The Miami News from Miami, Florida • 44

Mew Idea In. .1 1 iie Li, UtiKty In An Artistic Setting Has Been Achieved In Gables HaU Of Learning By VERNE 6. WILLIAMS A' ft ii Tfct Ittttt typt Pttblfe tddrtu btta laitolltd. fr itclpol Horry M. tytttm with Hi fttrtcatt tqafpmttt Bath ftmlllarliti htmstrf with ftatarti.

THE NEW AND MODERN CORAL GAILES TWO IS YEAR-OLD BOTS WERE peering through the windows of some of the classrooms in the new Coral Gables senior high school as workmen put on the finishing touches. They took in the rows of fluorescent lights, the stream- lined deski, the intercommunication system, the radiant heating units and the brightly-varied color schemes with eager eyes. Finally, one gave a long low whistle and said, "Now I can believe we're going to school in the Atomic Age. All they left out was a couple rocket ships painted on the walls." Principal Harry N. Rath who was standing nearby overseeing the installation of some equipment smiled and made a mental note to look into the feasibility of putting several rocket ships on a wall of the metal-working shop.

The new $1,500,000 high school at Le Jeune and Bird Road typifies the desire of the school board to so modernize Dade county's schools that all the kids will really feel like they're going to school in the 20th century. The war years left them a heritage of over-crowded aging buildings along with a vastly-increasing enrollment. Consequently, about a fourth of Dade's school children have had to attend classes in frame portables for the last four years. And many of the others have been jammed into schools with in 1 1 v) doesn't have the cash, the board asked the taxpayers to approve a bond issue last May under which they could buy some schools on the Installment plan. The taxpayers approved the $12,500,1.

000 bond issue overwhelmingly, but none of that money will be available until next year. The bonds, to be dated Dec. 1, 1950, will bring in their first returns next January or February. Meantime, Dr. James T.

Wilson, superintendent of schools, expects this fall's enrollment to come to nearly 70, 000. Besides the new Coral Gables high school there will be a new portable school at NW 131st st. and 12th ave. and an eight classroom permanent addition to Silver Bluff school. But until new construction under the bond issue relieves the situation, the school system will have to figuratively loosen its belt and make room.

They have no desire to alarm parents but there is a possibility of some double session classes for first to third graders in a dozen elementary schools. This would mean that a few rooms, just enough to handle the excess enrollment, would take one group of children in the morning and at noon dismiss them to make room for a group attending only in the afternoon. IN PAST TERMS THE SUPERV1S- eis have had to become very skillful at juggling excess enrollment in the upper grades between schools by means tf busses. Fortunately, the 7th and 8th graders in Coral Gables won't have to commute by bus down to Ada Merritt junior high again this fall. The new Coral Gables High will take the load ofi Ponct.

Cmlrt utility art ctmbltt It tht dtifit tnttsllttl It tht'ithttlrttm wfcllt tkt tictptitttl wldi tvptttt tf wltftwt ttitrtt pltnty tf lighting. A GENERAL VIEW FO THE EXTERIOR OF But in many other cases transfer by bus wU be the only solution. The only shortage of qualified teach-ert. is in the elementary grades where vast strides have been made in the meth-cd of teaching. A few men teachers, chiefly in physical education and manual training, are going back into military service but the loss is not serious yet.

Supt. Wilson feels that the level of teaching personnel here is as high as anywhere in the nation. "We have many natural advantages," points out. "There is Miami's famous climate, our modern county-wide administrative system, the opportunity for promotion, and the cooperation of a very intelligent citizenry. But we must be able to pay salaries comparable to school systems elsewhere in order to get and keep the best teachers." The improvement which the bond issue will shortly make possible should bring the schools themselves up to a level with the teachers.

No less than 75 schools will be modernized by the addi-tkn of auditoriums, laboratories for science classes, ventilating equipment, inter-communication systems, new desks tnd tables, surfaced playgrounds, field houses and other improvements. Thirteen new school plants ere planned to rc-fi I. I 4 If t'( replace portables and relieve overcrowding. THE BEST WAT TO APPRECIATE what these new schools will mean to the kids who attend them is to make a tour the new Coral Gables senior high school. The invitation is extended by Principal Rath who plans to set up a system of student guides for visitors.

