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 1916 > Part 17
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SCHOOL COMMITTEE FOR 1916.
At Large.
Dr. Nathaniel S. Hunting
Term Expires December 31, 1916
1136 Hancock Street, Quincy.
Mr. Arthur W. Newcomb December 31, 1917 98 East Howard Street, Quincy Neck.
Dr. Edward H. Bushnell . December 31, 1918 566 Washington Street, Quincy Point.
By Wards.
Ward 1. Mr. John D. Mackay December 31, 1918 75 Greenleaf Street, Quincy.
Ward 2. Mr. Arthur B. Foster . December 31, 1916 18 Bay View, Quincy Point.
Ward 3. Mr. Alfred O. Diack December 31, 1916 47 Independence Avenue, South Quincy.
Ward 4. Mr. Joseph H. McPherson. December 31, 1917 SO Common Street, West Quincy.
Ward 5. Mr. Ernest W. Towne. December 31, 1918 25 Hamilton Street, Wollaston.
Ward 6. Dr. Daniel A. Bruce December 31, 1917 139 East Squantum Street, Atlantic.
Chairman. Mr. John D. Mackay.
Secretary of Board and Superintendent of Schools. Mr. Albert Leslie Barbour. 14 Linden Place, Quincy.
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STANDING SUB-COMMITTEES FOR 1916.
Books, Supplies and Sundries. Messrs. Foster, McPherson, Towne.
Textbooks. Messrs. Bushnell, Bruce, Hunting.
Transportation. Messrs. Diack, Newcomb, Towne.
Evening Schools. Messrs. McPherson, Diack, Bruce.
Special Subjects. Messrs. Towne, Hunting, Foster.
Rules and Regulations. Messrs. Newcomb, Bushnell, Diack ..
Teachers.ยบ Chairman, Hunting, Bruce.
Finance and Salaries. Chairman, Hunting, Diack.
For the Different Schools.
High Messrs. Mackay, Hunting, Bushnell'
Adams. Messrs. Diack, Newcomb, McPherson
Atherton Hough Messrs. Hunting, Foster, Bushnell- Coddington Messrs. Hunting, Foster, Mackay Cranch. Messrs. Foster, Diack, Towne
Quincy
Gridley Bryant. Messrs. McPherson, Towne, Diack John Hancock. Messrs. Newcomb, Diack, Bruce Lincoln. Messrs. Newcomb, Diack, Towne Massachusetts Fields. .Messrs. Towne, Bruce, Mackay Montclair Messrs. Bruce, Bushnell, Mackay Messrs. Bruce, Hunting, Bushnell Washington Messrs. Bushnell, Foster, Newcomb Willard . Messrs. McPherson, Towne, Bruce Wollaston, Messrs. Towne, Hunting, McPherson
257
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CITY OF QUINCY
To Serve with Chairman and Superintendent as a Committee on Use of School Halls. Mr. McPherson.
Advisory Committee on Industrial Education for Men. Messrs. H. Gerrish Smith, Alexander W. Russell, Herbert S. Barker, Henry A. Marr, Charles L. Pratt.
Advisory Committee on Industrial Education for Women.
Mrs. Carl G. Horst, Mrs. Robert E. Foy, Mrs. George W. Abele.
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
To the Citizens of Quincy:
The School Committee of the city of Quincy, in conformity with a statutory requirement and in discharge of an agreeable duty, submits this, its annual report of the year 1916, the same being the sixty-sixth public school report to be made in Quincy.
At the beginning of the year, the Mayor and City Council, sharing the common sentiment of loyalty for the cause of popular education, placed at our disposal the sum of $246,743.46, which was the amount asked for in our budget, plus receipts. We have this year, as in previous years, kept within the amount asked for and appropriated and we shall close the year with an unexpended balance of about one hundred dollars after paying a few bills which are at this date outstanding.
