(Transcribed by Leora White, June 2007)

By Irman D. Bayne

Transcribed from the original
Under the supervision of Donald J. Millet
John McNeese Junior College, Lake Charles, La.
October 1947

THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN CALCASIEU PARISH
A THESIS
SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY
OF THE
LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY
AND
AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR
THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS
IN
TEACHERS COLLEGE
BY
IRMAN D. BAYNE
B.A., LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY, 1926
1933

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The writer wishes to make grateful acknowledgement of assistance to Dean C. A. Ives in the preparation of this manuscript.

Also, he wishes to acknowledge thanks to Superintendent H. A. Norton for the use of Proceedings of the Calcasieu Parish School Board, and School Board Records, to W. H. Gabbert for the use of Calcasieu Parish Police Jury Proceedings, and to Mrs. L. L. Squires for the use of Old Papers and Manuscripts, to the Honorable Sam. H. Jones for the use of Law Books, to the State Department of Education of Louisiana for the use of Educational Reports from Calcasieu, and to all others who have in anyway contributed to the preparation of this paper.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

LIST OF TABLES

CHAPTERS

I. Early Educational Development of Imperial Calcasieu Prior to the Institution of the Ward System, 1898

II. Development of the Ward System of Public Schools Prior to the Division of the Parish in 1912

III. Public Education in Calcasieu Parish from 1913 to 1933

IV. Summary

BIBLIOGRAPHY

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

LIST OF TABLES

TABLES

I. Population of Calcasieu Parish from 1860 to 1930

II. Statistical Report on Free Schools of Calcasieu Parish, 1854

III. Financial Statement, 1854

IV. Statistical Data and Financial Statement, 1858

V. Statistical Report, 1884 and 1885

VI. Calcasieu Parish Treasurer’s Report, 1884 and 1885

VII. Statistical Report, Superintendent of Schools, 1888

VIII. Central and High School, Lake Charles

IX. Average Salary of Teachers

X. Statement of Polls Charged and Collected, 1891-96

XI. Public School Statistics, 1880, 1890, and 1899

XII. Enrollment and Average Attendance, Calcasieu Parish Schools from 1913 to 1933

XIII. Enrollment, Average Attendance, and Graduates of Calcasieu Parish High Schools, 1913 to 1933

XIV. Data on Type and Cost of School Buildings of Calcasieu Parish

XV. Consolidation of Calcasieu Parish Schools, 1914-33

XVI. School Transfer Salary Schedule, 1931

XVII. Transportation of Pupils, Calcasieu Parish, 1930-31

XVIII. Salary Schedule of Principals and Assistant Principals

XIX. Teachers’ Salary Schedule, 1927-28

XX. Teacher Rating Blank

ABSTRACT

THE HISTORY OF PUBLIC EDUCATION IN CALCASIEU PARISH

The earliest records pertaining to the public schools of Calcasieu Parish are found in the Annual Reports of the State Superintendent of Public Education to the General Assembly of Louisiana for 1854. There were 784 pupils enrolled in the public schools of Calcasieu, and the amount paid teachers was $4,164, all of which came from the State. In 1912 the number of pupils attending the public schools of Calcasieu had increased t 6,625 and a total expenditure of money for public school purposes of $167,879.93. At this time there were seven state-approved high schools in the parish, and 150 elementary schools.

The City School system of Lake Charles was separated from the parish system April 4, 1907.

Since the organization of the present Calcasieu Parish School System in 1913, the enrollment of the  public schools has grown from 3,000 to 5,250, the numbers of high schools form four to eight, and the amount of money expended, from $171,000 to over $300,000 per session.

Calcasieu Parish, through building up its corps of teachers, efficient administration, erecting modern school plants, and careful and adequate supervision, has developed one of the best public school systems in the State of Louisiana.

CHAPTER I

Early Educational Development of Imperial Calcasieu Prior to the Institution of the Ward System, 1898
Physical and social conditions, area and type of people, and early educational reports

In the early years of the nineteenth century the territory comprising most of what is now known as the Seventh Congressional District, including Old Imperial Calcasieu was known as St. Landry Parish, and the parish seat was Opelousas. This territory extended from Opelousas and Lafayette west to the Sabine River, and from Rapides and Vernon Parishes south to the Gulf of Mexico, that part of the state known as Southwest Louisiana.

