USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Quincy > Inaugural address of the mayor, with the annual report of the officers of the city of Quincy for the year 1889 > Part 8
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The elevation of the bed of the brook or ditch under Han- cock Street and south of the Atlantic station is eight feet above the city base or about two feet below average high water mark. The length of a gravity sewer extending from this point to the proposed pumping-station on the Town Farm over the line which would probably have to be adopted, is about 16,000 feet. With an inclination of one foot per thousand feet there would be a total fall in the whole distance of 16 feet. With a fall of one foot in 1,600 there would be a total fall of nearly 11 feet. If the elevation of the upper end of such a sewer were to be fixed at the level of the bed of the above mentioned brook under Hancock Street, or two feet below high water mark, with the former inclination the lower end of this sewer would be eight feet below the city base, and 18 feet below the aver- age high water mark in the bay. A main trunk sewer con- structed with these elevations would lie for its whole length at a depth at least 10 feet lower than the main sewers which have been proposed in the plan of the previous report. A reason- able estimate of the difference in cost due to this greater depth is $80,000, and the extra labor of the very deep cutting and the increase in dimensions of the several sections of the sewer
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all affect the hazardous character of the work of construction. No doubt a main sewer could be constructed at such low levels, but the increased cost would, in my opinion, rule it out of con- sideration.
The cost of a local gravity plan for Atlantic will be about $40,000.
The aggregate length of sewers required for Atlantic as now laid out, will be 21,550 feet. The length of the force main from the low collecting point to the head of the Hancock Street gravity sewer will be 1,200 feet.
The length of the gravity sewer to be laid through Han- cock Street from Grover Street to Beale Street will be 5,200 feet.
The items of cost of the pumping plan for Atlantic will will be as follows : -
A brick pumping station, $4,000
The necessary pump-well and overflow, 3,000
Two pumping engines, two boilers, . 6,500
Connections, &c., . 3,000
Sewers discharging at pumping station,
$16,500
32,900 Force main, ·
1,600
Gravity outfall sewer,
8,320
Cost of enlarging Furnace Brook sewer to provide needed capacity to receive collected sewage of Atlantic, 13,000
$72,320
Cost of pumping 5,000,000 gallons of sewage daily by this plan, about $3,500. ·
Respectfully submitted,
PERCY M. BLAKE, Civil Engineer.
Hyde Park, Mass., January 3, 1890.
REPORT
OF THE
PUBLIC SCHOOLS
OF THE
CITY OF QUINCY,
FOR 1889.
BOSTON : WINSHIP, DANIELS & CO., PRINTERS, 150 PEARI, STREET. 1890.
2
SCHOOL COMMITTEE FOR 1890.
At Large.
Dr. Joseph A. Sheahan
Term expires in 1893.
Dr. John A. Gordon
1892.
Sylvester Brown
66 1891.
Ward 1.
Rupert F. Claflin
1892.
Ward 2. Rev. H. E. Cotton
1893.
Ward 3.
Emery L. Crane 16
1893.
Ward 4. John F. Cole
66 1891.
Ward 5. Wendell G. Corthell .
1890.
Ward 6.
Thomas Gurney 6 6
1891.
ORGANIZATION.
Sylvester Brown, Chairman.
Committee assigned to High School
Dr. Sheahan.
Adams School
Mr. Claflin.
Coddington School .
Dr. Gordon.
John Hancock School .
Mr. Crane.
Quincy School .
Mr. Gurney.
66
Washington School
Mr. Cotton.
Willard School
Mr. Cole.
Wollaston School
Mr. Corthell.
Secretary of the Board and Superintendent of Schools, George I. Aldrich.
Regular meeting on first Thursday of each month, at 7.45 P. M.
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
The School Committee call the attention of the citizens of Quincy to the report of the Superintendent of Schools, in which will be found food for reflection and an enunciation of principles that should guide in the proper conduct of the education of our youth.
In the preparation of his report, the Superintendent is in no wise aided or hampered by the intrusion of views. opin- ions or beliefs of the Committee, but is allowed full sway in presenting the broad subject of education in the manner that seems to him wisest from the standpoint of his experi- ence and the logical deductions therefrom.
