The Gazette Times, July 23, 1925
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Court O.K.'s Gumbert School
Permission was granted yesterday in Common Pleas Court by Judge John D. Shafer to the county building of the Gumbert Industrial School for Girls. County Solicitor Heber W. Dithrich presented the petition asking the approval of the court for the establishment of the school. It was decided to establish the school at a meeting of the commissioners held July 14. The school is to be a memorial to the last County Commissioner Addison C. Gumbert.
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The Gazette Times, Nov. 20, 1926
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=5KdRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=82gDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2029,2190106&dq=gumbert+school&hl=en
Gumbert School for Delinquent Girls Opens
With a capacity of 25 inmates, the Addison C. Gumbert School, Three Degree Road, one mile east of Keown station, was opened this week. The place was purchased last fall by the county commissioners for $150,000.
The management of the school has been delegated to a committee of nine members all appointed by judges of the Common Pleas Court. Mrs. William Anderson of Eastern Street, Aspinwall, is chairman of the board. The school is intended to serve the same purpose for girls between eight and 16 years as Thornhill serves for boys. The last County Commissioiner Gumbert from whom the school takes its name, was a prime mover for the establishment of such an institution.
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The Pittsburgh Press, May 1, 1927
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19270501&id=8ckaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=I0oEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5901,5930043
Gumbert School Girls Entertained
An entertainment was given Friday in the Gumbert School for Girls, near McKeown station, under the department of welfare of the Congress of Women's Clubs, of which Mrs. Charles Hutchison is chairman. . . .
The school, the plan for which was initiated by the welfare department of the Congress of Women's Club, is a temporary home for delinquent girls who have appeared in Juvenile court and in whose future clubwomen are interested. There are 28 young women in the home. An effort is made to train them for useful living and to fit them for some vocation. They attend school part of each day, and are given lessons in homemaking, including sewing and cooking, under excellent instruction. The institution is the old Pickering property and consists of one large building and several smaller houses which are used for a school and dispensary. Sixteen parklike acres are laid out in orchards, flower gardens and beautiful woodlands. Miss Esther Anderson is superintendent and Mrs. Jane Bradley is matron.
To the Congress of Women's Clubs welfare department goes the credit for founding the institution and for excellent work being done for the benefit of girls. Mrs. John S. Sloan was a quest Friday evening and made a brief address.
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The Pittsburgh Press, Jan. 8, 1929
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Reproduced here are photographs taken at the Gumbert School for Girls. No. 1, is the old Pickering home, now the main school building. No. 2 shows recreation hour in the commodious living room. In No. 3, tow Gumbert School girls put a little luster on the old puddle jumper. In No. 4 the girls wear garments they have made in their sewing class. No. 5 shows a lassie playing a tune on the old sewing machine.
Girls At Gumbert School Live Luxurious Life, But Upkeep Runs Quite High, Reporter Learns
Cost to County $105 Per Inmate Montly
Old Pickering Mansion, Dedicated to Rehabilitation of Delinquent Girls, Dazzles Writer and Photographer; Have All the Comforts of Wealthy Class.
by Marie M'Swigan
"How come the county is spending $720 a year for each of the girls at the Gumbert School? How come it is spending a lot more than that?
The city editor of The Press looked up from the copy he was cruelly slashing - copy of a report which testified that the county detention school is spending $60 a month for each of the 45 girls there, while a glance at the year's budget and the application of some very high short division have the sum as high as $105 and some odd cents.
"How come?" he pondered.
How come, indeed! For the classic tales haves always put the sum expended for minors in institutions as upwards of three dollars a week and not very much upwards.
Out We Go
So I took the trusty roadster out of the parking lot and pointed her nose in the direction of Babcock blvd., and the Gumbert Industrial School for Girls, a county detention home for juvenile female delinquents.
Over the hill above us sat a lovely white stucco home, a roomy, rambling affair with a gable roof and a deep wide porch, a love of a house, warm, cheery, beautiful. I didn't feel quite right about driving in there in a puddle jumper - in fact, I felt that maybe I should go back to town and get somebody's big car and chauffeur.
But we went on, nevertheless and entered the "office" by way of a sunny vestibule in which there were leaded glass book cases and leaded window panes and a tea table of attractive bright china. In the "Office" was a clerk, an attractive young lady, Miss Edith McKean who apologized for the absence of the superintendent, Miss Nellore Concklin.
In the Living Room
She took us to the living room of the school, an enormous room the length of the house almost. A half dozen orientals throw rugs lay on the floor. Throne chairs and love benches there were and an elongated console table. A great fireplace nicking the rear-wall was tastefully ornamented with a wood basket, andirons and a fire bench. A piano, radio and victrola were there. The floor was smooth and shining and polished. Mahogany wainscoting ran nearly to the ceiling.
"This is the room where the girls have their recreation, " Miss McKean said. Now the furnishings in the Gumbert School are not the original furnishings, but sufficiently elegant for any family.
We went into the hall. From the ceiling hung a prism chandelier. A staircase of mahogany and white enamel gave a look of charm to the house.
Employ Three Matrons
"This is the superintendent's suite," Miss McKean said as she took us to Miss Concklin's rooms and presented us to the latter's mother, a sweet little woman with gray hair who was paying her daughter a brief visit. Then she showed us the tasteful living room, bedroom and adjoining bath. Likewise she showed us the matron's quarters. One was particularly attractive with its rayon bedspread, its gauzy draperies and bath. There are three matrons.
