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I am sorry to say that the present condition of the Schools in this Sub Dist. will not authorize as favorable a Report as was made last month. The School at Opelika, taught by Mrs L.L. Dupree, and one at Girard, taught by Henderson Thomas, were closed on the first of this month, The Freedmen have all been toled that they were entitled to the benefits of the free School Laws of the State, and consequently they are unwilling to pay their own Tuition, and if they were willing the most of them are, at present, unable. The closing of the School, however, at this place is not owing so much to the inability of the Freedmen to sustain it, as to the incompetency (in some respects) of the Teacher, and the want of a suitable Building for a School House. It is a very difficult matter to find, in this section of Country, any competent Person, who is willing to take charge of a Col. School. This will probably chang, to some extent, when the Free Schools are opened. None of the County Supts of Education in this Sub Dist have been authorized to open any free Schools as yet, and when they are, I would respectfully recommend that they, in connection with the Bureau, procure a No. of competent Teachers from the North, and that the Bureau assist the Freedmen in the building School Houses in localities, where they are unable to rent, or build for themselves, I think that suitable buildings can be rented in most places where Schools can be established.

I am Very Respectfully
Your Obdt. Servt,
D.B. Smith
Sub Asst. Commissioner