The Times from Shreveport, Louisiana • Page 61

v- i 1 1 a nil. II HOW TU EV GREW, AND WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS Yi YA 'Y mA rr.sji WW rrf hh 1 f' V'l v), Jr ri-' 4 j. ARK- A -TEX 11 Mj lS THE SHREVEPORT TIMES Features Books Amusements Travel Mark's F.nUenpal Church, explained it much better: "St. Mark's Day School has come into existence out of the conviction of its founders tha' the source of all wisdom is to he found in relating the human personality to the will and purpose nf Almighty God. Then-lore, every aspect of life must be brought into relationship with Him." St.

Mark's is one of the youngest of Shrew-port's paroc hial schools, having started with a kindergarten in In the fall of a lirst grade was added, and last fall the second grade, St. Mark's expects to add a grade each year from now, through the sixth trade. No definite plans are set at the present, but possibilities of even further expansion are being discussed, Class size is limited to 20 pupils. A standard elementary curriculum recommended by the Caddo Parish School Board with two additions is taught. Spoken French is started in the first grade, and a course in Bible is oftered at each age level.

The school conducts daily chapel services attended by both pupils and faculty. The Rev. Rudolph Bangert, associate rector of St. Mark's and principal of the school, said enrollment is not restricted to members of St. Mark's.

About half are of some other faith or denomination, he said. As in the case of private schools, children receive individual attention in small teaching groups. If a child has a special problem, or an individual need, the school tries to solve the problem or satisfy the need, the Rev. Mr. Bangert said Pupils are encouraged to advance as rapidly as they can.

St. Mark's Day School, which adjoins the church at Fairfield Avenue and Rutherford Street, has the finest school facilities available, including a fully equipped gymnasium, playground and cafeteria. Tuition, including instructional materials, is $150 a year tor 4-year-olds; $195 for 5 year-olds, and $225 for pupils in the grades above kindergarten. PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS Two of Shreveport's well-known parochial high schools are St. Vincent's Academy for girls and St.

John's High School for boys. St. Vincent's, which is separated into an eight-year grade school and a four-year high school, is owned and operated by the Daughters of the Cross. Some girls board at the school. St.

Vincent's dates from 18H8. and the present structure, sewn to be replaced, from 1918. A fund drive was completed last year to build a new school and mother house at the present site at St. Vincent's Boulevard and Southern Avenue. St.

Vincent's is highly rated scholastically and gives its 500-plus girls a sound educational background. St. John's High at 921 Jordan Street is under the direction of the Jesuit Fathers. Its present enrollment is 280, which is near capacity. Tuition is $160 a year.

All students take the same courses the first two years. Thereafter, their own ability and achievement determines the direction that their studies will take. Boys may choose one of three courses to follow in their junior and senior years: honor, scientific or academic. In that order, they are toughest. Both St.

Vincent's and St. John's are state approved and accredited by the Southern Assn. of Colleges and Secondary Schools. Next door to St. John's High is St.

John's Grade School, which has the largest nonpublic school enrollment in Shreveport with 639 pupils. The school is operated by St. John's Catholic Church. Most boys who attend the grade school continue on through the high school. Neither school is restricted to Catholic enrollment, and fact 'both haw quite a number ot enrolled, school officials said.

St Catherine's Elementary School at 7100 Henderson is in an expansion period. A fund drive in brought in more than for a new building to replace the old one story Sister Loretta, the school's principal, said she hopes thai the new building will be completed early next fall. When the new facilities available, St Catherine's will take pupils tliroiiuh the seventh grade, and the billowing year the eighth. Eventually, about 400 pupils villi be enrolled, said. Present enrollment in mx trades 212, and the school is short of classroom space.

Sister Loretta said sone of the lower grades have more than 50 pup, Is per room, the higher grades have between and 35 Operated by SI. Catherine's Catholic Church, the school is administered by the Daughters of the Cross. A tuition of $5 a month lor one child. $7 lor two from one family, and $1 for each additional child is charted. Another elementary parochial school operated by the Daughters of the Cross is St.

Theresa's Catholic School at Bessie and Maple Streets. The school has 370 pupil enrolled in kindergarten through eighth grade under the guidance of three sisters and six lay teachers, Average class size is between 40 and 45; however, there are no present plans for expansion. St. Joseph's Grade School, operated by St. Joseph's Parish and under the direction of the Order of Divine Providence of San Antonio.

