As per your appointment I went to East Tennessee to assist Superintendent C. O. Chisam in holding his institute. I arrived at Pikeville on Monday evening. Superintendent Chisam had, during the day, met with his teachers and made out the program-putting me on the Reading Circle work, Grammar, Physiology, U. S. History and Geology of Tennessee. I found the teachers very well up on the Reading Circle but grossly ignorant of grammar and history. I had an uphill pull with those subjects the whole time. Superintendent Chisam gave instructions in mathematics and physics. They seem to be better up on this line of work than they were on language. There were thirty-eight teachers who took the examination, quite a number of them failing to make the required average. But the Superintendent assured me that he would have to use every one of them and others too, if he could get them The institute closed July 1. Superintendent Chisam kept the roll and record and will report in detail. Yours respectfully, W. E. SHOCKLEY. BLOUNT COUNTY. The school work of our county is getting better from year to year. The school sentiment is growing stronger and the people are demanding better qualified teachers, better and more convenient houses, better equipment and all that tends towards bringing good school results. We have no School Improvement Association, but the school grounds are being cleaned and cared for in a way that deserves mention. The houses also are well cared for on the inside, being made attractive and homelike with pictures, flowers and other decorations. The sanitary conditions are also better looked after by those in charge. There is yet much to do to make the country school houses what they should be for the comfort and welfare of the children. During the last year six new school houses have been built. These are all good houses and well equipped for work. Many of our houses are not yet supplied with good desks, but this is being done as rapidly as we can manage to get to it. We hope to soon have our county well supplied with good houses, well equipped for work. We have not succeeded in getting a high school tax levy. It is badly needed and, therefore, we will try, try, again. The court has been very liberal in its tax levy for school purposes in this county. The court is in sympathy with the elementary school and is ever ready to help. We have a compulsory school law in the county, and while it has not proved altogether satisfactory, it has brought good results. Many children were the last year in school, from twelve to sixteen years of age, who had never attended school. The attendance in many of our schools during the busy months on the farm was more than doubled by the compulsory law. The majority of our people are in sympathy with the law and are standing by it, while some, in defiance of the law, refuse to send to school. The provisions of the law are not just what they should be for a rural community like ours. With some changes in the law, to a great extent, the attendance problem will be solved. COUNTY INSTITUTE. FACULTY AND DIVISION Of Work. H. B. McCall, Conductor. Prof. M. H. Gamble. Mrs. J. M. Alexander. Miss Edith Goddard. Prof. F. L. Proffitt. Institute opened 20th day of June, 1910. Number of days devoted to written examinations of teach Males..... First Grade certificates.. Third Grade certificates... Number of certificates issued to teachers who have taught three years or more.. Females........ 48 16 32 1 47 H. B. MCCALL, County Superintendent. BRADLEY COUNTY. While our schools in some respects have not made the progress I had hoped for at the beginning of the year, in others they have surpassed my greatest expectations. Our teachers have become interested in the library movement so that it is hoped by the end of this year there will be libraries in every school in the county. At present we have libraries in about one-half of the schools. There have been no School Improvement Clubs organized as yet. This is due to my being physically unable to put the energy in the movement to arouse the necessary interest. Our greatest progress has been in the way of new buildings and equipments. For the first time we have begun the building of real school houses and have quit the building of boxes as of old, and we are putting in real school desks. While we put up but one of the new model school houses, built according to the State plan book, it has caused a complete revolution of the mode of school buildings in this county. The County Board of Education is planning to put up several more good buildings in the near future. During the past year there has been a great deal done in remodeling and adding to old buildings. Until this year we had not begun the use of single desks, which I think is one of our greatest improvements. We put in something over three hundred of these. It Our greatest drawback is the lack of qualified teachers. seems impossible to get enough teachers to take up our schools, so we have to do the best we can. Almost one-third of our teachers this year are first year teachers taken from the young boys and girls of the county. About one-half of these always make failures and have to quit before the term is out or drag along without any school, and a large part of the others marry or leave the county, so we have the same thing to go over again at our next election of teachers. A. A. KILE, County Superintendent. CAMPBELL COUNTY. I wish to say in connection with my annual report that we have secured State aid for four school libraries, and before the present term is out we will secure about thirty more libraries. Our greatest difficulty seems to be in getting the patrons to take the proper interest. We organized a School Improvement Association last year but nothing material was accomplished, but for the present year we are making our work count for something. Through the courtesy of the faculty of Lincoln Memorial University, I was able to offer a free scholarship in that institution to the teacher accomplishing the most in the way of improvements. A number of teachers are striving to obtain this scholarship. During the past two years about $100.00 have been spent for new buildings and equipments, giving comfortable surroundings for nearly every school in the county. We have five high schools in Campbell County, two second class and three third class schools. Last year we spent more than $7,000 for high school purposes and enrolled 355 students. The local school tax is 35 cents, of which 10 cents is for high school purposes. This tax with the 15 cents levied by the State yields about $30,000 advalorem tax. From all sources we receive about $50,000 school funds. The attendance for last year was better than for any preceding More interest was taken and better work done than ever year. before. The maximum salary paid for teachers last year was $60.00, and the minimum salary $40.00. While this is a considerable raise in the salaries, still we are compelled to pay it in order to hold our best teachers. My strongest efforts have been centered on grading and systematizing the schools of the county, and I feel gratified to know that with the very excellent course of study prepared by Superintendent Jones I have succeeded. |