USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Melrose > City of Melrose annual report 1893-1895 > Part 13
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SCHOOL REPORT. 263
of the probate court, shall have jurisdiction within their respective counties of the offenses described in section one.
CHAPTER 348.
[AS AMENDED.]
(ACTS OF 1888.)
AN ACT IN RELATION TO THE EMPLOYMENT OF CHILDREN.
SECTION I. No child under thirteen years of age shall be employed at any time in any factory, workshop, or mercan- tile 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 thirty weeks as required by law.
SEC. 2. No child under fourteen years of age shall be em- ployed 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 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 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 indoor work, performed for wages or other compensation, to whomsoever 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 pre- ceding such employment he has attended school for at least thirty weeks as required by law; provided, the public schools are in session that number of weeks, which time may be
264
SCHOOL REPORT.
divided, so far as the arrangements of school terms will allow, into three terms of ten consecutive weeks each; 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 the authority to designate any kind or kinds of employment in factories, workshops or mercantile establishments as inju- rious 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.
SEC. 3. No child under sixteen years of age shall be em- ployed 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.
SEC. 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 here- inafter prescribed, duly filled out and signed. The certificate and the employment ticket shall be separately 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 parenthesis:
EMPLOYMENT TICKET, LAW OF 1888.
When (name of child), height (feet and inches), com- plexion (fair or dark), hair (color), presents a certificate duly signed, I intend to employ (him or her).
(Signature of intending employer or agent. ) (Town or city and date.)
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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 county of ( name of county, if known), and state (or county) 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 person 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 fore- going 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 certi- ficate 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 sentences 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 thirty ) during the year next preceding this date, and that the last thirty weeks of such attendance began (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.)
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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 "lan- guage"; "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 endorsed weekly during the session of such evening school, not exceeding the length of the public school year minus thirty 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 attend- ance has been at a half-time school, sixty weeks of such at- tendance must be certified to instead of thirty. The fore- going certificate 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 superintendent of schools.
SEC. 5. In cities and towns having a superintendent of schools, said certificate shall be signed only by such super- intendent, or by some person authorized by him in writing; in other cities and towns it shall be signed by some member or members of the school committee authorized by vote thereof; provided, however, that no member of a school committee, or other person authorized as aforesaid, shall have authority 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 employe. 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.
SEC. 6. The certificate as to the birthplace and age of a
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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 signature to the certificate may be accepted by the person authorized to approve the same.
SEC. 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 thirty weeks since reaching the age of thirteen, unless such child can read at sight and write legibly simple sentences in the English language, or is exempted by law from such attendance.
Before signing the approval of the certificate 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.
SEC. 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 ascertain whether any children under the age of fourteen are employed therein contrary to the
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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 inspectors of factories, and the truant officers when authorized as aforesaid, 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 chil- dren provided for in this act shall be produced for their inspection. Such truant officers 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 sixteen shall be produced for their inspec- tion ; and any such officer, or any inspector of factories, may bring a prosecution against a person or corporation employ- ing any such child, otherwise than as aforesaid, during 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 employer by a truant officer or inspector of factories at any time within one year.
SEC. 9. Every parent or guardian of a child under four- teen 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 con- trary to the provisions of this act, shall for every such
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offense 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 exceeding fifty dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding thirty days, or by both such fine and imprison- ment. A failure to produce to a truant officer 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.
SEC. 10. The expressions "factory" and "workshop" used in this act shall have the meanings defined for them respec- tively by chapter one hundred and three of the acts of the year one thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven.
SEC. 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.
SEC. 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 sec- tion one of chapter four hundred and thirty-three of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and eighty-seven are hereby repealed.
SEC. 13. This act shall take effect on the first day of July in the year one thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight.
CHAPTER 299. [ACTS OF 1890.]
CONCERNING THE AGE AND SCHOOLING CERTIFICATES OF CHIL - DREN EMPLOYED IN FACTORIES, MERCANTILE ESTABLISH- MENTS, ETC.
SECTION I. The following words shall appear on all age
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and schooling certificates enumerated in section four of chapter three hundred and forty-eight of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and eighty-eight after the name of the town or city and date :- This certificate belongs to the person in whose behalf it has been drawn, and it shall be surrendered to (him or her) whenever (he or she) leaves the service of the corporation or employer holding the same; and any such corporation or employer refusing to so deliver the same shall be punished by a fine of ten dollars.
SEC. 2. Any corporation or employer holding any age or schooling certificate enumerated in section four of chapter three hundred and forty-eight of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and eighty-eight and refusing to deliver the same to the person in whose behalf it has been drawn, when such person shall leave the employ of said corporation or employer, shall be punished by a fine of ten dollars.
CHAPTER 48. [AS AMENDED.]
CONCERNING TRUANT CHILDREN AND ABSENTEES FROM SCHOOL.