While fully aware of the severe and increasing burden laid upon the citizens, through the policy of a free public edu- cation for their children, the Board believes that there will be no hesitation on the part of the people in cheerfully acquiesc- ing in the endeavor of the Committee to keep the schools at a high standard of excellence.
The policy of the Committee will be as in the past to seekfor the best aids and appliances of all kinds needed in the work, which are within the reach of prudence, discretion and economy.
As it is expected that the Superintendent's report will be a full and ample presentation of the various questions that are
4
demanding attention, the Committee cheerfully defer to him in all matters of detailed work and once more call to your notice his subjoined report.
SYLVESTER BROWN. JOSEPH A. SHEAHAN. JOHN F. COLE. . RUPERT F. CLAFLIN. H. EVAN COTTON. W. G. CORTHELL. EMERY L. CRANE. JOHN A. GORDON. THOMAS GURNEY.
School Committee.
REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
TO THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE OF QUINCY :---
In accordance with instructions from the School Board of 1889, the following report of the School Department for said year has been prepared by the Superintendent of Schools and is respectfully submitted for your consideration. The school report for 1888, the last to appear under the town form of government, was largely devoted to a review of the series of reports which it brought to an end. As the initial step in the preparation of the first report of the schools of the City of Quincy, it may be well to note briefly such changes in the School Department as result from the adoption of the city charter.
So long as Quincy remained a town the School Board numbered six, but upon the adoption of the charter, this num- ber was increased to nine, three members being elected at large, and one member from each of the six wards. Title V. of the charter relates to the School Department and contains Sections 32 and 33. The opening sentence of the first named section reads as follows : " The management and control of the schools of said city shall be vested solely in a School Com- mittee, consisting of members at large and members from wards, who shall serve without pay and shall be elected from the inhabitants of the city as follows :" Subsequently this section provides for the election of the first School Committee of the city, for the election of three or more members at each
8
succeeding annual municipal election, for any new division of the city into wards, and for the organization of the Com- mittee.
Section 33 requires the School Committee to elect a Su- perintendent of Schools, provides a way for his removal, and prescribes the steps to be taken by the Board in case a vacancy occurs in its members. To use the language of the City Solicitor " the charter does not materially take away from the School Committee the duties and responsibilities of the Public Statutes." In one respect the powers of the Board are decidedly augmented as will appear from Section 20 of the charter which reads as follows :-
"The City Council shall not authorize the erection of a school house or of any addition thereto, nor pass any appro- priation for such purpose, until plans for the same have been approved by vote of the School Committee, and such approval has been certified in writing to the Council by the chairman of said Committee."
By means of the following statistics, a general exhibit is made of the results of the last school census, of the financial operations of the year, of school buildings, teachers and attendance. To some of these statistics I have added brief comments, and some of them are more fully discussed on subsequent pages :-
I. POPULATION.
Population of Quincy by State census of 1885
12,145
Estimated population in 1889 14,600
Number of children between five and fifteen years of age, according to the enumeration made on the first day of May, in each of the last six years :-
9
1884.
1885.
1886.
1887.
1888.
1889.
Adams
588
520
727
769
840
926
Coddington
432
409
461
461
480
481
Washington
356
308
376
380
368
353
Willard .
802
693
939
964
1,008
1,108
Wollaston
236
229
242
251
278
313
Quincy
320
257
343
328
322
314
2,734
2,416
3,088
3,153
3,296
3,495
The number of children in Quincy between five and fifteen years of age, when compared with the entire population of the city, is surprisingly large. This fact readily appears if we compare our returns with those of several other cities of the State. The census of '85 gave Waltham a population of 14,609 ; on May 1, '89 the number of children in that city between five and fifteen is reported as 2,759. In '85 Malden had a population of 16,407, and on May 1, '89, reports 3,421 children between five and fifteen. The latest school report from Northampton states the population of that city to have been, on May 1, '89, 14,782, and children from five to fifteen, 2,369. In '89 Fitchburg estimated her population as 22,000, and reports 3,889 children from five to fifteen. For the same year the estimated population of Brockton is 30,000 and the num- ber of pupils between the above named ages is reported as 3,985. In the case of the two last named cities, while the population is very greatly in excess of the population of Quincy, it will be observed that the excess of pupils is com- paratively slight. Such examples might be multiplied, but these may suffice to impress the fact that Quincy, with a moderately large population, and a moderate valuation, is of necessity called on to educate a school population relatively very large.