In 1840 Old Imperial Calcasieu was carved out of St. Landry. The part severed included the present parishes of Allen, Beauregard, Cameron, Calcasieu, and Jefferson Davis. There were four towns that were candidates for the parish seat: Marion, Lake Charles, Bagdad, and Shell Bank, the present town of West Lake. Marion won, and the courthouse was erected there. Marion, which afterwards became known as Old Town, was situated five miles up the Calcasieu River from Lake Charles. The courthouse remained at Marion a few years and then was moved to Lake Charles, where it is at present.

In 1870 Cameron Parish was created from that part of Calcasieu bordering on the Gulf of Mexico. Imperial Calcasieu was then composed of the territory now occupied by the parishes of Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu, and Jefferson Davis. This period included the years 1879 to 1913.

In 1912, by act of the Legislature of Louisiana, Imperial Calcasieu was divided into the present parishes of Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu, and Jefferson Davis. The actual division took place in 1913.

The Fifteenth Census Report of the United States gives the area of Imperial Calcasieu in 1890 as 3,650 square miles, and the present parish of Calcasieu, 1930, as 1,086 square miles.

TABLE I
Population of Calcasieu Parish from 1860 to 1930
as Given in the Eighth to Fifteenth Census Report of the U.A.

From the above table it will be seen that in 1910 the population of Calcasieu Parish was 62,767, while in 1920 it was only 32,807, the reason for this decrease being the division of the parish in 1913. The per cent of decrease caused by the division was 47.7, while the per cent of increase of Calcasieu Parish from 1920 to 1930 was 27.9. (1)

Many of the early settlers of Old Calcasieu Parish were of Anglo-Saxon blood. Some of the oldest families, dating back to the 1820’s before Calcasieu was organized, were the Johnsons, Iles, Smiths, and Thompsons.

Tradition says that the first permanent Anglo-Saxon Settlement west of the Calcasieu River was made in the vicinity of Sugartown, and was likely made about 1825. The next settlement was made in what is known as the Big Woods settlement, by the Smarts, Perkins, Cowards, and others
about 1832. (2)

Many of the early settlers came to Calcasieu from South Carolina. Other Old Calcasieu settlements of note were Hickory Flat, near the present town of Oberlin, Mermentau, Lake Charles, Vincent Settlement, and Barnes Creek.

The French element of Calcasieu, which occupied the southern portions of the parish near the Gulf, were [was] mainly descendants of the Acadians, who gradually emigrated west from the Teche country. Some of the prominent French families that early came to the southern Calcasieu prairies were the LeBleus, Heberts, Derouens, and Broussards.

The early settlements were widely distributed over the immense area of 3,650 square miles of territory. The roads, which were not more than trails, were few, causing transportation and communication to be difficult. "The first road of any importance in Old Calcasieu was laid out and cut by the soldiers during the Civil War in 1863. This road extended from Niblett's Bluff on the Sabine River, west of Vinton, to Alexandria, Rapides parish. For many years this was the only road in the parish worthy of the name." (3)

Early Annual Reports of the State Superintendent to the General Assembly of Louisiana

The earliest annual report to the General Assembly of Louisiana made by the state superintendent of public education in which there was a report on public schools from Calcasieu was in January 1855. J. N. Carrigan was then state superintendent. (4)

The following statistical data taken from the Annual Report of Superintendent Carrigan to the General Assembly of Louisiana were given by Ansel (Anselm) Sallier, Treasurer of Calcasieu Parish, in his annual report to the state superintendent for 1854.

TABLE II
Statistical Report on Free Schools of Calcasieu Parish for 1854

"The treasurer of this parish did not give his bond as depository of the school funds until March, 1854, and the amounts paid out to each district extend through a period of two years of accumulating debts.

There are no private schools in the parish." (5)

TABLE III
Financial Statement
1854

Ansel (Anselm) Sallier, Treas.
Calcasieu Parish.

In the annual report of the state superintendent of education to the General Assembly of Louisiana for 1858, (6) State Superintendent W. J. Hamilton gave the following report from the parish treasurer, James Hodges, on the condition of public schools of Calcasieu Parish:

The general character and condition of the schools are as good as good as could be expected, being almost entirely supported by the Public School Fund, and so far as I have been able to ascertain the teachers are very well qualified to teach such branches in the English and French languages as the people here mostly desire. I am unable to report the number of private schools in the parish. There have been two in District Number 2, and the price of tuition has been six dollars per quarter in one, and nine dollars in the other. "My report dates back to the first of the present year when I was elected parish treasurer, and most of the drafts of teachers that I have paid, were for services rendered prior to that time. I have not been able to obtain such information regarding the public schools as I would desire, and the Directors of every district having failed to make any report to me; I have to report to the best of my information. All of which is most respectfully submitted by your most obedient servant,

(Signed) James Hodges,
Parish Treasurer,
Parish Calcasieu.

