Annual report, 1928 December 31

Sixty-Second Annual Rep()rt
OF
The Georgia School for the Deaf
At CAVE SPRING, GEORGIA For the Year Ending December 31, 1928
PRINTING DEPARTME T OF THE GEORGIA SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

W. J. Griffin, President Peyton M. Hawes H. C. Arnall, Sr.

E. A. Heard B. H. Hardy C. K. Henderson, J r.

OFFICERS

J. C. Harris, M. A.

Miss Ida Holder _

_

Walter S. Cothran

.__ -.-_ _

. Superintendent Clerk
_ Treasurer

EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT

Miss Kate Alcorn __ __

Principal

Stahl Butler, M. A.

Assistant Principal

Minnie O. Mollison Marie S. Kennard Emily Asbury Isabel Lemon Maurene Doyle Helen Jackson Jennie Mayes Stroud Mary Frances Hicks Luella Brown Madolyn Todd

TEACHERS
Grace B. Overstreet Nell A. Gibbons Harriet C. Stevens Adelia Potter Dorothy Wright Marion Franks Ruth D. Forbes Ada Bell Hughes Pauline Nicholson Mildred Battenberg

COLORED SCHOOLS

Wm. M. Gordon, Principal Bertha Brown

Luzeane Jackson

Susie Harrison

ARTS AND CRAFTS DEPARTMENT A. May Clark

HEALTH DEPARTMENT

W. T. McKinney

_

Physician

R. P. Cox __

_ Ear, Eye and Throat Specialist

Miss Ella Wyatt

NUFse

HOME DEPARTMENT

Mrs. Bessie P. Sloan _ Mrs. V. J. Ward _ Mrs. Lizzie Brooks _ _

House Matron

Dining Room Matron

_

Assistant Mat ron

A. Carpenter

Miss Vera Kimsey

...

Mrs. B. K. Barnett _

Mrs. Dulia Dickerson

Cleo Arnall

.

Mabel Perkins

Odessa Yarbrough

\
Superuisor Ilarge Boys Superuisor Large Girls Superuisor Small Boys Superuisor Small Boys Superuisor Small boys Superpisor Small Girls
Supervisor Small Girls

COLORED SCHOOLS

Mrs. Mariah Gordon .

__

Albert Foster

._

___

_ _ Matron Superuisor

HOME ECONOMICS

Kathleen Ray _ _ ._

_

Annie MCDaniel _

_ _ . _ _ .____

Mrs. Ruby Perry .

_ Instructor _ _ Assistant
Assistant

DEPARTMENT OF TRADES

R. Cohen Parris __ .__ __ __

Mechanical Engineer

Richard Coffman ._________________

__. __ Assistant

J. H. Metcalf

__________________________________ _ Carpenter

W. C. Mullennix .

.

Shoe Repairer

J. M. Simmons .__.

.

Farmer

. Charles N. Parris

Printer

Joe Latham

Dairyman

D. H. Howell

Night Watchman

'Cave Spring. Georgia. December 31, 1928.
His Excellency, L. G. Hardman, Governor of Georgia.
Dear Sir:-
As required by law we herewith submit to you our report of the condition and progress of the School for the Deaf for the year ending December 21, 1928. We are delighted that you will find that we have administered our schools within the limits of the appr:>priation made by our legislature. We believe that the reports of our 01ficers which we transmit herewith will give evidence of faithful and efficient work. We beg your attention to these reports.
As reported previously our schools suffer much distress because of the crowded condition of our dormitories and the lack of a hospital. Another dormitory and a hospital have been begged for by us for a number of years. We are hoping that your special knowledge of the conditions necessary for health will dispose you to assist us to obtain the appropriations for the erection of these buildings.
Please accept our assurances of loyalty to your administration.
Most respectfully yours. W. J. GRIFFI , Pres., Board of Trustees.

- To the Board'of Trustees.

r. December 3 1'9'28.

Gentlemen :-

'I have die honocand the 'dpty to make to you <f report ( of the wndition of our-: schools for the year closing this I date, Ir i's the"e.nd 'of the eighty-second year since the
schools were founded and' of the thirteenth year since you placed their. administration in ,my hands. Ir is a .satisfaction to me as'I know: it ,will be to you that. p1.y report will disclose successful- ana harmonious work on the part of our officers" and teachers' throughout' the year' and an expenditure of money well within the amount appropriated for th,e year by our legislature.