Much though we should like to avoid what might appear to some as needless reiteration, we feel constrained by a sense of candor to express again our continued and unqualified confidence in our Superintendent of Schools, Albert L. Barbour, and our appreciation of his ability, zeal and industry. We confidently assert that better results were never obtained in our schools than during the eight years that he has been with us. In this connection we take occasion to observe that he and all concerned are fortunate in the kind of principals and teachers who serve under him. Friction is unknown and fidelity and unity of purpose are plainly evident in all the schools.
The past year has not been particularly eventful, but steady progress has been made and two new features have been adopted.
A State-aided Industrial School for girls was opened in the Arnold house, adjacent to the Coddington School. Thirty girls arc cnrolled and the school is expected to give a good account of itself in due time.
Two school nurses have been engaged and are giving their entire . time to looking after the health of the pupils. A dental clinic for all the schools has been cstablished at the Coddington School, with Dr. Bernard N. Farren in charge. It has been found that the services of nurse or dentist increase the well-being and efficiency of the pupil treated, to a remarkable degree.
At the beginning of the school year infantile paralysis was quite prevalent in Massachusetts and had made its appearance in Quincy. Quite naturally, parents were deeply concerned, and numerous requests were made that we defer the opening of the schools. After they were opened several requests were made that we close them for a time. It was the opinion of the School Committee and the local Board of Health, however, as well as that of the State Health Inspector and practically all the physicians in Quincy, that the children were safer in school, under the vigilant eyes of teachers, school nurses, Board of Health nurses and school physicians, than they would be away from school, and that the disease could be more easily controlled if we kept the schools open. We acted accordingly as a matter of imperative duty, as we saw it, much though we would like to do anything that might allay the fears of those
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CITY OF QUINCY
parents who took a different view of the situation. The results justified the wisdom of our course. So far as known to us, only two pupils were attacked by the disease. There was recovery in each case.
The growth of our school population goes on apace. Our enrollment this year is 7593 as against 7187 last year. The city continues to grapple as best it may with the ever-present problem of school congestion. The two new buildings to which reference was made in last year's report are being erected and rapidly nearing completion. They are sixteen-room schools, of much larger dimensions, with one exception, than any hereto- fore erected in this city, and necessarily more expensive. The one in Ward 6 we have named the " Francis W. Parker," in honor of Quincy's first Superintendent of Schools, a man who, to quote the words of John Quincy Adams, " transformed our public schools, finding them machines and leaving them living organisms," the man who, to quote Mr. Adams further, "breathed life, growth and happiness into our schoolrooms." We felt that his name should be perpetuated in this city where he developed his famous system and that there could be no more appropriate monu- ment to his memory than this modern schoolhouse. Such a name must also, in our opinion, serve as a stimulus to every teacher who may be employed in the school. Our action may be tardy recognition of what our schools owe Colonel Parker, but it will be admitted that it is fitting recognition.
The other school, that located in Ward 2, we have named the " Daniel Webster " in honor of a great advocate, whose name on building or diploma will ever serve as an incentive to high aim.
Although land for a schoolhouse site was purchased in Squantum some time ago and the need of a school in that section is growing more and more apparent, we did not feel justified in requesting the City Council to make an appropriation for the purpose this year because of the unusually generous, although strictly necessary, appropriation made for school administration this year, and the imminent need of more High School accommodations. At the High School, with normal seating capacity for 960, we are accommodating 1116 pupils. It has been found necessary to fur- nish and occupy laboratories and a part of the Assembly Hall for classroom purposes. In several instances pupils have no desks, being limited to chairs for furniture.
The friendly and intelligent interest manifested by the people in the schools and the administration of our trust has been a source of satis- faction to us. We hope the same commendable interest will be sustained. To the press are due our thanks for disseminating useful information con- cerning the schools from time to time and helping maintain in the com- munity an atmosphere of fairness for those having them in charge.
It was a saying of Aristotle that education was an ornament in pros- perity and a refuge in adversity. The accuracy of the assertion cannot be gainsaid. It may also be safely said that the life of the republic will continue to depend upon the maintenance of a high degree of popular intelligence.