In the report of Treasurer James Hodges to Superintendent W. J. Hamilton, we also find other data regarding the public schools of Calcasieu: (7)

TABLE IV
Statistical Data and Financial Statement, 1858
Calcasieu Parish

Parish treasurer, James Hodges, reported that money paid by private subscription amounted to about $66.00 per quarter. The local directors, whose duty it was to report the number of children attending school and also the number of educable not attending, were not prompt in making reports. This report was made in 1858, before the Civil War, when there were practically no roads in the parish. It was not an easy matter to go to the parish seat from most of the districts, some of the schools being as far away as 125 miles. The mails were not very dependable in those days either. However, the fact that teachers received their pay in all districts except District 10 leads us to believe that schools were in operation.

Of the six districts reporting the length of time school was taught during the year, the average number of months was five and two-thirds for the six districts. This was probably greater than the average for the parish would have been, including all thirteen districts.

Upon examination of the report of the State Superintendent to the General Assembly of Louisiana for the year 1864, it will be found that no report was made from Calcasieu on the public schools of the parish. The cause probably was due to the unsettled conditions during the Civil War.

The next report of the State Superintendent of Public Education to the General Assembly of Louisiana in which appeared reports from Calcasieu was in January 1871.(8) Thomas W. Conway was state superintendent, and J. W. Bryan was treasurer for the parish of Calcasieu. The treasurer’s report to the state superintendent on conditions of the public schools for Calcasieu Parish, 1871, contained the following financial statement:

The statistical report to the state superintendent was very incomplete. The treasurer either did not have the data or for some cause did not send it. The grade school, number children, male and female, number teacher, male and female, grade of certificate held, monthly salary, and number private schools not given in the report. Only the number of children between six and twenty-one years of age was given for nine districts of the parish.

The increase in the number of school-age children in the twelve years preceding 1870, although it included the entire five-year period of the Civil War, shows a gain in the number of educables for Calcasieu Parish of over 100 per cent, notwithstanding the fact that in 1870 Cameron Parish was created from parts of Calcasieu bordering on the Gulf of Mexico.

William G. Brown, State Superintendent of Public Education, in his Annual Report to the General Assembly of Louisiana for the year 1876, (9) gives an interesting report from the treasurer of Calcasieu Parish, A. H. Moss, on the public schools of Calcasieu.

* This likely means total number months taught. 

It will be seen that in some settlements the attendance of pupils is very small, although children come from a distance of miles around, while in others the attendance is remarkably good, although many of the pupils attending bring their dinner pails.

Some idea can be formed of the magnitude of this parish, when schools are located as far as 125 miles from the courthouse, and of the labor of the Board, when the only means of reaching these remote portions of the parish are private conveyances. However, the people feel generally interested in the education of their children. About 35% of the educable population attended the public and private schools.

SCHOOLS - Ward 1. Miss Mary E. Roe has a good school at Cheneaux Settlement. W. B. Knight has school located at a Pine Grove, 52 attendance considered very large. He is one of the most competent instructors in the state.

Ward 2. Mr. Louis Doulanger taught at Oak Bayou and Lacassine, not with commendable success.

Ward 3. Mrs. Lise Landry and Mrs. T. E. Dade conduct the flourishing schools of Lake Charles. Both teachers and schools are necessarily popular.

Ward 4. The Sugar Town Academy, A. Bennoist, principal, and Calib Simmons, assistant, has turned out some good scholars, and in addition to these in the ordinary branches, have some advanced pupils in Latin and Greek.

Ward 5. Pine Grove School, W. M. Dunn, principal, Quick Sand Academy, C. A. Ruscoe, principal, are highly spoken of by the patrons of these institutions; may they be permanent.

Ward 6. Thos. Ward and S. W. Pierce have satisfied the School Board and the resident community, that they know how to conduct a school, vide their attendance.

