USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Newburyport > City Officers and the Annual Reports to the City Council of Newburyport 1912 > Part 11
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At a special meeting held May 13, 1912, a special committee, con- sisting of the vice-chairman of the board, the chairman of the Grammar School committee and the chairman of the Training School committee, offered the following report:
"Joshua L. Chase, for nearly six years truant officer of Newburyport, died on April 21st, 1912.
Of a kindly and genial nature, he endeared himself to all with whom he had to deal, young or old, and by his unfailing courtesy and ready tact, met with marked success the difficulties of his position. His sympathy at all times with the children made him in their eyes more a friend than a traditional enemy and many a poor child was found warm clothing and at times more substantial assistance through his efforts.
It is with great sorrow that the School Committee of 1912 realize that they have been forever deprived of his services and in recognition of him as a public servant and as a man, place this tribute on their records and order that a copy be sent to his family."
EDWARD H. LITTLE, SAMUEL J. HUGHES,
LAURENCE P. DODGE, Committee.
10
ANNUAL REPORT.
In due season after being notified of the removal by death of Mr. Chase, the Civil Service Commission issued a notice for and held an exami- nation of candidates to fill the position.
Eleven applicants appeared for examination. Of this number five passed the clerical test and four both the clerical and physical tests. Three names were submitted to the board and acted upon, each one of the three having his supporters on the board. Mr. Edward H. Porter received the necessary seven votes and was declared elected to the position.
COURSE OF STUDY.
During the last school year much constructive work was done by the committee and teachers in making the course of study more effective.
The five courses in the High School were thoroughly revised and a sixth, the industrial course added. This last course makes it possible for a boy to attend the school every day until noon, have an hour and a quarter for dinner and then report for work at a trade during the five hours of the afternoons of school days and all day on Saturday. Eight boys are at present learning trades under this course and are receiving two dollars a week for such service as they may render their employers.
One young man is in the office of the Towle Mfg. Co., learning the business from the office side,-an exceptional opportunity. Two are learning the machinist's trade, two, the silversmith's trade, one, that of a die sinker and the seventh, that of an engraver. All of these are at the Towle's Mfg. Co.'s plant. The eighth boy is learning the machinist's trade at the shop of F. E. Davis.
Too much cannot be said in commendation of the public spirited atti- tude of these manufacturers who have allowed the boys to mingle study and work, undoubtedly on more advantageous terms for the boys than for themselves. Two more boys are still on the waiting list with no chance open, up to the time of writing.
A serious problem also presents itself for another year.
The manufacturers who have given opportunities to the boys this year may not have room in their establishment for a like number another year, indeed, may not have room for any. What to do then with those who may elect this course for a period of the next three years is a question which this committee must consider very seriously.
Now that the Towle Mfg. Co. and the Frank E. Davis Machine Com- pany have demonstrated that the plan is feasible, it may be that other firms will find it possible to undertake a similar scheme for boys in their lines of business.
Some provision will have to be made for such as elect the course next September or the course itself must be abandoned.
To abandon it now that it has once been fairly started would, indeed, be unfortunate. It furnishes us with one of the few ways we have of holding in school a class of boys that need most of all a more extended period of school training. The question is squarely before us. Shall we hold them by providing for them, or shall we allow them to drift away into the whirl of industrial life, not as well equipped for its responsibilities as we might have had them?
The serious consideration of manufacturers, who have not as yet found it advisable to give aid along the lines suggested, is earnestly solicited in
11
SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
the hope that more room for our boys may be found in their establishments. The need is great. Will the people respond to it and see that suitable provisions are made?
The committee have recently adopted a course in domestic science for the girls of the High School. No provisions for carrying out that adoption lave as yet been made.
While the plan suggested of equipping the room at the Albert Currier School and sending a portion of the classes from the High School there for such work, was not the best, it would have made the course possible. As no equipment has been provided by the City Council the course has lapsed and no work in that most useful line has been undertaken in the High School.
Equipment for such a course, however, should be provided within the High School plant, or at least very near to it. Again we must ask that in the appropriation for the work of the School Department for the coming year allowance be made for this practical work in connection with the course in the High School.
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES AND THE SCHOOLS.
The recent appearance of half a dozen-more or less-cases of small pox in the city, some of which occurred among children of the public schools, emphasizes again the need of cleanliness in and about our school buildings. Within the year now closing, your committee on janitors and buildings has urged the necessity of employing women to give to the different buildings thorough and systematic cleaning such as would be impossible for the janitors to perform.
