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 1924 > Part 21
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The outstanding events of the past year have been the com- pletion of the senior High School and of the addition to the Massa- chusetts Fields School. The former relieves what had become an almost intolerable congestion, and now makes it possible for teachers and pupils alike to do their best work. That the building is thoroughly appreciated is shown by the record increase in high school attendance. The addition to the Massachusetts Fields School has been so planned that, when the old building can no longer be used, it may be replaced by a similar addition, together making a completed whole. Both are buildings of which we may justly be proud.
Improved working conditions in the schools have resulted, but, in spite of these additions to our school accommodations, the rapid growth in school attendance and the generally congested condition throughout the city make further enlargement imperative. This, we believe, may best be done by the early establishment of the junior high school system, as outlined in our ten-year building program. A start has already been made at the old high school.
312
CITY OF QUINCY
No argument in favor of the junior high school is necessary, as it is no longer an experiment, but a recognized part of the best modern school systems. It is our intention to have four schools. Land in the south part of Quincy has already been purchased by the city for one building, and a site for one in the north part of the city has been approved by our committee. We trust that building operations on both lots may be begun in the near future. As both are to be of the same size, the same plans with slight changes, due to the difference in the shape of the lots, may be used, and we believe that a real saving in cost can be effected by carrying on the construction of both buildings at the same time. Such action will also speed the final establishment of the junior high school system.
School costs are necessarily increasing, for obvious reasons, but we have the satisfaction of knowing that they have increased much less rapidly in Quincy than in the State at large, as may be seen by reference to the superintendent's report which follows. Such a record reflects great credit upon the efficient manner in which the superintendent has administered the affairs of the department and the care with which he has expended the funds allotted to it.
Marked improvement is evident in the lines of State-aided work, viz .: Industrial School, Evening Industrial School for Men, Classes in Practical Arts for Women, Continuation School, Home Making School and Evening Academic School. This is due to the closer supervision made possible by the appointment of an assistant super- intendent, who has given the greater part of his time to the de- velopment of these schools.
Again we strongly urge prompt action in developing Faxon Field, so that it may be used for athletics by the students of the senior high school. We regret the long delay in doing this neces- sary work. The need is only too apparent when we realize, as stated in our last annual report, that "properly directed physical training should go hand in hand with mental training."
The only reason, of course, for our schools is the pupil, and, while buildings are necessary, their value depends upon the ability and efficiency of the superintendent and teaching force. In this we believe Quincy is most fortunate. Our requirements for teachers are high, and their ability and fine professional spirit are clearly demonstrated by the large number who are continuing their studies and availing themselves of the opportunities afforded by the merit system. The general efficiency of our school system is testified to by the large numbers of visitors from other school systems, and by the high standing of our graduates who go to higher institutions of education.
In closing we cannot speak too highly of the fine spirit of co- operation prevailing throughout the department between super- intendent, supervisors and teachers. It is an earnest of real success.
The foregoing report, prepared by a special committee consisting of George W. Abele and Sydney W. Young, was adopted and ordered printed as the annual report of the School Committee for 1924.
FRED H. NICKERSON, Secretary of School Committee.
313
REPORT OF SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
IN MEMORIAM
ELIZA F. DOLAN
Forty years a teacher in the Quincy Schools Born June 20, 1860 Died November 9, 1924
SAMUEL D. DEFOREST
Fourteen years a janitor in the John Hancock School
Born June 16, 1845 Died June 18, 1924
314
CITY OF QUINCY
REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS
To the School Committee of Quincy:
The following report presents such facts and discussion with re- spect to the activities of our schools during the past year as are necessary to enable the reader to form an intelligent judgment re- garding the efficiency of their management.