For the two reasons suggested, Quincy must continue to maintain her schools at their present and past high standard, making ample provision for the increasing demands of the changing times. We cannot close this report more appropriately than by quoting the tribute of Horace Mann. He says: "Let the common school be expanded to its capabilities; let it be worked with the efficiency of which it is susceptible and nine-tenths of the crimes in the penal code would become obsolete; the long catalogue of human ills would be abridged; men would walk more safely by day
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and every pillow would be more inviolable by night; property, life and character held by a strong tenure and all rational hopes respecting the future brightened."
The foregoing report, presented by a special committee consisting of Mr. John D. Mackay, Dr. E. H. Bushnell and Dr. D. A. Bruce, was adopted as the annual report of the School Comittee of 1916.
ALBERT L. BARBOUR, Secretary.
REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS.
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen:
I have the pleasure of submitting herewith my eighth annual report as Superintendent of the Public Schools of this city, it being the forty- second in the series of such reports.
The Year's Progress.
It is rarely that any year in our city witnesses so much progressive and constructive work in education as has the past year and the com- munity may reasonably be proud of its willingness to finance and to sup- port its governing authorities in the working out of their plans.
There are, first of all, two splendid schoolhouses approaching com- pletion and being anxiously awaited.
There is a State-aided and approved Home-Making School for girls, successfully organized, comfortably housed and equipped and apparently destined to fill a distinct place in the city's school system.
The Boys' Industrial School has had an extension into another trade and the past year has seen a large room equipped as a machine shop and a group of boys enrolled in the machinists' course.
The addition of a primary supervisor, giving her full time to methods of instruction in the first three grades, is proving a splendid success.
On the side of public health promotion, the year has seen the em- ployment first of one school nurse, then a second, as well as the equipment of a dental clinic which proved an immediate success and unquestionably has met popular approval.
All the foregoing measures are of marked worth; they represent a distinct step forward and they contribute very materially to the educational advantages that the city has to offer.
Finances.
Each year the cost of administering the schools of the city rises above the cost of preceding years, both in total and per capita. An increased total is to be expected annually so long as our school population gains rapidly and so long as our community continues its present commendable interest in vocational and evening schools and in the health side of public education.
An increased per capita cost is also to be expected annually, both because the costs of all types of commodities and labor are rising to new levels and because a progressive school administration must provide for its citizens and their children those educational opportunities which fit best and most broadly for life. For that reason, with school costs rising generally, with New England communities providing more com- pletely for their children, there is no necessity for apologizing because our own school costs are in line with the general tendency. Rather should
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REPORT OF SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
we satisfy ourselves that the city of Quincy is expending as much as it should to get the best results and we should inquire whether in some directions a slightly increased expenditure would not bring largely in- creased returns.
As an illustration, the School Committee in September appointed, at my request, a primary supervisor who was to give her entire time to the supervision of methods of teaching in the first three grades. The added expense to the school cost of those three grades scarcely exceeds one per cent, but, on the other hand, we are expecting and obtaining an increase in efficiency far in excess of the proportionate results which such an expenditure brings.
Also, the opening of new schoolrooms, reducing the number of pupils per teacher, while causing an increased per capita cost, brings an in- creased efficiency entirely out of proportion to the cost. By the same process of rcasoning, it is poor economy to pay teachers less than the prevailing salary scale in other cities or to omit any provision which will make the city's educational system produce its maximum output with the minimum waste or lost energy. With this policy the School Com- mittee has always been in accord, and, I think, this community as well.
School Accommodations.
The close of the present school year finds the school buildings of the city badly crowded, but we look forward to the occupancy of two sixteen- room buildings now approaching completion. The Francis W. Parker School will obviate the necessity in Wards 5 and 6 of any child on its way to school crossing the railroad track. It will entirely relieve, for some time to come, the congestion now prevailing in the Wollaston and Quincy schools, and will reduce for the time being the numbers at the Massa- chusetts Fields building. Incidentally, twelve to fourteen rooms of the new building itself will be occupied as soon as ready.
