The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1914-11-04
CLAREND0N'S SCHOOL SYSTEM COM
MENDED.
Columbia, S. G., Oct. 26, 1914.
Supt. E. ]. Browne,
Manning, S. G..


! It was a genuine pleasure to
me to spend last week with you
lin visiting some of the schools
lof your county. There are many
matters that point to careful
Thought aud persistent activity
lon your part for the past several
Years IN Clarendon county. In
Isome of these it appears to me
jyou have succeeded most admir-.
iatly.
in the first place, I was i'm
Ipressed with the distribution of
lyour schools over the county.
j You have a large county and one
THAT, is not thickly populated
Ibut you have succeeded in sep
farating your schools one from
ianother by greater distance
than has been possible in many
Icounties. The great benefit the
ipeople of Clarendon derive from
this arrangement OF their schools
lis found in providing a larger
(school and more teachers in the
tschool. If your schools were
jcloser together there would be
fewer pupils to the school and
livery few schools with more than
lone teacher. This would result
lin less interest on the part of the
Epupils and less individual atten-
tion from the teacher.
! This wider distribution Of
|schools such as you have in your
|county gives longer school
term. You have succeeded ad-
Imirably in arousing the people
lin the several districts to the
necessity of voting special taxes
with which to lengthen these
ischool terms. Those taxes &C.
complish a great deal more for
the pupils in schools with two
land three teachers than they
would distributed to smaller
schools with one teacher each.
| In the matter Of consolidating
schools and districts Clarendon
has not as CONSPICUOUS a record
as some other counties. But, your
districts have been so marked
and your schools so located that
further consolidation is not gen
orally practicable or desirable.
In a county with a large erea you
had last year only thirty nine
white schools. Further general
consolidation would likely work
a great hardship upon some of
the patrons Of your schools. A
consolidation of the New Zion
and the Salem schools, both in
the same district, is already un-
der way. This is a consolidation
that is altogether practicable
and highly desirable. Of all the
schools visited by US these are
the only two that seem to me
possible of immediate combina-
tion.
I wish to commend especially
the willingness of the people of
Clarendon county to transport
their pupils to school at their
own expense. AS [ recall there
was not single school visited
by US that I did not observe
about it several vehicles for the
transportation of pupils. Trans
portation of pupils to school is
a much talked of term in our
modern public education but
usually this means transporta-
ton at public expense, that, is,
at the expense of the public of
the public school funds. The
readiness, therefore, Of your
people to haul their children to
school at their own personal cx'
pense thereby saving the funds
of the school district for the
direct instruction of the pupils
is extremely pralseWorthy.
1t was a great satisfaction to
me to see how we'll some of the
school districts of Clarendon
county have provided school
buildings and equipment. All of
this work is of a substantial kind !
and is the result of such plan
ming that the future develop.
ment of Clarendon county will
not necessitate any removals or
alterations. The buildings, their
equipment and location is anoth'
'er evidence of your thoughtful
care and attention.
In the matter of consolidation
of schools, therefore, it occurs
to me that you have accomplish
ed nearly as much as is practic-
able for your county. In provid'
ing buildings and equipment you
have succeeded admirably and
this good work will continue. In
the matter of special tax elec-
tions, Clarendon county has
made rapid progress and with
the return of prosperous times
this progress will continue 1t
seems to me that your policy of
providing funds for the indlvid.
ual schools already established
and Of providing buildings
and equipment for those that
are now in need of such are your
present chief concerns.
In addition to this your pres
ent policy of securing, lmprov.
ing and holding prepared teach
ers is an urgent need. The trus