He expects not only Dade parents but a host of school planners from all over the country to inspect this 20th century school plant. One of the first things any visitor will notice is the bright-hued color scheme, varied from room to room. It was carefully planned by an expert to take advantage of the psychological effects now known to be associated with certain color combinations. If it's pointed out to him, the visitor may discover that in most classrooms the painting has been done directly over the block walls. As an experiment in saving money for the taxpayers, plaster was omitted where possible.

The effect is pleasing and the planners believe the acoustics will be better and eventual repair costs eliminated. However, in the huge library and fod-ji'ining study halls acoustical tilt was gvl i4 Jl SIZE OF THE SI.SC3.CS3 IUIDLINO. sliding dxrs, disappears and converts the practice room into a bandshell over looking an outdoor amphitheater tnd dance palio. This money-saving, planning by meant of which one unit serves two or mote purposes is the keynote of this whole 30th century school plant. Walk Into tht calf rium, named thus because It combines the functions of cafeteria and auditorium.

Roll back the folding tables, add moie folding chairs, swing tht serving line doors shut, and you have a Small auditorium with a stage, ready for any program. The main auditorium will bt built later under tht bond Issue. THE GYMNASIUM IS FULL OF planned features, such at tht fill's ehowera which art shoulder-high, to tht girls won't wet their hair. Tht school has its own laundry plant for tht gym suits aid towels. Tht sclenct laboratories have imperishable formic table-tops, tile floors whert liquids may spill.

The home economic department has demonstration dining room useful for both training futurt houttwWta and giving visiting parents a sample of daughter's cakt. These features and many mort make up a 20th century school, tht kind It takes to train futurt citizens to live in the Atomic Age. Offict worker Mrt. Htldt itmlatt tfct taal of tht ichool. SUNDAY MEWS MAGAZINE 11 I 0 km lattdry wtrk.

TbU mtdtrt lattdry rtow dtvictt dttlgttd tt ipttd tht wtrk. HIGH SCHOOL GIVES AN IDEA OF THE used for soundproofing. Noise in the hallways will be deadened by a special acoustical plaster. Every classroom overlooks a pleasant grassy patio because of the "tropical" design of the building. Four central wings of classrooms, joined at one end by administrative offices and at the other by the library, will be used respec lively as the English wing, social telenet wing, science wing, and commercial wing.

Mathematics and languages, which require less delving in the library, will be taught in the upper floor rooms. THE CI CLASSROOMS, WITH THEIR eye-saving green black-boards and fluorescent lighting, are the heart of the school, but the design of the special, rooms, such as libraries, laboratories and shops, make it a model for the nation. Take the music building, connected by a corridor to the main plant, for instance. Naturally, there are individual practice rooms, located upstairs, and It choral singing room for group practice. The main band practice auditorium, with its semicircle of staggered rows for the players and a podium for the director Is impressive.

But the fanciest trick in the school is the way the wall before tht band, actually a series of hangar-type Wide tptt tlr hallways. Hkt tht tat thowa hart, (tit THE MIAMI 4. I jf i 1 i or Arr ill I sufficient classrooms, no auditoriums or gymnasiums, and outmoded facilities. THE SCHOOL BOARD TRIED DES-perately to keep up with an enrollment that jumped from 42,000 in 1944 to 62,000 in 1949 by a program of building under a "pay as you go" plan. Finally, like a working man who needs a new car and Vltw thowt tht moi 4 patio.

Schoolrooms mmm mat wall taari Hf U. i.i -w invwi i 1 i Tht tchttl It prtptrtf ft dt Itt km lttt ffltttd wltti Itttit It 1 4 1 tec It a T'tt rJ rn hrr fii 3 jzfjbil 7 I Jw 4 t)r'. The doors of tht matlc room art clottd dorla bo ad rohtartalt, bat whta ceoctrt it schtdoiod, th dotrt trt apoatd, rtvttliaf tictlltot htodtholL Tht ttftttritM it tt called btctmt It trvtt tht dobl ptrptt tf dttlag rttM mmd mm auditorium. Tht tttgt It olong th wll tt tht roor. art on all tides of tht patio, and n.n It prvTiavs ampn nguT ana rwi SUNDAY, SEF1TJ 4BBR 3..