| OCR Text |
Show my have information upon which to base an appropriation; furnish bllanks necessary to enable teachers and trustees to make their reporta; to purchase the text-hooks and dietribute the same upon requisition of teachers. When a neighborhood shall make application to the superintendent he shallgrant permission for theestablishment of a school, provided there are not less than 15pupils, and if a~uitahleschoobl uilding with necessary fixtures be provided within six weeks after such permission is given he shall mign a teacher for the same. The wperintendent shall report at the clnse of each scholastic term to the principal chief the condition and progress of each school under his supervision, together with such suggestions and recommendationa as he believes will improve the schools, which report or transcript thereof shall he fur-nishe~ l annually to the national connul of the Muskogee Nation within three days after the meeting of the regular sesaion thereof. The school superintendent receives a salary of $800 per annum, and executes a bond for $2,000. Notwithstanding the great power conferred by this section, through the tact of the United States supervisor and the good will of the tribal authorities, educational affairs have been administered with very little friction. The Creek council made appropriations for boarding schools amounting to 863,300, leaving a balance which they appropri-ated for neighborhood schools of only $13,148.40, as against $25,000 set aside the previous year, before the agreement became operative. A decrease is therefore reported in the number of these schools. The number last year was 65 and enrollment 2,070. The present year there are 56 schools with 1,822 pupils enrolled. This decrease occurred only in the Indian schools, the negro enrollment remaining practically the same as for the preceding year. The supervisor reporta epidemics in various localities of smallpox, scarlet fever, measles, and mumps. The drought required many par-ents to keep their children at home to pick cotton, as they could not afford to hire the necessary help. Thousands of allotments have been leased for pasture, and a number of schoolhouses inclosed therein, which has caused the closing of one school and a decrease in attend-ance at others. In the opinion of the supervisor the greatest obstacle to successful work in neighborhood schools is the large and prepon-derant class of illiterate whites and outside negroes who have come into their vicinity. Their example is pernicious and hurtful to the Indian. Considerable improvement is noted in the appearance of the property and buildings at many of these schools. While the attendance on the boarding schools has been irregular, there has been a marked increase in enrollment. The boarding schools hsd an enrollment of 707, against 602 1Lt year. At the negro board-ing schools the enrollment was 225 and average attendance 144. The supervisor says: A severe blow to any enlargement of farm training, or of greater efforts toward at least partial self-support of the boarding schools, has been that provision of the Creek treaty which cute down the land allowed to each school to 40 acres. |
