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 1913 > Part 14
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being able to have enough copies of standard novels. One or the other must go away unsatisfied. Which? Books for the children's room especially, for which only a paltry 312 have been bought this past year; for this department is the one which has suffered most for books. The children's room is where the grade teachers find their supply for the schools; where two Branches now instead of one make large and ever larger demands for their increasing juvenile circulation. Books for the Italian readers and those who would be readers. This year we bought 347 less books than last year. This year we spent $350.03 of the city appropriation less for books than last year. The figures practically tally with the above ($355.98), which seems to show that which I submitted, namely; that the increase for expenses appropriated over the amount in 1912, having to be taken to maintain the Atlantic reading room, would leave us short of money for our regular needed living cx- penses. For we cannot supply live Branches if we do not have the wherewithal; and it is books, books for which I continually hear the call from inside as well as from the public.
In closing my report, two things I reiterate, as stated in my last report -- the need of more books and of increased salaries. Effi- ciency is coming to be the word par excellence of the 20th century. Perhaps the word is overdone, but certain it is that we cannot keep efficient workers on meagre salaries.
The ideal, as held forth to the least apprentice, is that in the two words-for service. Severe as have been the losses of the staff, to the cheerful, willing helpers who have remained or who have come to us, my thanks are due for whatever we have accomplished dur- ing the past year which, without doubt, has been the busiest year of the library's existence.
Respectfully submitted, ALICE G. WHITE, Librarian.
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STATISTICS.
Accessions.
Added by purchase, new books
1,703
Added by purchase, to replace old copies
329
Added by gifts
132
Added by binding periodicals
118
Added by return of missing books
12
Total gain
2,294
Discarded and replaced
255
Discarded and not replaced
64
Discarded from contagious diseases
19
Lost and paid for
16
Charged and not returned
39
Missing from outside shelves, Main hall
54
Missing from open shelves, Children's room
20
Missing from open shelves, West Quincy reading room 5
Total loss
472
Net gain In the library, Dec. 31, 1912
1,822
33,443
In the library, Dec. 31, 1913
35,265
Number of books bought from City Appropriation
1,669
Number of books bought from Cotton Center Johnson fund
34
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SIZE AND GROWTH BY CLASSES.
No. of vols. Added by in Library Dec. 31, 1913
purchase, 1913
Added by
gift, 1913
Added by bind- ing peri- odicals. 1013
General Works
188
8
10
Philosophy and Religion
1,150
40
7
Sociology
1,391
109
22
Science
1,195
34
3
Useful and Fine Arts
1,469
140
7
Literature and Philology
2,603
112
1
History
2,576
76
Travel
1,623
121
5
Biography
2,674
70
12
Fiction
6,368
649
2
Unclassified bound periodicals
4,356
110
Reference
1,297
27
20
Document Room
2,807
1
26
Children's Room
Fiction
2,606
211
Non-fiction
2,556
101
1
8
West Quincy Reading Room
203
2
1
Atlantic Reading Room Total
203
2
15
35,265
1,703
132
118
Vols. replaced, 1913
329
222
CIRCULATION BY CLASSES, 1913.
Main Hall
Children's Room
West Quincy Reading Room
Atlantic Reading Room
Schools
Total
General Works
800
738
849
386
2, 773
Philosophy
and Religion
909
152
40
115
5
1,221
Sociology
1,613
115
136
263
6
2,133
Science
1,386
783
529
851
120
3,669
Useful and
Fine Arts
3,092
817
953
502
100
5,464
Literature
& Philology
2,875
2,147
2,343
532
119
8,016
History
1,533
1,646
1,321
656
208
5,364
Travel
1,846
1,419
89
1,215
165
5,539
Biography
1,500
1,051
348
304
192
3,395
Fiction
42,969
14,848
18,942
16,531
1,276
94,566
Periodicals
(unbound)
12,181
2,575
2,047
2,042
1
18,846
Total
70,704
26,291
1
28,402
23,397
2,192
150,986
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Days open
304
Increase of circulation, Main hall
4,801
Increase of circulation, Children's room 2,668
Increase of circulation, West Quincy reading room
5.045
*Increase of circulation, Atlantic reading room 18,446 Total increase of home use circulation, 1913 30,960
Largest day's circulation, Main hall, Nov. 15 430
Largest day's circulation, Children's room, March 3 216
Largest day's circulation, West Quincy reading room, Feb.24 210
Largest day's circulation, Atlantic reading room, March 3 176
Average daily circulation, Main hall 232
Average daily circulation, Children's room
86
Average daily circulation, West Quincy reading room
93
Average daily circulation, Atlantic reading room
76
Average daily attendance, West Quincy reading room
110
Average daily attendance. Atlantic reading room
S6
Percentage of fiction, Main hall
60.7
Percentage of fiction, Children's room
56.4
Percentage of fiction, West. Quincy reading room
66.6
Percentage of fiction, Atlantic reading room
70.6
Vacation books loaned
247
Books of music loaned
627
Stereographs loaned
16,797
Recorded library use, Main hall
2.331
Recorded reference questions, Main hall
694
Recorded library use, Children's room
2,335
Recorded reference questions. Children's room
114
Books borrowed, Inter-library loan
1ยบ
Books loaned. Inter-library loan
6
*Open only 2 months and 1 week in 1912.
