The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-09-29
CARDS FOR SCHOOL CHILDREN
sUPT. AsHMORE ISSUING THEM AT
CHATHAM ACADEMY.

Be Given Out To-day and TO-mOr-
rOw-QuestiOns That Are Asked
Before Children Are Given Cards.
Vaccination Is Insisted Upon.
Higher Grades Are Full, But There
Is Yet Plenty of Room in the Low
err Grades.
Chatham Academy presented a busy
scene yesterday. Many children were there
for cards of admission to the public
schools of the city. and attending to their
wants kept Supt. Ashmore and several
of the principals busy for some time. 1t
is not known how many of the children
were given cards, but Mr.. Ashmore, who
had not been able to foot up the total from
the several accounts kept by those who
helped in the work, thinks as many were
issued as will be to-day and tomorrow,
when the appointed stop In the distrlbu-
ton will be made.
The teachers began issuing cards
promptly at 9 o'clock. They were busy
down at / o'clock, to be resumed again
this morning at the same hour. From 10
until u was the busiest time
Many of the children came alone to get
their cards. These, however were the
larger ones. They were able to take care
of themselves and to furnish all the infor-
nation about themselves necessary before
they could be given cards. Usually the
smaller children we're accompanied by
their mothers who did most of the talk
ing. Mr.. Ashmore says IL is not infre-
quently his experience to have mothers
want their children to go into grades more
advanced than their ages or their acquire
ments warrant. In such cases he
has to exercise his own opinion and put
the prospective pupils in the classes TO
which he thinks they should be assigned.
There Is a regular formula through which
applicants have to go, the questions being
asked them by those who issue the cards
1t is only those children who have never
been in the schools or those who dropped
out before the close of last term that find
it necessary to have cards. Places for
the others who were on the rolls to the
last are reserved. So, when the new
children or those who dropped out of the
schools present themselves, they have 10
submit 10 a eatechism.
The first question asked Is one upon
which the superintendent is this year lay
ing great stress. The applicant is asked
If he lives in Savannah. An answer in
the negative, unless there is some i'm
portant point to be considered, is a death
blow to the childs hope of getting into
the schools. Mr. Ashmore says there are
many people who believe there are not
a few children, not bona fide residents of
the city, who attend the schools, reaping
advantages to which; under the laws of
the state, they are not entitled. He says
this is a mistake; that there are but
faNU M ba 70.
them down still more. Mr.. Ashmore says
1t sometimes happens that a child is in a
position that 1t is hard to assail. He
may live here with relatives, being Writ
ually an adopted child. In such a case
1t is hard to deny the school privileges.
Where children are simply boarding in the
city In order to attend the schools, Mr..
Ashmore does not intend to issue cards.
More than one child was turned down yes
terday on this account.
The question of residence being settled,
the children are asked IL they have been
vaccinated. negative reply leaves them
high and dry. off they must go to have
the operation performed. A physicians
certificate must be brought back to show
that it has been done. When children
say they have been vaccinated a certifi-
cate to that effect or the scars must be
shown. The boys bare their arms to the
teachers, and upon visual proof being had
The girls exhibit the marks of their vac
eination to Mrs. Fish, the janitress of the
academy, who waits in a special room to
bear witness to their having undergone
the operation.
Doctors not infrequently judge vaccina-
ton injurious If a child's health is poor
This fact Is recognized by the Board of
Education, and it. has provided for such
cases. Where they exist, all that is neces-
sary for an applicant to pass that ques-
ton is for him to submit certificate from
a physician. showing that the child's con
dition would not admit of vaccination.
This must be coupled with the assurance
that the child will undergo the operation
just as soon as possible. record of
such cases is kept, and vaccination is in
time insisted upon.
Although they know they cannot get
into the schools without having been vac
cinated, the children often put off the
thing until the last minute. Evidence of
this could be seen yesterday in passing
the office of a city physician There was a
knot of youngsters, colored principally
about the offices during the day They
began to gather before Office hours, and
the policemen on the beats had TO keep
order until the doctors arrived Then
things queted down, the interest being
conferred in the relation by each, on COM
| ing out of the office, of the sensation ex-
| perienced while being scratched with the
point Some Of the doctors must have vac
einated as many as 100 Family physi-
clans, also, do a good deal of the scratch
| ing.
After the matter of the vaccination has
been settled, child is asked In what dis
| trict of the city he lives. This being as
| certained an investigation is made 10 see
If there Is room for him in The desired
| grade of the school in that district If n
is found that there is not. the child has to
| go to the school of another district This
happens not nfrequently, and Mr.. Ash
| more says every school in the CITY has
children in it who should be in those OF
| their own districts. This plan, however
is the only solution of the difficulty that
presents Itself when the schools in some
districts begin to get crowded, while Others
have room to accommodate the children
! who cannot get in.
The matter of grading the applicants
| for cards Is taken up after that of citv
| residence is settled. They are asked frst
If they have ever attended the public
schools before. If not, then they are put
-