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 1935 > Part 28
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Health Service-The health service recommended in the Superintend- ent's report of 1934 has been restored in the Quincy High School and a similar department estabished at the North Quincy High School. This has met with general favor by the principals, the pupils, the teachers and the parents. Humane treatment is administered to the pupils daily through these services, and much good has been accomplished.
Mr. James S. Collins, speaking of the health service department in his report to the Superintendent, says: "Even though this work was started only a comparatively short time ago, its value to the school is already recognized. Prompt attention is given to cases assigned and they are handled in an efficient manner. The work is showing excellent results with both boys and girls."
Mr. Ernest L. Collins, in his report to the Superintendent, says: "We welcome the return of the health service program. ... This work is of increasing importance because one of the very evident results of the depression has been failure to preserve good health habits or even take any care for the physical well-being."
Physically Handicapped Class-On the recommendation of the Super- intendent, the School Committee authorized the establishment of a class for physically handicapped children. In my long experience I do not know of any city that has initiated any piece of work more humane than has been initiated in the City of Quincy for these deserving pupils. The money that is spent in this work is in accordance with the highest ideals of school management, the highest type citizenship, and genuine Christianity. Before the establishment of the class at the Thomas B. Pollard school building, a careful survey was made and recommenda- tions were made as to the best possible way to teach these children. The person selected to do this work was Mildred R. Frye. She recom- mended the bringing of these children to a center that they could re- ceive instruction as a group. It was a wise recommendation. They are transported to and from the school by a competent woman.
It may be of interest to know the types of pupils that are in the class.
5 heart trouble
2 pseudo-hyperthropic paralysis
3 spina bifida
1 cerebral palsy
1 suffering from result of infantile paralysis
2 spine difficulty (one had spine injured in an automobile accident ; one recovering from blood poisoning.)
There are at the present writing sixteen pupils in the class. In ad- dition to these there are five that cannot be transported. The family physicians say that it would be unwise to transport these five children. Therefore, the teacher makes home visits to the homes of these five in the afternoon as often as it is humanly possible for her to do so. They receive approximately two hours of instruction a week.
We bring to the children the best in education. The teacher is out- standing - a faithful teacher and a fine mother. We bring them the
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best of educational films, the best work books possible that each child may work to the maximum of his several abilities. There is no em- barrassment in the group whatever. All are eager to learn. There is a perfect understanding of the reasons for any lack of accomplishment on the part of another. The pupils and the teacher set goals each week and each pupil goes at his task at his own rate of speed. Each one un- derstands the goal and how to reach it. Self-reliance is developed by the very fact that the children cannot be supervised every minute. The children profit much by being with each other. They gain a spirit of unselfishness and cooperation that it would be impossible to attain in the home.
Visual Aids-Perhaps no department in the school system during the past two or three years has received greater recognition and attracted wider attention throughout the state and the country at large than the Visual Aids department. Many of the school systems in New England have sent representatives here during the past year to observe our meth- od of procedure. Boston University, School of Education, has recently issued the following circular letter :
"To Teachers:
Are you prepared to use the available Teaching Aids to increase the efficiency of your teaching?
Are you interested in the opportunities for organizing and adminis- tering the services of a Department of Teaching Aids in a school build- ing or school system?
A satisfactory service to teachers requires the organization in the school system of a Department of Teaching Aids under the supervision of a Director. In addition, each building should have one teacher re- sponsible for extending the use of Teaching Aids.
Approximately eight years ago, Mr. James N. Muir, Superintendent of the Quincy Public Schools, established "A Department of Teaching Aids" to serve the teachers with the available modern teaching aid materials.
Mr. Abraham Krasker was appointed director of the department and in cooperation with Mr. Muir worked out the "Quincy System of Teach- ing Aids".
Other school systems in Massachusetts where centralized Depart- ments of Teaching Aids have been established are: Boston, Belmont, Holyoke, Lynn, Beverly, Greenfield and Newton.
To meet the needs for trained leaders, Boston University School of Education is offering the course, Visual Education Management, in the second semester.
The following problems, which are the practical experiences from the "Quincy System of Teaching Aids" will be discussed in the course.
1. Why a centralized department is essential for the desired service.
2. A survey of a school building or school system will be made to determine what is already available, and how to organize the ma- terial for efficient use.
3. The organization and administration of a department.
4. Materials and equipment necessary.
5. How to select the suitable equipment and worthwhile Teaching Aids.
6. Sound vs. Silent Films. Is it timely to invest in sound films and equipment?
7. Servicing of equipment and materials. Laboratory practice is of- fered in maintenance and repair of equipment. The different makes of projectors will be used and compared.
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8. A long-term program of service will be planned.