Registration.
New registrations
Cancelled by Whole no. of death removal, ur revision
borrowers. Dec. 31, 1913
Main hall
839
1,756
3,895
Children's room
442
336
1,081
West Quincy reading room
253
184
1,319
Atlantic reading room
313
3
910
*1,847
2,279
7,205
*Includes 60 re-registered
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Quincy Donors to the Thomas Crane Public Library during the year 1913.
Adams, Brooks. Book.
Arnold, Mrs. Zenas. Book.
Associated Charities of Quincy. Report.
Association of Students of Christian Science. Book to Atlantic
reading room.
Branscheid & Marten's. Free delivery of local papers to Atlantic reading room.
First Church of Christ, Scientist. Periodicals.
Gow, Mrs. John L. Book.
Hunting, Mrs. Nathaniel S. Books to Atlantic reading room.
Literature Committee of Quincy Women's Club. Opaque projector.
Melendy, A. Edward. "Woman's National Weekly".
Osgood, Miss Isabella H. New York Times Review of Books.
Prescott Publishing Co., "Quincy Daily Ledger" to the reading rooms
Quincy Branch National Alliance. "Christian Register."
Quincy. City of. Annual report.
Valuation list
School Department. Annual report.
Spargo Print. "Quincy Telegram" to the reading rooms.
Spear, Mrs. Charles A. "Universalist Leader"
Tobey, Rev. Rufus B. Book.
Wainwright, Miss Belinda E. Bock to West Quincy reading room.
Waterhouse, George S. "Ambition."
W. C. T. U. of Quincy. "Union Signal." "Young Crusader."
ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT ,
OF THE
City of Quincy
Massachusetts
For the year ending December 31, 1913
MANET
0 :1799
QUINCY 1888
Published by THE SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
226
SCHOOL COMMITTEE FOR 1913.
Term expires
At Large
DR. EDWARD H. BUSHNELL ... December 31, 1915
566 Washington Street. Quincy Point.
DR. NATHANIEL S. HUNTING December 31. 1913 1136 Hancock Street, Quincy.
MR. ARTHUR W. NEWCOMB. December 31, 1914
98 Fast Howard Street, Quincy Neck.
By Wards
Ward 1. MR. JOHN D. MACKAY .December 31, 1915 75 Greenleaf Street, Quincy.
Ward 2. MR. ARTHUR B. FOSTER. December 31, 1913
18 Bay View, Quincy Point.
Ward 3. MR. JOHN L. MILLER. . . December 31, 1913
211 Franklin Street. South Quincy.
Ward 4. MR JOSEPH H. McPHERSON. . December 31, 1914
80 Common Street, West Quincy.
Ward 5. DR. WILLIAM G. CURTIS . December 31, 1915
10 Grand View Avenue, Wollaston.
Ward 6. DR. DANIEL A. BRUCE. December 31, 1914 139 East Squantum Street, Atlantic.
Chairman MR. JOHN L. MILLER 211 Franklin Street, South Quincy.
Secretary of Board and Superintendent of Schools
MR. ALBERT LESLIE BARBOUR, 14 Linden Place, Quincy. Office, 8 Washington Street. Office hours: Mondays and Fri- days from 8 to 9 A. M., Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4 to 5 P. M.
Clerk
MISS LUCY M. HALLOWELL.
Office, 8 Washington Street. Office hours: 8 to 12 A. M. 2 to 5 P. M .; Saturdays, from 8 to 12 M.
Truant Officer
MR. CHARLES H. JOHNSON.
Office, 7 Temple Street, Room 3. Office hours for issuing labor certificates 8 to 10 A. M., 1.30 to 2 P. M., and from 7 to 9 all even- ings except Thursday.
The regular meetings of the School Board are held at eight o'clock P. M., the last Tuesday in each month.
