USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1898 > Part 23
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Title.
Minimum.
Maximum. $2,500
Annual Increase.
Head Master
$2,300
$50
Master
1,800
2,000
50
Sub-Master
1,200
1,700
50
Junior Sub-Master
1,000
1,300
50
First Assistant
1,000
1,200
50
Second Assistant
900
1,000
50
Third Assistant
ยท
750
900
50
445
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
Grammar and Primary Schools .- Teachers in grammar and primary schools are designated as masters, principals, first, second, and third assistants.
Title.
Minimum. $1,800
Maximum. $1,900
Annual Increase. $ 50
Masters
First Assistants
675
675
Second Assistants
300
600
100
Third Assistants
200
425
75
Kindergartners
300
600
100
Principals of 8-room buildings, $1,000.
Principals of smaller buildings, $600, with $25 additional for each room supervised.
Principals of 4-room buildings with 6th or 7th grade, $700.
Special Instructors .- Music. In the high schools and upper grammar grades, $1,500 for four days' work per week, together with all instrumental and sheet music required for the gradua- tion exercises of the grammar and high schools.
In the lower grammar and primary grades, $900.
Supervisor of Drawing, $900 minimum; $1,000 maximum; $100 annual increase.
Teachers of Sewing, $600.
Substitutes .- Permanent substitutes, $600.
Temporary substitutes of 1 or 2 years' experience, $1.50 per day.
Temporary substitutes of 3 or 4 years' experience, $2.00 per day.
Temporary substitutes of 5 or more years' experience, $2.50 per day.
Temporary substitutes in high schools or 9th grade, $3.00 per day.
Officers .- Superintendent, minimum, $2,500; maximum, $3,000; annual increase, $100.
446
ANNUAL REPORTS.
Superintendent's Clerk $ 650
First Truant Officer 1,000
Second Truant Officer
50
The increase of salaries shall commence at the monthly period of payment next succeeding the end of each year of service.
57. District Committees may at their discretion appoint third assistants in primary or grammar schools having Third a membership of more than fifty-six pupils or in Assistants. kindergartens with a membership exceeding thirty. If such assistants are without experience or special training they shall receive no pay for their first year of service. For their second year of service they shall receive $200, with an annual increase of $75 thereafter until a maximum of $425 shall be reached. But if said assistants are normal or training-school graduates, they shall receive for their first year of service $275, with an annual increase of $75 until a maximum of $425 is reached.
A service of at least thirty weeks shall be required to constitute a year's work.
Salaried third assistants shall receive no increase of pay for substituting.
In determining the pay of third assistants or of substitutes, a single year at a normal school shall be considered equivalent to a year of teaching experience.
In determining the pay of a substitute or of a regular teacher, graduation at a normal school shall be considered equivalent to a year of teaching experience.
When a third assistant is elected to the position of second assistant, she shall receive the salary in the schedule for second assistants which is next larger than that which she last received as third assistant.
447
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
58. The Committee on Evening Schools is empowered to appoint teachers for these schools and to fix Evening School their salaries, subject to revisory action by the Teachers. Board and the Regulations provided for these schools.
59. No person not now in the service of the Board shall be eligible to election to any position connected Training or with the schools who has not had professional train- Experience ing or suitable experience in the line of work which Required. he is to teach or supervise.
SPECIAL INSTRUCTORS.
60. At the regular meeting in April there shall be elected special instructors in music, drawing, sewing, Election. and such other special branches as the Board may hereafter determine, who shall hold office for one year unless sooner discharged by the Board.
61. They shall be subject to all the regulations of the- Board relating to regular teachers, unless it is Subject to Rules. otherwise provided.
62. Instruction in music shall be given in all the schools, and no pupil shall be excused from this study except Musical by permission of the Chairman of the Committee on Instruction. Music, or the Superintendent.
In all the grades below the high schools, instruction in this study shall be given by the regular teacher under the direction of the special instructor. In the high schools the musical instruction shall be given entirely by the special teacher.
