Boston started its first Open Air School in July, 1908. The work was carried on by the Boston Association for the Relief and Control of Tuberculosis. The school was located at Parker Hill, Roxbury. The same regime was followed as in previously reported schools. No formal instruction, however, was attempted at first. The school was simply a day camp. The benefit derived by the children in the first open air camp for children led the Association to ask the Boston School Board to co-operate with them in converting the camp into an outdoor school. This was agreed to, the School Board supplying teacher, desks, books, etc., the Association furnishing the necessary clothing, food, a nurse, attendants, home instruction and medical services. The same schedule was followed here as in the other Open Air Schools. General and personal hygiene was insisted upon. The school was kept open Saturdays and during the holidays. The children who were able paid ten cents a day to help defray the cost of food. In case they could not afford this, the money was supplied by some charity organization. While the combined public and private support had proved satisfactory, it seemed best, for many reasons, to reorganize the school so that it would be entirely under municipal authority, and this has since been done. At the present time the school is maintained by the Boston Consumptives' Hospital and the Boston School Board. The hospital furnishes transportation, food, etc., while the School Board gives school supplies, books, desks, etc.,
and pays the salaries of the teachers. The children are selected by the school physicians, the type considered being the anaemic, poorly nourished, those with enlarged glands, or convalescents. Cases of active tuberculosis are not admitted.
Boston has at present fifteen Open Air Schools, with a total enrollment of about 500 children.
The first school established in New York City was started under the auspices of the Department of Education and was located on the ferryboat Southfield, which was maintained as an outdoor camp for tuberculous patients by Bellevue Hospital. It was through the special desire of the children who were patients at the camp that the school was started, for they banded together one day and informed the doctor that they wanted to have a teacher and attend school. When their action was reported to the Board of Education it was felt that such an unusual plea should be given a favorable response, and in December, 1908, the school on the ferryboat was made an annex of Public School No. 14.
This school, except for its location, does not differ from other schools of similar type. The Board of Education pays the teacher and furnishes the school supplies. Food and clothing are supplied by the hospital. The school is an ungraded one and the number of children taught by one teacher averages thirty.
Four more Open Air Schools have since been established, three on ferryboats and one on the roof of the Vanderbilt Clinic at West Sixtieth street. Officially, all these schools are considered to be annexes of the regular public schools.
In October, 1909, $6,500 was granted to the Board of Education by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment for the purpose of remodeling rooms in some of the public schools for use as Open Air Rooms. A special conference was held in December of that year by medical and school authorities to decide how best to remodel, furnish and equip these new rooms for this purpose; also how the children should be chosen for these classes.
It was decided that the maximum number of children admitted to any one open air classroom should not exceed twenty-five, the children to be chosen by the director of the tuberculosis clinic nearest the school and the school principal. No child was to be assigned to the room until the parents' permission had been secured in writing. Children moving from one district to another were to be followed up and cared for in the new district. No special rule was adopted defining the physical condition entitling the child to admission. Each case was to be considered individually,
and the only definite rule was that no open case of tuberculosis should be admitted. The minimum temperature of the room was 50 degrees F. The rooms, wherever possible, were to be located on the third floor. The first of these open air classes was established in April, 1910. Such popular interest was awakened by the inauguration of these classes that, as a direct result, a special privilege was granted by the Commissioners of Central Park permitting children of the kindergarten classes of the public schools to pursue their studies in the open air in Central Park.