II. FINANCIAL.
Valuation of city, May 1, 1889
$12,319,245
10
For the ordinary school expenses of 1889, the City Council made the following appropriations :- For salaries, fuel and care of buildings $44,100 00
" transportation of pupils 1,200 00
" repairs* 2,500 00
" incidentals 3,500 00
books and stationery 2,300 00
evening drawing school 1,000 00
" other evening school . 1,200 00
$55,800 00
To the above should be added the sum of $100 08 re- ceived from the State School Fund and credited to the appropriation for incidentals.
EXPENDITURES IN 1889.
For salaries, fuel and care
·
$43,872 08
Unexpended balance, $227.92.
For transportation Unexpended balance, $252.80.
$947 20
For repairs $1,995 07 Unexpended balance, $4.93.
For incidentals
$3,967 43 Unexpended balance, $132.65.
For books and stationery . $2,299 26 Unexpended balance, $0.74.
For evening drawing school $829 91 Unexpended balance, $170.09.
For other evening schools
$1,198 91
Unexpended balance, $1.09.
*Of this amount $500.00 was transferred by vote of the Council to the appropriation for incidental expenses.
11
For the extraordinary expenses occasioned by burning of Willard school house, the Council appropriated the sum of
$5,500 00
Of this amount there was expended in 1889
5,395 59
Unexpended balance
$104 41
On subsequent pages will be found a financial report, which accounts in detail for all money expended during the year. Of the seven items for which money was appropriated, it will be seen that the appropriation for "Salaries, Fuel and Care," is nearly four-fifths of the total appropiation. In another connection, when I come to speak of the changes among teachers during the year, I shall call attention once more to the losses which the city suffers because of the meagre salaries paid. The total amount demanded for salaries is large, because there are many distinct salaries to be paid. When I state that, aside from principals and High School assistants, only ten teachers in the city receive as high a salary as $500 per year, while the next lower rate of compensation is $450, it becomes evident enough that individual salaries are very low. The cost of fuel cannot be lessened, and when our school-houses are provided with ad- equate means of ventilation, the cost of heating them will be materially increased. The pay of janitors is at the lowest fig- ure which will command satisfactory service. It is not univer- sally understood that compliance with State laws demands an appropriation for books and stationery, and for both varieties of evening schools. The Legislature of 1884 saw fit to make the schools of the State absolutely free schools. Everything from the slate pencils needed by the pupil of the lowest Primary School, to the French dictionary needed by a pupil of the High School, must be provided at public expense. With an attendance of pupils increasing at the rate of one hundred and fifty per year, it is reasonable to expect cor- responding increase in the cost of providing all necessary
12
supplies. That the School Board of Quincy has been mod- erate. in its demands is demonstrated by a glance at the appropriations of recent years. For the years 1884-85. the first after the Legislation above mentioned, the appropriation for books and stationery was $2,100, for the three succeeding years it was $2,000, for the year 1888 it was $2,200, and for 1889, $2,300. The statutes do not specify the time during which evening schools shall be in session, but simply declares that all cities and towns of ten thousand inhabitants shall main- tain them. Quincy might comply with the letter of the law and save money, but such a course would involve a violation of its spirit. If the city is to maintain evening schools at all, evidently it is the part of wisdom to provide a sufficient number of good teachers, suitable rooms, all needed equipments and to see that the terms are sufficiently long to ensure those results which ought to flow from the existence of such schools. I have written this much in regard to the financial operations of the School Department, not because such operations are in need of any defence at my hands, but from a feeling of confidence that when fully understood these operations will meet the hearty approval of the great mass of our people.
III. SCHOOL BUILDINGS.
High School of 3 rooms,
Date of erection 1853
Adams 10 « 1855
Coddington School of 9 rooms,
1855
John Hancock 8 " 1886
Quincy School of 8 rooms,
1873
Washington School of 8 rooms, "
1858
Willard School of 16 rooms, ( In process of erection )
* Wollaston ,, 9 4 Date of erection 1873
*Including addition to be completed April 1, 1890.
