USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Norwood > Norwood annual report 1923-1927 > Part 98
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6. Addition to the Winslow School, 1938: The Winslow School is now crowded, but the shifting of pupils and the building of the schools on the East side will give the temporary relief. This building should be made an eighteen-room building. The sale of the West School and the Beacon building should reduce the cost of this addition to about $100,000.
7. Addition to the Shattuck School, 1940: This building should be made to house 650 pupils or the equivalent of an eighteen-room building. With the sale of the Guild property this addition should be secured for about $100,000.
8. Completion of the Second Junior High School, 1942: By this date it undoubtedly will be necessary to complete the second Junior High School. The building should then accommodate 1,000 pupils. The cost for this addition should not exceed $200,000.
9. Possible Future Building Needs: So far as can be estimated the future growth of the town may develop a need for relief in three localities-the Balch School district, West of the Winslow School, and possibly midway between the Winslow and the Shat- tuck. These schools should be started as primary schools for the first three grades only. It will be from fifteen to twenty years before this need will be felt. However, now is the time to secure the sites for these schools.
In this connection the problem of sites for all new buildings proposed in this schedule should be found and purchased as soon as possible.
Respectfully submitted,
JESSE B. DAVIS.
248
REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS
To the School Committee of Norwood:
Every prosperous town is faced with very definite problems pre- sented by Education. It may be assumed that these problems will increase commensurately with the growth of the town and its achievements, based on prosperity. The greatest factor which has added to so-called school burdens for the towns has been the awakened realization over the past ten years, or let us say the post-war period, of the importance of taking advantage of free education in the public schools. Norwood is an outstanding example in this respect. Since 1912 the town has increased in population about 50%. The enrollment in the elementary schools-grades one through six-where the attendance is compulsory has kept fair pace with the increase in population, the enrollment showing about 50% of growth. In grades seven through nine, where prior to 1912 we had the commonest "leaving school" period, we find a 219% increase in enrollment. Going to the top of the school system, taking grades ten through twelve, which comprise the Senior High School, we find an enrollment increase of 375% since 1912. An outstanding example of the manner in which the boys and girls of Norwood are continuing their education is shown in the enrollment of the tenth grade for the present school year. In this grade 208 selected studies as ninth grade pupils to take as High School pupils. During the opening week of High School 202 registered, showing a withdrawal of only six.
This is the most significant single fact which may be cited in relation to the desire of all Norwood people to have their children complete the twelve years of educational advantages offered by the Town.
Financial statistics concerning school budget and school expendi- tures are fully treated under other headings of the School Report.
The following table shows the way in which the school dollar is divided in expenditure:
249
cents
-
5
10
15
20
-
25
30
35
Teacher's Salaries
.693
$ $ 688
40
45
-
50
55
GO
65
70
75
.115
.118
80
Miscellaneous
.042
.034
-
85
Repairs + Replacements
.039
.04
90
Administration
.034
.031
-
95
Instruction Supplies
.032
.032
Text Books
. 023
.024
Health
. 016
. 018
100
Outlay
.006
.
.015
THE SCHOOL DOLLAR
1
1926
1927
$
Operation
250
English Program for Grades One to Six
During the school year 1926-27, a beginning was made on the organization of the English Program for Grades 1-6. Organiza- tion for this work was completed with the start of the present school year and committees have been formed for every grade to carry on this work to completion. The guidance of the work is in the hands of a Steering Committee composed of Elementary School Principals, Miss Katherine L. Carbee acting as Chairman. Meetings have been held weekly and general objectives, also objectives by grades, have been carefully prepared. Following this work comes the general outlines, with progression until final recommendations are made for adoption of textbooks and materials to meet the needs of the courses which are adopted.
In connection with this work the School Committee has engaged Miss Florence Piper Tuttle as expert advisor to review the work of the Committees and make recommendations for changes and additions which may seem necessary. Miss Tuttle will meet seven times with all elementary teachers and not only pass upon the English Program but give special instruction in silent and oral reading-a field in which she has won much distinction.