The dining room is furnished after the manner of the modern tearoom. Bright colored tables and chairs had on them attractive colorful chinaware with bright flower patterns on their cream and white backgrounds. The food is of excellent quality and variety. The girls testify that it is good. It is appetizingly served. The staff food is prepared in a separate kitchen from the girls' however.
School In Cottage
School is conducted in the cottage away from the house. A garage and barn complete the school buildings. In the cottage the downstairs rooms are used for sewing and the academic lessons. Above stairs, the teachers and one of the matrons live. The four negro inmates also live in the cottage. The cottage is less ornate than the big house, but it is commodious and comfortable. A blazing gas fire in one of the bedrooms gives cheer.
Grounds Neatly Kept
We came to inspect the barn and garage which were neatly kept. In the garage I noted a new Ford sedan which the light of day brought forth as the property of the school.
The county purchased the old Pickering house with its 75 acres for the sum of $150,000 to start the school, which was opened in November of 1926.
It is not a penal institution. It is an industrial school where the girls are taught to do useful things, including how to be the lady.
Ideal Surroundings
The sum of $105.49 per girl a month of course includes money spent for repairs and equipment, buildings - everything. Very little building was done in 1928. These items naturally must be budgeted as part of the keep of the girls.
During the past year $17,700 was spent in salaries to a superintendent, a clerk, three matrons, two teachers, a part time teacher, a part time nurse, a physician and a dentist, a farmer and assistant farmer, and for a farm and a field worker.
After a stroll about the place, a view of the two horses and six cows, we departed with a kind invitation of call again, convinced that the girls who get there certainly are the more fortunate of the unfortunate. We agreed that the idea is a wonderful one - the idea of taking delinquent girls and making something out of them. But the cost - well, we also agreed that it is a pretty costly idea as it stands now.
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The Pittsburgh Press, Apr. 8, 1931
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZVcbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SUsEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3699,4562674&dq=gumbert+school&hl=en
Seize Girl Who Fled The Gumbert School
Patrolman Grabs Fugitive About to Leap From Window
Lucy Smith, 17, of the 1200 block High Street, sought for two months after her escape from the Gumbert School for Girls, attempted to leap from a third floor window of a house in the 800 block Lockhart Street, North Side, where she had been found by police this afternoon.
Motorcycle Patrolman John Greeney grabbed her by one foot after she was through the window and dragged her back to the room.
Pete Cukunda, in whose home the girl was found, also was arrested. Both were held for hearings tomorrow.
Mrs. Cukunda disappeared while Greeney was searching the house. Police are seeking her on a suspicious person charge.
The Smith girl was committed to the school with the consent of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Smith.
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The Pittsburgh Press, Jan. 10, 1934
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Girls' School Wins Fight to Avoid Closing
Gumbert Institution's Budget Slashed, Six Workers Lose Jobs
County Court Judges Give Approval to Employes' Salary Reductions
The Gumbert Industrial School for Girls will not be abandoned, the County Commissioners decided yesterday, when they accepted a radically reduced budget for the institution instead of vetoing all appropriations.
The new budget adopted for the school year totaled $27,581, a reduction of $16,000 from the $43,691 originally asked for 1934. The reduced appropriation will force reduction in the per capita cost of caring for inmates of the school to less than $500. It has ranged from $800 upward in past years.
Six of the 14 jobs at the school, a training school for girls committed by county courts, were eliminated, and salaries of the remaining employes slashed.
Commissioner Barr opposed continuance of the school because of its high costs; because, he maintained, the same work can be done in state institutions at far lower cost, because of the need of economy in government and because the valuable property of the school, in Babcock Boulevard, should be put back in the taxable column.
The judges of County Court, who Monday had passed a resolution fixing salaries of court employes at the pre-depression level, restoring the 1933 pay cuts, Tuesday met again and passed another resolution unanimously, the latter one accepting the pay cuts for another year.
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The Pittsburgh Press, Jan. 24, 1940
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Gumbert School Head Sees Need to Revise Teaching
Girls' School Superintendent Says Provision Must Be Made for Child of Lower Mentality.
"There are more children in public school today who will go to state hospitals, than will go to college," Mrs. Margaret A. Huff, superintendent of the Gumbert School for Girls, told members of the Zoar Home Auxiliary today.
"The swift modern tempo, combined with neurotic tendencies of too many of our younger generation, who are today in the schoolroom does not fit them to cope with the years ahead from a mental and physical standpoint. These tendencies are due to a combination of the last World War and depression.
"I speak particularly of that element who come from poorer homes and from the nation's many broken homes," Mrs. Huff continued. "It is in this environment that juvenile delinquency is born - later to add to the burden of the nation's social problems.
"There are three-and-one-half times as many criminals today as there are students in college and for every teacher in our schools and colleges there are four criminals.
"I think the time is approaching rapidly when we must revise our educational program - and set up a system of education which will help every child to find his own place in life. We are too prone to standardize our teaching to benefit only the normal and the superior type of juvenile intelligence. We will be forced sooner or later to take care of the boy or girl who is the product of unfortunate mentality.
"This child - and there are many - also deserves a chance to make the most of his life. Seventy-five million dollars is spent each year for a public health program while two and one half billion dollars is the cost for education. Incidentally, our crime bill alone amounts to 15 billion dollars.
"When we realize that seventy-seven per cent of our delinquents got their start in broken homes we recognize the great need for an enlarged humanitarian program which means better housing, sterilization of the unfit and the importance of including the physically and mentally handicapped in our educational system to a greater degree than in the past."