This board is on record as being in favor of the plan; the Board of Health has recommended it strongly, while outside organizations like the Woman's Club have urged it more than once.
During the recent slight epidemic the superintendent, acting on the advice of the committee on janitors and buildings with the hearty endorse- ment o fthe Board of Health, employed three women to clean the entire Kelley School building. Two of these women worked twelve days each and the third nine days to complete the work. The total cost was sixty-six dollars. The total time for one woman would have been thirty-three days.
Counting the corridors as rooms, and beside the basement, these women thoroughly cleaned twenty-two rooms. This, of course, includes the small anterooms, of which there are ten, and the office of the Training School. With the single exception of the High School the Kelley is the largest public school building in the city.
On the basis of the Kelley being a nine-room building, which in reality it is, and allowing twenty rooms at the High School, there are in the city sixty-four rooms. Reckoning on the basis of the work done in the Kelley School building it would be possible for two women to thoroughly clean every school building in the city twice a year exclusive of a third oppor- tunity with the help of the janitors, during the long summer vacation.
Good women, if assured of steady employment, could doubtless be hired for from thirty to thirty-five dollars per month, seven hundred dollars a year if employed ten months or eight hundred and forty dollars if employed throughout the entire year.
It is safe to say that the Kelley School building never was cleaner
12
ANNUAL REPORT.
than when the three women finished their work. It is safe to assert that the needed amount of money could not be better expended. Appropriations this year should make allowance for this work.
EIGHT OR NINE GRADES.
The attention of the board is again called to the advisability of re- ducing the grades from nine to eight. "Be not the first by whom the new is tried,
Nor yet the last to lay the old aside," is perhaps as safe advice in the iatter as the first part of the quotation.
Outside of New England there are almost no communities where the nine grade system is still in vogue. Very few cities and towns in New England are now left that have not gone back to the eight grade scheme. Some few towns are congratulating themselves on their wisdom in that they never adopted the ninth grade idea at all.
Some of the advantages claimed for the eight grade scheme cannot be passed over lightly.
It is said that by it more pupils are enabled to finish the grammar .school course than would be possible under the nine year plan.
A glance at our own eighth and ninth grades of last June will show somewhat of truth in this statement. At the time of closing there were one hundred and fifty-four pupils in the eighth grade as compared with one hundred and twenty-five in the ninth. For this year at least it means that twenty-nine more boys and girls, twenty-three and one-third per cent, or nearly one-fourth, would have completed the grammar school course, had they been able to do so in eight years, than was the case under the present system. This fact alone, which would be substantially true every year, makes the question worthy of the serious consideration of this board. Another argument in its favor is the proportionate reduction in the expense of maintaining the schools.
It costs us here in Newburyport on an average thirty dollars per pupil for each year of school attendance. Should the change be made it would ultimately reduce our average daily attendance by about one hundred. This in turn would reduce current expenses to the amount of three thou- sand dollars.
Over against these arguments is the idea that it would not be possible to properly fit pupils for the High School in eight years and the probability of the immediate crowding of the High School classes and a consequent increase in the cost of maintaining that school.
Considering the latter objection first, it would probably be true that to bring about the change the first class to enter the High School would be abnormally large. For three years thereafter the number would grad- ually decrease when normal conditions would again prevail. At the same time the teaching force in the High School might need to be increased, the expense for which in a measure would offset some of the reduction of cost in the grades.
Later, however, the reduced expense would be continuous and the economy evident. As to the first objection that it would be impossible to properly fit for the High School in eight years, it might be well to refer a little to history. Up to twenty-five or thirty years ago, eight years pre- ceding the secondary school was the universal practice in this country.
13
SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
Pupils have been prepared for the High School in eight years and prepared in a manner unequalled today, so our elders tell us. The writer was prepared in eight years as were all the normal pupils of that time. Shall we admit that what has been done and done well, in the past, cannot now be done at all?
It might be well to consider briefly some of the reasons for the change from an eight to a nine year elementary course.
It came at a time when there was much talk about the so-called en- richment of the grammar school studies. This agitation was caused very largely by the pressure of the colleges on the High Schools for such ex- tended preparatory work as few schools could accomplish.
Therefore, it was determined that some of this work must go down into the grammar grades and a ninth grade was made necessary. Then it was that Latin, French, German, civics, algebra and book-keeping found their way into the grammar schools in very many of our towns and cities. Few however, retain them today. In our own ninth grades we are teach- ing today such a smattering of algebraic formulas and processes as are contained in the regular text book in arithmetic. We are teaching civics largely by using Dole's "American Citizen" as a supplementary reader. We are teaching book-keeping by the use of an antiquated text.