Health Program
Under the direction of Miss Vera H. Brooks, a comprehensive health program for the entire system is being arranged. The teaching staff was organized for this work in October and it is believed that the entire course will be completed and ready for publication this year. It is the present purpose of the School Com- mittee to publish this report in pamphlet form so that it may be placed in the hands of the parents and other townspeople who may be interested.
Norwood, in doing this work, is co-operating with the State Department of Education officials in a drive which is under way for a revision of curricula in Health and Physical Education programs throughout the State, in order that greater uniformity may be obtained and definite objectives sought in every community.
Norwood has also entered into activities recommended by the State Department of Education for the observance of May Day. A health program and health drive will be conducted prior to May Day with the elementary schools in competition for awards which are to be in the form of banners or some suitable recognition. The chief points upon which competition will be waged will be:
(1) Posture.
I keep my Head erect Chin in
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Chest Out Abdomen in
I walk, sit and stand straight.
(2) Weight.
Within the range of 10% below average and 20% above average of each individual.
(3) Teeth.
I have
Clean teeth
Healthy gums
Received dental certificate from my dentist. (This means that all necessary dental work has been completed at the present time.)
When a pupil has qualified under each of the main headings, he will be given a certificate. The awards to schools will be based upon the number of certificates obtained by pupils in respective schools, prorated as to percent of enrollment and possible perfect scores.
Geography Program
It is hoped that attempt may be made during this school year to make adjustments in the geography and social science studies programs in grades 3 to 6. However, this major project may have to go over until next school year as most teachers are already giving as much time outside of classroom work as should be re- quested or required.
While expenses have increased in printing of study courses and arrangements for conducting subject material, the returns more than justify this item of cost. Parents who are interested in inquiring as to what is taught and what program is followed find a very definite answer in such printed material. Teachers through- out the school system are working on a basis of uniformity and procedure which is not otherwise obtained. Another benefit accrues from a uniformly prepared course of study, the fact that a pupil transferring from one school to another is not placed at a dis- advantage by finding himself engaged in the study of subject matter which he has already had or which is far in advance of the ground he has covered.
In grades one to eight, there is still much to be done in Norwood in proper organization of courses and study material. In grades 9 to 12 a large percentage of the work and courses of study, there-
252
fore, are prescribed by college entrance and normal school require- ments. In the vocational departments of these grades, the courses of study are in good form, particularly in the commercial branches. An outstanding and valuable asset in this curriculum has been the establishment of a fully equipped business practice course for 11th and 12th grade girls. In this department all of the commonest office equipment has been purchased and girls are given actual experience in operating office machinery such as they are to find in the offices of the local industries where most of them enter employment.
Thrift
That the schools have continued the good record started by the establishment of the modern plan of school savings is shown by the following figures displaying the amounts saved:
Shattuck School
$1,046.57
Beacon School
802.14
Guild School
1,247.33
Winslow School
1,815.62
Balch School
3,939.56
Junior High School
337.17
Total
$9,188.39
Through this plan of saving it is certain that many boys and girls desirous of continuing their education will, after having saved through a period of twelve years, have sufficient money to take them through at least one year of advanced education.
Teaching Force
A total of 130 teachers are now employed in the Norwood school system. During the school year ending June, 1927, twenty teachers left the service. This is a large number, in fact, three and one-half times more than left the service during the preceding school year. The reasons in no case were due to dissatisfaction with Norwood either as to the salary schedule or any lack of confidence in the School Committee or officials. Norwood teachers recognize that they are working in a town which is highly in sympathy with progressive school policies and a town which is interested in proper recognition of its teachers. Reasons for teachers having left the system are as follows:
Eleanor McTaggart, Senior High, to accept another position.
Helen J. Estes, Senior High, to teach elsewhere.
Lucile H. Foster, Senior High, to study.
Elizabeth Shirley, Senior High, to teach elsewhere.
Carl E. Smith, Senior High, to teach elsewhere.
253
Eleanor J. Stockwell, Senior High, to study.
Elizabeth Upton, Senior High, to be married.