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IV. TEACHERS.
MEN
WOMEN
High School Principal
1
Assistants
2
Grammar School Principals Primary
5
1
1
Assistants in charge of grammar classes
18
Assistants in charge of primary classes
38
C
60
Director of Drawing .
1
Music
1
V. ATTENDANCE.
Whole number of pupils registered, 3,287, an increase of . 168
Average
belonging, 2,619, « 134
attending, 2,516, 148
Ratio of attendance to membership
.96
Pro rata of tardiness to average attendance
.36
.
·
Before discussing such topics as ordinarily find a place in our school reports, attention is called to two events of a char- acter which it is hoped may be restricted to the year 1889. On January 21, the upper portion of the Hardwick Building, in which were located our evening drawing classes, was destroyed by fire, together with the entire equipment of said classes. The work of these evening drawing classes has usually extended through twenty weeks. Eleven weeks had elapsed before this fire occurred, and with this event work for the season neces- sarily came to an end. On a subsequent page will appear some further account of this brief season's work, together with an account of the re-establisment of these classes in the succeeding autumn.
14
The city was called upon toface a far greater misfortune in the burning of the Willard School-house, which took place on the morning of Sunday, February 17. There were in attendance at the Willard School in the month of January 614 different pupils. It is difficult for any person not intimately connected with the task of securing temporary quarters and an entirely new outfit for so great a number of pupils to realize the full extent of this calamity. The destruction of the building in- volved a great pecuniary loss, and with the building was wiped out furniture, books, maps and a wealth of conveniences and appliances for teaching, which were the accumulation of years. A meeting of the School Board was held on February 18, and a special committee granted full power to provide temporary quarters and a new equipment for the school. As a result of the efforts of such special committee, the A. B, and C Grammar classes resumed work on the third floor of the John Hancock building on Monday, March 4, while the D Grammar class found a temporary home in Forrester's Hall, and the A Primary classes in Farnum's Hall. A week later, on Monday, March 11, the B, C and D Primary classes were assembled in St. Mary's Hall. These quarters were the best which could be found, and every effort has been made to make them safe and comfortable. In spite of all this, however, they are very illy-suited to the use which we are obliged to make of them, and great credit is due to teachers, parents and pupils for the patience with which they have endured the privations which were inevitable. With the . opening of each term since the destruction of the building, an increased measure of inconvenience has been experienced owing to the entrance of new pupils.
During the year 1889, 724 different pupils have been reg- istered in the Willard School, and in September, the average membership had increased to 668.
For the extraordinary expenses occasioned by this fire, the nature of which may be gathered from the accompanying finan-
15
cial report, the City Council placed at the disposal of the School Committee the sum of $5,500. Not only has this entire amount been found necessary, but many items have been charged to the account of ordinary school expenses.
Previous to the destruction of the Willard School house, the imperative need of additional school accommodations in that district was plainly evident. At meetings of the School Board held on January 11, January 19, and February 9, the mat- ter was carefully considered, and the conclusion reached that it was desirable to erect a six-room building on land to be acquired to the east of the drift way then extending from Copeland to Miller Streets. The destruction of the old building re- opened the whole question and further discussion only con- firmed the conclusion previously reached, that for the present the entire school population of the district should be gathered at a single point. At a meeting of the School Board, held on March 30, a communication to the City Council embodying the views of the school authorities was adopted, and since that time the whole matter of the new building has been beyond the immediate control of the Committee.
SCHOOL BUILDINGS.
Aside from the step taken to provide a new Willard School-house to which reference has already been made, the most important event of the year in the line of building oper- ations has been the provision for an enlargement of the Wol- laston School. This matter has been urged upon public atten . tion in our last three reports, and the need of more room has become steadily greater since the subject was first broached. By the plans finally adopted for the enlargement of this build- ing, four commodious school-rooms are secured, together with the necessary dressing-rooms, entries and staircase. These rooms are to be heated and ventilated by the Smead system, and the Smead system of dry closets will be placed in the base-
16
ment. It is expected that these rooms will be ready for occu- pancy at the opening of the summer term in April, 1890.
