Georgia school communities plan for action: program of educational development for Georgia [Jan. 1945]

THE LIBRARIES
THE
UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIAAS6
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i A
Georgia School Communities
Plan for Action
Program of Educational Development
for Georgia
CENERAL LIBRARY
MAY t i54d
UNIVERSITY F pmoqW
ISSUED BY
EDUCATION PANEL
Agricultural and Industrial Development Board of Georgia
Athens GeorgiaAGRICULTURAL AND INDUSTRIAL
DEVELOPMENT BOARD
OF
GEORGIA
Blanton Fortson Chairman
L Vaughan Howard Executive Director
Name of Member Address
Ivan AllenAtlanta
T F Abercrombie Atlanta
Charles L BowenMacon
W N BanksGrantville
Cason J CallawayHamilton
M D CollinsAtlanta
Ryburn G ClayAtlanta
Mrs Frank C DavidColumbus
Blanton FortsonAthens
Charles B GramlingAtlanta
Robert W Groves Savannah
Alfred W JonesSea Island
TomLinder Atlanta
Wiley L MooreAtlanta
Walter R McDonaldAtlanta
Henry McIntoshAlbany
W H McNaughtonCartersville
J L PilcherMeigs
Robert StricklandAtlanta
M King TuckerWaynesboro
Wilson WilliamsAtlanta
EDUCATION BULLETIN No 2
JANUARY 1945
e
EDUCATION PANEL
M D Collins ChairmanAtlanta
Mrs Frank C DavidColumbus
Wilson WilliamsAtlanta
O C Aderhold DirectorAthens
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Written in Collaboration
by
O C Aderhold
Paul Carroll
Johnnye V Cox
Charles F Hudgins
R D PULLIAM
T E Smith
R H Tolbert
Nell Winn

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Material appearing in this bulletin may with the
usual acknowledgments be reproduced for the ad
vancement of Education
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PROGRESS REPORT ON EDUCATIONAL
PLANNING IN TWELVE SPOT COUNTIES
The Education Panel of the Agricultural and Industrial
Development Board has selected on the basis of carefully chosen
criteria twelve counties for concentrated work in educational
planning The Panel has assigned six staff members experi
enced in educational planning to work with the school people
and laymen in the various communities of the twelve counties
The selected counties are Floyd Heard Rabun Hart Walton
Morgan Atkinson Jones Pulaski Bulloch Calhoun and De
catur
This report covers a period of fourmonthsSeptember
through December 1944 Planning centers have been set
up in 102 school communities During these first four months
of the school year 2573 teachers and 3825 laymen in the
aggregate have attended and participated in 292 community
meetings for the purpose of planning school programs that will
meet the needs of the people In each community steps have
been taken to put the plans into action
Work in the twelve selected counties has been based upon
the following principles of educational planning
1 All of the people that are affected by the school program
should have a part in its planning
Educational planning should be based on problems discovered
through a study of factual data and a program should be
agreed upon only after best practices have been explored and
applied to local conditions
The leader should stimulate members of the planning group
to work in terms of longrange objectives At the same time
he should encourage group action on those parts of the
program that demand immediate attention
4 Provision should be made for the development of local leader
ship so that educational planning may be continuous
The abovementioned principles are based upon the belief
that the ideals of democracy are attained in a society to the
extent that the masses of the people think intelligently and
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3plan cooperatively in the solution of their problems The
educational program of the State contributes to the ideals of
democracy to the extent that it stimulates and gives guidance
to the development of individuals to become reflective and
skillful in the tasks with which they are confronted and to
the extent to which it stimulates individuals to work together
in the promotion of the common interests of the community
state nation and world
Furthermore these principles are based on the belief that
in an everchanging world it is essential that the programs
of the schools at all levels be intelligently adjusted to meet
new conditions Changes in the schools will be made These
changes may be haphazard and unsystematized or they may
be thoughtfully planned to meet the needs of all who will
come under the sphere of influence of the schools Only by
serious and constructive planning can the schools be expected
to meet the needs of the people they should serve
Organization for Educational Planning
Several groups and individuals have assisted the Panel staff
in developing an organization for educational planning The
State Department of Education the University of Georgia
and county educational officials aided in setting up the fol
lowing organizations
i The Panel staff and members of the State Department of Edu
cation met with the county boards of education for the pur
pose of selecting the counties and of mapping out the planning
program
2 Selected principals and teachers from the twelve spot counties
attended a special workshop for school leaders in educational
planning during the summer of 1944 at trie University of
Georgia
3 The school personnel in the selected counties in cooperation
with the State Department of Education and the Panel staff
gathered census data regarding each family in the respective
counties
4 The Panel staff held conferences with local boards of trustees
and with principals and teachers to discuss the need for edu
cational planning and the ways of organizing and leading
local planning groups
5 The staff members held community meetings consisting of