Ward 7. Indian Bayou School, John Kelly, principal, and Coles Creek School, James E. Bilbo, principal, are fully up to the standard of popularity and efficiency. Rev. James A. Beard is principal of the Chapel School. The following taken from the column of remarks of one of his monthly reports is all sufficient to convince one that he is doing yoeman [yeoman] service in the glorious cause of education: "I solemnly invoke the Supreme Architect of the universe, to speed the time, when parents will be compelled to school their children" H. E. Syles is a good teacher, so the residents of Dry Creek will testify. His school has 42 pupils.

It is impossible to secure all competent teachers in this parish owing to the poor accommodations, and the lack of necessary comforts for teachers, who may be strangers to the community.

The following narrative accompanying the report of the treasurer will be found interesting:

The parish of Calcasieu covers a large area of country, it is sparsely settled, has very good roads and many streams in consequence of which, some places are not easily accessible. The wards are large settlements, far apart, making it exceedingly difficult for the School Board to locate schools, so as to give general satisfaction.

The parish, so far, has done nothing towards raising a school fund, and we have depended entirely upon the State Apportionments, which have not been sufficient to keep up the schools any length of time. One, two, and three months sometimes, would be all the term any one locality would get during the whole year. If the citizens in the wards would agree to establish one good school in each ward, and make it a permanent school, more benefit would be derived than has been heretofore.

The people at large seem to be more or less interested in education, but they have not yet reached the point of being willing to pay for it. The majority of the children in this parish are being raised up in ignorance, and the people need to be aroused on this vital subject. A few lectures by competent persons upon this subject might do good.

A great deficiency in the school system for the last two years has been the incompetency of some few of the teachers employed. This gives the secretary of the School Board much extra labor. In fact, it is difficult to make a correct report under these circumstances.

The secretary has expressed a desire by letter to withdraw from the Board. I sincerely desire that he may be prevailed upon to reconsider his contemplated retirement from the educational work. His frequent, interesting, well and correctly prepared reports of the conditions of school affairs prompt me in behalf of the educational interests of Louisiana, to urge him to abide a while longer in the cause. (10)

The Annual Report of Robert M. Lusher, State Superintendent of Education to the General Assembly of Louisiana for 1877 (11) contains the report of S. D. Read, Secretary of the School Board for Calcasieu Parish. The report gives the organization of the School Board as of July 16, 1877: J. W. Bryan, President, S. D. Read, Secretary, other members, Wm. G. Gill, David S. Andrus, Charles C. Chaney, Levi Elander, James Cole, Brown Wilburn, and Thomas Lyons.

The statistical report given by Secretary Read to Superintendent Lusher must have been incomplete, comparing it with the report of Treasurer A. H. Moss in 1875. The report as given follows:

Statistical Report rendered up to November 16, 1877

Public Schools

Teachers employed

Wm. Jackson, Miss Virginia A. Cole, Louis Doulanger, Mrs. M. E. Rowe, Wm. M. Dunn; three males and two females.

Remarks

Grade of schools and attendance cannot be reported for want of data. The supply of school houses is ample, and the buildings are generally comfortable. There is no apparatus.

The branches taught and textbooks used are: Webster’s Speller, Alphabet and Primer, McGuffey’s Readers, Penmanship, Arithmetic, Geography, Grammar and History, authors not given.

Regretting inability to render a more acceptable report, this is respectfully submitted,

(Signed) S. B[D]. Read,
Secretary

The following financial statement was given by Wm. L. Hutchins, Treasurer of Calcasieu Parish for the years 1876-1877.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT (12)

Wm. L. Hutchins, Treasurer.

In the year 1880, Robert M. Lusher, State Superintendent, in his Biennial Report to the General Assembly of Louisiana, stated that the secretary of the School Board for Calcasieu Parish was T. F. Bell, and that no report was made to the State Superintendent that year on the conditions of the public schools.

In State Superintendents Lusher’s Biennial Report for 1882-1883 the same condition as above prevailed, no report from Calcasieu. The secretary of the School Board form Calcasieu for 1883 was given as John H. Poe. In the Biennial Report to the General Assembly of Louisiana for 1883 (13) we find the enumeration of youths and the schedule of apportionments for Calcasieu, 1883, as follows:

Work of Superintendent John McNeese in Calcasieu
General Statement

At this point in the educational history of Calcasieu Parish, about the year 1883 or 1884, it seems fitting to give a general statement of the work of Superintendent John McNeese in Calcasieu.

John McNeese made Calcasieu prominent among the parishes of the state before he had been superintendent more than a few years, and had won for himself a state-wide reputation as a builder and organizer. His work in this connection also carried his name beyond the confines of the state.