During the'year f928 there were"enrolled 294 pupils. which is'one pupil less than'shown by- the-records' of [926. the largest in the history of the'schools. Of these pupils 226 were 'white.' 1'10 boys' and'l16 girls; 68 were negroes. 32 boys- and 36 girls: These have filled 'our dormitories beyond their capacities. "but. as indicated' in previous reports. there are many. probably more than a hundred. deaf children' in~ Georgia who' should be- in our' schools. but until we have room for more beds we cmn0t ask them to enter.' We have. however. never refused~aclmission tc a normal deaf child resident in Georgia.
. The health of our pupils throughout the year was exc cellent"untll the late autumn when the- influenza epid-emic
'1!iached us. 'Since that time a maj'ority of our pupils'and ma'ny of-'our- officers and teachers 'have been sick. same of them having pneumonia. Two of our pupils) Doris Whigham and' Frances Risener. died' of pneumonia while at their homes during' the"Christmas holi9ays. They left the school in apparently perfect health but were attac ed by influenza soon after reaching' their homes. In this r connection I 'will state that it lrase been eight years-since a I death' occurred at our'schools. I take pleasure in commending die high 'efficiency and unfailing attention to his ( duties of our physician. Dr. W. T. McKinney. " During the past two years Miss 'Ella Wyatt has been our nurse. Her burdens recently have been so great'and she has'been so faithful- and successful'during the epidemic that lowe to her a word of especial commendation.
The greatest 'difficulty Which now confronts the management of our schools is to secure trained teachers. All the state schools in the' United State-s are suffering in this .res,

\
pect ilS all their: reports declare for the ntimber,'Qf. trained teachers in the entire country is too few to educate the more than seventeen thousand pupils enrolled, This fact gives a scarcity value to efficient teachers whose salaries have by this rea~on been raised above those teachers 01 the service of hearing childTen,~ Our-Georgia'school suffers more than the others for the reason that our apprdpriation' of money per cirpit'a is 'Smaller than the others, ' Florida, just south of us, has $498 per capita: North' Carolina',' just to the north of us, has.$406 per capita while the average of all the states is about $600, Our per capita is'$3IS'which provides not 'only for the education and health but for the food and' in man.y cases for the clothing and traveli.ng , expenses of our pupils, -As we must k~ep our expenditure~ within our income our salaries cannet be increased without an increase of appropriation 'by the legislature,
For this reason i't has become increa~ingly. difficult tJ , obtain trained teachers.' The present 'lnethods' of teaching
are such that only from six to'ten pupil's can he taught 'by one teacher and only those,'who have had mSlny months of special training in teaching speech to the deaf can make even the least' headway in teach'ng oUT'cbildren, We are you may be sure, doing our very best. Our principal, Miss Kate Alcorn, whose report I append, is a specialist'of proved ability and is securing for our school rooms the most appTo.vedl method of' instruction, 'a'nd I can say of our teachers that many of them are highly..efficient and that all of them are faithfully busy in their schoolrooms,
, The officers in charge of the training of our pupils in their trades -have laid before me their ,reports during the year. These are also appended to. my report, Our girls are all being trained in household arts and all our older boys are at w'ork daily in some occupation selected as their life's' w'ork,' This practice would' in the course of time _ give every boi skill"and"- enable him to become a wage earner-as many of them have become: but a large number only half trained withdraw from school and lead lives of poor returns for their work.
The Officers in charge of the pupils in our dormitories and dining room have in the main been faithfully busy and ( deserve your fullest su!;port.

Our expenditures and income for the year has been as follows:-

INCOME State appropriation for the year __ $93,000.00

EXPENDITURES

Office and administration _ Subsistence

$8, 142.2 H 14,60).6 1

Housekeeping

.__~______________ 11, 404.55

Laundry

.___ _.

. 2,528.98

Medical and dental

. 1, 753.4 5

Nursing and attendance Power plant

933.27 . 9.683.52

Building and grounds

1,858.16

Instruction __

28,061.48

Recreation ._. _

282.37

Agriculture and dairy Woodworking

6,476.73 2,263.44

Leather working Printing Metal working
Arts and crafts
Sewing

1,334.24 1, 903.44 1,053.35
14.54
2,467.82

Net expenditures

$92.627.45

Excess of income over expenditures __ 372.55

Balance-End of year Balance-Beginning of year

_ 761.40 _ 388.85

Net Increase ..