lay people and teachers to discuss school problems and planned
definite schedules for future meetings of the community plan
ning groups
6 The county superintendents of schools set up countywide or
ganizations for studying and working on countywide prob
lems
Planning the School Program
At the first community meeting in each county teachers
students and laymen organized themselves for the purpose of
planning the school program Agreeing that the purpose
of the school is to help individuals to recognize their prob
lems and to think them through intelligently each community
planning group accepted as its first task that of listing the
problems with which individuals are faced in their everyday
living
Though the problems in each community varied in detail
in general all of the problems suggested in the twelve counties
may be classified as follows
1 Problems in health and recreation
The problem of acquiring the basic tools of learning such
as reading writing number relations etc
The problem of appropriate media for creative expression
The problem of choosing a vocation
Problems in home and family living
Problems in neighborhood living
Problems in school living
Problems arising between individuals organized groups and
government
The problem of earning a living
The problem of utilizing money and other resources
The problem of the age groups to be reached
In order for the school to work effectively with the above
listed problems there are problems of administration trans
portation buildings and teachereducation that are being
studied by committees set up by the county superintendent
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11of schools The committees that have been established have
organized themselves into permanent planning groups and
have invited experts in the various fields to assist in studying
the problems and in forming plans of action for the solution
of the problems
Problems That Have Been Attacked
An exhaustive and comprehensive report of all the signifi
cant activities that are resulting from community school plan
ning in the twelve counties will not be made until the end
of the school year Thus far groups in most of the counties
have given careful study to the problems of health and recrea
tion acquiring the tools of learning creative expression choos
ing a vocation earning a living and what age groups the school
should serve Many other problems listed by the planning
groups will be considered during the next few months
In the pages that follow an effort is made to give a cross
section picture of the planning groups as they function It
is not the purpose to show a total school program planned
by a group or even to point out the total number of problems
dealt with by a specific group On the other hand typical
examples have been selected of group planning and school
development in one or more communities in each of the spot
counties to show the desirable outcomes of intelligent plan
ning
Problems of health and recreation
Many communities chose problems in health and recreation
for immediate study Such a choice was made because of
some existing danger to the physical welfare of the people
of the vicinity and because of the great need for desirable
recreation for all age groups of the community
Among the health problems listed at a community meeting
in Atkinson County was the prevention and control of disease
The county nurse present at the meeting told of a threeyear
study being conducted in the county by the State Health
Department and stated that examinations of school childrenrevealed that more than 50 percent were infected by hook
worm Since hookworm was apparently the major menace
in the county it was singled out for study and action by the
group
A countywide committee was set up Census data were
examined to discover the kind of sanitation in the homes It
was discovered that of a total of 1659 dwelling units in the
county approximately 80 percent had outside toilets 10 per
cent had no toilets and 10 percent had flush toilets
The committee recommended the following attack on the
problem Planning for the study of the hookworm problem
by the county supervisor and teachers at each school com
munity adult meetings at each school following the comple
tion of the study of the hookworm problem at which meet
ings the health officer should present pictures and slides and
information regarding the source and the possible elimina
tion of hookworm the preparation of a questionnaire to de
termine the type of outside toilets in the 1317 homes in the
county and an ultimate effort to improve sanitary conditions
where needed
These recommendations were approved and carried out 1 he
questionnaires are being tabulated and studied by classes and
community groups and already home owners are sensitive
to the source of hookworm and are making plans to remove
the source
A community in Morgan County has planned for the addi
tion of sanitary toilets to the school building and is looking
forward to the development of a waterworks system for the
forty or fifty homes in the village
Statistics from the Health Department show a very high
incidence of typhus in Calhoun County At the health plan
ning meeting in Arlington this matter was selected for special
emphasis The county nurse and the chairman of the County
Health Board were present and offered guidance in setting
up a plan to deal with the problem The PT A the Lions
Club the city officials and the school faculty were all eninterest was that of providing a suitable place and program
of recreation for the teenage people of the community A
survey was made to determine the types of recreaZ u
young people now engage TkroZZI
zzirrforms of fcreadon n