Superintendent McNeese served the schools of Calcasieu for thirty-seven years. Twenty-nine years were spent practically as superintendent, without a break, beginning in 1884. His first election as superintendent under that title was in 1888, but for four years preceding, he virtually headed the schools, being a member of the board that then presided, himself being practically head of the board, through his superior understanding of school matters.

The schools of Calcasieu and what now constitute the parishes of Allen, Beauregard, and Jefferson Davis owe their position in the state to the sacrifice and efforts of Mr. McNeese.

Superintendent McNeese came to Calcasieu Parish in 1873 from North Carolina. [Most accounts have McNeese coming to Louisiana from Maryland by way of Texas.]  He spent nearly ten years teaching in the various schools over the parish. Many of these schools, were but log or slab shacks, the barest necessities for school purposes. As he taught, Mr. McNeese developed ideas and put them into practice. Where ever he went, he left a better school, or more often he left a school where there had been none before.

In 1884 the first semblance of a school system was founded in Calcasieu, very crude but a decided improvement over anything else in Southwest Louisiana. Mr. McNeese was a member of the Board that headed the system and aided materially in the direction of its energies.

In 1888 the Calcasieu system was changed, a superintendent being placed in direct control of the work. This proved a great advance, and allowed Mr. McNeese to put into effect some of his ideas that he had acquired through leadership and experience as a teacher, which finally resulted in a very efficient school system in Calcasieu Parish.

Some of the educators that Superintendent McNeese brought to the Calcasieu section to inspire and work for the betterment of education were Mr. Martin G. Brumbaugh of Pennsylvania, later State Superintendent of Pennsylvania, and Governor of Pennsylvania, also Dr. Seaman Knapp later noted throughout the country for his efforts to inaugurate agricultural education on the secondary school level.

Superintendent McNeese became secretary of the Calcasieu Parish School Board in 1883. The state at that time probably had no coherent school system outside of New Orleans. Those who wanted education had to pay for it themselves, and the attendance in the private schools of the state were comparable with that of the public schools, and for a very good reason.

In 1883, in Calcasieu there were four or five public schools, a territory which covered 3,650 miles. One public school was located at Bayou D’Inde, which was one of the few, if not the most outstanding of the parish. Another was held in the Methodist Church in Lake Charles, and still another was at Sugartown.

John McNeese was a pioneer in every direction. Some of the first phases of school endeavor in which he pioneered were the procuring of suitable school buildings, raising the standards of teachers and securing decent pay for them, obtaining revenue to establish new schools, and finally in awakening the communities to the importance of education itself.

As the population and wealth increased, Superintendent McNeese’s task grew easier. The state contributed more liberally to the cause of education, police juries began making donations, which became more liberal, also local donations were made frequently and in a material way aided the Board. Then came the era of the special tax, which proved to be the salvation of the country schools. It is said that Superintendent McNeese was the originator of the idea of special tax, and it is known that Calcasieu was the first parish to begin voting special taxes.

Quoting from a resolution of the Lake Charles City School Board at the death of Superintendent McNeese, "He needs no monument of brass or marble to perpetuate his memory, for every schoolhouse within the original bounds of Imperial Calcasieu is an enduring memorial to the work of his hands." (14)

The Biennial Report of the State Superintendent, Warren Easton, to the General Assembly of Louisiana for the years 1884-1885, (15) contains the fullest report of the conditions of the public schools of Calcasieu yet given.

TABLE V
Statistical Report of the Superintendent of Calcasieu Parish
to the State Superintendent of Public Education
1884-1885

*Most likely a typographical error, and should be $20.00, $25.00.

TABLE VI
Calcasieu Parish Treasurer's Report (16)
1884-1885

The statistical report for the year 1884-85 was made by John H. Poe, Secretary of Calcasieu Parish School Board, and the treasurer’s report was made by William L. Hutchins, Treasurer of Calcasieu Parish, both made the State Superintendent Warren Easton.

The Biennial Reports of the State Superintendent to the General Assembly of Louisiana gave John H. Poe as Superintendent of Calcasieu Parish for the years 1885 and 1887; however, Mr. Poe, himself, states that he was never elected Superintendent by the School Board, that he was only secretary of the Board.

The first superintendent’s report given by Superintendent John McNeese of Calcasieu to State Superintendent Warren Easton show a decided improvement over previous reports on the conditions of public schools in Calcasieu.

