KERSHAW COUNTY

Camden – Special) – Beginning on Tuesday, September 4, and continuing through Friday, the chant of the school term will be heard on every hand in Kershaw county as some 9,000 school children wend their way back to school rooms and classes.

Last years, the total enrolment in Kershaw county school aggregate 8,253 pupils, of which 4,386 were Negroes and 3,865 white. It is believed that there will be a sufficient increase this year to bring the total close to the 9,000 figure.

To take care of the education of this regiment of pupils the county and city schools have a staff of 286 teachers. A fleet of 41 buses will transport the youngsters to the several school throughout the area.

A majority of the schools will start the fall term on Tuesday, september 4, but there will be several that may find their starting time either on Wednesday or Thursday. Buses will carry pupils to the Camden school system, to Bethune schools, Blaney, Midway, Antioch, Baron DeKalb and Mt. Pisgah.

Camden, Baron deKalb, Blaney, Bethune and Midway schools are boasting on fine gymnasiums. Only two, Antioch and Mt. Pisgah, do not have gymnasiums but hope to overcome this handicap within the next year or so.

During the past summer months, the work of remodeling and improving has been going on in many building while in other instances expansion programs have been under way. Work is progressing on the new cafeteria for the Camden high school but it will be late fall or early winter, before it is ready for occupancy. The enlarging of the Jackson school for Negro children is also progressing at a rapid rate. The same is true of other building projects about the area.

Discussing the school program for 1951-52, Arthur Stokes, county superintendent of education, said everything was in readiness for the resumption of education activities. “Our buses are all manned and ready to start operating when the call comes,” said Mr. Stokes. “Our teaching staff in every school are filled and all that we have to do now is to wait for the sound of the school bell.

“I look for a healthy increase in the enrollment this fall,” he said. “And I want to point out that for the first time in Kershaw county history free textbook will be provided the pupils in the grades up to and including the seventh. This was provided in an act submitted to the last session of the General assembly by the Kershaw delegation.