St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1919-07-19
SCHOOL BOARD
PROCEEDINGS
JULY nth

The St. Tammany Parish School
Board met in regular session on the
above date in the Office of the Par
ish superintendent with the presi-
dent, n H. FitzSimons, in the chair
and the following members present:
Geo. R. Dutsch, ward /; T. }. o.
Keefe, ward 2; N. H. FitzSimons,
ward 3 H. H. Levy, ward 4; w. w.
Talley, ward 5; Dave Evans, ward 6;
Geo. F. Bancks, ward 8; H. w:
Woodruff, Jr., ward 9; VIM. Oswald,
ward 10. Absent, Berry w. Todd,
ward Z.
A quorum being present, minutes
of the preceding meeting were read,
and upon motion by Mr.. Levy, Sec
ended by Mr.. Woodruff, were adopt
ed as read.
The Superintendent read the fol-
lowing report, which, upon motion
of Mr.. Dutsch, seconded by Mr.. Tai
ley, was received and accepted:
Covington, La, July IL, 1919. +
To the Honorable President and
Members of the St. Tammany
Parish School Board:
Please accept the following as
brief statement of the present cond1-
ton of schools in this parish:
Something over year ago small
crack appeared in the front walls
of the Covington High School, and
has gradually increased in size un-
til it now presents serious prob,
lem. With the consent of School
Director of the Third Ward and the
president Of your board, requested
Mr.. w. T. Nolan, of the firm of No
Ian & Tore, to come to Covlngton
and examine these cracks and advise
as to the best way of dealing with
this trouble | respectfully submit
the following report from him:
New Orleans, June IL, 1919.
Prof. Elmer E. Lyon, Superintendent
of Schools, Covington, La.
Dear Mr.. Lyon:
Re Covington High School
Building.
AS you requested, we made an ex-
animation of these premises yester-
day, as far as we could, to ascer-
tain if possible the reason. why the
right front wing Of this building has
settled slightly causing crack to
appear starting form about 4 feet
of the grade to the right OF the nam
entrance to the building and con-
tinuing up the face of the building
and terminating at the soffit of the
roof projection.
We we'll remember that when this
building was constructed there was
a drain which ran from the lower
side of the street, facing the build
ing. and continued through the prop
erty, on which the building is con-
structed and underneath the build
ing at an angle. The drain through
the property was nothing Dut
natural earth ditch. When the
foundation for the building was laid
special attention was given to TINS
ditch which was filled with brick
hats and other solid materials and
earth fill, put in in layers OF about
I2 inches, we'll wetted and tamped
to a hard surface. This work was
done before the foundation was laid,
and the nature of the crack in the
building shows that over this drain
the foundation is as solid as the day
Il was put III. opeSihi oINSi
inforcing rods were inserted over
the ditch location in the concrete
footings to give it added strength.
The rest of the ditch in front of the
building was filled, but not under
the contract with which we had TO
do. for the construction of the build
ing, and there is no trace OF the
ditch now except its probable loca-
ton near the point of connection
with the present concrete drain pipe
later on inserted, wnere there IS
small cave in.
To ascertain the cause Of the
trouble we made borings under the
wood floor, on the inside OF the
building, at a point near the en-
trance to the basement, to the right
of the entrance to it. We found
that the sand fill placed in the build
| ing, and on which the floor rests IN
the right wing of the basement, has
sunk down about / IL" and is un-
even, and the said fill was quite wet
and would indicate water there IN a
| larger proportion than should be
the case. We went outside and al
most opposite the point at which the
| interior boring was made, dug down
to the side of the main wall con-
| crete slab and, without reaching its
bottom, found 1-4' of water stand
ling there. Tnis should not be and