Enrollment and Attendance
During the school year ending with June, 1924, there were 10,987 different pupils enrolled in the public schools of Quincy. This is an increase of 5.5 per cent. over the enrollment for the previous year. The regularity of daily attendance during the past year based on the average membership was 93.9 per cent. This per cent. is the highest, with the exception of one year, 1921, of any of the preceding ten years and is slightly higher than the corresponding figure for the State at large. Inasmuch as the quality of the edu- cational results secured in a school system depends to a consider- able degree upon regularity of daily attendance on the part of the pupils, this relatively high per cent. of attendance in our schools may be taken as an indication of their efficiency.
In this connection it may be interesting to note the increase of our school enrollment during the past ten years and its relation to the similar increase for the entire State as shown in the follow- ing tabulation :
PER CENT. OF INCREASE IN PUBLIC SCHOOL ENROLLMENT FROM 1914 TO 1924
All Elementary Grades
For the State 21%
For Quincy. 66%
Grades I to VIII 16% 63%
High School Grades IX to XII 58% 85%
It appears from this tabulation (1) that the school enrollment for Quincy has increased during the past ten years practically three times as rapidly as that for the State as a whole and (2) that the per cent. of increase in our high school enrollment during that period has been considerably greater than in the elementary grades, showing the tendency of our young people to continue longer in the schools than formerly. This tendency is true also for the State at large.
School Costs
The vital interest of the public in the cost of education warrants some discussion of this question.
The total expenditure for the support of Quincy's public day, evening, and summer schools, i.e., the expenditure for all purposes excepting new buildings, alterations and permanent repairs,-for the school year ending June, 1924, is $686,564.95. Based on the average membership of the schools for that year, this means an average expenditure of $68.93 per pupil,-an increase of $1.81 per pupil over that for the preceding year. The similar average for the State at large is $84.72 and for the other 38 cities of the Com- monwealth, $86.49.
The itemized per capita costs are shown in the following tabula- tion :
315
REPORT OF SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
Itemized Cost Per Pupil for Support of Public Schools (Day, Eve- ning, Summer) for the School Year Ending with June, 1924
[Based on the Average Membership of the Schools]
Items
Average per Capita Ex- penditure for Quincy
Average per Capita Ex- penditure for 38 Other Cities
Average per Capita Ex- penditure for the State
Instruction
$52 56
$62 43
$58 90
Administration
1 55
2 97
3 09
Textbooks and Supplies for
Instruction
3 71
4 10
3 89
Operation of School Plant.
17
9 89
9 93
Maintenance of School Plant
2 07
4 95
4 34
Miscellaneous
2 87
2 15
4 57
Totals
$68 93
$86 49
$84 72
From the foregoing figures it appears that for the year ending June, 1924, Quincy's average per pupil expenditure for school sup- port was less than that for the State as a whole by $15.79 and less than that for the 38 other cities by $17.56. In other words, if our average per pupil expenditure based on the average mem- bership of the schools had equalled that for the State, our city budget for school support for the year indicated would have been larger than it was by $157,268.40 and similarly if our per pupil expenditure had equalled the average for the 38 other cities of the Commonwealth, our budget for the schools would have been increased by $174,897.60.
These figures suggest that our schools are managed with reason- able economy.
While, as I have previously indicated, our expenditure for school support for the past school year exceeded that for the preceding year by $1.81 per pupil,-an increase of 2.7 per cent., it is interest- ing to note that the similar increase for the State at large is 3.4 per cent. and for the 38 other cities, 3.6 per cent.
During the past ten years there has been a marked increase in school expenditure not only locally but also throughout the coun- try. Such increase should occasion neither surprise nor alarm for there are well-defined reasons which not only explain but also jus- tify it.
To illustrate, note the following reasons for the increase in our local per capita cost for school support :
1. Everything used by our pupils in connection with their school work, viz., books, paper, pens, pencils, crayon, maps, etc., has in- creased in cost.
2. Fuel for heating our buildings has enormously increased in cost.
3. The cost for repairs has increased greatly owing to the higher prices of material and the higher wages demanded by work- men.
4. Janitor service is costing us considerably more today than
316
CITY OF QUINCY
ten years ago, owing to the fact that the advancing cost of living has made it necessary to raise the pay of the men performing this service.