SECTION IO. Each town shall make all needful provisions and arrangements concerning habitual truants and children between seven and fifteen years of age who may be found wandering about in the streets and public places therein' having no lawful occupation or business, not attending school, and growing up in ignorance, and such children as persistently violate the reasonable rules and regulations of the common schools; and shall make such by-laws as shall be most conducive to the welfare of such children and to the good order of such town; and shall provide suitable places for the confinement, discipline and instruction of such children.
SEC. II. The school committee of each town shall ap-
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point and fix the compensation of two or more suitable per- sons, to be designated truant officers, who shall, under the direction of said committee, inquire into all cases arising under such by-laws, and shall alone be authorized, in case of violation thereof, to make complaint and carry into execu- tion the judgment thereon; and who may serve all legal pro- cesses issued by the courts in pursuance of such by-laws or of sections ten to sixteen inclusive, but who shall not be en- titled to receive any fees for such service.
SEC. 12. Any minor convicted under a by-law made under section ten, of being an habitual truant, or of wander- ing about in the streets and public places of a city or town, having no lawful employment or business, not attending school, and growing up in ignorance, or of persistently vio- lating the rules and regulations of the common schools, shall be committed to any institution of instruction or suit- able situation provided for the purpose, under the authority of said section or by-laws, for a term not exceeding two years.
CHAPTER 71. (ACTS OF 1855.)
AN ACT TO PREVENT TRUANCY.
Whoever, after notice from a truant officer to refrain from so doing, offers a reward for service to any child, in conse- quence of which reward such child is induced unlawfully to absent himself from school, or whoever, after notice as aforesaid, in any manner entices or induces any child to truancy, or whoever knowingly employs or harbors any un- lawful absentee from school, or truant, shall forfeit not less than twenty or more than fifty dollars to the use of the pub- lic schools of the city or town in which said offence occurs, to be recovered by complaint.
272
SCHOOL REPORT.
CHAPTER 422.
ACTS OF 1889.
AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE TRUANT OFFICERS TO APPREHEND AND TAKE TO SCHOOL WITHOUT WARRANTS TRUANTS DISCOVERED IN THE ACT OF TRUANCY.
SECTION I. Truant officers of cities and towns are hereby authorized, under the direction of the school committees of their respective cities and towns, to apprehend and take to school without warrant all truants found wandering about in the streets and public places.
SEC. 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage.
CHAPTER III. (ACTS OF 1890.)
AN ACT PROVIDING THAT CERTAIN SESSIONS OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS SHALL BE DEVOTED TO EXERCISES OF A PATRI- OTIC NATURE.
SECTION I. In all the public schools of the Common- wealth the last regular session prior to Memorial Day, or a portion thereof, shall be devoted to exercises of a patriotic nature.
SEC. 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage.
THE AUTHORITY OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
By the recent decision of the Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth, in the case of John A. Watson against the city of Cambridge, it has again been affirmed that the school committee has authority, not subject to revision in courts, to exclude from a public school a pupil whose presence is an injury to its discipline.
John A. Watson was excluded from the Cambridge schools by the committee on the grounds that he was too feeble- minded to attend school. He brought a suit against the city,
SCHOOL REPORT. 273
and in the Superior Court recovered a verdict. The city took exceptions to the refusal of the judge to give certain rulings which were asked for by the counsel for the city, and which, if given, would have prevented Watson from re- covering. The case went to the law court, where the exceptions were sustained. The opinion of the full court is as follows:
"The records of the school committee of the defendant city set forth that the plaintiff in 1885 was excluded from the schools 'because he was too weak-minded to derive profit from instruction.' He was afterward taken again on trial for two weeks, and at the end of that time again ex- cluded. The records further recite that 'it appears from the statements of teachers who observed him, and from certificates of physicians, that he is so weak in mind as not to derive any marked benefit from instruction, and further that he is troublesome to other children, making unusual noises, pinching others, etc. He is also found unable to take ordinary decent physical care of himself.' The evidence at the trial tended strongly to show that the matters set out in the records were true.
"The defendant requested the court to rule that if the facts were true which are set forth in the records of the committee as to the exclusion of the plaintiff from the public schools, the determination of the school committee thereon, acting in good faith, was final and not subject to revision in the courts. The court refused so to rule, and submitted to the jury the question whether the facts stated, if proved, show- ed that the plaintiff's presence in school was a serious disturbance to the good order and discipline of the school.
"The exceptions present the question whether the decision of the school committee of a city or town acting in good faith in the management of the schools, upon matters of
18
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SCHOOL REPORT.
fact directly affecting the good order and discipline of the schools, is final so far as it relates to the rights of pupils to enjoy the privileges of the school, or is subject to revision by a court. In Hodgkins vs. Rockort, 105 Mass., 475, it appeared that the school committee, acting in good faith, excluded the plaintiff from school on account 'of his general persistence in disobeying the rules of the school to the injury of the school.' Of the plaintiff's acts of misconduct it is said, in the opinion in that case, that whether they had such an effect upon the welfare of the school as to require his expulsion was a question within the discretion of the committee, and upon which their action is conclusive.'