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The Pittsburgh Press, Feb. 14, 1946
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19460214&id=afUaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=xEwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3077,4271471
Gumbert School Only For Delinquent Girls
Gumbert School is a County school for delinquent girls, not for hospital cases or mental patients.
That was the ruling yesterday by the County Law Department in reply to a complaint by Mrs. Margaret Huff, superintendent of the school, that Juvenile Court had been committing to her charge girls either mentally unbalanced or in need of hospitalization and unable to pay for it.
The opinion held that if a delinquent girl became ill after commitment to Gumbert School, the school must take care of her. But the school does not have to accept girls needing hospitalization at the time of their commitment.
Indigents, the report said, should be taken care of by the County Institution District. Mental cases should be turned over to State hospitals.
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The Pittsburgh Press, Jan. 15, 1947
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Industrial to be Dropped From Girl School's Name
Officials of the Gumbert Industrial School for Girls yesterday asked the County Commissioners to change the name of the institution to the Gumbert School for Girls.
The reason for dropping the word "Industrial" was believed to be its connotation of reformatory in its usage in nearby states.
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The Pittsburgh Press, Aug. 21, 1949
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Girls 'Finish' School In Week
Two Pittsburgh girls went through the Gumbert School for Girls in a hurry last week.
Jean Grieser and Eileen Zacharias, both 17 and from Soho, were committed Monday by Juvenile Court.
Yesterday the Missing Persons Bureau was busy seeking them. It was reported they had disappeared from the school Friday.
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The Pittsburgh Press, Oct. 9, 1949
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Gumbert School for Girls Defended
Hard Work Makes It Beautiful, Superintendent Tells Critics.
by Edwin Beachler
Any semblance between Vassar College and the Gumbert School for Girls is due mostly to elbow grease.
"Our place is beautiful because we work like slaves to make it that way, " Superintendent Margaret A. Huff declared yesterday.
"We have no Vassar here and it's ridiculous for anyone to make such a comparison," she said, in reply to the latest criticism of Allegheny County's training school for wayward girls.
Defends Proposal
Mrs. Huff stoutly defended a proposed $162,848 improvement program which touched off a tempest over teacups, cocktail glasses and soundproof ceilings. They were considered too costly.
"Our cost per girl last year was $2.34 per day," she said, "and that's a long way from Vassar. Our girls do all the work - paint, fire the furnace, cook, farm, mow the lawn, everything."
She denied that plans for a $112,848 "dream" cottage, now under fire by County officials, are too fancy for the North Hills school.
They are necessary, according to Mrs. Huff, because "a great County like Allegheny should provide the best possibly training facilities - like Cleveland and other major cities have."
'Victims of Society'
"These teen-age girls are the victims of society," she explained. "They've seen only the worst side of life and need the right atmosphere.
"We want to give them the finest physical, religious and moral training an adolescent child can have . . . to prepare them for good living and real family life."
The latest flare-up over operation of the spacious 70-acres training school developed last Wednesday when the Board of County Commissioners looked at the improvement blue-prints.
Laundry Approved
They approved plans for a $50,000 laundry. But Commissioner Harry W. Fowler balked at itemized requests for the "dream" cottage and ordered a thorough investigation.
Ear-marked for the $100,000 building were such items as acoustic (soundproof) ceilings, ornamental ironwork, marble windowsills and glazed tile. The $12,848 furnishings included "empire" silverware, "Colonial" china, two $100 radios and four dozen cocktail glasses.
Designed to house 24 girls, the cost of about $5,000 per girl was considered excessive.
Vassar Comparison
The school long has been a sore spot with County Commissioners. Charles C. McGovern, while serving as Commissioner in 1933, first blew off the lid by charging:
"We should send a girl to Vassar for what it costs to keep her in Gumbert School."
The presence of Oriental "throw" rugs, mahogany walls, throne chairs and love seats provided a luxury setting which was a constant source of irritation during the depression.
Home Converted
But these were mostly a temporary hangover from the old Pickering estate, which was bought by the county for $150,000 and converted for school use in 1925. Except for the mahogany walls, they are a thing of the past.
What's more, Mrs. Huff points out that the top yearly cost of $1265 a girl in the old days has been sliced to $854 (in 1948) in face of greatly increased living costs.
The County last year appropriated $67,000 for an average of 84 inmates a month (150 different youngsters during the year). The daily cost of $2.34 compared with $1.90 an inmate as Western Penitentiary (excluding food raised by each institution).
Meanwhile at Gumbert, equipment and buildings have deteriorated. The laundry machine has broken down to the point most of the wash has to be farmed out to Thorn Hill.
For many years, 15 girls were housed in an old garage which had but one exit. They were moved out for safety reasons.
One Antique Left
Plans call for putting the new laundry in this building, making another exit and using one room for craft workshops.
In the once-luxurious main building, know as Sarah Sloan Hall, plaster is falling from the ceilings, although the girls are constantly painting and dressing up the interior.
The only antique is a mahogany couch, which Mrs. Huff says was bought at the bargain price of $65, to match the wall paneling.
Desks discarded by the Board of Education are crowded into the school house, a converted cottage. And pantry throw-aways serve as make-shift book-shelves.
While the buildings are tastefully furnished and neat, the only modern one id the $55,000 Hutchinson Hall. It was built in 1942, houses 19 "honor" girls and five staff members.