227
STANDING SUB-COMMITTEES FOR 1913
Books, Supplies and Sundries MESSRS. NEWCOMB, CURTIS, MACKAY.
Text Books MESSRS. HUNTING, BUSHNELL, MACKAY.
Transportation MESSRS. FOSTER, McPHERSON, BRUCE.
Evening Schools MESSRS. BUSHNELL, MILLER, McPHERSON.
Special Subjects MESSRS. BRUCE, MILLER, NEWCOMB. Rules and Regulations, MESSRS. CURTIS, MACKAY, McPHERSON.
Teachers THE CHAIRMAN, MESSRS. BUSHNELL. BRUCE.
Finance and Salaries THE CHAIRMAN, MESSRS. MACKAY, HUNTING.
For the Different Schools
High MESSRS. MILLER, HUNTING, BUSHNELL Adams MESSRS. NEWCOMB, MILLER, McPHERSON
Atherton Hougli. . MESSRS. FOSTER, MACKAY, HUNTING
Coddington
MESERS. HUNTING, MACKAY, NEWCOMB
Cranch. MESSRS. NEWCOMB, BUSHNELL. CURTIS
. MESSRS. FOSTER, MILLER, McPHERSON
Gridley Bryant
John Hancock. MESSRS. MACKAY, BUSHNELL, NEWCOMB Lincoln MESSRS. MACKAY, HUNTING. McPHERSON Massachusetts Fields MESSRS. CURTIS, BRUCE, FOSTER Montclair MESSRS. BRUCE, CURTIS, McPHERSON Quincy. MESSRS. BRUCE, CURTIS, NEWCOMB
Washington MESSRS. BUSHNELL, FOSTER, NEWCOMB Willard. MESSRS. McPHERSON, HUNTING, BRUCE
Wollaston MESSRS. CURTIS, MILLER BRUCE
Advisory Committee on Industrial Education
MESSRS. H. GERRISH SMITH, ALEXANDER W. RUSSELL. HERBERT S. BARKER, HENRY A, MARR, GEORGE L. COLBURN.
228
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
With its rapidly increasing cosmopolitan population Quincy is confronted with new and somewhat perplexing problems.
The duty of the School Committee, imposed by State legislation. requires that we provide adequate means of education for not only the children, but also adults who may desire to avail themselves of educational opportunities. To meet these demands without undue expenditure of the money of our already heavily burdened taxpay- ers constitutes a problem of no small moment to your School Com- mittee; and we desire to emphasize the fact that no obligation is in- curred except after careful deliberation by the Board.
After nine years of faithful service, during four years of which he was chairman, John L. Miller leaves us to enter a larger sphere of public usefulness, having been elected Mayor of the City. In Mr. Miller, we shall have at City Hall a man who understands our needs and will be in full sympathy with our work.
No small part of the success of our schools during the past year, as in preceding years, has been due to the ability and zeal of the Superintendent, Albert. L. Barbour. And we here record our con- tinued confidence in him as well as in our Masters and Teachers.
BUILDINGS
When the Atherton Hough Schoolhouse was completed three years ago, we expected that adequate accommodations were thereby provided for many years. A remarkable increase in the population of Houghs Neck, however, has brought congestion and we find our- selves confronted with the imperative need of additional room. We therefore recommend and urge that immediate steps be taken to that end.
In this connection, we desire to call attention to the fact that the Washington Schoolhouse, although a modern building, has no hall and requires additional rooms. We urge that the needs be supplied by adding a hall and four rooms to the building.
HIGH SCHOOL
The capacity of the High School is already taxed to its limit, and very soon the City will be obliged either to enlarge it or erect another building for similar purposes. We beg to call the attention of the Mayor and the City Council to the existing conditions.
The new Adains Schoolhouse was completed recently and is now occupied. It was formally dedicated on December 18. This building, which is substantially a duplicate of the Wollaston School, embodies the latest approved ideas in schoolhouse building.
Industrial training has been continued at the High School during the year and with highly satisfactory results. The importance of this branch of education is constantly becoming more apparent and we avail ourselves of this opportunity to recommend the establish- ment of a full time Industrial School.
229
After careful study of the situation, and with full knowledge of the necessities of the case, the Advisory Committee on Industrial Education has made a comprehensive report with recommendations to this effect, which is to be published herewith. We commend the report and recommendations to the attention of any who may be in- terested in the extension of industrial training.
