USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Melrose > City of Melrose annual report 1885-1889 > Part 30
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It is a part of our duty to lay before the citizens what in our judgment is needed.
The first and most pressing need is at the High school build- ing. During the past year it has been filled to its utmost capacity.
Originally built to accommodate about two hundred and twenty-five pupils, for the past year it has been crowded with more than three hundred, until every seat in the High school has been filled and all the available room has been occupied by extra seats which were also filled.
There is no room in which to put the increased number of pupils next year, which will be sure to come.
Something must be done at once. Either a new building should be built for the High school, or the present building should be enlarged and remodelled, so as to make it large enough to continue the present organization of the schools for some years to come, until the town shall be ready to build a building for the exclusive use of the High school.
We believe that the building can be adapted to the use of our schools for some years, at an expense about one-third the cost of a new building, and that the result would not only give ample room, but would remove some features that. have been criticised.
Many of the remaining buildings have about as many pupils as they are adapted to, especially the Franklin School,.
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the Centre, Grove street, and Upham street. It will prob- ably be necessary, in order to relieve some of the classes in these buildings, to establish another school at Green street, and to put the old building at the Highlands into temporary use, by the beginning of the school year in September.
These buildings and those on Lynde and Upham streets are very old and ought to be replaced by new ones as soon as the town is disposed to take action in the matter.
It will not be more than a year or two before the growth of the town will make more room necessary in these dis- tricts, and will compel the erection of new buildings.
Until that time shall arrive, it seems necessary to use these old buildings, making them as comfortable and attractive as possible, and we trust parents will recognize the wisdom of this course and complain only when there is some real reason for it.
OTHER SCHOOL PROPERTY.
All the books and apparatus belonging to the schools is in good condition, considering all the circumstances. Many of the books, purchased when the state law requiring towns to furnish books free went into effect, are worn out and new ones must be bought. This may make a little larger appro- priation for school contingent necessary. ยท In this connec- tion the committee take pleasure in assuring the town that most excellet care is taken of all such books.
Those who are familiar with such matters speak of our town as being one of the best in the state in this respect.
New encyclopedias have been placed in the seventh grade for the use of pupils, and the apparatus necessary for the use of the college class in physics has been purchased.
The stock of general supplies has been kept up and as will be seen by the agent's report submitted at the end of this report, somewhat increased.
The conditions regarding books and supplies are like those about school accommodations. Increase of pupils means increase in expenditure and in appropriations.
We have spoken thus fully of the condition and needs of
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the schools as to buildings and property, because it seems proper that all the citizens should know what has been done, and what we think ought to be done. It now remains to speak of some matters pertaining to the schools themselves.
GENERAL CONDITION.
In spite of the loss of several good teachers in June, we think a condition of good average excellence has been maintained throughout the year.
There has been comparatively little complaint to the com- mittee on the part of parents or teachers, which shows a progress of affairs with a small amount of friction.
During the winter the chairman gave up for a time the practice of having a special office hour, as there seemed so little occasion for it.
The board feel that they are right in claiming that there has been general satisfaction, for it does not seem probable that our citizens would indulge in much criticism among themselves, and that no one should present it to those offi- cers whose business it is to remedy defects and remove evils.
This is a very desirable condition of things, and one that ought to be maintained in a community of intelligent per- sons, who appreciate the value of public schools, who wish for the best results, and are willing to co-operate in obtain- ing them.
Yet we are far fromn an ideal condition of things, and it is better that such a report as this should speak of what is needed rather than dwell upon what has been done.
One thing needed is a better and more punctual atten- dance on the part of quite a number of pupils.
In some schools the register will show the names of pu- pils absent or tardy half the time. It is true that not many cases are as bad as this but there is quite a large number of cases in which a reform is needed.
Parents do not realize the importance of the work done in schools, and for trivial reasons or for none at all, simply. to gratify a child's desire, permit the precious moments that should be spent in study to pass in some unprofitable or un- necessary employment.
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As a rule those pupils that are absent or tardy a great deal might as well not be in school at all, so far as progress in studies is concerned, and so far as influence on the school or on the pupil's own character goes, they might better re- main away entirely.
Without going through any very elaborate process of reasoning, such children come to form a low estimate of the value of school, and have no sense of moral responsibility to it ; hence they are often troublesome in conduct, and are being trained to be indifferent and careless as to results, a sad preparation surely, for the responsibilities and duties of manhood and womanhood.
Most parents will confess that promptness and thorough- ness are two of the most valuable characteristics in those who accomplish anything in life. Why then are they will- ing for merely temporary convenience or advantage, to al- low their children to be trained up in total opposition to the acquirements of these important and excellent habits ? In this connection attention is again called to the Public Stat- utes concerning school attendance, described in the report of last year, and also to the additional laws passed by the last legislature which are here given.
