Donald M. Cleland A History of the Santa Monica Schools 1876-1951, Santa Monica Unified School District, February 1952 (Copied for the Santa Monica Library, July 22, 1963). 140 pp., 1939, 1938, 1937, 1933, 1930, 1930s, 1929
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Depression Antidote
That the nation's public schools suffered severely during the depression of the 1930's is undisputed. New school construction, except in rare instances was out of the question, and in some districts funds for even ordinary repairs were lacking. Some schools were forced to shorten the term so that teachers' salaries might be saved. In many communities, because of shifts in population and for other reasons, schools were badly overcrowded, with pupils often receiving only half-day instruction because of a lack of classrooms. [21. H.H. Linn Some Practical Suggestions for W.P.A. Works in Public Schools, American School Board Journal, 92, March, 1936, 27-29.]
But bad as conditions were generally, the observation probably is not unwarranted that the schools of southern California, due to the exigencies described in the preceding section of this chapter, were doubly pressed for money with which to repair damaged buildings and maintain an educational program on greatly reduced tax moneys. Their comeback and even forward progress are doubtless due, at least in large measure, to the aid received from the Works Progress Administration. [22. Charles H. Judd Federal work Program for Better Schools, School and Society, 65, March 21, 1937, 410.] The establishment of the S.E.R.A. (State Emergency Relief Administration) had made possible a start on the demolition of condemned buildings, and the Santa Monica School District, faced with the necessity of rebuilding almost every schoolhouse, had made application for additional funds with which to finance required reconstruction. But the state had only limited emergency money to spend, and the rehabilitation program undertaken with S.E.R.A. labor was forced to an abrupt end. [23. Santa Monica Evening Outlook, July 8, 1950, p. 7G.]
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Superintendent Davis, anticipating these reports had already ordered the erection of tents on the school grounds the purpose being to use them for classrooms until such time as a more permanent solution to the school housing problem could be found. In the elementary district the amount expended for such equipment did not exceed $26,000, and an even smaller sum was required to make the high school safe for occupancy until more complete changes could be made. [15. Santa Monica Evening Outlook, July 8, 1950, p. 70.]
The rehabilitation of the schools proceeded on funds appropriated from the districts, and on money borrowed from the county unapportioned fund. [16. Board Minutes, April 23, 1934.] The work was organized as projects of the State Emergency Relief Administration, a dozen or more in number, including the demolition of the old Roosevelt, Washington, and Grant elementary schools and the old Garfield building, then occupied by the Santa Monica Junior College. But even before these projects were completed, it was rumored that Federal funds were to be made available for school reconstruction. Accordingly Morton Anderson, President of the Board of Education, was sent at once to Washington to represent Santa Monica and make a personal appeal for the needs of the district. He was the first of such representatives to arrive at the national capitol. Upon his return, Anderson reported that Congressman John Dockweiler, Senator Hiram Johnson, and Admiral Peoples, chief of the Public Works Division, had agreed to allocate $1,500,000 to the Santa Monica School District for the rebuilding of its schools. [17. Santa Monica Evening Outlook, Sept. 9, 1935, p. 1.]
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The money allotted to these and various other S.E.R.A. projects in the vicinity, had alleviated somewhat the unemployment problem in Santa Monica. But with the exhaustion of the emergency funds, the economic outlook again took on a darkened aspect. Then, ten weeks after the close of the State projects and just one week after the approval of the $290,000 school bonds, the new projects secured by Morton Anderson and approved by Washington, D.C., under the Works Progress Administration, got under way. Unemployed men had jobs again, and local merchants, because of the wages of these men were able to smile with less restraint than formerly. [24. Pearl, op. cit., p. 64.]
The army of W.P.A. artisans and laborers who swarmed over the projects worked two shifts of five hours each; while Paul M. White, superintendent of construction, and his corps of three inspectors worked double and triple time, determined to make as much headway as possible while an abundance of labor was available. To them it was self-evident that when other nearby communities got their reconstruction programs under way, their demands might easily drain the labor market. [25. Santa Monica Evening Outlook, July 8, 1950, p. 7G.]
Substantial savings were effected for the school district when Superintendent White established shops where W.P.A. labor and salvage materials could be utilized. Ventilators, ornamental iron work, cabinets, and other construction accessories were made there, as well as the window frames and sashes for the entire building program. Other shops made and kept in repair tools used in demolition, remodeling, and landscape projects. Besides the financial saving these prefabrication shops effected, the entire program was enabled to proceed at a faster rate than would otherwise have been possible.
The Santa Monica schools secured maximum benefits from the funds provided by the Works Progress Administration. John Adams Junior High School, the Roosevelt School, the Washington School, and the Grant School were provided with new plants. John Muir and Franklin elementary schools were made quake-resistant by the removal of the second story and the strengthening of the lower floor, with additional classrooms being provided to replace those that had been removed. Each of the buildings was modernized and brought up to state standards. Although few changes were made in the original plans of the Lincoln Junior High School and the Madison and McKinley elementary schools, all these buildings were completely rehabilitated and made earthquake resistant. Structural reinforcement, walls filled with concrete by the Gunite process, and modernization adapted these plants to more modern school use.