5. The salaries of our teachers today are practically twice what they were ten years ago. The advance has been necessary not only to keep pace with rising living costs but also to secure for teaching service in the schools the type of men and women required for this important work.
6. The scope of educational opportunity in our schools has been gradually broadening during the past ten years through such in- strumentalities as (a) the Day Industrial School, (b) the Home Making School, (c) the Evening Industrial School for men in the trades, (d) the Practical Arts evening and afternoon classes for women, (e) the Continuation School for working boys and girls from 14 to 16 years, (f) the Summer School, (g) the Americaniza- tion classes for the foreign born.
7. A larger per cent. than formerly of our school population is found today in the high school grades where the per capita costs are largest.
Even if the purchasing value of a dollar today were the same as it was ten years ago, it is obvious that the broadening of our school activities indicated in the foregoing statements and the larger percentage of pupils in our high school attendance might be expected to increase the per capita cost of education. Moreover, when one adds to this consideration the further fact that it takes approximately $1.75 today to equal the purchasing value of $1.00 ten years ago, our increased per capita costs for education should occasion, as I have suggested, neither surprise nor alarm.
Nevertheless, if there exists any desire for curtailment in the expenditure for school support, such curtailment is possible by dropping from the list of our school activities some or all of the foregoing departures from the school program of our fathers. In view of the social worth of these departures and of the further fact that the public school endeavor is supported for the promotion of social well-being, it is hardly to be conceived, I think, that the public at large would approve such elimnation for the relatively small saving it would effect in their annual tax bills.
In my judgment, what the public really wants is not less but larger and better educational opportunities for their boys and girls; and the majority of our citizens are quite willing, I think, to pay for such opportunities, provided, only, they are assured that they are receving for their children 100 cents in value for every $1.00 expended. To such as clamor for a reduction in school ex- penditure, I commend the thoughtful consideration of the following statement from "The Manchester (England) Guardian" in its dis- cussion thereon under date of June, 1922:
"You may reduce your expenditure on armaments, as you can on personal indulgences, . . . with no great damage in the process. But with education it is otherwise. You are dealing there with the minds and bodies of children and you may cripple a whole genera- tion. The plain fact is that, so far from not being able to afford our present expenditure on education, we cannot afford to do with- out it. If there is one lesson more insistently taught us by the war and by daily experience, it is that the foundation of National strength and worth, as of National prosperity, is the education of the people."
317
REPORT OF SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
While the foregoing statement was made with reference to condi- tions in another land, it is equally applicable to American condi- tions and may well be pondered by lovers of American institutions.
Enlargement of School Accommodations
1. The New Senior High School Building.
The completion of the long expected new senior high school building, which was occupied for the first time at the opening of the present school year in September, not only has materially im- proved the working conditions for our senior high school pupils but also has made it possible to start our first junior high school in the old high school building, thereby relieving somewhat the overcrowded conditions that had existed at the Coddington, Daniel Webster and Lincoln Schools through the transfer of certain grades from those schools to the junior high.
2. The 'Addition to the Massachusetts Fields Building.
During the summer of 1924 an enlargement of the Massachusetts Fiela's School building was completed, which added nine rooms to the capacity of that building.
When the plans for this addition were approved, it was hoped that the enlargement would materially reduce the congested con- ditions in the attendance both at this school and at the Francis W. Parker School. Some relief has been secured, but the popula- tion in this section has increased with unforeseen rapidity, so that already every additional room at the Massachusetts Fields School is occupied to its normal capacity, while at the Francis W. Parker School it became necessary again to place an overflow class in the auditorium.
Inasmuch as there is not at the present time an unoccupied school room in the entire northern section of the city outside of Squantum, it is evident that immediate action is necessary to pro- vide further accommodations for the rapidly increasing school population in this area.
