St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1914-07-18

axe a showing that
ruary 6. in the interest of schools
and school supplies, especial about
the Covington school house. Visit
ed the Teachers Institute at Slidell,
February z; Hickory Grove, Febru-
ary IL; Lewisburg, February IL.
At these two last visits l had the
pleasure of having Mss Marguerite
Graham, specialist in primary work,
with me, and got her to give several
demonstrations in the modern meth
eds of conducting reading lessons
Visited Ben Williams March 4; ST.
dell Teachers Institute, March 7;
Onward school, March 1e; Washing
ton parish school rally, at Rio. March
l2O. Visited Vaudeville. LeWisburg
and Houltonville, February 8. At
tended the Cause school picnic April
k16, and spoke to the patrons. At
tended the closing of the Pearl River
school, May 8; visited Slidell school,
May s.; Sand Hill, May IS; Oak
Grove, May Is Sun, June 4, to speak
for the cause of consolidation. At
tended the Slidell colored school In
dustr.al exhibit, June /; Slidell COM
mencement, June 4; closing of Oak
Grove school. June 5; closing of Ben
Williams school, June 5; Covington
school commencement, June 5. Went
to the eighth ward to help the COM
mittee secure a site for the Alton
Cause consolidated school, and back
the same day Attended all of the
parish superintendents and school
board conferences at Baton Rouge,
June 8. 10 and H..
In my annual report, which fol-
lows this report, wish to call your
attention to the fact that we expect
ed to- receive from the State appro
priation the sum of $4,000, and
therefore put that amount in the bud
get, but instead Of that amount we
actually did receive $9,785.6O, or
$2,214.4O less than we expected.
The only reason given by the State
authorities for this difference was the
statement that the income from the
inheritance tax was much less this
past year than years previous.
In the municipal tax we fell short
$812O Of what we had expected.
While the police jury appropriation
fell $56304 short Of what we had
expected. OF course, there will be
receipt for the June collections not
counted in this report, which ends
with the enl of the fiscal year,
(June 3O).
Now, Will we ran short in the
items named, we went ahead in such
items as fines and forfeitures and q
little in poll taxes, SO that for the
year we received $87Q.S5 less than
we budgeted for, not counting the
payment we will receive for June
collections.
| feel that we should be congratu-
lated in our coming out as well as
we have when we consider the extra
demands made upon our treasury
after the budget was made. For the
coming year cannot caution you
too strongly against voting to spend
money not planned in your budget.
While we find many things in con-
nection with our schools to be proud
of, still there are some matters that
must cause genuine anxiety. Such
as the following: The total enroll
ment for the boys in the white schools
was 1857, and for the girls,
but the average attendance for boys
was S32, and for girls 917. In other
words, there were CTS per cent OF
those enrolled. in regular attendance,
and only 59.5 of the educabies that
averaged to attend. This means that
nearly one-half of our white children
are out of school and many OF the
patrons keep them out voluntarily.
/ might continue this report far
beyond its present length, but suifice
it to say that have taken data from
each school (white) in the parish in
my attempt to find just the true con-
d:tfon of affairs, and the following
is but a few of the many interesting
facts proven: In data collected from
1118 girls we found 5S.4 per cent
retarded or below the grade they
should be for their age, while IN
1924 boys there were 62.5 per cent
retarded. The largest per cent OF
this fetardation comes in the Sd, 4tn
and 5th grades.
feel that if we could study some
of the data thus collected and give
ii careful thought we should be able
to act more intelligently than i the
schools are run in a hap-hazard style.
Last year we were able to get the
assistance of the Jeanes Fund in Civ
ing the colored children of the par
ish the benefits Of an industrial teach
er. The duties OF this teacher was
to teach the girls how to sew, cook
and scrub. She often took her class
es out to neighboring house and
had them scrub floors, wash dishes
and set tables In such a manner as
would receive the commendation OF
any person for whom they night
work. I don't know how you feel
toward the continuation of this kind
Of work. but hope you will agree
with me that It is more important
that the colored children be taught
to work than it is to study beyond
say the fifth grade.
AT your last meeting you author q
od an olncfinn Of trusteeSS for the