St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1919-01-18
SCHOOL BOARD
SESSION OF
JAN. II
'Covington, La, Jan. II, 1919.

u0 Sl. 1dulmduy dTlSu CcuOOl
Board met in regular session in the
office of the Parish superintendent
on the above date with n. H. Fitz-
Smons, president, in the chair, and
the following members present: T.
J. O'keefe, second ward; n H. Fitz-
Simons, third ward; w. w Talley,
fifth ward; Dave Evans, sixth ward !;
Geo. F. BanckS, eighth ward; VIM.
Oswald, tenth ward. Absent, Geo.
R. Dutsch, first ward; H. H. Levy,
fourth ward; Berry W. Todd, seventh
ward; H. w. Woodruff, ninth ward,
and a quorum was present.
The minutes of the last meeting
were read and upon motion of Mr..
Oswald, seconded by Mr.. Bancks,
were approved as read.
The superintendent read the fol-
lowing report, which was approved,
upon motion of Mr.. Evans, seconded
by Mr.. Talley:
Covington, La, Jan. 10, 1919.
The Honorable President and Mem
bers of St. Tammany Parish School
Board.
Gentlemen:-At the beginning of
this new year, l desire to wish you
all the best seasons greetings and
to trust your new members now just
entering upon the duties of school
board members will find much pleas
ant work before them in the year
to come. For their benefit l shall
attempt to give a short report of the
present school conditions in this
parish.
/ regret to say that the influenza
has greatly interfered with the sue
cess Of our schools thus far. l can
see no way to secure even fair re-
suits in the school work during the
year. AS you know, our schools were
closed from six to eight weeks and
because of that fact We are met with
the problem of how to do nine
months work in seven. You know
that our state course of study bases
the years work upon nine months
term for each grade. 1t is practical
ly impossible for the high schools as
well as the lower grades to COM
plete a years work in less than nine
months. That is one Of the reasons
why you have approved of the idea
of the schools trying to make up for
as much of the lost time as possible.
We are now attempting to do this
because we would all regret to have
our children fail of promotion on
account Of not having completed
their grade because Of the Spanish
influenza. No one can question but
what it would be absurd to promote
child from one grade to another ii
they lacked 25 or 80 pages of haV-
ing completed the required amount
of work. By that l mean that if it
is necessary for a child to go to the
bottom of page 176 in her arith-
metic in order to be ready for her
next grade, it would be foolish to
promote her when she had only gone
to page $50. | know that there are
many good people in this parish who
object to this time being made up,
but l do not know that they have
presented or suggested any other
way by which the children may earn
promotion. 1t is true that some
have proposed that the pupils be pro-
noted any way, whether they de-
serve it or not I believe that this
matter will be brought before you
today.
The attendance in the Madisonville
white school was so large at the
opening Of the year that l was COM
PEELED to equip two new rooms with
furniture and teachers. Since the
epidemic these two extra teachers
have not been necessary, but as con-
tracts were signed with them the-
have continued to work.
We have had a great deal Of diff
Guilty in making satisfactory arrange
ments for the operating Of school
transfers in the parish. I trust that
this trouble is over and that We have
that difficulty finally removed. Be
cause Of the bad conditions Of the
roads and also because OF the infiu-
enza. together with an increasing
disregard for school opportunities,
the average attendance on these
transfers has been far below the re-
uuired monthly average of ten. This
will make it necessary for US to stop
the operating of these wagons unless
more pupils ride in them.
IN the second ward the school at
Sava nnah Branch started with an in
creased attendance such as to Justify
a second teacher After the infu-
enya and after the principal had re-
covered from an attack of 1t, she did