[CHAP. 149.]
AN ACT TO CAUSE PROPER SANITARY PROVISIONS AND PROPER VEN- TILATION IN PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND SCHOOLHOUSES.
Be it enacted, etc., as follows:
SECT. I. Every public building and every schoolhouse shall be kept in a cleanly state and free from effluvia arising from any drain, privy, or other nuisance, and shall be provided with a sufficient number of prop- er water closets, earth closets, or privies for the reasonable use of the persons admitted to such public building or of the pupils attending such schoolhouse.
SECT. 2. Every public building and every schoolhouse shall be ven- tilated in such a proper manner that the air shall not become so ex- hausted as to be injurious to the health of the persons present therein. The provisions of this section and the preceeding sections shall be en- forced by the inspection department of the district police force.
SECT. 3. Whenever it shall appear to an inspector of factories and
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public buildings that further or different sanitary provisions or means of ventilation are required in any public building or schoolhouse in or- der to conform to the requirements of this act, and that the same can be provided without incurring unreasonable expense, such inspector may issue a written order to the proper person or authority directing such sanitary provisions or means of ventilation to be provided, and they shall thereupon be provided in accordance with such order by the public authority, corporation or person having charge of, owning or leasing such public building or schoolhouse.
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SECT. 4. Any school committee, public officer, corporation or per- son neglecting for four weeks after the receipt of an order from an in- spector, as provided in the preceding section, to provide the sanitary provisions or means of ventilation required thereby shall be punished by fine not exceeding one hundred dollars.
SECT. 5. The expression "public building" used in this act means any building or premises used as a place of public entertainment, in- struction, resort or assemblage. The expression "schoolhouse" means any building or premises in which public or private instruction is afford- ed to not less than ten pupils at one time.
SECT. 6. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [Approved March 20, 1888.
[CHAP. 348.]
AN ACT IN RELATION TO THE EMPLOYMENT OF CHILDREN. Be it enacted, etc., as follows:
SECT. I. No child under thirteen years of age shall be employed at any time in any factory, workshop or mercantile establishment. No such child shall be employed in any indoor work, performed for wages or other compensation, to whomsoever payable, during the hours when the public schools of the city or town in which he resides are in session, or shall be employed in any manner during such hours unless during the year next preceding such employment he has attended school for at least twenty weeks as required by law.
SECT. 2. No child under fourteen years of age shall be employed in any manner before the hour of six o'clock in the morning or after the hour of seven o'clock in the evening. No such child shall be employed in any factory, workshop or mercantile establishment, except during the vacation of the public schools in the city or town where he resides, unless the person or corporation employing him procures and keeps on
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file a certificate and employment ticket for such child as prescribed by section four of this act, and no such child shall be employed in any in- door work, performed for wages or other compensation, to whom- soever payable, during the hours when the public schools of such city or town are in session, unless as aforesaid, or shall be employed in any manner during such hours unless during the year next preceding such employment he has attended school for at least twenty weeks as re- quired by law; and such employment shall not continue in any case beyond the time when such certificate expires. The chief of the district police, with the approval of the governor, shall have authority to des- ignate any kind or kinds of employment in factories, workshops or mercantile establishments as injurious to the health of children under fourteen years of age employed therein, and after one week's written notice from the said chief to the employer or his superintendent, over- seer or other agent of such designation no such child shall be employed in any such kind or kinds of employment in any factory, workshop or mercantile establishment.
SECT. 3. No child under sixteen years of age shall be employed in any factory, workshop or mercantile establishment unless the person or corporation employing him procures and keeps on file the certificate required in the case of such child' by the following section, and also keeps on file a full and complete list of such children employed therein.
SECT. 4. The certificate of a child under fourteen years of age shall not be signed until he presents to the person authorized to sign the same an employment ticket, as hereinafter prescribed, duly filled out and signed. The certificate and the employment ticket shall be sep- arately printed, and shall be in the following forms respectively, and the blanks therein shall be filled out and signed as indicated by the words in brackets :-
EMPLOYMENT TICKET, LAW OF 1888.
When [name of child], height [feet and inches], complexion [fair or dark], hair [color], presents a certificate duly signed, I intend to em- ploy [him or her]. [Signature of intending employer or agent.] [Town or city and state. ]
AGE AND SCHOOLING CERTIFICATE, LAW OF 1888.