Texas, is one of the larger parochial Sister Bernard Marie, principal, said some of the school's pupils are non-Catholic, but not many. Class size is held down. NEW BUILDING In recent years, a new 10-room building has been erected. And last year two new rooms and a cafeteria were added. St.

Joseph's now has 18 classrooms for pupils through the eighth grade, plus a kindergarten. Probably one of the least known parochial schools in Shreveport but one of the oldest is the Seventh Day Adventist School at 2704 Virginia. The school, which has 45 pupils enrolled in the first 10 grades, has been in operation since 1914 Tuition is $15 a month through the eighth, and $20 for the two high school grades. The Seventh Day Adventist Church supplements the school's budget Construction is already under way on a new plant to replace the old building. In all including the Summers Street School operated by the Caddo-Bossier Assn.

for Retarded Children Shreveport's nonpublic, privately operated schools enroll just under 3.000 white pupils. Private and parochial schools for colored students have 1.279 pupils. These schools are not under the control of the State Department of Education in any way, with the exception of attendance requirements. The state compulsory school attendance law requires private and parochial schools to file monthly attendance reports with local public school officials, and all do. On the other hand, some state aid is extended in the form of tree texts, library books, lunch funds and and instructional materials.

Most of the larger parochial schools participnte fully in these aid programs. Two notable exceptions are St. Mark's and Seventh Day Adventist, which accept no state aid in any form. Southfield accepts no help from the state, but Randolph and Pleasant Hall receive small allotments of texts, library books and paper and pencils. Another parochial school, Christ the King, enrolls 343 Bossier City youngsters in the first eight grades.

The school is operated by the church and functions along the same lines as parochial schools in Shreveport. I By BILL GODFREY Member of The Tlmei Staff One in every nine white school children in Shreveport receives all or part of his elementary or secondary education in privately-operated schools. This takes a big load off the public school system, although that is not the purpose of private schools. Parents give numerous reasons for sending their youngsters to private or parochial schools. It may be because of dissatisfaction with some aspect of the public school system, or it may be for religious reasons.

In some cases a child may have special problems that cannot be handled adequately in public schools. But if the time comes when racial integration is required of the Shreveport public schools, many parents may have another reason for looking to private schools as they have in other southern communities. With the present facilities, only a few hundred ot Shrcvcport's 24.4(H) white pub-lie school pupils could be accommodated in private and parochial schools if a post-integration exodus from the public schools should take place. "If Shreveport's public schools were integrated," commented one private school educator, "we would have a waiting list a mile long." Most of the city's private schools are crowded now. A few have expansion plans under way, but not on any major scale.

As an alternative to integrated classrooms, some communities in Arkansas and Virginia have turned to privately-operated schools with some form of public financing. These systems notably in Little Rock, Norfolk, Charlottesville and Front Royal-may eventually be copied by other southern cities. Rut in the meantime, private schools which receive no public monies have taken on added significance. The three private academic schools in Shreveport which have no church affiliation Sout hf ield, Randolph and Pleasant Hall enroll approximately 350 youngsters. They have limited facilities and hold their class sizes to a minimum, since small classes and individual attention are two of the more important reasons for their existence.

Shreveport's nine white church-affiliated schools enroll about 2,500 elementary, junior high and senior high pupils. One Bossier City Parochial school accommodates another 345. TWELVE SCHOOLS Excluding church and private kindergartens, trade schools, business schools and "specialty" schools, Shreveport has 12 private and parochial schools that offer children an academic education. Some teach only a few elementary grades; others continue through junior high, and three offer two or more senior high grades. The three private schools operate solely on revenue derived from tuition.

Parochial schools charge some tuition, and the remainder of their operating costs is made up by the church. One of the better known private schools is Southfield, at 100 Southfield just off Fairfield. This parent-owned, non-profit corporation is now in its 26th year, and turns out well-trained scholars through the ninth grade. Like most good private schools, South-field places heavy emphasis on the fundamentals of education. Reading is sfressed "because it is so important to all other 8 i At MARCH 20, 1960 CNE-F fc fc.A ft not always accomplished in today's public schools, says Mrs.

