Monument dedication for first black high school set Saturday
A group of citizens led by graduates of the 1951 class of Hahnville Colored High School will see erected on Saturday afternoon a monument in memory of that school.
A brief ceremony is planned at 3 p.m. in front of the Hahnville VFD station on the site of the school at Lincoln and Pine Streets to unveil the monument.
The first high school for Negro children was established in St. Charles Parish beginning in 1947 when the existing school at that site added on grades.
In June 1951, eleven students graduated, becoming the first colored graduating class in the history of St. Charles Parish, according to the marker.
Emcee for the ceremony will be former Superintendent of Schools Stanley Berard. Parish President Albert Laque will deliver a welcoming address and remarks will be made by Supt. Thomass Tocco.
The graduates included Gladys Alexander, Ernest Boyle, Norman Boyle, Clayton Byrd, Norbert Green, Lorraine Mathieu, Alvin Pierre, Earl Robertson, Joyce Rousseve, Andrew Smith and Bernice Turner.
Teachers included Mary C. Allen, Jessie M. Bryant, Delores Crandell, Gwendalyn Rachell, Lester Relf, Bertha Sorapuru, Marie Weber, Edna M. Williams, and Sadie Willis. Principal was Helen B. Smith and supervisor was Raymond K. Smith. Superintendent of schools at the time was Richard Vial, Jr.
Smith will be on hand as well to give a history of the school, as well as Helen Smith, principal of the school. Former student Bernice Turner Champagne will also deliver an address and District One School Board Member Alfred Green will make closing remarks.
The granite monument was cosponsored by St. Charles Public Schools, St. Charles Parish Council and Parish President Laque.
Showing posts with label schools. Show all posts
Showing posts with label schools. Show all posts
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Monday, November 8, 2010
School Board Records--1895
Superintendents Report for 1895
Seventeen schools were opened (10 for whites and 7 for blacks). There were 1 white male teacher and 9 white female teachers, 4 black male teachers and 3 black female teachers. These teachers have shown themselves more or less attentive to their duties but taken all together they have done fairly well considering the many adverse circumstances under which the schools of this parish labor. It has been the endeavor of the committee of teachers and your Supt. to provide the school with a corps of instructors of the most efficient character by (ineligible) the teachers proving themselves competent during the previous sessions and to carefully examining the credentials and recommendations of those presenting themselves for the first time and except for one or two instances, they seem to have given satisfaction to the patrons of the schools.
{There were} 737 pupils enrolled, 313 white, 424 black. 37% of white and 33% of black children of school age enrolled. More schools need to be opened.
The parish owns 6 school buildings which are in fairly good repair. The other 11 schools are in buildings varying from humble farm negro cabins to colored church buildings, one and all totally unfit for school purposes and deficient in proper school furniture.
The policy of paying a comparatively large salary to a teacher and then putting her in a dilapidated building without furniture other than a few rough boardseats needs no comment. If the School board cannot provide a schoolhouse to fit the teacher it might save money by providing a teacher at a salary to fit the schoolhouse.
There has been some complaint regarding the location of the school at Freetown in the 1st Ward and I suggest the school be moved to the place called Baumgarden a mile or so lower down where the Board owns a building now occupied by a colored church. There is also much complaint regarding the location at Paradis in the 4th Ward. It is in the Southern Pacific Railroad and sometimes the children are interfered with by tramps. Besides which the congregation of the church are continually threatening to turn out the teacher. I would recommend that the school be located at Des Allemands or at Boutte, a few miles either way.
Before closing, I desire to say something regarding the salary paid to the teachers. The Board has fixed the salary of the past years at $40 per month without any reference whatever to the capacity or qualification of the teacher, or the number of children taught, or the grade of the school, or the race. No distinction is made between a highly educated white teacher, presiding over a school of 50 or more advanced pupils, and one teaching in a dilapidated cabin with a few children , hardly more advanced than the 2nd reader, and who was appointed because no one else could be found to accept the position. Another point the Board has overlooked is that the colored teachers live more cheaply, and because there are fewer employments open to them, there are always a large number of applicants seeking a place as teacher, consequently they are ready and willing to accept much lower salaries as is shown by the experience of other parishes. For instance we employ teachers from St. James Parish and St. John where they are glad to get $25 or $30 and give them $40. There seems to be no reason in such proceedings. Finally, it is impossible to get 17 teachers of the exact same grade. Some are bound to be better or worse than others, therefore it is hardly wise to fix an unvarying salary for all. The committee on teachers should be allowed the discretion in employing the teachers to fix the salary in accordance with the capacity and grade of the person employed. There is no Parish in the state, not even in the city of New Orleans, that pays a large salary for primary schools and particularly colored schools as this parish and certainly this parish cannot boast of having better taught children than elsewhere, and therefore it is difficult to see why it should spend the money.