Girls made the drapes, refinished tables in the dining room, painted walls and handle general up-keep themselves. A hand carved oak mantle in the study room was rescued from a Braddock rubbish heap.
In the basement theater, girls painted their own scenery. After the study hour each night, the theater alternately features movies, dancing, glee club singing and shows. And religious meetings are held there each morning.
High building costs, according to Mrs. Huff, are the reason why the proposed new cottage is nearly double the one built in 1942.
Explains Requests
She explained requests which are being investigated as follows: The "Empire" silverware is stainless steel commonly found in similar institutions; the "Colonial" china is a durable pattern, the same used in Pennsylvania Turnpike restaurants; the cocktail glasses are the small breakfast type for tomato and fruit juices.
The acoustical ceilings are needed, she said, for training the girls. As for the two $150 radios, Gumbert has had "only one new radio in the 15 years of my tenure here."
Mrs. Huff maintains that the "taxpayers' dollars are not wasted at Gumbert." She points to the $10,465 in farm and garden products raised for use of the school; 26 ribbons won at the 1949 County Fair; and 14,000 quarts of canned goods which the girls put up themselves this year. They make everything from liver pudding to canned meat from livestock.
Delinquents come into the school with a variety of charges - incorrigibility, immorality, petty thievery, neglect, truancy, shoplifting. They come from all sorts of broken homes, 70 per cent White and 30 per cent Negro.
With a staff of 15 (monthly salaries as low as $120 for teacher and $108 for dietician), the school compiled the following record, according to five-year survey of "graduates"; 65 per cent successful; 20 per cent still needed supervision; 15 per cent passed on to other institutions.
"Youngsters need more good models, and less critics," according to Mrs. Huff. "If we can't do a good job, let's not do it at all."
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The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Oct. 9, 1949
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Ln1IAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QmoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3671,2760340&dq=gumbert+school&hl=en
Gumbert School Cocktail Glassed Intended for Tomato Juice Only
Head of County Institution Defends Plans for New Cottage and Furnishings
Those cocktail glasses ordered for the proposed $100,000 cottage at Gumbert School for Girls are meant to hold tomato juice.
This revelation was made yesterday by Mrs. Margaret A. Huff, superintendent, who was astonished by the stir caused when she submitted her list of needs to the County Commissioners.
Plans for the "cottage" to house 24 girls was delayed yesterday when County Commissioner Harry W. Fowler ordered an investigation.
Construction Favored
At the school, Mrs. Huff said County Commissioners John J. Kane, John S. Herron and George Rankin visited Gumbert school five years ago and declared the conditions were "terrible." They favored construction of the new building.
Naturally, building costs have gone up since then, she pointed out, adding "They're paying salaries down there in the county they could do without, because some of those people don't work two hours a day."
it was the finishing touches to the building and the furnishings which caused the halt on building, however.
But item for item, Mrs. Huff showed that reports were all wrong about the "expensive dinnerware, fancy butter plates, pattern silverware, open fireplaces, radios, acoustical ceilings - and cocktail glasses" being extravagant.
She held also that private bathrooms for staff members and the use of glazed tile in their construction were for good purposes.
"The 'china' they speak of is a good solid product which has proved most practical in institutions," she said. "It is not 'china' but all dinnerware, no matter what it is made of, is referred to as 'china.' "
The "fancy" butter plates are made of the same thing as other dishes she ordered, Mrs. Huff said. "Maybe they got the idea they were 'fancy' because I ordered 'Colonial!' That merely is the name of the pattern and costs no more than what we have.
Economy in Fireplaces
As for the open fireplaces, she asked, "Why wouldn't you have fireplaces when you have wood? We actually economize by using open fireplaces."
"Now shouldn’t any institution have radios?" she asked. "We never had a one, except what a staff member brought."
"Who," Mrs. Huff wants to know, "would put up a new building without acoustical ceilings?" Besides, she said, it would cost more to have plaster ceilings than the soundproof kind.
Mrs. Huff said she was thinking of long-term investment and of maintenance when she ordered some materials considered extravagant by the commissioners. The glazed tile for bathrooms, for instance.
In Hutchison Hall, which was dedicated in 1942, the wall of one bathroom have had to be recovered already, she said.
Private baths for staffers is not an unreasonable request, she held, because it isn't as though they all lived together. They each supervise a group of girls in a different section.
"I'm willing to face anybody with our program, our buildings or anything," she declared, "and if they can, show me any institution that operates any more economically!"
"The staff works 24 hours a day, six days a week," she said. "And, for instance, a teacher who handles 16 girls with low mentality in the ungraded classes gets only $124 a month."
Wants to Help Girls
"We're trying to teach these girls to live good lives. They've been more sinned against than sinning, and we want to help them. When they leave here they can do anything in the line of homemaking. Why, we took 26 ribbons at the County Fair."
The percentage of girls who leave Gumbert and stay out of trouble thereafter is exceptionally high, Mrs. Huff said. "We've had a little more trouble than usual in the past year," she said,"but where hasn't that been true?"
Equipment in the 36x15 foot cellar laundry, ventilated with two tiny windows, and manned by 10 girls and a staff member, has bogged down completely.
The new one would stand on the site of a building Mrs. Huff has condemned as unsafe for girls to sleep in because of fire hazards. This has cut by 15 the school's usual population of about 89.
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The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 6, 1951
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vdsOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=qWoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2026,1767770&dq=gumbert+school&hl=en
3 Girls Flee From School
Police were looking yesterday for three girls who ran away from Gumbert School for Girls, Mc Knight Road, Ross Township.