This certifies that I am the [father, mother or guardian ] of [name of child],[and that [he or she] was born at [name of town or city], in the
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county of [name of county, if known], and state [or country] of [name], on the [day and year of birth], and is now [number of years and months] old. [Signature of father, mother or guardian].
[Town or city and date. ]
Then personally appeared before me the above named [name of per- son signing] and made oath that the foregoing certificate by [him or her] signed, is true to the best of [his or her] knowledge and belief. I hereby approve the foregoing certificate of [name of child], height [feet and inches], complexion [fair or dark], hair [color ], having no sufficient reason to doubt that [he or she] is of the age therein certified.
[Signature of person authorized to sign, with official character or authority.]
[Town or city and date. ]
In case the age of the child is under fourteen, the certificate shall continue as follows, after the word "certified" : And I hereby certify that [he or she] can read at sight, and can write legibly, simple senten- ces in the English language, and that [he or she] has attended the [name] public [or private] day school according to law for [number of weeks, which must be at least twenty] weeks during the year next pre- ceding this date, and that the last twenty weeks of such attendance be- gan [date]. This certificate expires [date, one year later than above date].
[Signature of the person authorized to sign, with official character or authority.]
If attendance has been at a private school, also signature of a teacher of such school, followed by words,-certifying to school attendance.
[Town or city and date. ]
In case a child cannot read and write as above stated, the following may be substituted for the clause beginning "and I hereby certify" through to and including the word "language" : "and I hereby certify that [he or she] is a regular attendant at the [name] public evening school"; but in such case the certificate shall only continue in force for as long a time as attendance of such child at such evening school is en- dorsed weekly during the session of such evening school, not exceed- ing the length of the public school year minus twenty weeks in place of attendance at day school as now provided by law, with a statement from a teacher thereof certifying that his attendance continues regular. If attendance has been at a half-time school, forty weeks of such atten- dance must be certified to instead of twenty. The foregoing certificate
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must be filled out in duplicate, and one copy thereof shall be kept on file by the school committee. Any explanatory matter may be printed with such certificate in the discretion of the school committee or super- intendent of schools.
SECT. 5. In cities and towns having a superintendent of schools, said certificate shall be signed only by such superintendent, or by some per- son authorized by him in writing ; in other cities and towns it shall be signed by some member or members of the school committee authoriz- ed by vote thereof : provided, however, that no member of a school committee, or other person authorized as aforesaid, shall have authori- ty to sign such certificate for any child then in, or about to enter, his own employment, or the employment of a firm of which he is a member or of a corporation of which he is an officer or employee. The person signing the certificate shall have authority to administer the oath pro- vided for therein, but no fee shall be charged therefor ; such oath may also be administered by any justice of the peace.
SECT. 6. The certificate as to the birthplace and age of a child shall be signed by his father if living and a resident of the same city or town ; if not, by his mother ; or if his mother is not living, or if living is not a resident of the same city or town, by his guardian ; if a child has no father, mother or guardian living in the same city or town, his own sig- nature to the certificate may be accepted by the person authorized to approve the same.
SECT. 7. No child who has been continuously a resident of a city or town since reaching the age of thirteen years shall be entitled to receive a certificate that he has reached the age of fourteen unless or until he has attended school according to law in such city or town for at least twenty weeks since reaching the age of thirteen, unless exempted by law from such attendance. Before signing the approval of the certifi- cate of age of a child, the person authorized to sign the same shall refer to the last school census taken under the provisions of section three of chapter forty-six of the Public Statutes, and if the name of such child is found thereon, and there is a material difference between his age as given therein and as given by his parent or guardian in the certificate, allowing for lapse of time, or if such child plainly appears to be of ma- terially less age than that so given, then such certificate shall not be signed until a copy of the certificate of birth or of baptism of such child, or a copy of the register of its birth with a town or city clerk, has been produced, or other satisfactory evidence furnished that such child is of the age stated in the certificate.
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SECT. 8. The truant officers may, when so authorized and required by vote of the school committee, visit the factories, workshops and mercantile establishments in their several cities and towns, and ascer- tain whether any children under the age of fourteen are employed there- in contrary to the provisions of this act, and they shall report any cases of such illegal employment to the school committee and to the chief of the district police or the inspector of factories for the district. The in- spectors of factories, and the truant officers when authorized as afore- said, may demand the names of all children under sixteen years of age employed in such factories, workshops and mercantile establishments, and may require that the certificates and lists of such children provided for in this act shall be produced for their inspection. Such truant offi- cers shall inquire into the employment, otherwise than in such factories, workshops and mercantile establishments, of children under the age of fourteen years, during the hours when the public schools are in session, and may require that the aforesaid certificates of all children under six- teen shall be produced for their inspection ; and any such officer, or any inspector of factories, may bring a prosecution against a person or corporation employing any such child, otherwise than as aforesaid, dur- ing the hours when the public schools are in session, contrary to the provisions of this act, if such employment still continues one week after written notice from such officer or inspector that such prosecution will be brought, or if more than one such written notice, whether relating to the same child or to any other child, has been given to such employ- er by a truant officer or inspector of factories at any time within one year.