Helen C. Wilson, Senior High, to study.
Nellie L. Twiss, Junior High, to teach elsewhere.
Alice V. O'Connor, Junior High, to enter convent.
Ethel G. Sterling, Junior High, to teach elsewhere.
Sara L. Hall, Household Arts, Junior High, to teach elsewhere.
Ellen L. Lytle, Household Arts, Junior High, poor health.
Philip W. Natale, Practical Arts, Junior High, to teach elsewhere. Helen B. Follett, Physical Education, Junior High, to teach else- where.
John H. R. Ward, Physical Education, Junior High, to teach else- where.
Katherine T. Gregory, Principal, Guild School, to teach elsewhere. Irene Hall, Winslow School, to be married.
*Florence A. Baker, Winslow School, deceased.
Helen Holloway, Balch School, to be married.
New Teachers :
Herbert H. Archibald, Principal, Senior High.
Laura Gilmore, English, Senior High.
Orrelle J. Gray, English, Senior High.
Ruth Johngren, Modern Languages, Senior High.
Eleanor McTaggart, English, Senior High.
Lucy T. Nordon, History, Senior High.
Dorothy Norris, Latin Senior High.
Dorothy Pollard, English, Senior High.
Wallace W. Sawyer, Science, Senior High.
Rose C. Smith, Commercial, Senior High.
George D. Yantis, English, Senior High. Esther A. Griffin, Junior High.
Elizabeth C. Chase, Household Arts, Elementary. Ruth C. Morland, Household Arts, Junior High.
Francis McAuliffe, Practical Arts, Junior High.
William J. Wynaught, Practical Arts, Elementary. Hope Jewett, Physical Education, Junior High.
Clair H. Lewis, Physical Education, Junior High. Mary A. Toomey, Grade 3, Guild School.
Olive G. Moulton, Grades 2 and 3, Beacon School.
Edith M. Gardner, Grade 6, Shattuck School.
Alice F. Russell, Grades 5 and 6, Shattuck School. Elizabeth C. Tolman, Grades 3 and 4, Winslow School.
* It occasioned deep sorrow among the co-workers and pupils of Miss Baker when they learned of her fatal illness and death early in the school year. Miss Baker had served the Town of Norwood faithfully and well as a teacher for six years.
254
Ruth C. Lennon, Grade 2, Winslow School. Estelle Child, Grade 5, Balch School.
Harriet Burton, unassigned, Balch School. Mary A. Canning, Nurse.
Temporary Teachers :
Martha R. French, Everett School.
Leave of Absence:
Marguerite I. Elliott, History, Senior High.
Transfers:
Julia I. Drummy, from Grade 3 to Principal, Guild and Beacon Schools.
Catherine J. Cooney, from Guild School to Junior High School.
Jessie D. Cushman, from Beacon School to Grade 4, Guild School.
Marjorie E. Pennington, from Balch School to Grade 5, Guild School.
It will be noted that in the changes listed the High School was most affected. For four years previous to this teacher changes in the High School have been few. In several of the changes which were made, teachers took other positions as a means of financial or professional betterment. It is not expected that Norwood will pay the highest salaries, and where a teacher qualifies for advance- ment, and successfully candidates for a position elsewhere, the usual policy has been to advise that teacher to accept such an appointment. Two of the teachers who left could have been retained providing a year's leave of absence was granted. However, a year's leave of absence had already been granted to one teacher and it did not seem advisable to have more than one regular teacher on leave for any one year.
Professional Advancement
That Norwood teachers are manifesting a great interest in up- to-date methods in education is shown by the number who yearly take advantage of the opportunities offered by Boston institutions for professional study and advancement. Many grade and Junior High teachers are working for degrees, while several High School teachers are working to qualify for the degrees of Master of Arts or Master of Education. The total number of teachers taking courses during the present school year is forty-six and a number have signified their intention of taking courses during the second semester in various institutions. During the fiscal year January 1, 1927, to December 31, 1927, eighty-six courses were taken by Norwood teachers.