63. Instruction in drawing shall be given in all grades of the grammar and primary schools, and in the English Drawing. High School. It shall be an optional study only in the three upper classes of the high school.
-
448
ANNUAL REPORTS.
In all grades below the high school, instruction in drawing shall be given by the regular teacher, under the By Whom Taught. direction of the supervisor of drawing. In the English High School, drawing shall be taught by special instructors, appointed for the purpose.
64. Instruction in sewing shall be given in the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grades of the schools, by special Sewing. teachers appointed for the purpose.
65. Instruction in cooking, woodworking, and physical training may be given by special teachers, in such Cooking, etc. schools and in such grades as may be designated by the Board.
66. Instruction in any of the special branches may be extended or restricted in the schools at any time, Special Instruction. by a majority vote of the Board, on recommendation of the special committee in charge.
DUTIES OF PRINCIPALS.
67. Principals are responsible for the enforcement of the regulations of the Board and for the general discipline of the schools in their respective buildings, and are Responsibility and invested with authority to make such rules, not Authority. inconsistent with these regulations, and require such co-opera- tion of the other teachers as may in their opinion be needful for the successful conduct of their schools. They shall themselves be subject to all regulations of the Board relating to teachers.
68. They shall exercise a vigilant supervision over their respective buildings and grounds and see that they Buildings and Supervision of are kept in a neat and wholesome condition. Any continued neglect of duty on the part of janitors Janitors.
they are to report to the Superintendent of Janitors. Defects in the heating or sanitary arrangements of the building and
449
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
needful repairs are to be reported to the Superintendent of Schools.
69. They shall receive all applications for admission to their schools, assign each pupil to his proper class, Admission and and use their best efforts to secure regularity of Assignment attendance and to prevent truancy. of Pupils.
70. They shall order from the Superintendent, on blanks provided for the purpose, whatever text-books and Supplies Ordered. supplies may be needed in their schools, take charge of the same when received, and see that they are properly cared for and economically used by the teachers.
71. They shall carefully record the absences of their teachers and the times during which substitutes Time Reports. are employed, and send a report of the same to the Superin- tendent at the end of each school month.
72. Principals are responsible for the correctness of teachers' registers and shall examine them each Registers. month. They shall make such returns and reports as may be requested from time to time by the Board.
73. They shall see that all teachers in their buildings are provided with a copy of these regulations, and are Changes in immediately informed of any changes in them and of Rules. any directions for the management of their schools issued by the Board or the Superintendent. They shall see that all rules and directions are uniformly interpreted.
74. They shall give such instructions to teachers and pupils as will enable them to act prudently and Emergency promptly in case of fire or other emergency, and shall Alarm. train the pupils to leave the building in order, and speedily, on the striking of the emergency alarm. They shall see that the doors by which the pupils leave the building are unlocked dur- ing school hours unless provided with means by which they may be easily opened in emergencies.
450
ANNUAL REPORTS.
75. Principals shall patiently hear and impartially investi- gate complaints which may be made by parents or Complaints to others, and shall use their best endeavors to redress be heard. any real grievances without reference to the Committee or Superintendent.
76. Principals of schools containing the ninth grade shall be known as Supervising Principals. They shall perform all the duties of principals as set forth elsewhere in these regula- tions. In addition to these duties they shall, at the Supervising request of the Superintendent, instruct classes, Principals. examine and grade pupils, and supervise the instruction of teachers in their own schools and in all other schools which are tributary to them. They shall counsel and aid teachers in all matters relating to their duties. They shall familiarize themselves with the methods of discipline employed by every teacher under their direction, and labor to secure the best methods.
Whenever a school is tributary to two or more higher schools, it shall be under the charge of the senior Supervising Principal unless otherwise ordered by the District Committee.
Supervising principals shall teach at least twelve hours per week, not less than ten of which shall be in the highest grade.
DUTIES OF TEACHERS.
77. All teachers connected with the public schools are required to make themselves familiar with the pro- To observe visions of these regulations and especially that por- Regulations. tion of them relating to their school duties, and to observe and enforce them faithfully.