The girls escaped from the institution late Wednesday or early yesterday. Mrs. Margaret Huff, Gumbert superintendent, described them as chronic runaways.
They are Anna Marie Yeager, 16, of 614 Hazel Street, McKeesport; Wilma Hawkins, 15, of 177 Burrows Street and Jean Donovan, 17, of 1911 Chislett Street.
All have brown hair and blue eyes. Anna Marie is five feet two inches tall and weighs 120 pounds. Wilma is five feet three and weighs 109 pounds and Jean is five feet four and weighs 124 pounds.
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The Washington Reporter, Sept. 29, 1954
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Sit Down Strike at Correction School
Pittsburgh, Sept. 29. - A sitdown strike at the Gumbert School for Girls brought out the police yesterday but ended several hours later in a chorus of sobs.
The school is an institution for girls 12 to 18 who have been convicted in Juvenile Court of petty offenses.
The strike got under way after breakfast when 22 of the school's 66 inmates sat down in the living room and refused to budge. The strikers later told newsmen they struck for fear they would be punished for holding a mass smoking party yesterday.
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The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Sept. 29, 1954
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=YaokAAAAIBAJ&sjid=oWoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5925,1688956&dq=gumbert+school&hl=en
Sitdown Strike at School Quelled
A brief sitdown strike at the Gumbert School for Girls was quelled yesterday morning with the help of the McCandless Township police, after an unruly inmate struck at the superintendent.
The incident, which involved 15 of the school's 58 girls, was the climax to the discovery Monday afternoon that some of the girls were smoking in the school basement in violation of a long-standing rule.
As a result, four of the girls, ranging in age from 14 to 16, were turned over to Juvenile Court for disciplinary action.
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The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Aug. 23, 1955
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10 Injured as Auto Hits Truck in Ross Township
Six Girls from Gumbert Among Victims;
Three Others Hurt in Storm Traffic
Six girls from Gumbert School for Girls and four other persons were injured, one seriously, during the height of the storm yesterday afternoon when an auto crashed into the rear of the school truck on McKnight Road, Ross Township.
Girls in Rear of Truck
The Gumbert school crash occurred about 2 p.m. at McKnight Road and McIntyre Road, school officials said.
Detained in Allegheny General Hospital were Carl Brinkel, 13, of 1501 Cooper Avenue, in serious condition from a head injury, and Aryne Tily, 14, a student at Gumbert School, who was held for X-rays.
School officials said she was thrown from the truck in the crash. They explained the girls were riding in the rear of the pickup truck which was taking goods canned by the school to the school cave on the McCandless Township grounds.
Suffers Cuts, Bruises
Suffering cuts and bruises was Mrs. Kathryn Kennedy, 52, of 124 Richmond Circle, a Gumbert staff member who was driving the truck. Driver of the other vehicle, Joe Stanek, 17, of Cooper Street, escaped injury.
The boys said they were returning from North Park.
Other Gumbert girls injured but released from the hospital were Norma Shaw, 15; Doris Rush, 16; Louise Settfrati, 13; Alice Smith, 15; and Carol Smith, 12.
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The Pittsburgh Press, Oct. 31, 1956
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Farming Put to Pasture At Gumbert
Gumbert School for Girls reluctantly is going out of the farming business.
The County Commissioners, over the protests of Gumbert Superintendent Margaret A. Huff, yesterday ordered the school herd of dairy cattle moved over to pastures of Thorn Hill School for Boys.
Mrs. Huff protested that the herd of four heifers and two calves was "as good as can be found anywhere." and suggested that if they have to go, Gumbert should derive some advantage from the farewell.
She suggested that they butcher two of the cows and the two calves and trade the remaining two cows for a couple of fat beef cattle.
Aside from the obvious advantage of having fresh meat available on the hoof, she said, they would keep down the grass in Gumbert's idles pastures.
Nevertheless, the commissioners ordered the transfer to cut out Gumber's use of unpasteurized milk in baking and cooking, and to eliminated the winter feed bill.
There have been complaints in the past about sending City girls to a rehabilitation school which stressed farm life.
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The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Apr. 19, 1957
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=EdJaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GmwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5756,3260563&dq=gumbert+school&hl=en
Gumbert School Is Investigated
Board of Managers Checks Complaints of Ex-Employes
Complaints by former part-time employes against conditions at the Gumbert School are under investigation by the school's Board of Managers, it was disclosed yesterday.
The institution for wayward girls is supported by Allegheny County but its administration is under a board of nine managers appointed by the Common Pleas Court.
Miss Irene McDermott, president of the board, confirmed yesterday that the stories of four former employes were heard at a closed meeting on Monday.
Findings To Be Made Public
The investigation is continuing, she said, and a report of the board's findings will be made public when the inquiry is concluded.
Principal target of the charges leveled by the former employes - a substitute house-mother, a nurse employed on an hourly basis, a cook and a teacher - was Superintendent Margaret A. Huff.
Mrs. Huff has headed the school, located on McKnight Road in Ross and McCandless Townships, for the past 23 years.
Charges against her regime were understood to range from physical mistreatment of the girl inmates to sanitary conditions constituting a health menace.
First Time Accused
Mrs. Huff, obviously, disturbed by the charges, said:
"I just hope they let the regular employes tell of conditions as they are. It is the first time in all my years here that we've ever been accused of not doing the best we could with what we've had to work with."