9. Trips to organized departments of Teaching Aids and to related industries.
10. Methods for the proper use of Teaching Aids.
11. Research in this field will be reviewed.
12. Forms necessary to carry on the work of the department.
13. Records needed by the director and how handled.
14. The kind of a system needed in your particular school system for distributing Teaching Aids.
15. Training teachers to operate the necessary apparatus and to use the Teaching Aids properly.
16. Plans and blue-prints of available equipment and materials which can be made within your school system at little cost.
17. The preparation and use of objective tests.
18. The problem of hiring and owning films and slides.
19. What can the schools do to encourage pupils to attend the better motion pictures?
20. The latest recommended films will be exhibited.
We are at all times pleased to be of service and welcome inquiries relating to the extended use of Teaching Aids.
Very truly yours, JESSE B. DAVIS, Dean"
Music-Very few, if any, deny Quincy the right of a high place in public school music.
In the elementary schools each pupil is expected to have a very de- finite repertoire of songs at the end of the sixth grade. Each teacher is provided with an outline of the work covered in the elementary grades with instrucitons how to follow it. Each grade has a systematic course in music reading and interpretation and if a pupil cannot get this work in the group he is given individual attention. The pupils of the ele- mentary schools have an organized course to help them develop a love of good music and a power of discrimination through listening and learning what to listen for in music, as to form, mode, rhythm and quality-instrumental and vocal. Every building is provided with a victrola and records.
In the junior high schools, vocal music is built upon the foundation laid in the elementary schools. Chorus singing is emphasized, and every pupil in the junior high school belongs to a choral group, vary- ing in size from forty to two-hundred. Material is selected which is adapted to the age of the pupil and to the needs of the voices in this adolescent period. The work consists of unison and part song singing, study in notation, interpretation and sight singing. Glee clubs are se- lective, giving pupils vocally inclined an opportunity to have special attention and development. Here, too, as in the elementary schools music appreciation is carried on. Outlines and records are provided for every teacher.
The senior high school course of music work is elective and on diploma credit basis. Courses are offered in chorus, harmony, music appreciation, applied music, glee club, orchestra and band. A course in the funda- mentals of music is compulsory for those preparing for the state teach- ers colleges.
All children from the fourth to the twelfth year have an opportunity to take instrumental music. Classes are carried on after school hours and on Saturday mornings. It is an unusually healthy sign to see so
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many boys and girls interested in after school activities as there are in our instrumental music classes, given after school hours and on Satur- day mornings. There is no element in the pupil's life that will stand him in better stead to occupy his leisure hours profitably.
Libraries-
"There are two urgent needs of the school to which I would call the attention of the committee. The first is the necessity of a school library, in order that such instruction in history and literature may be afforded as is demanded by the best thought of the present time.
We are entirely safe in affirming that a good library is a necessity in every well-equipped high school By the use of the terin "library", a collection of books is meant. An apart- ment should be set aside large enough to contain ample shelf room, and table for books of reference and for writing. The library itself will be a growth; the needs of the school dictating the order of the acquisitions , However good a public library exists, the well-being of the school demands its own library. It is very important that the books should be entirely under the control of teachers, and always available for imme- diate and prolonged use. Nor need there be any fear that the usefulness of the Thomas Crane Library will be in the least impaired by the establishment of this high school library. On the other hand, the pupils will be educated to a wiser and more active employment of the advantages afforded by that insti- tution."
The above is an excerpt taken from the report of Mr. George I. Al- drich, Superintendent of Schools of the Town of Quincy, Massachusetts, for the school year 1884-85 and is embodied in the Report of the School Committee of the Town of Quincy for that year.
Our libraries in the junior and senior high schools are outstanding among public school libraries. They, too, are receiving a wide recogni- tion. The number of volumes in the combined libraries on January 1, 1936 was 18,621-5,229 in the Quincy High School library, 3,808 in the North Quincy High School library, 3,453 in the Central Junior High School library, 3,065 in the South Junior High School library, and 3,066 in the Quincy Point Junior High School library. Familiarity with the library creates a feeling of independence and self-confidence in the study of any given subject and children grasp the opportunity eagerly. The school library is a workshop in which the girls and the boys obtain help- ful information for their school subjects.
These libraries have been built up from a fund known as the Adams Temple and School Fund, established by John Adams in June, 1822. Approximately seven thousand boys and girls now attending the junior and senior high schools of Quincy are enjoying the benefit of this far- sighted citizen who thoroughly believed in the diffusion of knowledge through libraries. Public spirited citizens such as he have set high standards for Quincy.