The Daniel Webster School will adequately relieve the Adams, Cod- dington and Washington Schools and will also be nearly filled when opened for occupancy. The marked growth of the city in Wards 1 and 5 in- dicates that within a short time a new building will be required which will serve the children of that section of the wards near the boundary line.
The attendance at the High School has now reached a stage where immediate consideration is necessary to provide for the future. Whether that provision shall be in the nature of another central high school or by the provision of Junior High Schools must be carefully considered and a decision reached. From the pedagogical standpoint the Junior High School system has undeniable advantages. From an administrative standpoint it occasionally presents certain difficulties which are peculiar to each individual community and which it is difficult to overcome.
Briefly stated, a Junior High School system would work out the following results:
1. There would be an increased number of schools providing instruc- tion for the first six grades.
2. There would be a small number of centrally located buildings providing instruction in the seventh, eighth and ninth grades.
3. The present High School building would become the Senior High School, providing instruction for the tenth, eleventh and twelfth grades.
4. There would be in the Junior High School all the work now done in the Freshman year of the present High School, together with an op- portunity to make a differentiation of work in the seventh and eighth grades at an earlier age than is now possible.
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CITY OF QUINCY
The advantages of the Junior High School may be briefly summarized thus:
1. The opportunity which the Junior High School provides for earlier and more gradual differentiation of courses than now obtains under the present system, recognizes the physiological stages in education, makes education a more continuous process and meets the needs of individual differences more completely than is now possible.
2. The bad break between elementary schools and High Schools now existent is avoided, closer articulation is provided for and the pupil is led over gradually from the maternal system of government of the elementary grades to the full personal responsibility of the Senior High School.
3. Opportunity is given the child in the Junior High School to find himself more completely than is now the case, before he goes on to the Senior School. He is introduced earlier to subjects and work which will give him vocational information and enlightenment; there is provision for more pre-vocational training and information than is now possible and, while vocational choice will not be made any earlier than is now the case, it will be made with greater intelligence.
4. The system provides for an earlier opportunity to begin the study of foreign languages and for a greater amount of attention to manual training and household arts than is now possible, both of which are greatly to be desired.
The Junior High School needs for its proper development a special type of building with gymnasium, shops, laboratories and special equip- ment, it needs teachers of special training and education and should be regarded as a distinct type of school, with a definite mission and part to play in the educational system.
A Junior High Schools system is not a device to save money and it is a mistake to advocate it from that standpoint. As a matter of fact, if it does what it is intended to do, it will result in increased per capita expense. Neither can a Junior High School system be imposed easily in all instances on the existing system.
The topography of a city and the location of its school buildings already in use have a very great part to play in the solution of this problem and the difficulties arising from these factors are frequently the determining ones.
The greatest problem that the Quincy School Committee has before it at the present time is to decide whether the situation is yet ripe for the adoption of the Junior High School system and to plan its building program accordingly. In all probability the present High School building will be so crowded next September that a resort to the two-session system may be necessary. At all events, the immediate consideration of a High School building program is now in order.
Supervision - Teacher Improvement.
Brief mention has just been made of the fact that a supervisor of primary methods is now employed for the purpose of enabling the teachers of the first three grades to get the greatest possible returns from their efforts. I would suggest and recommend that, with the opening of the new buildings now under construction, a second supervisor of methods be engaged to work with the teachers above the third grade. No ex- penditure the city could make would bring better and more prompt re- turns.
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REPORT OF SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
To sccure the best possible results from the efforts of the teaching staff, supervision should be sufficiently close and personally helpful to enable every teacher to work with enthusiasm toward the realization of definite ideals. It is quite obvious that the Superintendent, with his multiplicity of duties and demands on his time, with the large amount of attention which he must give to general administrative details, with a general oversight of the many types of schools now conducted, is limited as to the amount of time that he is able to give to individual teacher improvement.