(?) Kramer, Supt.
Seventeen schools were opened (10 for whites and 7 for blacks). There were 1 white male teacher and 9 white female teachers, 4 black male teachers and 3 black female teachers. These teachers have shown themselves more or less attentive to their duties but taken all together they have done fairly well considering the many adverse circumstances under which the schools of this parish labor. It has been the endeavor of the committee of teachers and your Supt. to provide the school with a corps of instructors of the most efficient character by (ineligible) the teachers proving themselves competent during the previous sessions and to carefully examining the credentials and recommendations of those presenting themselves for the first time and except for one or two instances, they seem to have given satisfaction to the patrons of the schools.
{There were} 737 pupils enrolled, 313 white, 424 black. 37% of white and 33% of black children of school age enrolled. More schools need to be opened.
The parish owns 6 school buildings which are in fairly good repair. The other 11 schools are in buildings varying from humble farm negro cabins to colored church buildings, one and all totally unfit for school purposes and deficient in proper school furniture.
The policy of paying a comparatively large salary to a teacher and then putting her in a dilapidated building without furniture other than a few rough boardseats needs no comment. If the School board cannot provide a schoolhouse to fit the teacher it might save money by providing a teacher at a salary to fit the schoolhouse.
There has been some complaint regarding the location of the school at Freetown in the 1st Ward and I suggest the school be moved to the place called Baumgarden a mile or so lower down where the Board owns a building now occupied by a colored church. There is also much complaint regarding the location at Paradis in the 4th Ward. It is in the Southern Pacific Railroad and sometimes the children are interfered with by tramps. Besides which the congregation of the church are continually threatening to turn out the teacher. I would recommend that the school be located at Des Allemands or at Boutte, a few miles either way.
Before closing, I desire to say something regarding the salary paid to the teachers. The Board has fixed the salary of the past years at $40 per month without any reference whatever to the capacity or qualification of the teacher, or the number of children taught, or the grade of the school, or the race. No distinction is made between a highly educated white teacher, presiding over a school of 50 or more advanced pupils, and one teaching in a dilapidated cabin with a few children , hardly more advanced than the 2nd reader, and who was appointed because no one else could be found to accept the position. Another point the Board has overlooked is that the colored teachers live more cheaply, and because there are fewer employments open to them, there are always a large number of applicants seeking a place as teacher, consequently they are ready and willing to accept much lower salaries as is shown by the experience of other parishes. For instance we employ teachers from St. James Parish and St. John where they are glad to get $25 or $30 and give them $40. There seems to be no reason in such proceedings. Finally, it is impossible to get 17 teachers of the exact same grade. Some are bound to be better or worse than others, therefore it is hardly wise to fix an unvarying salary for all. The committee on teachers should be allowed the discretion in employing the teachers to fix the salary in accordance with the capacity and grade of the person employed. There is no Parish in the state, not even in the city of New Orleans, that pays a large salary for primary schools and particularly colored schools as this parish and certainly this parish cannot boast of having better taught children than elsewhere, and therefore it is difficult to see why it should spend the money.
(?) Kramer, Supt.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
School News
St. Charles Herald Newspaper--19 July 1884
Another term of five months has just expired and the public schools of this parish are again closed. There were 104 white and 488 colored children enrolled during the term, making a total of 592 pupils. The average attendance for the first half of the session was, as usual, better than the latter part. The expenditures for maintaining the schools during the session just closed are as follows:
We have been requested by our friend, Mrs. K.M. Haggerty, who was quite ill in the city, but is now much better, to state that she would open her school here on the first Monday of September.
Another term of five months has just expired and the public schools of this parish are again closed. There were 104 white and 488 colored children enrolled during the term, making a total of 592 pupils. The average attendance for the first half of the session was, as usual, better than the latter part. The expenditures for maintaining the schools during the session just closed are as follows:
- Teacher's salary $1,712.00
- School house rent $ 50.00
- Incidental expenses $ 47.55
- Superintendent's salary $ 100.00
- Total $1,909.55
We have been requested by our friend, Mrs. K.M. Haggerty, who was quite ill in the city, but is now much better, to state that she would open her school here on the first Monday of September.
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