There are serious physical deficiencies at Gumbert, the county admits.
The 60-odd girl inmates are taught in two rooms of an antiquated farm house and there are no recreational facilities.
The county commissioners several months ago said they planned to include in a proposal Peoples Bond Issue this year funds for a new educational building at Gumbert.
Yesterday the commissioners, who were well aware of the complaints, appeared willing to wait for the Board of Managers to report on them.
Judges Confident
President Judge William H. McNaugher of Common Pleas Court was out of the city but in his absence other judges expressed confidence that the board of managers would make a complete and impartial investigation of the complaints.
Beside the 60 girls at the school, sent there for minor offenses by Juvenile Court, there are 70 others on parole from the institution who require supervision.
They range in age from 12 to 18 and Mrs. Huff runs the institution with a full time staff of 14, including two probation officers.
Last year it cost the county $94,623 to operate Gumbert at a per capita cost of $4.35 a day.
The commissioners this year appropriated $115,000 for the school which included funds for some raises and the second probation officer.
However, Mrs. Huff said her request for an assistant superintendent, a relief matron and a night watchman were turned down.
Near Riot at School
Mrs. Huff said the extra personnel was sought to avoid a recurrence of the near riot at the school last winter at a time when several staff members were ill.
At that time, with the girls out of control, county police had to be called in order to restore order.
One of the judges, a member of the committee which periodically inspects Gumbert, remarked:
"The girls wouldn't be there if they did not represent a problem. You can't conduct it like a private finishing school."
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The Pittsburgh Press, May 3, 1957
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IGEqAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-00EAAAAIBAJ&pg=6099,648445&dq=gumbert+school&hl=en
Quiz Tactics at Gumbert Hearing Hit
Former Employes Want Commissioners to Hear Complaint
Four ex-employes of Gumbert School, charging they were victims of "courtroom tricks" during a recent hearing, asked today for a meeting with the County Commissioners.
All appeared recently before the Gumbert Board of Managers to complain about administration of the school by Sept. Margaret A. Huff.
Critical of Discipline
Among other things, they accused her of harsh mental and physical treatment of wayward girls confined at the North Hills school.
In a letter, the four women pointed out they tried to give the board " a truthful account of conditions and happenings at our country school for delinquent girls,"
Talk Under Oath
They said all their statements were made under oath.
But, they added, their "good will" in the matter was purposely misconstrued by members of the board who were present.
"In every conceivable manner, adroit lawyers who are members of the Gumbert Board used courtroom tricks in an effort to catch us in our speech.
"Nevertheless in the face of evident indignities show us, we feel we presented to them a true and forthright story of our sordid experiences under Mrs. Huff at the County institution."
They said they hoped to present directly to the County's top brass "the evidence, at least as we know it, of irregularities and incompetency which mark the management of the institution."
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The Pittsburgh Press, June 7, 1957
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=YGAbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_E0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=7225,2154179&dq=gumbert+school&hl=en
Reforms Ordered at Gumbert School By County Brass
Commissioners to Tighten Control, Demand Trustees Who Participate
A series of sweeping changes is coming up at Gumbert School for Girls despite claims by its managers that all's well at the institution.
County Commissioners yesterday served notice that they intend to exercise greater control over the school and launch a few reforms of their own.
They made it clear they feel there's plenty of room for improvement at the North Hills training center for wayward girls.
Warn on Appointees
"We will no longer tolerate a policy under which the Commissioners get all the criticism and bills for a correctional program in which we have no voice," they declared.
They warned Common Pleas Court, which appoints the Gumbert managers, that the Commissioners want persons on the board who'll attend meetings and show an interest in what's going on at the school.
The County's top brass said they intend to "keep fully informed in the future on all phases of Gumbert acitivities."
In the past, their role has been largely one of coughing up money and turning it over to the court-appointed board to spend.
New Stand Given
The new order of things at Gumbert apparently calls for the Commissioners to exercise a voice in everything from hiring and firing to purchasing of bobby-pins.
In a comparatively sharp statement, they indicated they don't share the board's views that everything is sweetness and light at Gumbert.
On the heels of criticism of the school by four ex-employees, the managers issued a report defending the Gumbert administration.
The mangers have persistently hinted that most of the school's ills can be traced to the Commissioners' failure to provide sufficient operating funds. One complaint has been that salaries are too low to attract qualified personnel.
'Grand Life' Charged
The Commissioners countered yesterday by demanding detailed information on all persons now working at Gumbert.
One of the points raised during a recent investigation was a charge that the staff is "too old to carry out the rigorous duties" required of employes at a correctional school for youngsters.
Former employes who complained about conditions at Gumbert insisted that "the old-timers on the Gumbert staff have lived a grand life" at the school.
One of the ex-staffers said that trainees were required "to wait on them and act a virtual servants."
Many Are Pensioners
In addition many of the employes receive room and board, their County salary, and pensions from jobs which they held before joining the Gumbert staff.
There's a suspicion at the Commissioners' office that the employees on the Gumbert payroll are not as bad off financially as the board managers would have everyone believe.
At any rate, the Commissioners now want a detailed file on all employes, including their qualifications, where they came from, who hired them, whether they receive room and board, and whether they have outside income.
Board Asks Help
Early this week, Irene McDermott, chairman of the Gumbert board, submitted a letter asking for a blank check with which to employ a replacement for Mrs. Margaret Huff, Gumbert superintendent who is retiring Sept. 1.