The district master, too, must divide his time between administrative and supervisory work, between office duties, school banking, athletics and the many details which go to make up the school world which he manages and, while he is able to give much help to the individual teacher, the school still needs the assistance of the supervisor who can give her entire time to method supervision unhampered by any of the duties of administration. The supervisor is able to get an intimate knowledge of the methods of instruction, viewed horizontally, grade by grade, through the schools of the entire city, which neither the Superintendent nor the master of the building can ever acquire.
This city, a good many years ago, inaugurated the policy of giving two buildings to a master, a policy which in the last few years a great many other and larger cities have begun to follow, as a wise and economical one. Accompanying this policy of making the master directly responsible for the administration of a fairly large school unit, we should follow the example of a great many other wisely administered school systems in providing ample supervision and assistance in teaching methods by super- visors who shall be responsible for certain sections of the school curriculum under the direction of the superintendent and in co-operation with the masters.
Within the past few years, a great amount of attention and study has been directed toward establishing standards of attainment in given subjects and grades. The teaching force of this city has kept in closc touch with this progress, has followed its literature and in such lines as it appeared practicable has adopted these standards as its own by which to measure its progress. The setting up of these standards is a source of great satisfaction to the conscientious and progressive teacher. No longer is she obliged to gauge her progress by rule of thumb or guess methods. She knows exactly what may be expected of a given gradc, pupils themselves learn to appreciate it, and definiteness takes the place of uncertain groping.
Health and Hygiene.
The School Department has made its greatest advance this year in that line which is the most fundamental of all, the conservation and pro- tection of children's health. In January the Committee continued the services as school nurse of Miss Jackson, whose employment was financed originally by the Quincy Women's Club, and in September, finding that one nurse was unable to do all the very necessary work which was pressing, an additional nurse was engaged.
The serious epidemic of infantile paralysis coming on at this time obliged both nurses to turn aside from everything else and devote all their attention to following up the course of this disease, and their efforts were supplemented for two or three months by two nurses who were cn- gaged at the expense of the Board of Health.
The very thorough and careful work done by the nurses during these months, in the schools and in the homes, has given a great many of our
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CITY OF QUINCY
citizens a realization of the value of the service rendered by such officials which they could have obtained in no other way. The figures given herewith are of interest as showing the surprising amount and variety of service which has been rendered during the year in the interest of public health. The figures should be read and read carefully to appreciate the volume of this work.
Summarized Report of the School Nurses.
Miss Jackson, from January 1, 1916, to January 1, 1917.
Miss Rand, from September 1, 1916, to January 1, 1917.
New cases examined for various causes 2654
Old cases examined for various causes 4811
Homes calls made 1120
Cases referred to school physician . 541
Cases referred to school dental clinic. 360
Cases referred and taken to Forsyth Dental Infirmary
331
Cases referred and taken to Eye and Ear Infirmary
226
Cases referred to other clinics.
16
Adenoid and tonsil cases operated on at Quincy Hospital
8
Total operations arranged for adenoids and tonsils . 34
Examinations made with Board of Health for scarlet fever
8173
Number cases scarlet fever found in school and excluded 11
Number cases diphtheria found in school and excluded.
1
In September the School Committee opened a dental clinic in the office of the Coddington School, provided it with up-to-date equipment and selected as the school dentist Dr. Bernard N. Farren, at that time con- nected with the Forsyth Dental Infirmary in Boston and consequently thoroughly experienced in dental practice among children. The clinic is open daily from nine to five, except on Saturday, when it is open only during the forenoon and when only extractions are attended to. On other days ten children come to the clinic for filling in addition to any emergency cases that may be sent in. The children are selected for treatment at the clinic by the school nurses and must before treatment secure the written consent of their parents. All fillings are of porcelain or cement and no general anesthetics are employed in extractions. A slight charge is made each patient, sufficient to pay the cost of materials used.
Work was begun in the last grade of the schools and thus far the cases in that grade have not all been completed, a fact which gives some idea of the great need of the service which this clinic brings. The detailed statement which is given of Dr. Farren's work since September 1 is of interest.
Report of the Dental Clinic.
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