To Pres. R.H. Wright, ECTT School,
Greenville, NCDear Mr. Wright:
I beg to give you a brief report of the
work of the rural school in district #1,
Greenville township, for which your boarthis year has appropriated $500.00 with
the understanding that it be used as
model rural school and conducted by the
East Carolina Teachers Training Schoo
This is an eight-grade, three-teacher
school. The teachers employed in
cooperation with you are Misses Nancy Wall, Mary Newby White, and Ruth Lowder.
Their salaries have been $65.00, $60.00,
and $55.00 respectively, per month r seven months. The school is now in it's
sixth month of work for this year.
These young ladies have done very
valuable work in winning the supportf the community for the school. I think I
may say that the school means more now to
the people of the community than ever has meant. Members of the committee have
told me that this year's school has, by
far, been the best school that they havever had. We took as our first year's
task mainly the winning fo the unqualifie
support of the people of the community. I
think this has been accomplished to marked degree. These young ladies have
thrown themselves into the life of the
community; have visited the people; havworked in the Sunday School, have had a
number of meetings at the school house for the parents; and in various ways have
drawn the people to the school.
The school has been graded and organized,
so that it is now on a fair basis r work. $50.00 has been spent in the
purchase of books for the librarand for supplementary use in the reading classes;
a number of magazines have been subscribefor, and are in regular use in the work of
the school. Members of the Training
School faculty have visited the school anassisted in the gradation and in the
solution of the various problems that have
confronted the teachers.
The school has been equipped throughout
with single steel desks of the mo approved type. These were bought on the
understanding that the county woulbear one half the expense and the district the
other half. The whole bill amounted to
$319.10. The teachers are working now oraising their half of the cost, and are
within about $75.00 of the goal. The succeded in getting the children to
purchase a $50.00 Liberty Bond, which wiprobably be used in helping to pay for the
desks.
The building has also been furnished with
shades for the windows; with maps anglobes, and with teachers' desks. These
items have amounted to $97.05.
Miss Lowder has taught a class in
instrumental music in connection wither regular work. The money received from
tuition fees has been turned in to thcounty treasurer to the credit of this
district. This amounts so far to $80.0 or $16.00 per month.
The total expenditures for the school for
the current year after paying for thlast two months will be approximately $2000.00.
Your appropriation is $500.00; special
tax will amount to about $350.00; thmusic tuition and amount raised for desks
will amount to approximately $275.00,
making a total of $1125.00 outside of thapportionment made by the County Board of
Education. This will make it necessary
for the County Board to appropriat$875.00 at least toward the running
expenses of this school this year, whicis $325.00 in excess of their
apportionment for any previous year.
The attendance has in the main been
satisfactory. Of course the unusually bad
weather has made it worse than otherwise would have been. The attendance
by months has been as follows:
First Month 46.3, second month 51.3,
Third month 49, Fourth month 56, Fiftmonth 58.
This makes an average for the first five
months of 52.1, as opposed to an average
of the whole of last year of 53.4However, the total enrollment has been so
far only 68 as opposed to 79 for last year. The census shows 15 less children
in the district than last year'census shows.
I feel that the work will be very much better next year, and that it will mean,
not only more to the community, but morto the Training School. We should have,
to make the work what it ought to be,
about $250.00 more to put into salariesWe ought to have also a small amount to
put into domestic science equipment, and
ought to be able to make a beginning ischool gardening.
If the work is to mean to your school
what it ought to mean, we must devise some
means of taking your practice teachers tthis school regularly and systematically.
Not only as County Superintendent, but as
a member of the faculty of the TraininSchool, I am anxious to see the work of
this model rural school expand. Thankinyou for your cordial co-operation, I am
very truly yours,
S.B. Underwood, County Superintendent
