May 2, 1965
The school employes checked and rechecked the
first grader’s enrollment card. In the blank for school-age brothers
and sisters was the name of a child they hadn’t heard of before. Was this a child who should be attending school? They checked other records. No, he wasn’t in school. Inquiries were made. No one had a record of the child. A carefully-worded phone call was made to the family. The
confusion cleared. The untallied brother was the family dog, entered on
the card by a young master who wished his pet was with him at school. That
dog is the only canine that has made it into the files of the El Paso
Public Schools – all other cards carry the names of thousands of
children living in the El Paso Independent School District. Keeping
tabs on the whereabouts of the 56,500 children enrolled in the schools
is the job of the census and research department headed by John Hardy,
veteran El Paso educator and former principal of El Paso High School. The
department takes the census, checks eligibility of student to attend
school in the district, and enforces school attendance laws. CENSUS REQUIRED State
law requires each school district in Texas take scholastic census each
year recoding all children between six and 17 within district
boundaries. More than 75 enumerators and supervisors canvassed El Paso
block by block in January tallying a record 60,239 eligible scholastics. In
the census department, maps of every area of the city show two-year
variations in numbers of scholastics in each block. Rows of cabinets,
house records of students from 1890 on. Modern technology is evidenced
by IBM cards on current students. Used primarily in listing age 6-17
public school students for whom state funds are received, the card
speed the work of the four permanent departmental employees. Another
large room in the census Center hold records of former students.
Cumulative folders for elementary students who have left the El Paso
schools are kept here as are records of former high school students. Microfilming
of high school records is under way. Twenty thousand Austin high School
folders for students from 1930-62 have been competed. Bowie High School
records are now being filmed. Hardy estimates more than 100,000 folders
will be photographed by the time the project catches up to 1962 in all
district high schools. Records are kept at the hoe high school for the
first three years after the student leaves school, then are moved to
Education Center. Also housed in the department are enrollment
cars of students presently in school as well as cards for the last five
years. All are subject to audit by state officials. Eight trained
filed workers aid in enforcement of school attendance laws which
require compulsory schooling of children between seven and 16 years of
age. Each worker is assigned a specific group of schools. When
requested by the school, the field worker visits the home of an absent
pupil to verify the reason for absence. Eligibility of students
to attend the El Paso Public Schools is carefully checked by the census
department. Children who are six but not over 21 on or before Sept. 1
of the school year and who live with a parent or legal guardian within
district boundaries may attend school tuition-free. In some cases those
who do not meet age and residence requirements re allowed to attend as
tuition students. Research related to high school dropouts in a
continuing project of the department. Monthly tallies are prepared
showing number of dropouts reason and school attended. The 2.26 per
cent dropout rate in the El Paso schools in 1964 was one of the lowest
nationwide for big city school systems.
Comments