Harper. Parents who send their youngsters to Randolph are attracted by the small numbers, the enriched program that' pupils receive and the remedial reading work. Tuition is $25 a month per child through the fourth grade; above that, $27.50. Mrs. Harper's philosophy of education is not unique, but it is worth repeating: "Teachers can impart to a child what they know what they have acquired.

But the great majority of knowledge is on the printed page in books A child must know how to read and understand, since most knowledge is gained in this way If we fail to provide the tools to acquire knowledge, then we are cheating the child, cheating the parent, cheating the state, the nation and even the world, because knowledge is our most important asset." The private schools have much in common with each other. They exist because parents, lor the most part, are not satisfied with the mass education methods in public schools. At the same time, parochial schools have much in common. Separation of church and state keeps religion, as a subject of instruction, out of the public school curriculum. Most churches teach that without early religious training children cannot be fully educated.

Dr. J. Lawrence Plumley, rector of St. subjects," as Miss Hazel Kytle, the school's administrator, pointed out. Southfield children start going to the library from the middle of the first grade.

When they start their third year, they receive a reading list of 20 selected books, not including text books. From then on, heavy reading is a must. Besides that, teachers help to create in pupils a love of literature by reading to them. Students receive instruction in art from the third grade up and in French from the fifth grade. However, there are no "frills" at Southfield and other basic academic subjects are not neglected.

216 AT SOUTHFIELD Facilities at Southfield are not expansive, but provide for an enrollment of 216 in nursery school through the ninth grade, when there is one. No ninth is being taught this year because there was not sufficient demand for it, Miss Kytle said, but the school has two eighth grade classes. Southfield, started in 1934 with one room in the basement of South Highlands School, now has three separate buildings for kindergarten, elementary and junior high groups. Another building houses kitchen and dining hall facilities, and is used for general assemblies, movies and recreation on rainy days. On the campus, situated in a grove of pine trees on a gentle slope, are two basketball courts, a football field, tennis court and space for small gardens.

Tuition at Southfield ranges from $278.25 per child for a lull year in kindergarten to for a full year in the ninth grade. A materials fee of $25 is charged each student. Children are served the noon meal "family style" at 75 cents a meal, and get instruction in table manners at the same time. Parents who have children enrolled in Southfeild automatically become voting members of the corporation, which elects a policy-making board of 21 parents at the annual open membership meeting. Parents of necessity take a keen interest in and play a large part in the school's well being.

The oldest private school in Shreveport is Pleasant Hall, which occupies two frame dwellings at 1703 Highland Ave. It is now owned and operated by Mrs. Lucille Johnson, sister of one-time Louisiana governor R. G. Pleasant.

The former governor's wife, Mrs. Anne Ector Pleasant, a teacher before her marriage, undertook in 1923 the tutelage of a few youngsters in her home at the request of friends. The school grew from that. PLEASANT HALL Pleasant Hall now has 87 pupils enrolled in the first four grades. Maximum class size is 20 pupils with a total school capacity of 100.

"Professional-type, working people" send their children to Pleasant Hall, Mrs. Johnson said. And some of Shreveport's more prominent citizens are on its alumni rolls. Mrs. Johnson and her enthusiastic director, Mrs.

Martha J. Williams, take it as a personal affront if their charges somehow fail to learn all that they should. Gr "You have to be interested yourself before you can get a child interested," said Mrs. Williams. The teachers seven in all encourage rapid advancement for capable students, letting each progress as fast as he is able.

Mrs. Johnson would like to expand the school. "But it takes money," she said. The only source revenue is from tuition, which is $25 a month for all grades plus a $10 enrollment fee. Randolph School at 851 Olive, now in its seventh year, is the third strictly private school.

Remedial reading with a big helping of related language studies is the school's forte. "One of the great lacks in education is that children do not always get the thorough knowledge that they need in language," said Mrs. W. Hearne Harper, Randolph's owner-operator-teacher. The smallest private school of the three, Randolph takes a maximum of 32 pupils in first through sixth grades.

It has only two classrooms, located on the ground floor of Mrs. Harper's home: lower grades are in one room, uper grades in the other. LANGUAGE STRESSED But the learning that goes on there is big-time. The aim of the school: "Through an understanding of the English language, to teach children how to read, write and spell," a big order and something that is (X v. I 5W 4.

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