_ $372.55

Our needs are the same as those in my previous reports for several years past. They are:

1st. A hospital with 30 beds in which we can treat our sick and segregate our cases of contagious disease. The rooms now used in the care of the sick are inside our boys dormitory.
2nd. A new dormitory adapted especially for a home and scho1 for our primary grades. The dormitories now used are so inadequate that we have been forced to rent a

building which is on an adjoining lot where wc n w house about forty pupils under conditions far from satisfactory.
3rd. Some additional farm land adapted to pasturage for cattle and the growing of potatoes and green vegetables.
Again I wish to expres my gratitude for your continued confidence. Looking backward I see nearly thirteen years ago the group of sevcn members of this board and its noble secretary and treasurer whom I met at this place for a conference after having been elected unanimously by them to take the superintendency of the schools. Four of those eight men have died and I find before me their sucescsors but these are also extending to me every evidence of their good will and I have every faith in the loyalty of the three who were members in 1916 and who still live. Thus I face the future sure of your support in every step I try to take for the welfare of our schools.
Respectfull y. J. C. HARRIS, Supt.

To Mi:. J. C. Harris. Superintendent.
Dear Sir:-
It is my privilege to submit my third annual report to you with the new assurance of the progress which the school has made through the past year under the most trying circumstances and with deep gratitude for the faithful cooperation of the faculty and your willingness and eagerness to carry out all suggestions for the advancement of the school.
Since the beginning of the fall term we have had the most discouraging conditions that have confronted us during the three years of my supervision. sickness among both pupils and teachers. a large number of inexperienced teachers and the great need of more instructors. While not having quite as large enrollment in the beginning classes as last year, it presents greater difficulties, for we have them ranging in age from 6 to 18 years, with just as much disparity in mentality. Owing to our inability to secure more teachers some of these are in classes with pupils twice their age. which is not just to either group.
With no compulsory school law it is quite difficult to grade classes so as to secure the maximum results. This is further complicated by the large number of pupils who leave us every spring and fail to return in the fall. After remaining at home for several months or a much longer period of time. they return to add another difficulty to our already complicated problem. If parents deliberately permit their children to stay out of school to accept positiqns. why not let it be final. for they are never satisfied to be under discipline and create a spirit of restlessness and discontent among the student body.
That all teachers may have the benefit of the work done and methods used in every class. we have inaugurated monthly class room demonstrations. So far these have proved most helpful.
Once a week the faculty from the Negro School visits our class rooms for an hour when they are given an opportunity to observe the oral method of instruction with the hope that it may be of benefit to them.
I wish to avail myself of this opportunity to thank you and through you. the members of the Board, for making it possible for me to visit last spring, several schools in the south and also to have had the opportunity of seeing the excellent demonstrations given during the Convention for Teachers of the Deaf. held in Virginia last June. Much benefit was derived from thrse visits.

The schools everywhere are stressing the gre t import-
ance of reading as a means of language acquisition and
general information. With this in view we have included
in our curriculum the reading outline recently compiled
by one of the instructors in the North Carolina School,
which necessitated securing a large list of books not in our
school library. We are still though bfldly in need of a
reading room and books for independent use.
The deaf child receives his education through the eyes
but the great influx of hard of hearing children into our
schools every year, with various degrees of hearing, from
the mere ability to detect extremely loud sounds to words
and sentences, tends still further to complicate our prob-
lems. The best schools are putting forth every effort in
behalf of these children and everything possible is being
done to conserve the remnant of hearing. Various electrical devices are now used. The latest and perhaps, most successful, is the Radio-Ear. This is a very expensive instrument but has been installed in many schools and they are reporting good results. We now have enrolled around 180 pupils, at least seventy and possibly more, have some perception of sound. Such a device would be of the greatest value in this work.
The hard of hearing child should not be confused with the hearing sub-normal child unable to talk for lack of mentality. We still continue to be annoyed with this class, filling the space and demanding the time and attention that justly belongs to the deaf child.
Sometime in the near future it will be necessary to fill the usual number of vacancies for next year an dthe embarrassing question of salaries confronts us. While they are higher than they have ever been they seem to be just a little below the line to call desirable teachers from other institutions. Our isolated location with no social or educational advantages to offer, makes it all the more necessary to have an attractive salary to induce worth while teachers to come to our help.
With deep and sincere appreciation of the assistance you have given me at all times this report is respectfully submitted.
KATE ALCOR ,Principal Educational Dept.