Carthage city schools are the pride of the entire citizenery. Among the superintendents that have ever had the schools interest at heart and making progress under many handicaps were as follows: Superintendents Logan, Escoe, A. J. Holmes, D. Warren, Covert, Anse Cooke, Taylor, Tom H. Tuttle, J. C. Alsup, and Q. M. Martin, the present superintendent. The fuller report of the schools growth is given for the past twelve years. It is as follows:
"Beginning with the 1923-1924 school year, Tom H. Tuttle served as superintendent. Mr. Tuttle came to Carthage from Alto, where he had been at the head of that city's school system. Under his program of work, science was given a more prominent place than it had; formerly occupied in the course of study, and the Parent-Teacher Association assisted the school in equipping its laboratory with the best of apparatus. Many books of classic literature were added to the library at this time.
"In 1924 the school district voted a bond issue for $10,000.00 with which to erect a two story brick building for the negro school. During this same year, with a new high school principal in charge of the white school, Gilbert Jordan, a graduate of Southwestern University, the school was initiated to football, a major sport which today holds, justly or not, such a prominent place in extra-curricular activities of the nation's schools. Troy Koch, another Southwestern graduate, was the school's first coach.
"Tuttle left the school at the close of the 1925-1926 term, and to succeed him, J. C. Alsup, former superintendent at Kountze, Was elected. Mr. Alsup was active in efforts to consolidate nearby common school districts with Carthage Independent District, but his efforts met with. little enthusiasm in the rural communities; so the projects were dropped.
"At the close of the 1926-1927 term, Q. M. Martin, who first served the school in 1924-1925 as teacher of English, and who was high school principal under Alsup, was made superintendent. His first year was largely spent in developing a program 'whereby a high school building could be erected to relieve crowded conditions then existing.' At the close of the term, the district voted a bond issue for $45,000.00 with which to build the building.
"At mid-term the following year the building was completed and occupied. In the equipping of the structure the local Parent-Teacher Association contributed nearly two thousand dollars, providing two pianos and a velour front curtain for the stage. This building appeared adequate for another generation, but the rural pupil free tuition law changed the whole outlook. Enrollment figures grew by leaps and bounds. New courses were added; new units of affiliation were obtained, and by 1933 the enrollment had doubled its 1928 figure of 130.
"In order to take care of the situation, in 1934 the basement of the elementary building was renovated and made into a Junior High School. The old auditorium of the same building was transformed into a gymnasium. As though the change did not please the star that rules the school's destiny, a fire of undetermined origin destroyed the building on the night of December 10, 1934.
"With Federal Relief assistance a new structure was erected in the spring of 1935, and it will be occupied by the elementary school during the 1935-1936 school year. At the same time, in order to remedy the crowded conditions in the high school, two roams were added to the building that houses that department.
"From 1928 to 1934 the school increased its units of accredited subjects from 17 to 24. The growth has been largely a result of the harmony that has existed within the district, and because the personel of the school board has remained intact throughout the period. Six of the seven men of the board have served continuously for twelve years.
"With still more rural pupils coming to the Carthage school for high school purposes, the district is working out plans for another addition to the high school building, the new construction to be entered upon during the 1935-1936 school year."
School loyalty and school spirit is of the highest standard. Supt. Q. M. Martin uses wise discretion in all affairs intrusted to him by his faithful school board. Much success is due entirely to his time, thought, and planning for the school in all phases of work. He is truly efficient, conscientious, and a Worthy example for the, student body.
The Parent-Teacher Association has certainly been an asset to the city's schools since the days that it was known as the "Mothers' Club." Many contributions have come from this organization, such as: pianos, books, book cases, drinking founts, playground equipment, pictures, and building of sidewalks and land soaping the campus. In 1930 the Parent-Teacher Association caused the Third District to gain one of the first places in the National Congress of Parents and Teachers contest on "The Best - Scrap Book." It won in district, state and national entries.
History of Panola County, 1936
32° 9' 26.568" N, 94° 20' 14.712" W
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