nsTtethete ssryoung person
of official organization 1
formulate an acceptable recreation program TfP
was a twofold plan One providing fSeTmmel eem
and another aspect looking to the eventual establishment of a
panned community recreation center with appropriate fac li
ties for all age groups under adequate supervLn For d
present a youth center has been established th school Lm
Tztr7is7uhom the schL
as a teen club and will be open to all residents in the district
meeting the age requirements Its management is LS
clntrJlT Cmmkte7f y People L adults
Central Community of Pulaski County is making plans for
ssr frat hrfor sJi gA
tor teaching food values and encouraging good food habit
nUtnT daSSS fr aLtS 2
in many of the counties have repaired roofs painted school
buildings and improved drinking water facilities
The problem of acquiring the basic tools of learning
Groups of people in every school community in Heard
County agreed that one of the problems with whkh each
must acquire in order to solve his problcToTt
mg the school must assume the responsibility foTSaSL
ways of helping him with this problem covering

Accepting the challenge the teachers in Heard County met
in an allday session to study the problems and to plan a pro
gram for helping individuals acquire the tools of learning
Experts from the State Department of Education and nearby
teacher institutions were called in as consultants and they
helped plan a program that would serve all age groups
Longtime objectives set up for the schools in Heard County
include the following
i More adequate regional library facilities
2 In each school a library serving the entire community
3 Organization of reading writing and arithmetic around prob
lemsolving situations
4 Adjusting materials to the ability of each individual
5 A testing program to discover difficulties encountered by each
individual in his efforts to read write manipulate numbers
speak and listen
6 The use of firsthand experiences in developing a readiness
to acquire the tools of learning
Work has begun on the following projects
1 Raising funds for purchasing more materials for the regional
library
2 Preparing in each school a room to serve as a community
library
3 Working with the instructional supervisor in adjusting ma
terial to the abilities of the pupils
4 Using firsthand experiences as a basis for preparing material
for beginning readers
5 Securing the services of a reading and language consultant
to work with groups of teachers in improving their teaching
techniques
One of the major problems in acquiring the ability to read
as stated by a group in Jones County was that of adequate
reading material Data were presented to show that of the
total white school enrollment 72 percent were enrolled in the
elementary schools and only 28 percent were in high school
An inventory of reading material in the school libraries re
vealed that 75 percent was on the highschool level and only
25 percent was suitable for elementary pupils One of theoutcomes or a study of this problem has been the organiza
tion of elementary libraries in all the schools In the East
Juliette School the group is planning ultimately to develop a
library not only for the pupils in school but also for the
community as a whole
The problem of creative expression
All planning groups have recognized the need for providing
opportunities for indiviudals to satisfy the inherent urge to
express themselves creatively A few schools have already
made plans to provide opportunities for creative expression
for the school age group and committees are working on plans
for preschool and outofschool groups
In Pulaski County a threeteacher elementary school has
made provision for art activities of the pupils The planning
group recommended a program that would provide time place
materials and guidance in creative art experiences The teach
ers found that time could be provided in the school program
without interfering with other activities that the classrooms
vacant rooms and lunchroom tables could be used for art
work that art materials supplied by the county could be sup
plemented with many types of waste materials which could
be collected by teachers parents and pupils that guidance
should be such as to inspire and to encourage pupils and that
little emphasis should be placed on established standards
One community meeting at Alto Park School in Floyd
County was devoted to the planning of a program of creative
expression Since lack of time prevented the group from work
ing out the details of such a program the following commit
tees were set up to continue working on the problem i
Committee to set up ways for providing necessary materials
2 committee to make provision for adequate space 3
committee to study and make recommendations concerning
guidance m the field of creative expression and 4 commit
tee to arrange for observation in schools where outstanding
programs in creative expression have been planned and put
into action The four committees are working and there are
10many evidences of changes A brief explanation of some of
these changes is given below
More art media are being used These include paint clay
ctdbord boxes scrap lumber cloth apple boxes pmc straw
2 teachers are more sensitive to the creative urge in individuals
There are more evidences of creativeness in pamtmg modeling
interior decorating and woodwork
Teacher groups have begun observing in other schools and
3 modify nf then own program in terms of what they drover
4 Tgoup of adults andhighschool boys is construing op
4 bulding which will serve both the school and the commumty
The problem of choosing a vocation
Planning groups have recognized the need for the schools