Miss McDermott said the managers have been unable to find a qualified successor to Mrs. Huff at the $6286 a year salary offered by the County.
The Commissioners replied: "We will not agree to pay additional money . . . unless we are provided an opportunity to review the qualifications and backgrounds of applicants."
That means the County brass will have a big voice in the hiring of a new superintendent, a prerogative previously enjoyed by the managers.
School Change Set
The Commissioners also announced they intend to up grade Gumbert's educational program, putting it on a par with academic standards required of regular schools.
That means an end to Gumbert's long-cherished notion that wayward girls should be well-educated in "home economics," which means, among other things, scrubbing floors and other house-keeping tasks principally aimed at keeping the school tidy.
It also dooms the so-called "farm program" which trained city girls in the art of raising vegetables and produce which wound up on the Gumbert dinner table.
Under this sort of education program, the Three Rs got lost in the shuffle.
The Commissioners, however, said academic work and a more appropriate vocational training program will now be instituted.
Snubbed By State
In the past, the State has refused to even recognize Gumbert's educational program, refusing to give it an accredited rating.
The Commissioners said: "The school is to be placed on an accredited basis as soon as possible with State and County subsidies."
According to the Commissioners, a new school building will be constructed, along with other facilities.
One of the innovations will be a special room "where observers may reside for several days at a time and thus become qualified to make on-the-spot reports on current operating conditions at the school."
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The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 22, 1957
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vHxIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=0WoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3851,3515190&dq=girls+sentenced+to+gumbert+school&hl=en
Two Men Guilty on Morals Count
A paroled convict and his buddy yesterday were found guilty of contributing to the delinquency of two 15-year-old girls, both of them former reform school inmates.
Both girls, one a graduate of Morganza and the other of Gumbert, told of a wild automobile tour that began in Monongahela on September 18 and ended the next day in Forward Township where the quartet, drunk and disrobed, was arrested.
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The Pittsburgh Press, April 30, 1958
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GQ0fAAAAIBAJ&sjid=AZYEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7322,4580262&dq=juveniles+to+gumbert+school&hl=en
School To Launch Delinquency 'Cure'
Maryland Social Worker Assumes Gumbert Duties at $9500 Salary.
A new "clinical" program for correcting juvenile delinquency will be launched tomorrow at the Gumbert School for Girls.
For the first time in the history of the North Hills correctional school a trained social worker will serve as superintendent of the institution.
Foster Boyd, former director of clinical services at the Maryland Training School for Boys, will take over the reins at Gumbert.
He told the Board of Commissioners he plans to do away with Gumbert's time-honored "custodial" system and replace it with scientific methods of dealing with problems of trainees.
Wayward girls were supposed "to learn their lesson" simply because they had been removed from society and banished to Gumbert.
While this might work in some cases, Mr. Boyd feels it is not enough to straighten out most delinquents.
From now on Gumbert will go on the offensive and seek out the causes of trainees' delinquency and attempt to correct them.
The new "operation understanding" involves employing a full-time psychologist and a part-time psychologist, plus two trained social workers to serve as case workers.
The idea is to give Gumbert a professional touch it has lacked in the past and muster all scientific tools available for dealing with delinquents.
Mr. Boyd was brought here from Maryland only a year ago to take over the Gumbert command, scoffed at reports that Morganza could take over Gumbert's present workload if the North Hills school is closed and sold.
He pointed out that Morganza, which is a state-operated training school, has been "accepting very few girls in recent months, because it is gearing up to handle boys only.
Mr. Boyd told the Commissioners it has been "indicated that our community needs a facility to provide for at least 100 girls immediately."
He said the 100-year-old farm house used for classes "is very cold in the winter."
"Toilet facilities and accommodations for teachers in this building are so poor that they can hardly be said to exist at all," he declared.
To build the new Gumbert a site of about 40 acres will be needed so the present minimum security program can be continued.
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The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Jan. 7, 1961
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=88lRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ZWwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5522,1511378&dq=juveniles+to+gumbert+school&hl=en
Juvenile Court 'Soft' Handling of Ruffians Hit
Critics Claim Judge Rodgers Mild In Handing Out Punishment Even to 2nd and 3rd Offenders
Juvenile Court's handling of young ruffians, rampaging in and out of the city's schools, has raised a storm of criticism here.
Biggest complaint against Judge Bennett Rodgers is that he is "soft" on meting out punishment to young hoodlums, sending them home instead of to reform school.
This, contend the critics, is true even of second and third offenders.
A school official asserted that when one roughneck beat up a teacher in one school, Juvenile Court had him sent to another high school as his punishment.
Wanted Hearing
At Gumbert School for delinquent girls in the North Hills, youngsters "broke windows and tore up the place generally, just to get sent back to Juvenile Court for a rehearing. They knew they could get sent back home that way," one informant said.
Oscar J. Schwarm, director of guidance at the Pittsburgh Board of Education, is said to be preparing a report on the situation, which one high school principal described as "dynamite."
None of the critics have questioned the sincerity and good intent of Judge Rodgers.
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The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,Jan. 15, 1961
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19610115&id=-8lRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ZWwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7216,3351636
Gumbert School for Girls Big Problem
Top County Men Delay Funds for Rehabilitation
What's it worth to society to take a maladjusted girl - delinquent, if you prefer - and provide the treatment that will enable her to take her place in the world as a useful citizen?