I am convinced that the best solution of the problem to secure the needed relief is that already approved by the Committee, viz., the erection of a separate building in this section to be used for junior high school purposes. The erection of such a building will make it possible to remove the seventh and eighth grades from the Massachusetts Fields, Francis W. Parker, Montclair, Quincy, and Wollaston Schools, thus postponing enlarging these several buildings for the accommodation of the children of grades I to VI and contributing to the efficiency with which the seventh and eighth grades can be managed and taught.
The Senior High School
The most important fact to report with relation to this school is its removal, as previously noted, to the new high school building at the opening of the school year in September.
While the work of the school was commendable even under the overcrowded conditions that had prevailed for several years in the old building, we may look forward confidently, I think, to larger and better educational service from this department as a result of the improved conditions under which it is now working.
318
CITY OF QUINCY
More detailed information upon this school may be found in the following report of its headmaster and in the statistical tables in Appendix B.
Report of Head Master of High School
MR. FRED H. NICKERSON, Superintendent of Schools.
I have to submit herewith my thirteenth annual report for the High School which must hereafter be called the Senior High School.
The first information sought regarding a school is usually the size of its membership. Comparative figures for the past three years follow. It may be well to explain that in the new building, at its opening, were located pupils of the last three years of High School together with the college pupils who had been members of the school for a half year. The comparative table below is for these groups in this and preceding years.
1922
1923
1924
Whole number enrolled.
1,091
1,182
1,389
Whole number December 1.
1,060
1,138
1,318
My report this year, I am most happy to say, does not contain one word of complaint but is written in the spirit of thankfulness and praise. After a hope long deferred, we have arrived in a beautiful new building. This has been so thoroughly inspected by the citizens at large that only special features need mention.
The auditorium has attracted the most attention perhaps, be- cause of its size and, also, because of the extreme good taste shown in its furnishing and decoration. There are comfortable seats for 1,500 persons which allows us to have our entire school, together with the Industrial and Home Making Schools, at assemblies. The stage is large and roomy and easily available for concerts, lectures or dramatic performances. The auditorium has excellent light, either during the day or at night; is well ventilated and the acous- tic properties are perfect. When the moving picture booth has been equipped with a machine, it can be said that the City pos- sesses a nearly perfect auditorium.
The gymnasium is large enough to accommodate two classes on the floor at once and will be divided by a movable curtain so that boys' and girls' classes may be conducted simultaneously. A com- plete equipment of lockers and shower baths is provided for both boys and girls. There is a balcony with seats at one end and an- other can be made on the other end by raising windows in the cafeteria. The gymnasium is furnished with ample apparatus but contains nothing in this line which will not have constant use. Now that we have plenty of room, the work in physical training can be expanded so as to be required of most of the school and, when the field across the street is developed, can be made to in- clude much outdoor activity.
The cafeteria is one of the interesting features of the building. This is located on the ground floor and is equipped with small tables, seating six pupils, accommodating at one time about half the school. In order that all pupils may have opportunity to se- cure lunch, there are two recess periods, one for each half of the school. All pupils make use of the cafeteria, either purchasing their entire lunch there or supplementing a lunch brought from home. A preparation room conveniently located to the cafeteria
319
REPORT OF SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
furnishes ample facilities for preparing the lunch. School lunches have received much attention in late years from school authorities and others and I may say in praise of our own that we have al- ways provided what was felt to be wholesome and nourishing and at the same time attractive to our pupils.
Because of unusual resources, our library has been a distinctive feature of the school. Accordingly, special attention was given to room for this work. The library is located in the front of the building on the second floor. Adjoining it on either side are a teachers' study, a librarian's work room and two large study rooms. This brings the resources of the library within reach of a large number at all times. The library itself has been most attractively decorated and furnished so that the proper atmosphere is created for carrying on this work.
And so it is throughout the building. One easily becomes en- thusiastic over all the attractive features and is impressed at the same time with the idea that nothing is elaborate but that every- thing is comfortable and of real use in school work. The furniture is well adapted to our needs and appears to be of good quality. The building is well lighted throughout, is airy and clean. The heating arrangements seem to be adequate and the ventilation is unusually good. We have had to use the entire building from the start and not much room is left to grow but by crowding a little we can be comfortable for a few years and can be very happy in our work. There ought to be no reason during the next few years for not accomplishing some excellent results in the school.