The largest project in the building program was the complete rehabilitation and modernization of the high school. W.P.A. funds provided a new auditorium, Barnum Hall, which included practice rooms for band and orchestra as well as two music classrooms; a boys' gymnasium; a new wing to the library; and a new shop building. [26. Beach City Labor Journal, Santa Monica Schools Edition, October, 1937, p. 3.] But funds were not sufficient to complete the project, and in 1936 an additional $250,000 in bond money was voted for the purpose. When the high school plant was finally complete, the Board of Education and the W.P.A. had spent more than $1,225,000 in remodeling and new construction. [27. Loc. cit.]
Additional work projects of the W.P.A. meanwhile were paving playgrounds, turfing athletic fields, landscaping and refencing school grounds. Wherever possible, the school administration found work for as many men and women as the Works Progress Administration would provide. Office workers were placed with the Board of Education and in the offices of the several schools, while various art projects received administration support since these served to beautify the school plants. For many school children in Santa Monica today, the depression of the 1930's is a thing about which they merely have heard. But they cannot fail to be impressed with the pieces of sculpture, the paintings, the fountains, which are a part of nearly every school in Santa Monica, and which came to life under the stresses of that dark period in the nation's history. Only those who lived through it can fully appreciate the larger values of the projects carried on by the W.P.A. The employment provided and the resultant stimulation of business did much to bring the city of Santa Monica from the worries of the depression to a more stable economy that followed. [28, Pearl, op. cit., p. 64.]
One by one the schools got back into the finished buildings, and the school program again resumed a more regular pattern. Pupils and teachers alike experienced some trying years when compelled to use makeshift arrangements in improvised tents and bungalows. And yet those years were not without their compensations. True, as Hannah Ogden, teacher at the McKinley School during the reconstruction period, points out, the tents were sometimes cold; the wind billowed the canvas walls distractingly, and those walls were more than a little damp when leaks developed during the rainy season. But this only added authenticity to the "let's play pioneer" spirit which pervaded school life at that time, and gave to it a certain thrill. And on pleasant days, the bird song that interrupted a lesson, the intrusion into the classroom of a bee or a butterfly, the excursion time into the open sunlight at a moment's notice for periods of work activity, all gave added freshness and spontaneity to the business of acquiring an education. [29. Personal interview with Hannah Ogden, May 23, 1951; Santa Monica, California.]
During the actual work on the buildings, the plying of hammer and saw, the riveters at work, and the ceaseless activity that went on just outside the open tent flaps, served to inspire the writing of poems, songs, and stories, and as well give endless impetus to invention. Practical use was made of the building debris. It was no uncommon thing to see a child earnestly exploring piles of discarded lumber ends from which could be constructed boats, mast heads, loading platforms, or other structures. Sand and cement were likewise commandeered from construction work to bring life miniatures of Hoover Dam or the Los Angeles Harbor.
Teachers found less difficulty than might have been expected in adjusting the school work to the primitive conditions forced upon them by the closing of the schools, They were quick to utilize the hazards of a school lot more or less pre-empted by machinery, scaffolding, excavations, and unsteady plank walks, to keep pupils safety conscious, with the older ones looking out for those younger than themselves. When it was found that passing from tent to tent for classes was both awkward and noisy, the children, under the teacher's guidance, developed the important trait of personal responsibility, and themselves brought forth order and quiet. Many of the classes took great pride in beautifying the grounds around their tent homes. [30. Pearl, op. cit., p. 66.] A library under the trees, with only shrubbery and benches to mark its boundaries, was a thing to enjoy rather than to be deplored. Young readers found it both easy and delightful to concentrate on a reference relating to their classroom work, or just to browse through the many attractive books that were available. This freedom and the activity programs carried on in the sunshine, made undeniably for health and happiness, and were taken into account when plans were drawn for the new school buildings.
An appraisal of the work accomplished by the Board of Education and the W.P.A. would certainly reveal many values to Santa Monica and its schools. Total expenditures reached nearly $3,000,000, of which the Board of Education supplied less than $950,000, or about 32 per cent of the total cost. [31. Beach Cities Labor Journal, Santa Monica Schools Edition, October, 1937, p. 3.] Clearly, despite the period of severe economic stress through which the schools had gone from 1931 to 1939, they emerged from the depression strengthened both physically and educationally.
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The Campus Expands
During the reconstruction period, following the earthquake of 1933, the [Santa Monica] high school campus acquired three new buildings: an auditorium, the boys' gymnasium, and a wing for the art department. The five other main buildings were reconstructed to meet earthquake standards set up for school buildings. All of the buildings were structurally braced to withstand shocks greater than those occurring in 1933 at the quake's center, the Long Beach area. The high gabled roofs were replaced with modern shockproof, deck-type roofing. By removing much of the dangerous "gingerbread" and reinforcing all of the bearing walls with steel then coating the outside with stucco, these buildings took on an appearance of modern architecture. [66. Beach Cities Labor Journal, Santa Monica Schools Edition, Oct. 1937, p. 2.]
