Evening journal., 1921-01-25

city government would receive the in
terest from the greater portion OF the
schools funds on deposit The re-
tanning by the city government or
10000 collected In the school tax In
i9i9-20 for a specific school building,
for example, means a direct loss 10
the schools and TO the school children
OF approximately 1900 annually In in
teresf. which. needless 10 say, could
have been used TO advantage.
1.-THE accounting procedure, or
rather the lack Of accounting proceed
ure. has been criticised In a preceding
paragraph At present, there IS no
knowledge IN accounting form or the
contingent liabilities 0f the schools (,
that is, the orders TO vendors issued
and untitled, and invoices rendered
and unpaid. Instead OF the heads OF
various departments making their own
purchases for supplies. such purchases
should all clear through the secre-
tary's office This recommendation
does not mean a hamstrlnging Of the
heads Of departments, but a combina-
tiOn Of centralized control win de-
partmental administrative latitude :
Although apparently nearly all inc
children OF compulsory school age are
schools. the attendance Is not what 10
should be in either the white or the
colOred public schools. The average
number Of days attended for the white
schools was iii days, and for the col
Ored schools i33 days. The schools
were In session 1873 days. so that each
child in the white schools lost on an
average 81 days, and IN the colOrod
schools 20 days Of the term. The aver
age number OF days belonging" by
while children was 100. and by the
colored i59, so. on an average. each
white child lost i6 days and each col
ored child 26 days Of the time for
which he was enrolled.
Stated in another way. the actual
working school year for white schools
in Wilmington was only iti days, and
for colored schools only 1873 days, yet
the schools were open more than tS0
days. Since each white child lost i6
DAYS and each cOlOred child 26 days,
there was total loss Of 232.ii0 days
which, translated into money loss on
/ The basis 0f per capita operating cost
lamounts 10 approximately $4,000.
IN other words. II every child had
been perfect in attendance the cost
would have been no more than II ac-
tually was, but the educational re-
turns would have been much greater
zone great difilculty lies in the fact
that the officers have no means OF
knowing what children do not enroll
Except as they may discover them by
inquiry among children in school who
may know OF some who are not In
school As elsewhere recommended. q
school census would enable these ON.
GERS TO locate every child and place
him in school, II he has no good rea.
son for being absent.
Another difficulty in the enforce.
'ment OF the law is that there Is M
Incorporation between the attendance
officers and the private and parochia
schools. or course, the Wilmington
Board OF Education has no admins.
itrative relations with these schools
hut Il is the duty Of the board TO sec
that every child OF compulsory at
tendance age Is in school somewhere
and that he attends regularly.
"Tho compulsory attendance law
under which Wilmington Is operating
and the child labor law should Dl
made TO harmonize so that children
from "A TO &c years OF age must be il
lschool or at work.
"Of the pupils enrolled, most o
them remain In school until IA year
| OF axe lIlt uulillfI III NflNul - IIo'
tically constant from G 10 "A years o
age. Al the age Of "A. there is a fall
ing on; az IS there arc not half a.
many in school as at i3. Condition
in this respect in Wilmington are prac
tically the same as IN f0rty-two othc
cities OF more than 2o,OO0 population
The minimum educational requir'
ments for entering the elemcntar'
teaching corps Of the Wilmington
b schools consist OF graduation from
/ f0ur-year high school and two year
of professional preparation. There are
: however. many teachers In the corp
, who have not had this amount o
z preparation. for the standard now dc
mandcd Is higher than IL was severe
r years ago. There are teachers In N
/ Wilmington schools who had thre
b. years or less high school work and
81 year or less OF professional training q
J the time they were employed by IN
D Wilmington school board.
( without question, elementary
/ school principals should be educate
Q especially for supervision as we'll a