Despite the fact that our budget was not allowed in its entirety, the Council, contrary to its established policy, having failed to ap- propriate the amount asked for by the School Committee, we have been able to keep our expenditure within the appropriation. having an unexpended balance of $6.80. This is not to be taken, however, as indicating that the budget as originally prepared was too large. In every instance where the Council cut the estimate of the Committee, the expenses of the department have equalled or exceeded the origi- nal estimate. The funds to do this have come from the appropria- tion for instruction and from the increased receipts from miscella- neous sources. Owing to the long continued illness of several teach- ers, whose places were taken by our assistants and to the sudden and unexpected resignations of several other teachers, whose places were taken in the same way, a considerable amount of money was saved.
Fewer assistants were also engaged in the summer and in some instances seniors from the Normal School were taken for the pur- pose, who served without pay.
The budgets of the School Committee have always been prepared with a due regard for what is essential to successful school admin- istration. That the figures have been very low in proportion to the school expenditure of other cities is widely known and proven by statistics Any cut in the figures, as the School Committee has em- phasized many times, can only be made at the risk of impairing the efficiency of the service.
Notwithstanding the fact of straitened circumstances, we have slightly increased the salaries of masters, assistants and grade teachers, thereby increasing the inducements for them to remain with us.
The Parents and Teachers Associations in the different sections of the City arc justifying their existence by the efforts they are mak- ing to interest the people in the education of the children.
We cannot too firmly impress upon the parents the fact that. without interfering in the slightest degree with the prescribed work of the teachers, they can co-operate in their homes in such a manner as to assist the teachers greatly in executing the functions allotted to their charge.
The foregoing report, presented by a special committee, con- sisting of Dr. Daniel I .. Bruce. Dr. Edward H. Bushnell and Mr. John D. Mackay was adopted as the annual report of the School Committee of 1913.
ALBERT L. BARBOUR, Secretary.
230
REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS.
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen :
I have the honor, as superintendent of schools, of submitting herewith my fifth annual report, it being the thirty-ninth annual report in the series issued from that office and accompanying the sixty-fourth report of the School Committee of Quincy.
THE YEAR'S FEATURES
Each year in school administration, while much like the one preceding, is characterized by incidents and advances of its own, and the past year has been no exception.
The new Adams School has been completed, dedicated and oc- cupied and adds much to the school facilities of the city. There is now no district of the city, where the pupils are not provided for in brick buildings, well guarded against fire, and equipped with all the accessories and conveniences that go to make up a modern school.
The old Adams School building has become available as a home for the Industrial School and will no doubt hereafter take that name. While only two rooms are at present occupied, proposed action which will be discussed later in this report, will rapidly bring the whole building into occupancy.
A Saturday afternoon class conducted in connection with the In- dustrial School as an experiment bids fair to become a permanent feature of the city's programme of industrial education and to form a nucleus for future continuation school work.
The pre-vocational classes formed in 1912 completed their first year's work in June and their success has led to the formation of an additional class for boys.
The evening school system has again shown a marked increase in attendance and efficiency, especially at the point where success is most essential, among the illiterates.
Manual training for eighth grade boys is gradually being brought from the high school to the grammar schools and in several of the buildings, quarters for this work have been set aside and equipped, and the work is going on with greater profit than before.
Sewing in the upper grades has been given more time and made more efficient, by the addition of another instructor to the teaching corps.
More liberal. state laws as to the use of the school halls and the adoption by the city of the statutory act governing their use have led to an increasing call for them in the service of the public inter- est.
An increase in salaries has been granted to the grade teachers and masters' assistants, and the rules and regulations of the school committee in general have been amended and reprinted.
The year has been marked by a large increase in school popu-
231
lation and attendance. The necessity of providing added accommo- dations in two sections of the city has been urged upon the City Council.
SCHOOL ACCOMMODATIONS.
Reference has been made to the completion of the new Adams School, which was dedicated December 18 with hundreds of the citizens and parents of that district in attendance. Ten rooms are now occupied and two rooms are available for future growth. A change in the district lines between the Adams district, and the Cod- dington and Washington districts, will relieve congestion in the Coddington district for a time, will take a few children from the Washington district and will bring the Adams building gradually into full and complete use. Both the Coddington and the Washing- ton schools are, at present. fully occupied and in some rooms over crowded. As the Adams School will serve as a relief only partially and temporarily thought should be given the matter of providing for the future growth of the Coddington School while immediate ac- tion is necessary in the case of the Washington School, where the growth now appears both constant and rapid.