78. Teachers shall not be absent from duty except for per- sonal illness or emergency, unless permission has first been obtained from the Chairman of the Standing Committee in
451
. SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
charge of the school or department, or from the Superin- tendent. In all cases of absence notice shall be Absence. immediately sent to the Principal and to the Superintendent, one of whom shall supply a substitute, and both of whom should be notified of the time when the teacher may be expected to resume her duties.
79. Principals shall be in their respective buildings twenty minutes before the time of opening school. They Punctuality. shall see that the outside doors are open for the admission of pupils fifteen minutes before the opening of each session.
In cold and inclement weather they shall provide suitable shelter and care for little children who may have come to school earlier.
Every teacher shall be in her school-room ready to receive her pupils fifteen minutes before the beginning of each session. The tardiness of teachers shall be regularly reported to the Superintendent.
80. Teachers shall punctually observe the hours appointed for opening and dismissing the schools, and during school hours shall faithfully apply themselves to their Moral duties. In all their intercourse with their scholars Instruction. they shall strive to impress on their minds, both by precept and example, the great importance of earnest efforts for improvement in morals, manners, and deportment, as well as in useful learning.
Pupils shall be carefully instructed to avoid idleness and profanity, falsehood and deceit, and every wicked and dis- graceful practice, and to conduct themselves in an orderly and proper manner; and it shall be the duty of the teachers, so far as practicable, to exercise a general supervision over them in these regards, both in and out of school.
452
ANNUAL REPORTS. .
81. Teachers must aim at such discipline in their schools as would be exercised by a kind and judicious parent in his family. They shall avoid corporal punishment in all Discipline. cases where good order can be maintained by milder means. In no case shall they resort to confinement in closets or dressing-rooms, or to any form of cruel or unnatural punishment. Blows upon the head are expressly prohibited. Ridicule, pro- voking sarcasm, and all harsh expressions are to be studiously avoided. If the Principal recommends the use of corporal punishment, let it be restricted to blows upon the hand, but administered with prudence and deliberation, always after school hours, in the absence of other pupils, and after twenty- four hours shall have intervened.
Teachers must record in a book, furnished for that purpose, all cases of corporal punishment, giving the date, the name of the pupil, the offence, and the nature and extent of Corporal the punishment inflicted, and report the same to Punishment. the Superintendent through the Principal.
By corporal punishment is understood any infliction what- ever of bodily pain, or application of physical force.
82. Teachers shall be responsible for the discipline of their schools. Appeals to the Principal or Committee, in ordinary cases, tend to weaken the influence of the Appeals. teacher, and should be avoided.
Whenever a pupil refuses to receive punishment from his teacher, his case shall be referred to the Principal for treatment.
83. In cases where the conduct and habits of a pupil are found to be injurious to associates, it shall be the Suspension duty of the Principal, with the advice of the Standing of Pupils. Committee, to suspend such pupil from school.
84. For flagrant misconduct or extreme disobedience and insubordination, after other means of reformationshave been
453
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
tried in vain, the Principal of the school may suspend Suspension a pupil, provided that such case of suspension, with the of Pupils. reasons therefor, shall be reported in writing to the parent or guardian of the pupil, and also to the Sub-Committee, within twenty-four hours after its occurrence. Any child under sus- pension, who shall express regret for his fault, and whose parents or guardian shall promise co-operation in the enforce- ment of the regulations, may be reinstated by the Reinstatement. Sub-Committee on such conditions as shall be thought best ; but, if such suspension is ratified by the Sub-Committee, the pupil so dismissed shall not be admitted into any school in Somerville except by vote of the Board.
85. No pupil shall be sent from school for pur- Pupils sent poses of discipline, unless he is suspended by the from School. Principal.
86. Teachers are expected to use all suitable means to prevent truancy and to reclaim truants. When such Truancy. means prove inadequate, the Principal shall report offenders to the truant officer, who shall return them to school and give suitable warning of the consequences of their offence.
