The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-02-03
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
THE PAY OF TEACHERS--TEE AVERAGE
ATTENDANCE OF sCHOLARS--THE
SCHOOL AGE.
The School Commissioner of Able.
willie County Makes Many SusGcs-
tions of Vital Importance to the
People.
OFFICE OF SCHOOL COMMISSIONER
H

:. ABBEV1LLE, ", Jan. II, 1850.
The County Board of Examiners have agreed
that the monthly pay Of teachers shall be ac
cording to grade OF certificate, or grade o.
school, as follows:
First Grade Twenty-Five Dollars.
Second Grade, Eighteen Dollars.
Third Grade, Ten Dollars.
That the minimum average number OF pu-
pills per month that shall entite teacher to
full pay. in country schools shall be Is; in in.
corporated villages and towns ~. IN cases
where the average number between the ages
of and l6 falls below the minimum the trus.
tees shall pay a per capita shareof the mouth
The following changes of general import
:, ance to. trustees and teachers have been re,
Gently made in the School Law:
/. Certificates granted by County BOARDS are
valid for Years, and are renewable with OF
without examination, at the discretion of the
said Boards
is less than six or more than eighteen years o!
age, to attend any of the free pubic schools
The law requires the trustees to meet as ear.
ly as practicable in the year, in order to locate
the schools and elect teachers. This ought Ia
be done before the lst of February OF each
year, so that by that tt all the schools OF
the district shall have been established and
all the teachers employed. No school ought
to be opened after the first week inFcbruary
unless under peculiar circumstances. The APP
portionment of the school fund to the several
school districts is made on the lst or February,
or us soon thereafter as practicable. Unless
the trustees fix some limit to the time during
which they will contract with teachers of pub
lie schools, they cannot know the number OF
teachers nor their grade in time to ascertain,
with the accuracy that the subject demands
the length of the school term for their district
The trustees, therefore, are urged to ascertain
as soon as the apsortionment is made the
length of the school term for their district and
report the same TO all the teachers and to the
School Commissioners. The school term Of each
school of the same district, for the time it is
operated as public free school, should be the
same.
There has been gtear defect in the admin
iStration of the school law in respect to the 10
cation Of schools. In some places the schools
are located too near each other. This distribu-
tion Of the forces and efforts of community,
as we'll as the distribution uf the public fund
has had the effect of shortening the school
term, and depriving such unfortunate COM
Inunities of the influence and advantages OF
one good, well paid, well-equipped and well
sustained school. I recommend to the trus-
tees the sentiment OF a distinguished com
mander, who when asked the secret OF his
success, promptly replied, ~ concentrate ny
forces"
schools are too far apart. The effect has been,
probably, more disastrous than in cases where
the schools are too near each other. 1T has
lessened, alarmingly. the attendance in the
county schools, and, doubtless, smothercd the
spark OF genius in many worthy youth
This part or the school law is as ditficultof ad-
ministraton as it is important. While the
law requires the trustees to pay due regard to
any school house already built, or sites pro-
cured, it also requires them to have regard to
"other circumstances proper TO be considered
so as best to promote the educational interest
of the district" ] am disposed to believe that
there are schools in the county that ought to
be removed from their present location, and
established in places accessible to a larger
number OF children who are not now within
Il convenient distance of any school. No two
public free schools for the same race ought to
he within less than five miles of each other
Two and a half miles is not too great a dis
Tor a (yfO1 gnh Ip3.lyT To1 NH
be required to go even this distance, and they
can, surely, we'll afford to do SO, if by having
fewer schools, we increase The length Of the term
and The efficiency of those that are hare.
It is q lamentable fact, known even to the
casual observer, that in some sections of the
county there IS an increasing disposition, on
of their children's education from themselves
where it properly belongs, to the public, where
it belongs only in cases Of extreme poverty
and misfortune, or wilful neglect. They de-
1nand that the public, which cXacts from them
n few dimes for school tax, shall in return edu-
cate their children. build and repair their
school houses, and even pay the Incidental eN-
TO be checked at every point, and especially in
the matter Of building and requiring school
houses. 1t is a manifest injustice to the teach
ers to take any part OF their already too small
salary and appropriate It to building and re-
pairing school houses. The school house is u
local matter, and the community ought to
build it at their own expense. The circuni-
which would induce the trustees to apprOpri-
ate any part of the public fund to building
and repairing school houses. l feel sure that
my Views on this snbjest will not be we'll re-
ceived, but l believe them to he right, and
that Is 8; sufficient reason for me to recon-
mend them to the earnest consideration of the
trustees.
The trustees will please see to it that the
teachers monthly reports are properly filled
out, as the School Commissioners annual re-
port is based upon these monthly reports
Any letter conveying suggestions and rec
concentrations to trustees is essentially defcc
tive, that does not ask their hearty support in
the proper administration OF the school law,
in raising the standard of teachers certifi-
Gates, in increasing the efficiency OF the
schools, in arousing an interest in the all-im-
portant subject of properly rearing and edu-
eating our children, and in making during the
short period Of our office, unmistakable ad-
vances all along our own. lines in the grand
march Of education.
Respectfully,
GEO. G. HODGES.
Snhn mi.