St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1920-02-21

the township in which the lands are
located.
1 wish to call your attention to
the fact that we have been paying
our part Of the Assessors salary as
DON as the rate of commission and
the amount due the Assessor was de-
termined upon and reported Ivy the
State Supervisor of Public Accounts.
Now, you understand that experience
has shown us that erroneous, or
double assessments, are sure to ap-
pear to certain amount, and when
we pay the commission upon the face
value of the school tax assessed, We
are undoubtedly paying commits
sion on larger amount than We Will
receive. In examining Act 12O Of
1916, find it reads as follows:
'fBe it further enacted, etc. That
| the assessors and tax collectors shall
| receive fees allowed by law for as
sessing and collecting taxes on only
| the poll, and other taxes, actually
collected The School Board sha Il
pay no commission to assessor or
tax collector on poll, or other taxes,
not actually collected and paid over
to the school treasurer"
| In view of this fact it would APP
pear that we should pay TO The as
I SCISSOR his commission in monthly
payments at rate decided upon by
| the Supervisor of Public Accounts
and if, at the end of the tax collect
ing period, balance is still due him
1 for hic NC should he
| pro rated and paid by all of the taxed
bodies that he has done work for.
In any event, Kbelieve that this mat
| ter should ba. thoroughly investigat-
ed in order that we may be able to
know what to do next year.
The Department of Superint md
! ents Of the National Educational AS
| ISOLATION will hold it's tnnual meet
| mig in the city of Cleveland from
| February % to 20. This meeting
you remember, was held last year in
| araph from letter recently received
| from State Supt. Harris:
There are two educational meet
ings which, in my judgment, every
| superintendent in the state should,
if possible, attend every year--cur
| annual conference of state and par
ish officials, and the National De
partment of superintendent. | hope
that you will find it possible to at
tend the Cleveland meeting, and
should you decide to do so, you
reservations.
AS to whether your board Is In a
position to have the superintendent
attend this meeting must be decided
b yourselves.
l herewith submit the Elementary
School Supervisors report:
Elmer E. Lyon, Supt., Covington,
Louisiana.
Dear Sir:-I beg to submit the fol
lowing as my report as the Elemen-
tary School Supervisor for the period
from January 9 to date.
During this time I have visitel the
following schools: Central AUDI
bon, Pearl River, Slideli, Sun, La
combe, Robert, Ridge, Ta,tsneek,
Folsom, Ramsay, LeWisburg, Man
deville, Covington, Savannah Branch,
Sand Hill, Union Grove. In some
of these schools l have spent only
two or three hours, while in others
l have spent three days. In all
schools have given the Ayers spell
ing test and the results are shown N
the tabulation accompanying this re-
port This test begins with the Sec
ond year and is supposed to Contain
the most common words in the Eng
lish language; they are supposed to
be mastered first, as they are more
often used in writing. The question
Of economy of time is, perhaps, the
most important thing that the rural
school teacher with many grades has
to meet, and for this reason the prob
em of teaching spelling with mini
mum expenditure of time deserves
the very best thought of school Deo-
pie. No subject can be made real
success unless life, enthusiasm and
interest are aroused in the pupil
We often find that spelling is being
taught simply by assigning - tie
class a list of words to study, a,ith-
out calling attention to the peculiar
difficulties of various words Ia che
assignment. Teachers should call
the pupils attention to the sound Of
the letters and show how this sound
may be of material assistance in
the matter of learning how to spell.
Perhaps this may be summed up
under the following five headings:
ID Give the child thorough train
ing in phonics, because many words
are spelled as they sound and for
that reason the child should know