Guidance and Research-One of the more recent departments to be tried out was the department of Guidance and Research. Tests have been conducted more or less for the past nine years. The Guidance and Research department has not only crystallized the testing and the research work but has furthered it to a very conclusive end. I have always considered guidance the heart and the core of the school system; without it and its follow up work we cannot have a healthy and progressive growth in the public schools. Research, mean- ing fact-finding, must be carried on continually, if we are to work intelligently and make progress. The place of music, visual aids and
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libraries are fixed in the Quincy schools as very definite, reliable and wholesome departments for the education of the children. No one doubts my high estimate of these departments, but as far up the scale of the education gamut as I place these departments, there are none of them comparable in importance in the scheme of public education as is the department of guidance and research reliably managed by trained and skilled workers.
Mr. Ernest L. Collins, in his report to the superintendent, spoke very encouragingly in regard to extending the counseling program and making the home room fill a greater service. This is in keeping with the coun- selors' splendid report mentioned under educational meetings. Mr. Col- lins then said, "I would like to pay special tribute to the work of the visiting teachers. They are friendly, thorough and wise in their in- vestigations and have many times earned the gratitude of parents be- cause of the contacts they have established between the home and the school".
Mr. James S. Collins, in his report to the superintendent, speaking of the counseling and guidance in his school, says, "I wish to assure you that this department with the added assistance of the home visitors has been of tremendous value. Thus a greater degree of harmony pre- vails and adjustments are made in keeping with ultimate success and achievement of pupils in their work."
With the department as it has been conducted, our school can move forward and progress; without it, we can sink to the level of the usual laissez faire type of school system. Pages fifteen, sixteen and seven- teen of the superintendent's annual report for 1934 give a more com- plete discussion of the department and what it has meant to our school system.
American Education Week-American Education Week was con- ducted along similar lines to those of the previous year. We had ap- proximately ten thousand visitors in the Quincy public schools during the week of November 11-17. Some schools held open house, others exhibits and demonstrations of regular classroom work, parents' nights with classrooms open for inspection of the children's work and confer- ences with the teachers. There seems to be an increasing interest on the part of the parents in the work that is being done within the school system.
Two Hundredth Anniversary of the Birthday of John Adams-Im- mediately preceding Education Week the Quincy schools celebrated the two hundredth anniversary of the birthday of John Adams. Every school in the system had interesting and unusual programs. The Rev. Victor Sawyer addressed the pupils of the two senior high schools on "The Romance of the Constitution". The address was effectively given and left a lasting impression with the pupils on the great value of the Constitution in our Democratic form of government.
Educational Meetings-We have had several general meetings, meet- ings of the junior and senior high school principals, meetings of the elementary school principals, and meetings of the junior and senior high school principals and counselors. In addition to these, many educa- tional conferences and grade meetings were held during the year. It is not necessary to give in detail the work that we have covered in the various meetings.
To further reading, the Superintendent conducted six grade meetings and a general meeting for all the teachers on the question of reading, during the month of September. For all alike, there are two phases of the reading experience: (1) learning to read, (2) reading to learn. It is true that the intelligent reader is always learning to read. It is evident that at the beginning there must be a teaching process by which each
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one is initiated into the mysteries of the word symbol. It is an unfor- tunate situation when "system" is carried too far. Then, too, "sys- tems" of teaching reading are often overburdened with apparatus, me- chanical devices, "helps", etc. The machinery of teaching is generally valuable in proportion as it is simple in character and inexpensive. The teacher's thought must be on the process as well as on the results at which we aim. It means that teachers in order to teach reading well must devote themselves to more accurate, enthusiastic study of the whole question of reading.
The reading list of elementary textbooks on which the committee had worked for over a year and a half was subinitted to the School Com- mittee and approved on July 16, 1935. This list was brought before the teachers and principals at the various grade meetings. The con- pilation of this list was no easy task. Miss Russell and Miss Keefe of the committee devoted themselves to the task with one thought in mind-that Quincy elementary schools should have the best. It was a work well done.
One of the outstanding meetings of the year was held on September 19. At this meeting the report of the committee on the Relationship of the Homeroom to the Guidance Program was read by Mr. Landy. It was a worthwhile report, most of which can be carried on under proper guidance and direction. Another question at this meeting, em- phasized by Mr. Muir, which challenges the teaching staff was-How to keep the pupils of high intelligence working up to the maximum of their several abilities.
School Committee Meetings-The School Committee held twenty- seven meetings during the year. We have no definite record of the amount or proportion of time taken up by the School Committee to discuss the various requests for the free use of the school buildings; however, the discussion of the free use and rental of school buildings came up at eighteen of the twenty-seven meetings. The time given to this question seems all out of proportion to the amount of time given to other questions of greater value to the school system. This can be prevented by the School Committee by adopting and definitely adhering to a set of regulations and placing the renting of the halls in the hands of someone in the Superintendent's office.
