The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1916-04-19
"A LETTER FROM THE STATE
SUPERVISOR RURAL SCHOOLS
Columbia, S. c., April 10, 1915.

-SDPEkVlSON NONAL oSI1OSAS
Columbia, S. c., April 10, 1916.
TNr. Editor
In company with the county sup
,nrintendent of education it was the
7aleasure of the State Supervisor of
EH1rai Schools to spend two days
,xsst5sng schools in Abbeville County
+ she rrast week. The County Teach.
sn xs Association had been kind
4. anougs TO invite me both the present
D.. session and last session to talk to the
{ teeIHe of the county. Previous
-xHesiir(uments had prevented my. &C.
..ceptance. Other invitations, how
ever, had aroused my interest in the
,xs&nty and for some time l had been
Booking forward to the opportunity
That 1 had the past week. In two
days we could not visit many of the
, SCHOOLS of the county, but have be-
come sufficiently interested in the
. county with these two days vista
ttian to hope that may have the
pleasure of spending full week in
the county early next fall, as soon
rs the country schools have opened.
Wednesday the superintendent
{, and l visited few schools in the
,alpper section. We stopped at An
:treville, Little River and Sunny
Slope. I was especially interested
An visiting Antreville because Antre-
vile has been one of the State aided
:sEgh schools and with the recent
=. changes in the high school law will
hare to become rural graded school
for next year, if the school receives
any State aid at all.
The people of Antreville have
- snade splendid preparation for school
york A splendid large building
eehtirely adequate to the needs of
Ahe community was erected and a
~.comretent teaching corps has appar.
-,s.atly done a successful years work.
The interest of the general public in
khe school is everywhere manifested
. IA recent improvements. So alto
.:gether the visit to Antreville was q
distinct pleasure. Effort is being
made at present to increase the tax
levy for school support. When
saw the splendid school enterprise
: THAT the people have started ! felt
4. sHze that whatever funds the trustees
:. need to keep the school up to its
:. EHssent high standard will be sup.
.;usSea by the public in the voting OF
=. .:s.specaa taxes.
From Antreville we visited the
Little River school. This is a one.
sieaGher school in a small one-room
! bailding. The enrolment of this
sraool is too large for one teacher to
give the instruction that the pupils
NEED. No one realizes this more
,ahnn the teacher himself. 1t was a
pleasure to hear of the talk in the
-scotnmunity of consolidation with the
~s1ther school in the district and the
;xaising of the special tax so as to
.c7ecuEe State aid under the rural
eszraded school law. This is the only
IFay that communities Of this kind
sa.n make adequate provision for the
ssducatiun of their children. shall
= uztch the development of this pro-
lert with considerable interest.
Next we visited Sunny Slope. This
as a small one-teacher school in one
>ezsnd of long school district, there
heipg another school in the district.
= '3hs district is short of funds and we
e. were told that last week the school
would close for the year. Contin-
gent aid for especially needy schools
hrs been given to this district this
year by the State Department of
Kairration, but this aid is not suffi-
, xIans to provide an adequate term.
1t Is unfortunate that the local tax
AZ ibis community is not sufficient
-mifh the State aid to provide an ade-
auate term for the children.
Returning to Abbeville in the af-
szEzlnon we stopped at Cold Spring
kS,ue the school was not in session.
Next day we visited Lebanon, Mt.
Carmel, wellington and Bordeaux.
We did not find the school in session
an Lebanon and, hastened on to Mt.
Carmel. We found conditions at
gaf. Carmel and Wilmington very
fruSn the same. Each is a two
asaeher school and apparently good
school work has been done and is be-
ang done the present session. The
ksuilding at each place is comfortable
Sat is not of the modern type. Mel
aher is the type of building that can
meet the demands of a community
I'D tkese modern days as community
..a-e,Aer. Yet, the buildings are sub
+. srantial and serviceable for school
ypurposes. The enrolment at each
& It ooqzse places is not quite sufficient
To secure State aid under the rural
graded school law. 1t is unfortun-
:sae that the enrolment is not large
erhUxgh to secure this aid. The spe-
, .ssaa tax in each district at present is
s:hree mills. The rural graded
school law requires four. So that
It the people would increase their
xxx to four mills land if they were
able TO secure the rural graded school
IND of $500 for each school, the in
CREASED funds would put the schools
In splendid financial condition. Each
.s,f these schools is so near qualifying
:Sgr rural graded school aid that