255
Vacation School
The enrollment for the vacation school conducted at the Guild School was 147. Thirty-four of this number gained a year's promo- tion by attending summer school. The remainder received review work and preparation for their ensuing school year's work which decidedly strengthened them as pupils. The total expense of main- taining vacation school was $489.37, an average of $3.33 per pupil. The cost per pupil in the elementary grades of Norwood for the school year 1926-1927 was $83.98, at which rate it would have cost the Town $2,855.32 for a year's instruction of the thirty-four pupils who gained a year's promotion through summer school attendance.
High School Buildings and Grounds
The new Norwood High School has been a source of investigation for educators from other towns and cities all through the year. Many delegations consisting of school committee members, select- men, mayors, etc., have been entertained and shown the magnificent layout which the citizens of Norwood have so generously provided for their high school pupils. The comment from these visitors has been in terms of highest praise, both for the vision of those who were responsible for the establishment of the school in its present location and for the work of the Building Committee in carrying out the splendid projects which the school includes.
The athletic field with a few minor exceptions has been com- pleted and properly fenced in. Six tennis courts have been pro- vided; three single courts and three double courts, and it will be recommended that a program may be arranged so that these facilities may be open to the public under proper direction during the summer months. With the completion of the five-lap track, track sports will be adopted during the ensuing spring, a field which will make it possible for another large stride toward 100% general participation in some form of athletic endeavor. While a beginning was made in track sports two years ago, interest has not been great, owing to the large number of boys and girls who were re- quired to make use of the Civic field and the impossibility to make clear use of the Civic track. It is Mr. Murray's present purpose to initiate the track program with a spring meet which will include Needham, Dedham and Walpole and other neighboring towns.
It is sincerely hoped that the general future plans for the High School may be carried out, such as the addition of an auditorium and the establishment of an East wing for extended vocational opportunities.
Vocational
There is a definite demand among boys and girls of the Norwood school system for vocational study. At the present time our school
256
system offers studies in the following lines of work:
High School: For boys, woodworking, mechanical drawing, sheet metal work, elementary machine shop practice, elementary elec- trical work, commercial studies; for girls, cooking, sewing, mecha- nical drawing, freehand drawing and designing and commercial studies.
Junior High: For boys, woodworking, printing, mechanical draw- ing, elementary mechanics; for girls, cooking, sewing, freehand drawing.
Grades five and six: For boys, elementary woodworking; for girls, sewing.
Throughout the entire school system the courses offered have been in such demand that many who have desired them have had to be eliminated and requested to elect substitute studies. It has been necessary to say to boys particularly, "You may not take printing in the Junior High School or manual arts work in the High School unless you are to definitely follow vocational work through- out your course." This should not be the case, for facilities should be such that every boy and girl should be permitted to take, with his academic studies, a certain amount of vocational study and training.
In High School eighty-eight boys are engaged in full-course study of manual arts, taking, as a program, ten out of twenty-five hours in this work. The demand was greater and many boys desired to have at least two periods of this work per week, but the work could not be given them as only one room has been made available.
With the continuance of the building program in Norwood, opportunities for vocational expansion should probably be given first consideration. It is well known that many characterize such features in a school system as frills and fancies, but when analyzed, these frills are really means of getting away from the impractical and abstract and for making school experience a definite means to a definite end. To some degree boys and girls will be turned out of the schools who have had training to fit them for positions in which they will become wage-earners and desirable citizens.
The field of choosing of good and evil, has shown tremendous increase. Life in itself is continuing to grow more and more com- plex. Education has been attempting to meet these complexities and changes and make proper adaptations. It is certain that one of the chief ways of making such adaptations is by means of keeping apace in the field of vocational opportunities to be offered boys and girls.
257
Repairs and Maintenance of Buildings
Under the supervision of John P. Oldham, a definite saving has been rendered the Town in the matter of care and supervision of school buildings. Under the old plan, work was yearly requisitioned for each building, each janitor taking charge of needed improve- ments in his own plant. Under the present plan, much of the work which was done by outside employment, is now done by the corps of janitors throughout the summer. Mr. Oldham, as the super- visor, takes janitors from one building and puts them to work at projects which require attention in any other school plant. On the janitorial force are several specialists who are able to do work which formerly was taken care of under outside contracts.