The Atherton Hough school should also have an addition at once, as the School Committee has already pointed out to the City Coun- cil, since congestion at this school can only be relieved by returning to the policy of sending children by electric cars, as in former years, to the Coddington School. Little change appears in the attendance conditions of the other portions of the city, save in the Lincoln School. The four room addition at this building was occupied for the first time four years ago. All the rooms are now occupied one or two of them crowded and the new child labor laws which are apt to have a special effect on this district, will undoubtedly cause an in- crease in the attendance. To provide accommodations for pupils of high school age is going to give the city considerable concern in the immediate future. A decided increase in enrollment last Sep- tember brought every room into use. Every seat was filled and in several rooms chairs were placed in front of the rows of seats. There are now as many pupils enrolled in the high school as the building was intended to accommodate and an increase may be sure- ly looked for each year both because of the steady growth of the city and the growing demands for higher education. For a time
relief can be secured through the method proposed later in the re- port, in the discussion of the Industrial School, a relief accompan- ied by economy to the city. Unless the plan proposed is adopted, measures should be taken at once to provide suitable quarters for at least five hundred more high school pupils, a number which rep- resents the probable secondary school growth of the next ten years.
SCHOOL FINANCES.
School finances are ever an important factor in municipal ad- ministration and the problem of providing the funds necessary to
232
equip and maintain the public schools of this city in a worthy man- ner is no light one.
It is shallow reasoning which points to the attendance and cost of administration of some years ago and asks why the costs have risen out of proportion to the attendance. The same economic factors control in school financial administration as in personal, domestic or business finances. The sharp rise in the cost of school administration is frankly admitted and as long as the public de- mand for the best schools controls, this cost, is likely to increase. The vital fact, however, to be weighted is that, although the cost of administering the schools of the city is a constantly rising one, as is true of all other cities, due to causes which are apparent and need no explanation or excuse, the increase in such cost in this city is not keeping pace with the increase in other cities of the Metropoli- tan district. Comparison has been made again and again between the school costs of this city and those of other cities. For instance, the per capita cost of schooling in Quincy the past year has risen $1.23 over 1912, but in the meantime the per capita cost in the state at large increased $4.22, and is now one-third greater than the cost in this city. Such comparisons give cold comfort to those seeking to find waste in school administration and no comfort at all to those interested in the proper educational development of the city. A financial policy which constantly restricts expenditures for equipment and maintenance, and which maintains a scale of teachers' salaries for the city not on a par with, but always a little below its neighbors can have only one tendency if too long con- tinued. Of course it must be distinctly understood that successful school administration is not a matter of money alone, but it is plain that with rising costs an adequate amount of money must be provid- ed, if the department is to meet constantly increasing demands that are made on the schools. For ten years or more, the proportion of the whole amount raised by taxation in this city, devoted to the maintenance of public schools has constantly decreased. Put in other words, this means that the city has been devoting relatively more and more to its other municipal expenditures, but less and less to the school department. A statistical table on a later page puts this in graphic form. The school committee of this city has been uniformly conservative and careful in preparing its ycarly budget. The budget as finally allowed this year was so severely pruned as to interfere with the efficiency of the schools. Such a policy pur- sued steadily will bring rapid deterioration in school product.
SCHOOL WORK.
The duties and the functions of a city school system are numerous and increasing both in number and in scope. Putting the child in possession of the tools of knowledge still remains as in former times one of the fundamental ones. With all the time and money that may be expended on other school activities, the acquire- ment of the rudiments of knowledge is still regarded as the primary
233
business of the child. the ultimate and all prevailing business being. of course, the acquirement of sound character as a contribution to citizenship and society.
There has never been a time in the history of education when the subject matter and the methods of instruction received such keen and intelligent study as they do today. Less and less is
a teacher inclined to take directions on faith : more and more does he search for sound reasons for what he does and the methods he uses. Much to the pleasure of the intelligent teacher, the present country- wide movement toward standardization, efficiency and the elimina- tion of waste is making progress in the domain of education. To a certain extent this movement is doing and is capable of doing im- mense goed. Only as its limitations are misunderstood can it do harm. The superintendent, the master, the teacher, are all concerned with the success of each individual child in the system. To devise means of putting the child in possession of the tools of human know- ledge in the shortest time is the ambition of them all. All are in- terested to discover what may reasonably be expected of a child at a given school age to work out a standard in other words, and all are equally interested to measure their own pupils by this standard. Success in having aall pupils measure up to this standard, if ac- companied by right tendencies in character development would bring pleasure to all. In the modern graded school the teachers and masters now see their problem not as one but as many. Each child is a problem by itself, the degree of difficulty varying with the ease with which the school conditions can be adapted to his needs. Looked at in this way, as is now universally the case. it is in- evitable that the school should be more successful than in former days when the individual was lost sight of in the class.
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