These studies are all now pursued in our ninth grade that are not also taken in the eighth. Algebra might well be wholly omitted for the same reason that it has been omitted from the required subjects of the freshman class of the High School. Dole's "American Citizen" could be read as easily by the eighth grade and its principles equally as well understood as by the pupils of the ninth.
Such book-keeping as we have in the ninth grade could be taught as successfully in the eighth if thought advisable.
It is evident then that the ninth year work as originally introduced was intended to lessen the work of the High School and to give incidentally to grammar graduates who did go to the High School some knowledge of a few High School studies.
A little investigation will show that such work really must be repeated in the High School. Algebra is begun by all who take it at all. Civics is treated as if no work in that subject had been done; while an entirely different method of book-keeping from that in the ninth grade is in vogue in the High School.
Inasmuch as statistics show that twenty per cent of pupils leave school at the end of the eighth year, are we justified in retaining the ninth year with all the work therein either a repetition of the work of previous years or introductory High School work which must be repeated ?
The Training School continues to prepare women for the work of teaching in the same efficient manner that has characterized it for twenty years.
In spite of the fact that so much sickness has occurred among the teachers of the city the total cost of substitute work in grammar grades has been but $187.50. That amount has been paid to a single teacher for substitute work in two different rooms, in both of which cases it was known that the regular teacher would be absent from school for an ex- tended period. All the rest of the substitute work has been done by pupil teachers of the Training School with the single exception of grade two in
14
ANNUAL REPORT.
the Bromfield Street School, where for the last three months, Miss O'Neil has been substituting for Miss Robinson.
Miss O'Neil was given the place because of three months' service in the spring in the same room, while she was still a pupil teacher.
All of the graduates of the school last June secured positions during the summer. One, however, did not accept.
MOST URGENT NEEDS.
While the Albert Currier School is convenient as a school building and its construction apparently most excellent, there still seems to be something radically wrong with the heating plant. It is very difficult to control the heat in some of the rooms. There is also a very serious trouble in the fact that some of the rooms are often filled with odors from the toilets. These defects should be remedied at the earliest possible moment.
While it may seem rash to suggest it, the need of a new High School building is forcing itself upon us more and more as the years go by.
The city has recently been criticized because of some of its poor hous- ing conditions, particular reference being made to basement rooms of some of the inmates of the city farm.
The same criticism might have been made of the High School. Two rooms in that building, regularly used as class rooms are in the basement. These rooms are poorly lighted and poorly ventilated. At all times during the school day, both are filled with pupils whose eyesight and health must be affected by the conditions which exist.
Added to what has already been suggested is the fact that all the work in the course in domestic science had to be omitted this year because of an entire lack of facilities. This in itself is a potent argument for a new school building.
But there are other good reasons also, such as the crowded condition of every classroom, the use under unfavorable conditions of the assembly hall as a classroom, the very inadequate quarters of the typewriting de- partment, the use of two attic rooms for recitation purposes and the ab- sence of any home quarters for the reference library.
All these reasons are such that it is impossible to refrain from urging them upon the attention of the committee.
I wish to congratulate the committee on aggressive and constructive work during the year which has now closed, such as has not been before accomplished during the writer's connection with the schools.
I wish to thank the committee and teachers for their courtesy and co-operation during the year. These things have made work a pleasure.
Respectfully submitted,
EDGAR L. WILLARD,
November 25, 1912.
15
SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
GRADUATION EXERCISES
Class of 1912, High and Putnam Schools, Tuesday, June 25
PROGRAM.
March-"Grand Finale from Aida"
Ruth Durnett Garland.
Prayer
Rev. F. N. Merriam.
Music-"The Heavens are Telling." From "The Creation" Haydn
Chorus.
Essay-"Plum. Island." Ployer Peter Hill.
Essay-"Oliver Putnam and his Work."
Amy Weare.
Music-"Gypsy Life."
Robert Schumann
Chorus.
Declamation-"Spartacus to the Gladiators at Capua." ยท Gooch Sargent.
Essay-"Newburyport as seen by an Amateur Geologist." Esther Fellows Merrill.
Music-"Glad Festal Day." From "Carmen" Bizet
Chorus.
Class Prophecy Mary Ridgway Comley. Essay-"Legends of the Merrimac." (with valedictory) Esther Broughton Merriam.
Presentation of Diplomas.
