The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-08
SUPERINTENDENT MNElL FINDS ENCOURAGING
 CONDITIONS IN THE COUNTY SCHOOLS

Less than half of the school year of t9lS-14 remains. With the schols of Jef- ferson county the term has been most successful. This success is due largely to the competence of the county's school of sicia!s. In former Superintendent of Edu- cation ]. N McAdorv. Jefferson county had one of the most capable superin- tendehts in the stste. The foundation which he laid and the Ligh standards he secured and maintained in the country schools assures their future success.
 MT. McAdory retired last fall after more than 20 years service. He was sue oeeded by MT. P. NJ. McNeil. with MT. R. c. Hewitt continuing in the capacity Of assistant superintendent.
 Mir. MeNeil is a practical school man with a very genuine interest in the Jeff ferson county schools. The greater part of his time is spen. among the schools. He has visited a great number of them going to every part Of the county, and he finds satisfactory conditions.
 New School Houses
 During the term 20 new school Buildings have been erected. They vary in size from two rooms to six. This means that there has been generous local response to the needs of the schools. Tho state gives 5000 annually to each county for building or repairing or improving school houses and school property in the coun- try end in unincorporoted towns. This amount Is divided into sums of Si0) and s2oo and given to the schools raising equivalent amounts and deeding their property to the state In this way five this supplement. In any case there must te local contributions.
 Attendance
 An especially creditable feature of the schools has been the excellent attend ence. In December, in spite of the inter- ruption caused by the approach of the holidays, the per cent of children attend ing every school day wa so 2-3 per cent of the entire number of pupils enrolled in the county. In January the enrolment had heached l7S53 with an attendance of 13,5S7.
 MT. 1icNeil speaks with especial satis- faction of the character of attendance in the schools of the mary mining towns. Work about the mines may be had by the older boys at almost any time, and this often causes their school days to 'ti iiilHdlt tdIlys ile improvement Tn their attendance may very probably be accounted for by the determined effort made during the past five years to rem der the upper grades os greater tangible and practical worth to the pupils and more in accord with their experiences
 A line in which Superintendent McNeil is especially interested is the education of the older girls and boys of the farm- ing sections. Frequently the farm boys withdraw from school in the spring to help on the farm. This usually results in their failing to be able to enter their classes the following year.
 Having to enter with younger pupils than themselves while their own class advances is embarrassing. to say noth- ing of the more serious matter of theiIs losing valuable time.
 Anticipating these circumstances, Mir McNeil IS now urging regular daily at tendance and continued attendance to the close of the school year. He has sug- gested to the teachers that they arrange for those pupils who must work on the farms to attend school part of the day and allow them to go home at noon or early in the afternoon. To Mir. McNeil the child is of more importance than the system and he believes that the days schedule should be arranged to accommo- date rather than to bar the boy or girl who must work at home. It is his de- sire that the school be adapted to reason able local needs, and he is depending upon Is hoped that the halliday session for cer-