SECT. 9. Every parent or guardian of a child under fourteen years of age who permits any employment of such child contrary to the provisions of this act, and every owner, superintendent or overseer of any factory, workshop or mercantile establishment who employs or permits to be employed therein any child contrary to the provisions of this act, and any other person who employs any child contrary to the provisions of this act, shall for every such offence forfeit not less than twenty nor more than fifty dollars for the use of the public schools of the city or town. Every parent, guardian, or person authorized to sign the certificate prescribed by section four of this act, who certifies to any materially false statement therein, shall be punished by fine not exceed- ing fifty dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding thirty days, or by both such fine and imprisonment. A failure to produce to a truant of-
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ficer or inspector of factories the certificate required by the provisions of this act shall be prima facie evidence of the illegal employment of the child whose certificate is not produced.
SECT. 10. The expressions "factory" and "workshop" used in this act shall have the meanings defined for them respectively by chapter one hundred and three of the acts of the year one thousand eight hun- dred and eighty-seven.
SECT. II. Within one month of the passage of this act the chief of the district police shall cause a printed copy thereof to be transmitted to the school committee of every city and town in the Commonwealth.
SECT. 12. Sections one to six, inclusive, of chapter" forty-eight of the Public Statutes, chapter two hundred and twenty-four of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and eighty-three, chapter two hundred and twenty-two of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and eighty-five, and section one of chapter four hundred and thirty-three of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and eighty-seven are hereby repealed.
SECT. 13. This act shall take effect on the first day of July in the year one thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight. [Approved May 17, 1888.
For some time the schools have been conducted on the no recess system, long enough for parents to be familiar with its results.
From all that we can learn, it is in the main satisfactory, yet it is true that there has been some little complaint in re- gard to it.
We should be glad to hear from all those parents who think the plan a bad one in any respect, and if it shall seem that modifications of it are needed and will be salutary, we shall feel it to be our duty to make such changes as will make it acceptable.
RESPECTS IN WHICH OUR SCHOOLS MAY BE IMPROVED.
In penmanship the committee desire to see more improve- ment in the next year. Time enough is given to the subject, but inore special instruction seems to be demanded.
In order to attain satisfactory results, class drill is needed, with persistent repetition on the elements.
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REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
Every teacher can and ought to do a great deal of this work in order that the elementary forms may become so fixed in the child's mind that the hand will move without any conscious effort in the right way to make the letters.
In this way writing becomes an acquired habit, and poor writing will be impossible.
More attention should be given to physical culture in con- nection with our schools. A regular system of instruction is needed, with appropriate exercises, so that a healthful condition of the body may be maintained, and a proper muscular training may be given.
In most of the towns about us, the older pupils have in- struction in military drill and in calisthenics, as a part of the regular work of the schools.
Has not the time arrived for something of the kind in connection with our school system ?
This question is recommended to the serious considera- tion of our citizens, with the assurance that we shall be glad to carry out their wishes in the matter.
Is it not also time to consider the wisdom of making some attempt at introducing some of the simpler kinds of hand- work into our school system ? Many of the towns and cities of our state already make provision for regular instruction in sewing, and in the elements of carpentry, for those pupils old enough to take these subjects with advantage.
They have found such instruction of advantage, not only as giving useful training, but as an aid to the regular work, claiming that by this means certain faculties that ordinary instruction fails to reach are developed and made stronger.
None of these things can be had without the money to pay for instruction and materials.
The committee are ready and willing to undertake the in- troduction of any or all these subjects, whenever they have an appropriation that will warrant it, but they are fixed in the purpose to keep the expenditures within the amount ap- propriated by the town.
It must be constantly borne in mind that the whole work of the schools is but a training in the formation of good or bad habits, physical, mental and moral.
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There can be nothing neutral here, the training must be good or bad.
The pupils acquire the habit of attention or inattention, of order or disorder, of neatness or carelessness, of being thoughtful or thoughtless, of self-control or the opposite, of humanity or brutality, of refinement or coarseness in thought and action.
They are laying the foundations of noble character, or of weak, selfish, undisciplined, irresponsible manhood and womanhood.
They are overcoming inherited tendencies to evil, or are obstructing the influence of inherited good.
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