Respectfully submitted,
ERNEST L. COLLINS, Head Master,
The Academic Evening School
During the fall term of 1924, there were 391 different pupils registered in this school. This number is an increase of 22 per cent. over the registration at the corresponding period of the pre- vious year.
The regularity of attendance during the past year and the re- sults secured have both been gratifying,-the per cent. of attend- ance for the fall term being the highest attained in the history of the school.
Gradually the work of the school is being systematized to the end that the character of the work done may approximate more nearly that of the regular day school work.
At the close of the season in 1923, for the first time, certificates were granted those who had successfully completed two years of work in the subjects taken. The same plan was followed for the past year. A simple program was carried out in connection with the presentation of these certificates. This practice has contributed to increase the interest of the evening school pupils, to improve the character of the work done and the regularity of attendance.
While no little credit for the improvement noted in this depart- ment of our school endeavor must be given Principal Thomson and his corps of teachers, considerable is due, also, to my Assist- ant Superintendent, Mr. Woods, a part of whose duty it is to super- vise the activities of this school, for the earnest and intelligent manner in which he has performed that duty.
320
CITY OF QUINCY
The following tabulation shows the enrollment by subjects in the school for the past two years.
Subjects
1923
1924
Increase Decrease in 1924 in 1924
Bookkeeping
66
86
20
....
Business Arithmetic
80
90
10
....
Business English
111
164
53
....
Penmanship
81
54
....
27
Stenography
105
186
81
....
Typewriting
164
182
18
....
Mechanical Drawing
75
182
107
....
Grammar School Subjects
23
18
5
From this tabulation, it appears that the registration for Pen- manship and Grammar School subjects shows a falling off in 1924 and further that the number seeking instruction in Grammar School Subjects in each year is a small part of the total enroll- ment of the school-being 7.2 per cent. in 1923 and 4.6 per cent. in 1924.
These facts suggest that our Academic Evening School should be organized and administered primarily to provide instruction in high school subjects. Further indication to the same effect appears in the fact that increasingly each year we are receiving requests for instruction in Algebra, English Literature, Physics, and French. I am inclined to think, therefore, that it may be well during the coming year to extend the scope of the work of this school to include instruction in such of these subjects as may be desired by a sufficient number and the funds at the disposal of the Committee permit.
Academic Summer School
In the opening paragraph of his report to me, the Director of this school says :- "The experiment in Summer School work for Quincy, begun in 1921, has proved so successful that we con- sider this particular feature of our educational work an estab- lished part of our educational system."
The main statistical facts with reference to this school for the past four years appear in the following tabulation:
DATA ON ACADEMIC SUMMER SCHOOL
Grados
Year
Total Average En- Mem- ber- ship roll- ment
Per Cent Daily Attend- ance
Total Cost
Cost per Pupil
1921
391
334.84
92.61
$1,425 08
$4 26
VB to VIIIA inclusive
1922
417
364.52
91.60
$1,598 25
$4 38
1923
361
296.43
93.35
$1,517 06
$5 11
1924
405
340.40
95.60
$2,187 82
$6 42
In view of the fact that attendance upon this school is voluntary and that its sessions are in the hot season, the enrollment and the per cent. of daily attendance, which for the past season exceeded that of the regular day school by 1.7 per cent., indicate that this form of educational activity supplies a real need of a consider- able number of our young people.
321
REPORT OF SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
The following additional facts with reference to the past season's work are taken from the Director's report: "Of the 405 pupils enrolled in 1924, 251 were seeking to gain a lost promotion; 99 were studying to remove handicapping conditions under which they had been promoted to a higher grade; 53 were reviewing sub- ject matter in which they were weak; and 2 were working for a double promotion.
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