The New West Wing at North Quincy High School-The much dis- cussed and long looked for West Wing to the North Quincy High School is nearing completion. When it shall have been completed it will give us a modern six year high school building and will accommodate 2,500 pupils. It will be ready for occupancy in September, 1936. When trans- fers are made and the school organized in September, we shall have 2,250 pupils at the North Quincy High School.
There are several outstanding features of the new wing which will make for efficiency. Some of these features are:
Several large study rooms.
Large rooms for the Commercial Department.
Large and medium sized shops for the boys.
Renovation of boys' lockers and showers. New locker rooms for boys.
Enlarged administration quarters.
The large music room with the adjacent classrooms on the third floor properly equipped will take all the music classes out of the auditorium and give the pupils as well as the teachers an opportu- nity to do effective and efficient work.
With the opening of school in September, the North Quincy High School should be a pleasant place in which to work.
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The retirement of Col. Warren E. Sweetser-Col. Warren E. Sweet- ser served on the School Committee of the City of Quincy for sixteen years. During all these years he worked incessantly for what he be- lieved to be for the best interests of all the children of all the people. Colonel Sweetser was faithful to the trust committed to him by the citizens of Quincy and gave of himself freely to whatever special duties were assigned to him. On December 21. 1935, a testimonial dinner was given in his honor by the members of the Committee and the Super- intendent. Many fine tributes were paid to him by his colleagues. This one should be recorded: Dr. Nathaniel S. Hunting, for thirty-six vears a member of the Committee, reviewed in brief the services of the former members with whom he had been associated, and said that Colonel Sweetser's services were oustanding and measured up to the best we have had on the School Committee. This indeed is high praise. When a citizen's public service is so measured it is the highest type of service a citizen can render his community.
The Health Program-The health program needs reorganization, and by the health program I mean health projects, health teaching, physical activities, health development and social efficiency. I would set it up in this fashion : Select a person to take charge of the health department. preferably a non-medical person, a trained and experienced college graduate, and, if possible, one who had subsequently taken graduate work in different fields, such as physical education, or one who had been working in a well organized school system in which the health program has a meaning. I would call such a person a Director of Health Educa- tion. The school physician, the school nurses, the health service work- ers in the high schools, the supervisor of physical education and the physical education instructors could all be coordinated in a well bal- anced health program. During the year I appointed a committee to work out an outline on health in our health program studies. This commit- tee was headed by Miss Margaret Sweeney, Principal of the Gridley Bryant School. The committee's work is nearing completion. A Health Director could coordinate all the different agencies which would come under a well organized health program. Such a department would be collateral with the music department, the art department, the guidance and research department. THE HEALTH PROGRAM IS VERY DEFINITELY AN EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM AND NOT A MEDICAL PROGRAM. The medical side is one of the chief elements in such a program.
Immature Children-In recent years a very large group of immature children have been entering the Quincy public school system. They are being admitted too young. If you wish to curtail the expense for the school year 1936-37 and at the same time strengthen the work of the primary grades, it were well that we should set up a different en- trance age. After investigating this question and questioning teachers who are in a position to know and in whom I have the utmost confi- dence, all are of the one opinion-that we are admitting children en- tirely too young to profit by the first year's work.
Conclusion-In concluding this report I am making the following re- commendations for your consideration :
(1) That we give careful thought and consideration to the question of admitting immature children to the public schools.
(2) That there be a complete reorganization of the Health depart- ment.
(3) That there be a reorganization of the class for physically handi- capped pupils.
(4) That a very definite set-up be made of the Guidance and Re- search department.
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(5) That we give further study to the group of children who are hard of hearing.
To the members of the School Committee and to all employees who have faithfully done their part in making the past year a successful one, I extend my grateful appreciation.
The Assistant Superintendent has reported for the State-aided schools, evening schools and special classes.
Respectfully submitted, JAMES N. MUIR,
Superintendent of Schools.
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REPORT OF THE ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS
Mr. James N. Muir, Superintendent of Schools, Quincy, Mass. My dear Mr. Muir:
I submit the following report on the Trade School, Continuation School, Evening Classes, Mentally Retarded Pupils and Special Classes.
The Day Trade School
The outstanding development of the year was the rejuvenation of the Advisory Board. For years there had been an Advisory Board in name, but it had rarely functioned. In the spring of 1934 the School Commit- tee reorganized the Board so that it consisted of three employers and four employees with two of the employees representing organized labor. All the members of the Board were actually closely connected with some trade taught in the Quincy Trade School. The Board meets monthly and has made many recommendations beneficial to the school. The importance of this change cannot be over-emphasized.
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