The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1919-01-21
CLOSING THE SCHOOLS.

closing the schools. We hope that it
is only talk. We appreciate the mo-
tives of those members of the Local
Board of Health and of those good
citizens who have been advocating
this move, but we believe they are
badly advised.
We believe the State Board of
Health has declared that no good
purpose has been served by the clos
ing of the schools heretofore, or at
least that the pestilence amongst US
cannot be eradicated by this method.
If we are correct in this, the declar-
alton is in line with the experience
of a great many other people who
have seriously considered the mat
ter.
The disease seems to be. preva-
lent more amongst the younger peo-
p... and children than amongst the
older people, though the latter are
not immune. We all know that, with
the schools closed, the children and
the younger people cannot be kept
at home except at great hardship.
They attend the picture shows, and
other places of amusement, they are
in the stores and at the soft drink
stands, they 60 to church and to
Sunday School, and they are con-
stantly thrown with other people.
We cannot quarantine people who
are well, and yet it is only in the be-
ginning of the disease, when "a per-
son hardly realizes that he is sick
hat the most danger exists of COM
municating the disease to others.
This danger cannot be eliminated by
closing the schools, unless every
other place is to be closed, and well
people are to be quarantined.
We believe that the idea Of quar-
antining those people who are sick
with the disease, so far as school is
concerned, is a good idea, and that
no child should be allowed to go to
school from home where the dis
ease is until the danger Of contract
ing the disease has passed. Those.
children believed to be taking the
disease should be kept out of school
until the danger is past. Should the
epidemic become more general, we
would favor closer quarantine, and
if it should appear in the future that
it were advisable, the schools might
be closed. But this is the season for
colds, pneumonia, and like diseases.
monia in the months of January and
People have been dying with pneu-
February for many years, and it has
not been thought advisable hereto
fore to close the schools on that ac-
count.
There is another consideration in
this matter. The people in this COM
munity are paying about twelve
thousand dollars per year to run the
nuhlic schools. The trustees are pay
ing out to the teachers, and must
pay to them, whether they teach or
not, about fifteen hundred dollars
per month. These teachers cannot
be dismissed at this season of the
year without paying them what we
have contracted to pay them: The
schools have already suffered from
interruptions. The work had pro-
gressed only two months when the
schools were closed for FIVE weeks:
The schools then opened for three
weeks, when the Christmas holidays
made another interruption. The work
has hardly gotten under way again,
so that another interruption at this
time would mean that the schools
mad as we'll be closed for the session.
That means a hardship for many
children. Many of those attending
the public schools will have no edu-
cational advantages except such as
they obtain here before they are old
enough to 60 to work. When they
are old enough they go to work,
many of them from necessity. A year