity of scarcely one thousand. Narrow doorways, intricate hallways
and antiquated stairways, dark and precipitous, keep ever alive the
danger of disaster from fire or panic. Only the eternal vigilance
of exceptional supervision has served to lessen the fear of such a
catastrophe. Artificial light is necessary, even on the brightest days,
in many of the class-rooms.
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