The result has been money saved and a better condition of school buildings in general than in any other school year. The main projects of the ensuing school year will be attempted at the Guild, Balch and Shattuck Schools. In these buildings much painting has to be done and sashes will have to be withdrawn and properly cared for.
At the Shattuck School a cement walk has been laid from Fulton Street to the front entrance, a wall laid along the border of the school grounds on Nahatan Street and steps taken to provide a suitable playground for girls on the East side of the building. This work will be completed during the spring.
Tests and Measurements
With the building up of courses of studies which in all school systems should be constantly undergoing revision there should be a definite schedule of tests and measurements of the work done both by individual pupils and groups of pupils taken by grades and schools. Some of this work has been done in the Junior and Senior High Schools and a small amount in the grades. Additional work in this line will be done before the school year ends.
Conclusion
The question has been asked many times, "How far are you going in education ?" The same questions can well be asked, "How far are you going in business, or aviation ?" or in any of the common interests of life. It is certain that prosperity and education go hand in hand. To fail to render support properly for education would be a means of removing one of the definite props of pros- perity. There is no attempt made to say that our schools are per- fect, but we say justifiably that we are striving for the best and just as business and all forms of commercial enterprise are un- dergoing changes, so must the schools and education undergo changes.
The teachers of Norwood will agree with me when I say that we
258
recognize in our town the proper attitude toward the best essentials of educational progress; that we have, as a town, one which is not averse to rendering proper support for things which education truly demands for the boys and girls who are soon to take places in the business of the town. This fine attitude and the resulting spirit as well as the material results which stand by themselves as notable achievements will surely be recognized in the future by even the most skeptical.
In taking over the duties of Superintendent of Schools, I thor- oughly realize that I have succeeded a man who has done much for the Town through faithful and devoted attention to his school duties. In current activities and future projects which may be planned, I shall give of my best to maintain his well earned standards.
Respectfully submitted,
L. W. GRANT, Superintendent of Schools.
Mr. L. W. Grant,
Superintendent of Schools, Norwood, Massachusetts.
Dear Mr. Grant:
I submit herewith the annual report for the Norwood Senior High School.
In as much as a report of this nature is expected to cover the work for the year ending December 31, 1927, and because of a limited acquaintance with the happenings of the first eight months of the year, it may be readily seen that a large portion of this report necessarily takes the form of a statistical summary; it appearing to the writer presuming for a Principal of four months contact with any school system to offer criticism or make sug- gestions and recommendations to any great extent.
Enrollment
At the opening of school on September 9, 1927, the school enroll- ment totaled 512, divided as follows:
Boys
Girls
Grade XII
54
76
Grade XI
80
97
Grade X
101
104
This shows an increase of 46 pupils over the enrollment of the opening day of the year previous. As is customary, the gain is largely due to the increased enrollment of the incoming class. This year our senior class numbers 125 as compared with 106 graduates of last June.
259
Faculty
Since the last report we have had a few changes in our high school faculty. Resignations were received from the following teachers; Lucile Foster, Head of the Modern Language Depart- ment; Jennie Beaulieu, Modern Language Department; Helen Estes, English Department; Helen Wilson, English Department; Elizabeth Shirley, English Department; and Carl E. Smith, Head of the Science Department. Mary R. Mackedon was appointed as Head of the Modern Language Department; J. Clifford Geer was appointed Head of the Science Department; and Dorothy W. Abbott was appointed temporary Head of the History Department. Marguerite Elliott is on a year's leave of absence. The following teachers filled the positions left vacant by resignations: Dorothy Pollard, a grad- ate of Wheaton, was appointed an English teacher having had one year teaching experience in the Groveland High School.
Orrelle Gray, a graduate of the Emerson College of Oratory, B. L. I., was appointed as English teacher, having had experience in the Houlton (Maine) High School 1920-25, and the Augusta (Maine) High School, 1925-27.
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