The Dickenson County herald. [volume] (Clintwood, Va.) 1927-1930, 1927-09-29
VA, SCHOOL ATTENDANCE
(By Carter Wormeley)

1slClllIlOllu, De, DCDC. ZA.-
Marked variation among the
counties in regard to the reg
ularity with which children at
tend school is evident from the
annual report of the State Sup
erintendent of Public instruct
ion.
Eighty EIGHT per cent Of all
Ichildren between seven and
nineteen years of age attend
school regularly in one county of
Virginia. This is the best aver
age daily attendance record for
the State. The lowest average
daily attendance record is 1873
per cent in one of the smaller
counties. This wide variation
among the counties in the reg
iularity with which children at
tend school gives concrete ev-
idence of the need for cooperat-
ion between school officials,
teachers, and parents in seeing
that every child of school age
will attend school regularly dur
ing the session Of 1927 20.
REGULAR daily attendance is
one of the most important fac
tors in developing an efficient
school system. Irregular at
tendance makes it impossible
to give real instruction to pu-
pills who do not attend regul-
Iarly. and at the same time it
lowers the efficiency of the in
struction received by all other
pupils in school, who are held
back in their progress by those
who must attempt to make up
lost time. Again, the total cost
of operating the schools is
much greater because teachers
must be employed for the total
number of pupils who enroll at
the beginning of the session, and
vet irregular attendance means
that these teachers are not
working at maximum capacity
throughout the year.
While the Virginia Compul-
sorry Attendance Law recog-
nizes the need for regular at
tendance, it can be seen from
reading the selections from
this law given below, that the
provisions of the law need not
necessarily be carried out uni
formly in all sections of the
State. Records indicate that in
many counties compulsory ed
ucation has not been put into
effect Systematically.
Certain sections of the Vir-
ginia Compulsory Attendance
Law read as follows:
Section 1. Every parent,
guardian, or other person in
the State of Virginia, having
control or charge of any child.
or children, who have reached
the eighth birthday and have
not passed the fourteenth birth
dav. shall send such child or
children, to a public school, or
to a private, UNCONVENTIONAL or
parochial school or have such
child or children taught by a
tutor Or teacher in a home. and
such child, or children, shall at
tend regularly such school dur
ing the period of each year the
public schools are in session
and for the same number of
days as in the public schools.
The period of compulsory atten
dance shall commence at the
beginning of the school which
the pupil attends. But the pro-
visions Of this section shall not
apply to a child between the
aces aforesaid who has com,
Ipleted elementary course of
study prescribed by the State
Board of Education, or the
course of study provided by the
school he should attend, ana
who is actually, regularly and
lawfully employed; nor to any
child who lives more than two
miles by the nearest travelled
road from a public school, I'M
less public transportation is
provided within one mile of
walking distance from the place
where such child lives.
Section 2. For the purpose
of this act instruction in a pri-
waite, UNCONVENTIONAL, or paro-
chial school. or in a home by a
tutor or other teacher shall be
deemed equivalent to instruct
ion in a public school.
| Section IL. Nothing in this