87. Bi-monthly reports of the standing of pupils of the high and grammar schools, showing attendance, Bi-monthly deportment, and scholarship, shall be sent to parents Reports. and guardians for their examination and signature.
88. There shall be kept in every school a register of the name, age, dates of admission and discharge, absences, Registers. tardinesses, dismissals, and half days of truancy of each pupil. Principals shall be responsible for the correctness of said regis- ter, and for the proper returns from it to the Secretary of the School Committee.
454
ANNUAL REPORTS.
89. Teachers whose pupils are all of one grade, shall divide their classes into two sections, that as far as Classes in practicable one section may be studying while the Sections. other section are reciting.
A reasonable amount of home study may be required of pupils in the high schools and the three upper Home Study. grades of the grammar schools.
90. During the first month of the school year each teacher shall prepare two copies of the programme of the Programmes. daily exercises of his school, one to be kept in the school-room accessible to the substitute teacher, and one for the Superin- tendent.
91. It shall be the duty of all teachers to give frequent and vigilant attention to the ventilation, temperature, Ventilation. and light of their school-rooms. A regular system of ventila- tion shall be practised, as well in winter as in summer, by which the air in the school-rooms shall be effectually changed during recess and at the end of each school session. Temperature. The school-room should be kept at a uniform temperature of 68 degrees F., as shown by a thermometer hung in a central place at the level of the pupils' desks.
92. Teachers, by direction of the Superintendent, shall visit other schools occasionally, to observe the disci- Visits of pline and instruction of the same. During the absence Teachers. of teachers for this purpose the Superintendent shall provide substitutes for their schools.
93. It shall be the duty of teachers to encourage their pupils to adopt some systematic course of general Reading and reading, to advise them in the selection of such Public Library. books as will improve their taste and cultivate a love for good reading, and to co-operate in efforts to extend the advantages of the Public Library to the pupils of the schools.
455
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
94. Teachers shall not allow themselves to be inter- rupted in their work by prolonged interviews, even Interruptions on matters relating to the school; nor shall they of Teachers. allow the suspension of their regular duties or changes in their programmes on account of the visits of other teachers or personal friends.
95. Unless specially excused by the Superintendent, teachers shall attend all meetings called by the Super- To Attend intendent or the Board for their benefit and profes- Meetings .. sional improvement by means of lectures, discussions, or otherwise.
96. The course of study and the time schedule of differ- ent studies adopted by the Board and made a Time Schedule and part of these Regulations must be faithfully Course of Study. followed in accordance with the directions therein given, and no other text-books than those authorized by the Board shall be used in the schools.
97. No persons except those appointed for the purpose by the Board or those officially connected with the Unauthorized schools shall be allowed to give instruction or Instructors. deliver lectures in the schools.
No advertisement shall be given in any school or dis- tributed or posted on school premises, nor shall Advertisements, any agent or other person be permitted to enter Book Agents, etc. any school building for the purpose of securing subscriptions, presenting articles for sale, photographing pupils, copying names from school registers, or transacting any other pri- vate business without permission of the Board, presented in writing.
The sale of books or stationery to pupils by teachers is prohibited.
No person shall be permitted to use tobacco, in any form, upon school premises. Use of Tobacco.
456
ANNUAL REPORTS
98. No contribution or collection of money for any pur- pose shall be permitted in any school without con- Contributions sent of the Chairman of the Standing Committee Prohibited. in charge thereof.
99. Teachers are expected to co-operate heartily with the Superintendent, Principal, and with one another in Co-operation promoting the interests of the schools. During the of Teachers. school year they shall engage in no business or employment for salary or wages except that for which they Not to Engage are hired and paid by the City of Somerville, with- in Other out the consent of the Standing Committee in Business. charge of the school or department. Women regularly employed in the day schools are not eligible to appointment as evening school teachers.
GENERAL REGULATIONS
OF THE
PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
REGULATIONS COMMON TO ALL SCHOOLS.