At the Gumbert School for Girls, 8000 McKnight Road, McCandless Twp., the present cost is $7.32 a day for each girl there.
There is no guarantee that every girl sent to Gumbert will be returned as a well-adjusted person, but the high degree of success of the school's treatment program warrants a closer look at the problem it now faces.
Greatest Need - Money
The school's greatest need is for money- money to improve facilities and services.
A cursory examination of the school's buildings is enough to point up the immediate need for physical improvements.
The schoolhouse is over 100 years old. A strategically placed wastebasket catches the water that leaks through on rainy days and when snow melts on the roof.
A large wooden pillar blocks the girls' view of the blackboard. Teenage girls are jammed into desks meant for first graders. Eight girls are housed on the second floor, where paper is stuffed into open spaces along windows to keep out cold air.
The main building, Sloan Hall, was built in 1911. Thirty of the school's 50 girls are housed on the second floor - an area that is conspicuously marked by the lack of heat. Three case workers use an office barely big enough for two desks.
Clean But Shabby
The only respectable building is Hutchinson Hall, built in 1933, where individual rooms are provided for girls who are able to accept the responsibility of caring for their own room.
The overall impression of the school can be summed up in the phrase, genteel poverty - clean, but shabby, and badly in need of repairs.
At the moment, the future of the school is uncertain. The school is operated by a superintendent, Foster Boyd, and a board of managers, but the county pays the bill.
Recently the board of managers recommended that the school be closed unless county commissioners show a willingness to make improvements.
This recommendation came at the same time that Boyd, head of the school since 1958, submitted his resignation.
Commissioners seemingly are indifferent to the plight of the school. They say they are waiting until it is decided whether to relocate the school or whether the state will take over.
Boyd, who will be out of the picture on Feb. 15, feels that the county could operate the school cheaper than the state. But he is not so sure the commissioners are willing to spend the money required.
Question Worth of Cost
No one has set a dollar figure on what it would cost for capital improvements, but it could run as high as $1.5 million.
In view of the high cost of making major improvements and the cost of operating the school nearly $120,000 in 1959, the question again arises: Is it worth it?
Boyd feels the program he has attempted to carry our since coming here has been successful.
"Probably not more than five per cent of the girls who leave here get into further trouble, as far as we are aware of, anyhow," Boyd said.
What actually is the purpose of an institution such as Gumbert? In the past the emphasis has been on custodial aspects where little effort was extended toward rehabilitation.
Individual Approach
"Now we proceed on an individual approach," Boyd said. "We try to analyze a girl's psychological needs to find out why she got into trouble, and then try to solve the basic problem. We also work with the family and try to return a changed girl to a changed family."
In keeping with this clinical view of delinquent girls' problems, girl's are no longer sent to Gumbert for a specified period of time.
"All the girls are committed for indefinite periods." Boyd said. "The length of their stay depends on their progress. We give the girls more and more freedom and responsibility until we see they are able to accept full responsibility. Then we release them."
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The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Jan. 16, 1961
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=gL9scSG3K_gC&dat=19610116&printsec=frontpage&hl=en
Help Girls Gain Understanding
The purpose of the present program at the Gumbert School for Girls is the rehabilitation of girls sent there - but rehabilitation means different things to different people.
Foster Boyd, superintendent of the school, states its aim this way: "We try to get the girls to change their attitude toward society and toward themselves - to make them realize that they have capabilities that are acceptable to society."
The first step is selecting girls who are amenable to the type of program offered at Gumbert. Theoretically, girls send to Juvenile Court are those whom the court feels are able to accept the clinical program and the free and open setting of the school.
First of all, an attempt is made to understand each girl through a detailed study of her background, combined with a psychological examination of her present conduct.
Then an attempt is made to help her understand her own behavior - and - ultimately to improve control of it from within
During a normal day, a girl will attend classes on the basis of achievement and clinical tests administered during her first week at Gumbert. In addition, she will attend arts and crafts, homemaking and sewing classes.
And there are recreational activities such as fashion shows, special holiday celebrations, the production of original plays and skating parties at the nearby Pine Valley Rink, which is furnished free, to the girls by the owner.
The staff at Gumbert also works to bring about a change in the parents of the girls there. Not only is the girl taught to accept some personal responsibility for the behavior that resulted in her being at Gumbert, but parents are also made aware of their responsibilities.
Close touch is kept with the parents while the girl is at Gumbert and after she leaves through an aftercare program.
"The typical attitude of parents is that now that the girl is in an institution they don't have to worry about her anymore," Boyd said. "We try to get the parents to take an interest and do their part."
The length of stay at Gumbert is determined by the individual's progress. Recently, according to Boyd, the range in length of stay has been from four to 12 months. The full-time staff at Gumberts consists of 20 persons, which includes administrative personnel, case workers, maintenance and groundsmen, housemothers, office personnel, kitchen workers and a nurse.
A physician, dentist and psychologist are kept on a consulting basis. There are three summer teachers for arts and crafts, recreation and good grooming, in addition to a part-time physical education teacher. Four winter teachers for regular class work come under the jurisdiction of the county superintendent of schools.
It is obvious that an institution of this type can not be operated with a handful of people and limited funds.
If a program of rehabilitation is to be carried out, trained personnel is needed and facilities must be improved, otherwise the program will degenerate to the somewhat primitive concept of custodial care.
Again the question arises: Is rehabilitation worth the cost? It's up to the county commissioners to decide and so far there is little evidence that they have given the problem the deep and serious thought that must precede action.