The report, Table VII, was taken from State Superintendent Warren Easton’s Biennial Report to the General Assembly of Louisiana for the year 1888-89. (17)

TABLE VII
Statistical Report of Superintendent for Year 1888
Parish of Calcasieu

*Probably an error, should be $25.00

Record of School Board Proceedings, Calcasieu Parish, 1887

The first minutes of Calcasieu Parish School Board, of which records are on file in the present school office, Lake Charles, Louisiana, show that he Board met on November 11, 1887. Board members: J. W. Bryan, President, John H. Poe, Thomas Kleinpeter, J.P. Geary, A. Rigmaiden, E. A. Perkins, J. J. Lyles, and John McNeese, Secretary and Superintendent. (18)

The question of auditing the books of the Parish Treasurer was taken up, and a committee composed of John H. Poe, Chairman, Thomas Kleinpeter, and J. P. Geary was appointed to audit the books, and report at a special meeting of the Board, November 16. 1887.

The special meeting convened, and the chairman of the auditing committee, Mr. Poe, made a report that he books of the Parish Treasurer were examined from December 31, 1885, to November 16, 1887, and found to be in good standing.

Proceedings of the Third Convention of Parish Superintendents
Of Public Education, Tulane Hall, New Orleans, June 2-5, 1891 (19)

"The Parish drew from the state an apportionment for only 4,200 children, but it was entitled to draw for 9,00. [9,000 ??] Expect to inaugurate graded schools in Lake Charles at an expense of about $8,000, and an attendance of 500. John McNeese, Supt."

The first tax money donated to the public schools from the Police Jury in Calcasieu Parish was in the year 1887, and the amount was $3,000. The amount donated for the years 1888, 1889, and 1890, form the same source, was also $3,000. The Police Jury appropriated for the year 1891 was raised to $7,000, as will be seen in the annual report of Superintendent John McNeese to the State Superintendent of Public Education for the year 1891.

In the Biennial Report of Superintendent Warren Easton to the General Assembly of Louisiana for the year 1891, (20) the following report was given by Superintendent John McNeese before the Fifth Convention of Parish Superintendents, June 1891, on the conditions of the public schools of Calcasieu.

"This year had been for Calcasieu Parish a fruitful one, educationally. The Police Jury raised their donation from $3,000 to $7,000. The last census gave us 7,258 educable children; and the majority of schools throughout the parish have been supplementing the public funds quite liberally.

School Buildings - Lake Charles has completed a nine months term in her building completed last year, the building as furnished costing $6,000. Jennings has a fine building, only second to that of Lake Charles. Welsh is preparing to build a schoolhouse, which no doubt will reflect credit upon the town for years to come.

Teachers - My new list of teachers is composed of 40, being examined since October 1, 1890, to comply with the enactment of 1888 in regard to physiology and hygiene.

The compensation for services of teachers is regulated by grade of certificate; primary being $30.00, intermediate $40.00, grammar $50.00 in all cases where local directors do not make terms with teachers for less, in which case length is increased in proportion.

Patronage - Throughout, the parish is becoming more earnest in the cause of education.

System of Managing Schools - Each school district on an average one to each township is controlled by three men appointed by the board, or elected by the people, called local directors.

They endorse petition of teachers to parish superintendent before contract is made, visit schools, inspect teachers’ registers, and sign report at end of each month. Previous to 1888 each school had no organization. The nearest independent of the teacher were sub-directors for each ward, appointed without regard to geographical distribution. In some large wards they were not acquainted, having never met for the purpose of organization.

Working of Superintendent’s Office - An office is furnished in which all documents pertaining to school matters are filed. The superintendent, acting as secretary, keeps for the information of the public, and of the Board, all books possible to give any desired information, among which are a very thorough set of minutes, a set of books to check once each month against receipts and disbursements of treasurer of school, a book giving amount of 16^th section interest to the credit of each township, beside all others more peculiar to the office itself.

Extent of Superintendent’s Work - By terms made with the Police Jury the superintendent is not to teach or follow any business other than to attend to the schools throughout the parish. About twenty days of each month is spent in the field, and ten in the office. The Police Jury found it necessary that in expending $7,000 to provide that it should be expended to the best possible advantage, and in a manner to effect such and end.

The year ending May 31, 1891, does not show up so well on account of bad weather, and small-pox excitement prevented many school from occupying the term.

Statistical Statement of Schools in Parish of Calcasieu During Year Ending May 31, 1891

Nearly all the state in the union