The Legislature of 1888, enacted two laws to which I ask special attention : Chapter 149 of the Acts and Resolves of 1888, is entitled, "An act to cause proper sanitary provisions and proper ventilation in public buildings and school-houses." Section 2, provides in part that "every public building and every school-house shall be ventilated in such a proper manner that the air shall not become so exhausted as to be injurious to the health of the persons present therein." I quote the whole of Section 3, on account of the heavy expenditure which will be necessary to comply with its provisons :
"Whenever it shall appear to an inspector of factories and public buildings that further or different sanitary provisions or means of ventilation are required in any public building or school-house in order to conform to the requirements of this act, and that the same can be provided without incurring unreason- able 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 there- upon be provided in accordance with such order by the public authority, corporation or person having charge of, owning or leasing such public building or school-house."
A reading of the entire chapter shows that its provisions are to be enforced by the inspection department of the district police force, and that such inspectors are clothed with almost unlimited powers. I think I am safe in asserting that, possibly aside from the John Hancock building, we have no school- house which even approaches the demands which an inspector, in the exercise of sound and reasonable discretion, would make upon the city. The others are substantially without means of ventilation which are of any value.
A reasonable compliance with this law involves first a heating apparatus, which will supply school-rooms with abun-
17
dant quantities of fresh and moderately heated air. It is pos- sible to secure such supply from furnaces, but as commonly constructed they supply air very insufficient in quantity and which comes into the room at a temperature altogether too high.
Where rooms are heated by stoves, this supply of pure fresh air may be secured by surrounding each stove with a jacket, and by bringing in liberal quantities of air by means of ducts leading from the outside to each stove. Secondly, a reasonable compliance with this law, involves the provision of adequate means for the removal of the air which has become impure. All ducts designed for this purpose must be of metal, must be of sufficient size to do the work for which they are constructed, and some means must be provided to ensure a steady outward flow of the vitiated air. In our older buildings may be seen ducts which are altogether too small, which are constructed of wood and which entirely lack means of assuring any flow of air, or if one exists, of determining that it shall be outward.
From the experience of other cities and towns, and from my knowledge of our own school buildings, I can see that we must be prepared for a heavy expenditure whenever these build- ings come under the eye of the inspector of the district.
Chapter 306 is " An act to regulate the erection and con- struction of certain buildings." It provides that in the erec- tion of school-houses and certain other buildings, a copy of the plans and such portions of the specifications as he may require shall be deposited with the inspector of public buildings, and said plans and specifications must be approved by him before the structure is erected. This course was pursued in the case of the new Willard building and the addition to the Wollaston buildings. This last chapter has nothing to do with our present school buildings, but its provisions must be observed in all sub- sequent building operations.
It would be contrary to all recent experience in Quincy if
II
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a year should elapse in which we did not somewhere feel the need of additional sittings. These unceasing demands for more school-rooms keep constantly before us the fact that our num- ber of school children is rapidly increasing, and it may help us to realize, as has been already suggested, that Quincy has to provide for a greater number of scholars than do some other cities of greater population.
During the year 1889, it has been the lot of the Adams School to suffer great inconvenience - to use a term which only partially describes the evil -from the lack of adequate accommodations. In the school report of '85-'86 may be found a table which gives dimensions and contents of each school-room, floor and cubic space per capita, etc., etc. According to that table the cubical contents of the C and D grammar rooms at the Adams School are respectively 9,286 cub. ft., and 9,554 cub. ft. Into the former of these rooms we have been obliged to crowd 64 pupils and into the latter 69. As a result, when the C Grammar seats were occu- pied, the cubic space for each pupil was 145 ft., and in the D Grammar room only 138 ft. When we remember that conser- vative authorities demand 250 cubic feet for each pupil, we see at once how grievously these children are wronged from a sani- tary point of view. Although the teachers of these rooms have been provided with assistants, such arrangement is but a make- shift and it must be plainly stated that we have not been able to do for these pupils what would be possible under proper exter- nal conditions. Evidently in a future not remote the Adams building will fail entirely to accommodate the increasing num- ber of pupils in its neighborhood. The perception of this fact leads me to suggest that, in my judgment, it should be carefully considered whether the High School building should not be given up to primary and grammar classes, and a new building erected for the High School. The present High School-house was erected in 1852, and is entirely lacking
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