"The principles there laid down are decisive of the present case, It was found by the presiding justice that the alleged misconduct of the plaintiff in that case was not mutinous or gross, and did not consist of a refusal to obey the commands of the teachers, or of any outrageous proceeding, but of acts of neglect, carelessness of posture in his seat and recitation, tricks of playfulness, inattention to the regulations of the school in minor matters. The only difference between the acts of disorder in that case and in this is that in this they resulted from the incapacity and mental weakness of the plaintiff, and in the other they were wilful or careless-the result in part of youthful exuberance of spirits and impa- tience of restraint or control. In their general effect upon the school they were alike, and the reasons for giving the school committee, acting in good faith, the power to decide finally a question affecting so vitally the rights and interests of all the other scholars of the school, are the same in both cases.
"Under the law the school committee 'have the general charge and superintendence of all the public schools in the town or city,' Public Statutes, ch, 44, sect. 21. The man- agement of the schools involves many details, and it is
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important that a board of public officers, dealing with these details and having jurisdiction to regulate the internal affairs of the school, should not be interfered with or have their conduct called in question before another tribunal so long as they act in good faith within their jurisdiction. Whether certain acts of disorder so seriously interfere with the school that one who persists in them either voluntarily or by reason of imbecility, should not be permitted to con- tinue in the school, is a question which the statute makes it their duty to answer, and if they answer honestly in an effort to do their duty, a jury composed of men of no special fitness to decide educational questions should not be per- mitted to say that their answer is wrong. Spear vs. Cum- ming, 23, Pick., 224, 226.
"We are of the opinion that the ruling requested should have been given. Exceptions sustained."
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SCHOOL REPORT.
SALARIES OF TEACHERS AND SUPERINTENDENT.
NAMES, SCHOOLS. SALARIES.
Alonzo G. Whitman, High, Principal,
$2,000
F. H. Small,
Sub-master,
1,000
A. A. Ballou, Assistant, 800
Harriet C. Fairbanks,
1,000
Hattie G. Ricker, 66
650
Clarimond Mansfield, " 650
Mary J. George,
650
Lydia Mendum, Warren st., Prin., 7th & 8th Gr., 700
Belle Mitchell, 66
6th “ 550
Mary A. Plummer, “ Ist, 2d & 3rd “ 525
Alma J. Guptill, Franklin st., Principal, 5th Grade, 550
Esther M. Davis, 4th 550
Mary E. Tupper,
3rd
450
Hattie M. Field,
Ist & 2d
475
Minnie F. C. Snow, Green st., Ist, 2nd and 3rd Gr., 450
Effie C. Sweetser, M. A. Livermore, Principal, 8th Gr. 700
Lucy W. Bisbee, 7th “ 600
Lillie J. Davis,
6th “ 550
Eva M. Crane, 66
5th “ 550
Susan D. Melcher, Centre, Princ., 4th Grade,
550
Isabelle L. Atwood, 3rd
550
Mary I. Coggeshall,
2nd
66
500
Isabelle Chapin, 66 Ist
550
Inez H. Libbey, Upham Hill, Princ., 6th & 8th Gr.
450
Annie Chadbourne,
4th & 5th " 550
Bertha M. Lawrence,
2nd & 3rd " 425
Cecelia Coyle, Ist
450
Alice M. Swett, Grove st., Princ., and 8th Gr.,
800
Helen J. Barrett,
7th "
600
Janet Young,
6th
550
A. Louise McCormick,
5th
550
SCHOOL REPORT. 277
NAMES.
SCHOOLS,
SALARIES.
Della H. Crosby,
Grove st., 4th Gr. $550
Nellie Dempsey,
3rd “
500
Florence Ellis,
2d
550
A. E. Tucker, 66
Ist " 475
Annie G. Smith, D. W. Gooch school, princ., 6th Gr. 550
Alice H. Long, 6
5th "
500
Etta J. Call,
66
66
4th “
525
Lucy F. Dermot,
66
66
3rd “
550
Amelia Trowbridge,
66
2nd “
500
Annie M. Ranson,
66
Ist " 550
Hattie C. Taylor,
66
66
Ist 5 400
Emma A. Weeks, Converse, Principal, 3rd & 4th " 525
Mary E. Nye, 2nd & Ist “ 525
Louise Frost, Ripley, Ist, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Gr., 525
Rosamond Heath, Lynde street, Ist Gr., .
400
SPECIAL TEACHERS.
Grant Drake,
Music,
800
Willis S. Carter,
Drawing 600
B. F. Robinson,
Superintendent, 2,000
JANITORS.
Issaac C. Weeks,
High and Mary A. Livermore 720
George W. Boutwell,
Grove st. and D. W. Gooch, 900
C. H. Fuller,
Franklin and Green street, 300
John Hitchins,
Centre and Lynde street, 260
Eri Upham,
Upham Hill, 200
Frank Bemis,
Warren street, 240
Thomas Ray, Converse, 100
Edward Molyneux, Ripley, 60
278
SCHOOL REPORT.
SCHOOL STATISTICS.
SCHOOLS.
Maximum Number,
Jan. I to July I.
Average Attendance,
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