100. The public schools of Somerville shall be classified as Kindergartens, for children under five years of age; Primary schools containing the first, second, and third grades ; Grammar schools containing grades four to nine, inclusive ; the English and Latin High schools, containing four grades to Classification be designated as the first, second, third, and fourth of Schools. classes, the first being the tenth grade or entering class ; Ele- mentary Evening schools for persons over fourteen years of age ; and Evening Drawing schools for instruction in industrial and freehand drawing.
101. The school year shall consist of forty weeks, begin- ning on the Tuesday following the first Monday in School Year. September.
102. The following shall be the holidays and vacations granted to all the schools : -
Holidays .- Every Saturday ; Thanksgiving Day together with the afternoon preceding and the Friday following Holidays. it ; February 22nd ; Patriots' Day ; Memorial Day ; June 17th. Whenever any holiday falls on Sunday, the schools shall be closed on the following day.
458
ANNUAL REPORTS.
Vacations. From noon of December 24th. to the day after that celebrated as New Year's Day ; the two weeks that Vacations. separate the last twenty-four weeks of the school year into three terms of eight weeks each; from the close of the school year to the Tuesday following the first Monday of September.
The chairman of the School Committee, through the Sub-com- mittees, may dismiss all the schools on extraordinary occasions of general interest ; and each school may be dismissed Special by its Sub-committee during the session of the Middlesex Holidays. County Teachers' Association, upon the request of the teacher or teachers who will attend the same ; and Sub-committees are not allowed to dismiss their schools on any other occasions, except by vote of the Board.
103. The high schools shall hold a five-hour session on each school day, beginning at 8.30 o'clock.
The grammar and primary schools shall hold a morning ses- sion from 9 o'clock until 11.45, and an afternoon session from 2 o'clock until 4, excepting from November to February, Sessions. when the afternoon session shall be from 1.45 to 3.45 o'clock.
The sessions of the kindergartens shall extend from 9 o'clock until 12.
104. In case of severe storm the Superintendent is author- ized to announce the omission of the next session of the schools by striking the signal 5-5 twice on the fire-alarm Storm Signal. bells. The storm signal for the high schools shall be struck at 7.30 ; for all other schools forty-five minutes before the opening of the session. From November to February the time for striking the signal for the omission of the afternoon session shall be 12.45.
105. The morning session of all schools shall commence with the reading by the teacher, without comment, of Scriptures a selection from the Scriptures in accordance with to be read. the laws of the Commonwealth.
459
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
106. There shall be twenty-five minutes of recess in the schools at such time as the head-masters shall choose.
In the grammar and primary grades, midway of each session, there shall be a recess of five minutes for the four Recesses. lower grades, and five minutes of gymnastic exercises for all other grades.
No pupil shall be deprived of any portion of the regular recess of his class.
107. Pupils shall be admitted to school and assigned to their proper grades by the Principal, who shall require Admission satisfactory evidence that they reside within the dis- of Pupils. trict, are of the proper age, and have been secured against the small-pox.
Beginners shall be admitted to the first grade during the month of September only, it being understood that any child five years of age, or who shall attain that age before the first of January following, is eligible to such admission.
108. Residents of other cities and towns, and children residing in Somerville for the sole purpose of attend- Non-Resident ing school shall be admitted to school only by Pupils. special permit of the Superintendent, who shall require evidence that tuition has been paid for the year or half-year before granting said permit.
The tuition for non-resident pupils shall be a sum equal to the average expense per pupil during the year next preceding in the school they are to attend.
109. No person affected with any contagious disease shall be allowed to attend the public schools. No person who is a member of a household in which a person is sick with small- pox, diphtheria, scarlet fever, or measles, or of a household exposed to contagion from a household as aforesaid, shall attend . any public school during such sickness or until the teacher of
460
ANNUAL REPORTS.
the school has been furnished with a certificate from Contagious the board of health of the town or city, or from the Diseases. attending physician of such sick person, stating in a case of small-pox, diphtheria, or scarlet fever, that a period of at least two weeks, and in a case of measles a period of at least three days, has elapsed since the recovery, removal, or death of such person, and that danger of the conveying of such disease by such person has passed.
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