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"For a period of eleven years, from 1925 to 1936, John G. McNeeley served as principal of both the Lincoln Junior High School and the John Adams Junior High School. A great deal of credit is due him for the organization and program that developed in the two schools. In 1936, he asked the Board to be relieved of the supervision of one of the schools. The Board granted his request, and elected Thomas A. Wood, principal of John Adams Junior High School, a position which Wood still holds. McNeeley continued as principal of the Lincoln school until his untimely death in 1949. He truly can be called the father of the junior high school movement in Santa Monica. [27. Personal Interview with Sadie Jenkins, May 17, 1951; Santa Monica, California.]
In describing the function of the junior high schools, McNeeley wrote:
"The main purpose of the junior high school, as we understand it, is to teach those things which will enable each individual to become a self-supporting member of society. We assume that all agree that every child is entitled to master, in so far as he has the ability, the essential in arithmetic, English, and the social studies, and that all should be given systematic work in physical education.
"The above mentioned subjects are required of every child. In addition, the pupil may, within certain reasonable limits, choose other subjects in which he may be interested, such as music, both vocal and instrumental, art, oral English, woodshop, machine shop, electric shop, mechanical drawing, printing, cooking, sewing, algebra, Latin, Spanish, French, biology and others.
"To put it another way, the major objective of the junior high school is to explore by means of material in itself worthwhile, the interests and aptitudes, and capacities of the pupil and to start him along the lines he, his parents, and the school are convinced will most likely be of profit to him and to the state. When the junior high school has accomplished these ends, the pupil will have sufficient information to make the election of future study intelligently, and adapted to the particular type of school in which he is prepared to work. [28. Pearl, op. cit., p. 71.]
Still another time McNeeley wrote of the junior high schools that:
" . . . the immediate need of secondary education seems to be an understanding of our contemporary civilization. In the past the objectives of secondary education have been a lucrative occupation or fitting human beings to be machines in an industrial age. At present the objective is to provide mental comfort and a guiding philosophy of life in the days of stress and tribulation that lie ahead.
"A secondary objective is to give youth a critical appreciation of our American heritage and to equip them to participate intelligently in our democratic form of government." [29. Ibid., p. 77]
His words were prophetic. Conditions have not changed greatly since they were written. The nation is still upon the threshold of a critical period. Though perhaps modified in degree, the objectives set forth by John McNeeley in the 1930's still form a foundation for the junior high school program in Santa Monica today."
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" Elmer M. Krehbiel, a member of the Evening High School faculty, was finally appointed by the Board as the new principal in January of 1929, and for a year he administered the school without relinquishing any of his regular teaching duties. Then, in 1930, the State Department of Education ruled that districts maintaining evening high schools provide supervision of classes proportionate to the number of classes maintained. Under the new ruling, Krehbiel was given a half-time administrative and half-time teaching assignment. But as the adult program grew, more of his time had to be spent in administration and supervision, with the result that, in 1937, the principalship was made a full-time position.
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"Subsequent to 1933, the enrollment at the junior college climbed to new heights, and additional bungalows crowded in the small campus. . . . [71. Milo Perry Johnson A Study of the Planning Methods and Techniques for Building New Junior Colleges, unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles, 1950, p. 16.]
" . . . In a public address, shortly after the opening of the [Santa Monica] junior college, Bush [Ralph H. Bush, who had founded the nation's first junior college in Joliet, Illinois and who became the first president of Santa Monica Junior College] said: [68. Ibid., pp.113]
"About once in every generation there arises a new movement in the field of education. The present generation is witnessing this movement in the reorganization of secondary education with its resultant development of the junior and senior high schools and junior colleges.
"With the great development in the use of machinery less and less boys and girls were needed in industry. As a consequence they were able to stay in school and have the various state legislatures passing the anti-child labor laws and laws raising the compulsory school attendance of children from 10 to 12, 14, 16 and 18. In order to care for all these pupils of the 'teen' age, school plants sprang up all over the country with buildings, equipment, and facilities undreamed of a generation ago. The school day was lengthened as well as the school year. Where in the 1880's and 90's children were needed to help on the farm or in factories, necessitating short school terms and school days, now they stayed in school.
"Educational leaders came to believe that the courses given the first two years in college could be given in communities capable of supporting a good high school. In support of this idea the first public junior college was opened in February, 1902, in Joliet, Illinois. Today there are approximately 500 (1937) public and private junior colleges in the United States."
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In 1938, the Evening Technical High School was opened and operates today as a part of the Technical School rather than as a unit of the adult education program. Since 1939, there has been a growing trend toward closer cooperation between the Evening High School, City College, and the Technical School. [61. Personal interview with Elmer M. Krehbiel, May 28, 1951; Santa Monica, California.]
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" . . . in 1940, the Board of Education purchased a new 20-acre site a mile and a half to the east of the existing school in anticipation of developing a new junior college campus. Preliminary plans were already under consideration when the entry of the United States into World War II brought the possibility of a new college abruptly to a halt. [71. Milo Perry Johnson A Study of the Planning Methods and Techniques for Building New Junior Colleges, unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles, 1950, p. 16.]