to Providegagprogram that will help individuals to make wise
vocational diLL Bulloch County
responsibility for providing occupational guidance and m each
school definite steps are being taken to provide this service A
teacher is to be named as guidance counselor in each junior and
nlr high school The counselors will receive inservice
aning from the State Supervisor of Occupational Informa
t on and Guidance Time will be provided m the school pro
gram for the counselor to have occasional interviews with al
h ghschool students Plans have been made in each school
fo securing filing and using many types of occupational in
formation The counselors will make a study of individual
Xwhich will be desirable for Bulloch County This
tudy will result in the planning of a file for each individual
It was recommended that the elementary teachers give guid
ance service to the pupils of the elementary school
The programs alsorecommend other services 1 b
provided as soon as personnel and materials are secured These
services include Providing information about training oP
ZZLies providing assistance to individuals m securing em
ploymentand planning ways of keeping in contact with stu
dents after they leave school
11The problems of vocational education
ugn percentage of the people now employed in the com
munity are m three categories Mill operations72T
tnbunon of goods and services and 3 hlei
Ihe planning group examined the present school nrom
and discovered that few opportunities are prodeS
cupariot t0 taS
A teacher committee began work immediately to develop an
educational program to provide instruction for the hth choo
students in distributive occupations At a meeting with 2
merchants in Rome a plan A formulated fSnta
number of students to assist with the holiday 72 The
temporary program was heartily approved by the merchants
hafScom a 01 striLtive edutS
Annr Pefmanent feature f e school curriculum
Another school as a result of a study of its occupational Tdu
nZSUo hTaUgUmed e ingL trades and
ndustries Shops large quantities of equipment and instruc
tional personnel have been provided
hJ Sk 7ff1 Pl3nnin SrouPs in Morgan County
W demanded that their schools assume responsibility for
c tional training They have asked that opportunitiel be pro
vided for education in agriculture in homemaking and Tn
distributive occupations These groups have also Luested
the use of industrial arts facilities to provide opportunitie or
creative expression making things and to develop Sin
the use of occupational tools P
The problem of the age groups to be reached
Prafoinfll8IOUPS haV entAhfiasticalI7 endorsed a school
thatgrh V3ge grOUpS Ma haVe exPresse a belief
that the school has a responsibility for individuals from the
12cradle to the grave The small towns with industries as well
as the larger cities have begun making plans for nursery schools
With but few exceptions the communities are making plans
for their school program to include definite provisions for
kindergartens and for youth between the ages of 18 and 25
years All communities are planning through the addition
of at least one year for the program of the school to serve
more effectively the young men in the armed forces who will
return Several of the communities are providing for three
additional years in vocational training Planning groups in
all of the spot counties are deeply concerned and are making
plans for the school to meet more adequately the educational
demands of adults
For example when a study was made of population trends
at Learv in Calhoun County it was discovered that the junior
highschool population of the present and the immediate fu
ture will not support economically a junior high school of
the type new being conducted It was decided to negotiate
with a neighboring district having a high school to transfer
all pupils above the sixth grade at Leary in return for a num
ber of elementary pupils living at the extremity of the dis
trict and at present being transported through Leary I his
arrangement was amicably made with the neighboring dis
trict The question then became a matter of determining
what program would be best suited to pupils of preschool
and elementary age to outofschool youth and to adults
At a succeeding meeting plans were developed for organizing
a kindergarten to become effective next year Another meet
ing was devoted to consideration of an educational program
for the youth and the adult groups not in school A program
involving cooperative experiences in doing types of work such
as canning a program in the cooperative use of repair shop
grist mill feed mill and freezerlocker a community recreation
program calling for a recreation center with provision for
permanent continuous supervision with a crafts and hobby
shop and with swimming and an educational programme
eluding movies library lectures and short comselmy
LIBRARIESdeveloped in broad outline Committees were selected to study
the numerous problems involved in getting this total program
in operation and an investigation was made to determine the
cost and to provide for meeting it
Concluding Statement
As the school year develops it is hoped that a pattern of
thinking and working together by local groups of teachers
and lay Cltizens Wlll resut in a J P
ultimate purpose will be to meet the needs of all ag groups
Zr V Tr effrt has been devoted he white
schools of the twelve counties but consideration is also bein
given to the Negro schools Members of the staff and county
officials have made plans with the Jeans Supervisors and stimu
tSoT8 t0 initkte PIannin FS r the
14UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA UBRAHIES
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