Class Ode (Music, Fair Harvard)
Words by Dorothy Brown.
When at last on the threshold of life we do stand We must strive our life work to choose, And never despair if there seems naught to do For each has some talent to use. And may we remember, forever and e'er, Our motto, so tried and so true, "No Quest" then "No Conquest," and labor with care Our work in the wide world to do,
16
ANNUAL REPORT.
Then on with our Quest like the heroes of yore! Let us go to that great school of life; Let us labor each day with a heart full of strength, And a will to win in the strife.
Then to victory, victory out in the world, Though the ways may be stormy and slow; If we do our best, if we follow our quest, The conquest is ours where we go.
Benediction
GRADUATED WITH HONOR.
Everett Bailey Johnson Frances Richardson Johnson
Esther Broughton Merriam Pauline Elizabeth Noyes
Anna Clement Collins
A pupil to graduate with honor must maintain for each year a general average of A. In one subject his work may be B provided it is 85 or better.
GRADUATED WITH CREDIT.
Dorothy Brown Esther Fellows Merrill
Laura Whittier Hopkinson Hazel Bartlett Roaf
Amy Weare
A pupil to graduate with credit must maintain for each year a gen- eral average of 85 or better. One study only may be below this average and this must be at least grade B.
HONORS IN SPECIAL STUDIES.
Mary Batchelder-History, Chemistry, Physiology, Physical Geography, Physics Eva Spaulding Bragg-Chemistry
James Francis Carens, Jr .- Chemistry, Commercial Law
Ethel May Dort-Bookkeeping, Typewriting
Mary Agnes Eastman-Chemistry, Physics
George Stanley Eaton-Chemistry, Physics
Marguerite Hunter-French Elizabeth Eustis Kane-Latin, Chemistry, Physiology
Harold Anthony Knapp-Chemistry
Lillah May MacKinnon-Chemistry, Botany
James Michael MacGregor-Chemistry, History, Physics Ruth Parnell Muffin-Chemistry, Physiology
Laura Briggs Phillips-Typewriting
Everett Hall Pike-Chemistry, Physics
Ruth Eleanor Sanborn-French, Phonography
Marion Pearson Webster-Botany Samuel Verne Noyes-Chemistry
Honors in special studies will be given to pupils whose yearly marks in the particular studies are A's, provided the maximum amount of time allotted these studies in the course pursued by the pupil is taken.
17
SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
GRADUATES OF HIGH AND PUTNAM SCHOOLS
FIVE YEARS' COLLEGE COURSE.
Pauline Hodgdon Colby *Elsie Staniford Dole John Clifford Stanton FOUR YEARS' COLLEGE COURSE. Anna Clement Collins *Samuel Verne Noyes
SCIENTIFIC COURSE.
Henry Nowell Carter Moses Little Chase Ployer Peter Hill *Everett Brown Janvrin
Everett Bailey Johnson Everett Grandville Perkins Gooch Sargent Abraham Shoul *Walter Ashton True
NORMAL COURSE.
Mary Batchelder Emma Bell
*Mary Agnes Eastman Ruth Parnell Muffin
Elizabeth Eustis Kane Lillah May Mackinnon *Esther Fellows Merrill Marion Pearson Webster
GENERAL COURSE.
Robert Francis Bartlett Dorothy Brown *William Brown *Elsie Fern Boyd James Francis Carens, Jr.
Mary Ridgway Comley Pauline Elizabeth Noyes *Everett Hall Pike ** Hazel Bartlett Roaf * Amy Weare
*George Stanley Eaton Margaret Cushing Goodwin Laura Whittier Hopkinson
Frances Richardson Johnson Harold Anthony Knapp
** Esther Broughton Merriam Albert Douglass Menut" Anna Winifred Pearson Everett Warren Page *Ethel Evans Page
COMMERCIAL COURSE.
*Mary Alice Callahan John Joseph Connors Harrie Thomas Cutter Ethel Donahue Ethel May Dort *Cora Marche Eaton
Edward FitzGerald Marguerite Hunter
Esther Frances Lord
James Michael McGregor Cornelius Francis Moynihan *Laura Briggs Phillips
* Eva Spaulding Bragg
** These pupils enrolled in the five years' college course have completed work equivalent to that demanded by the general course, and are therefore ranked with the class of the present year and participate in the graduation exercises, but they cannot receive their appropriate course diploma until next year.
*Graduates of the Putnam Free School,
18
ANNUAL REPORT.
EVENING SCHOOL GRADUATION Friday Evening, March 29, 1912
PROGRAM.
Singing by the Pupils of the School
(a) Red, White and Blue (b) Home, Sweet Home Number Exercise by the Graduates
Address, Rev. A. W. Cleaves
Violin Trio, The Misses Susan E. Lunt, Margaret Hennessey, Elizabeth Hennessey Presentation of Diplomas, Vice-Chairman Edward H. Little Singing by the Pupils
(a) The Star Sfangled Banner (b) America
GRADUATES.
Sarah Bridget Campbell William Sumner Hughes Charles Aloysius Leary Mary Ellen Leary
Marguerite Mary Herlihy Simon Krasilovsky Daniel Michael Leary Pierre Turbide
19
SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
Report of the Truant Officer
Mr. E. L. Willard,
Superintendent of Schools,
Dear Sir-I will present the annual report of the Truant Officers, Messrs. Chase and Hathaway for the year ending June 30, 1912.
Number of schools visited 871
Number of absences reported by teachers 956
Number of parents notified 935
Number of cases of truancy 148
Number of children returned to school from streets
22
Number of factories visited
53
Number of certificates issued
60
Number of children employed contrary to law
9
Number of children brought into court 7
Number of truants returned to school 43
9
Number of children convicted
1
Number of children placed on probation
6
In addition to the report for work done by Messrs. Chase and Hatha- way, I would recommend the introduction of the telephone in the home of the truant officer, also in the four following schools, Kelley, Davenport, Bromfield and Johnson, as they have to depend upon the kindness of nearby neighbors for the use of the telephone.
According to the reports from other cities, most all of them have in- troduced telephones in the schools as well as in the superintendent's and truant officer's homes.
By this means they found that a lot of time could be saved as the truant officer could go direct to the children's homes, also when we have contagious diseases to deal with we need the telephone at once.
Respectfully yours,
EDWARD H. PORTER,
Truant Officer.
Number of employers warned
20
ANNUAL REPORT.
!
CENSUS OF SCHOOL CHILDREN
CENSUS BY WARDS 1911 AND 1912.
1911
1912
Boys
Girls
Ward
412
444
Ward
348
297
Ward 3
404
379
Ward 4
268
250
Ward 5
409
386
Ward
6
.
2318
2164
CENSUS BY WARDS-Between 5 and 15 Years.
Boys
Girls
Total
Ward 1
220
224
444
Ward 2
137
160
297
Ward 3
198
181
379
Ward 4
121
129
250
Ward 5
173
213
386
Ward 6
190
228
418
1039
1135
2164
CENSUS BY WARDS-Between 7 and 14 Years.
Boys
Girls
Total
Ward 1
170
174
344
Ward 2
108
127
235
Ward 3
155
138
293
Ward 4
93
96
189
Ward 5
137
168
305
144
183
327
Ward 6
. . .
807
886
1693
477
418
TABULATION OF AGES BY SEX School Census of Newburyport, 1912
AGE
5 Years
6 Years
7 Years
8 Years
9 Years
10 Years
11 Years 12 Years
13 Years
14 Years
15 Years
Totals
SEX*
M F
M F
M F
M F
M F
M F
M F
M F
M F
MF
M F
M F
Ward One ..
22 26
25 23
31
15
23 25
21 29
24 24
17 17
19 27
20 15
15 22
3
1
220
224
444
Ward Two ..... 13 15
13 18
12 20
15 14
11 15
15 16
12 20
13
16
15 12
14 15
3
0
137 160
297
Ward Three ... 22 17
20 25
20
14
12 22
16
15
26 20
20 22
22 18
22
14
17 13
I
1
198 181
379
Ward Four ..... 12 13
12 17
11
12
17 17
11 11
8 14
8
9
15 11
12 16
13
6
4
3
121
129
250
Ward Five ...... 15 21
20 22
20
31
14 21
19 17
20 17
19 21
15 17
18
23
12 21
1
2
173
113
386
Ward Six ........
17 16
26 28
24
24
17 17
18 24
20 22
24
26
16 22
17 24
12 20
0
1
190
128
418
Totals ... 101 108
119 133
118 116
98 116
96 111
113 113
100 115
100 111
104 104
82 97
12 8
1039 1135
2164
SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
*MI, male. F, female.
21
22
ATTENDANCE RECORDS BY GRADES, 1911-1912
Number enrolled
Over 15 years old
Between 7 and 14
Average membership
Average attendance
Per cent. of attendance
Days of school
Cases of tardiness
Number of dismissals
Cases of truancy
Cases of corporal pun- ishment
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