USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1900 > Part 12
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Section 2. Further organization shall proceed as follows :-
1. Election of a Superintendent of Schools, who shall also be Sec- retary of the Committee, but not one of its members.
2. Election of a Vice-Chairman.
3. Appointment by the Chairman of a committee of four members from different wards to nominate Standing Committees.
4. Election of Standing Committees.
5. Transaction of other business.
Section 3. The Standing Committees of the School Committee shall be as follows :-
1. On Additional School Accommodations, to consist of the Chair- men of the Standing Committees of the several districts, and the Chair- man of the Standing Committee on High Schools.
2. On High Schools, and
3. On Text-Books and Courses of Study, each to consist of one member from each ward.
4. On Evening Schools,
5. On Finance,
6. On Industrial Education,
7. On Music,
8. On Private Schools,
9. On Repairs of School Buildings,
10. On Rules and Regulations,
11. On Salaries, and
12. On Supplies, each to consist of three members from different: wards.
13-19. On Schools in the several districts or wards, to consist of the two members elected from each district or ward.
The member first named on any Standing or Special Committee shall be Chairman thereof.
Wherever the word "Board" occurs in the Rules and Regulations,. it is understood to refer to the School Committee, and the word "Mayor" to Chairman of School Committee.
Section 12. The Chairman shall preside at all meetings of the School Committee, if present. In his absence, the Vice-Chairman shall preside. If both Chairman and Vice-Chairman are absent, the senior member in age shall preside.
Section 32. The Superintendent of Public Schools shall be elected annually on the first Monday of January, or whenever a vacancy occurs.
Section 152. For the sake of convenient supervision, the schools of Somerville are grouped into seven districts, which are identical in their boundaries with the seven wards into which the city is divided.
Standing Committees were elected as on page 152 of this. report.
January 29. Gordon A. Southworth was elected Superin- tendent of Schools and, ex-officio, Secretary of the Committee.
The Committee on Additional School Accommodations rec- ommended: First, either a six-room building in the immediate- vicinity of the Knapp School, or an addition to the Knapp school- house. Second, a six-room building in the immediate vicinity of
156
ANNUAL REPORTS.
the Hodgkins School. Third, a six-room building in the imme- -diate vicinity of the Highland School.
S. Newton Cutler was elected Vice-Chairman of the Com- mittee.
Mary P. Hitchcock was made a second assistant in the Eng- lish High School.
February 6. Special meeting.
The salary of the chief truant officer was increased $100, making it $1,100.
Voted, that from and after the beginning of the school year in September, 1900, the following salaries be paid for the fifth year and each succeeding year of teaching service in grammar and pri- mary schools.
To First Assistants $725 00 Second Assistants. 650 00
Principals of four-room buildings. 725 00
Principals of six-room buildings 775 00 Sewing teachers. 650 00
the same being an increase of $50 over salaries at present paid.
The following appropriations for the maintenance of schools for 1900 were asked for :-
Teachers' salaries $208,000 00
School Contingent Account 22,000 00
March 26. Voted, that the vertical system of writing be discontinued from this date in all grades where now used, and the muscular forearın, or forward slant, movement be used.
Voted, that the afternoon session of the schools be from 1.30 to 3.30 throughout the year.
April 30. Voted to employ an assistant teacher in elocu- tion in the English High School, at a salary not exceeding $500. The annual election of teachers of the public schools was made.
Voted, that Smith's Educational System of Intermedial Pen- manship be adopted for exclusive use in all grades below the ninth.
May 28. Section 57 of the Rules was amended by adding the following :-
Fourth assistants in the High Schools may be appointed by the School Board at such salary as it may determine on the recommenda- tion of the Standing Committee on High Schools.
Section 119 was amended to read as follows :-
Children between four and five years of age may be admitted to the kindergarten nearest their homes during the months of September and April. They may remain until the June following their fifth birthday.
Section 107 was amended to read as follows :-
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
-
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SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
who shall attain that age before the first of October following, is. eligible for such admission.
The Committee voted not to extend the summer vacation one- week, in accordance with petition presented.
June 25. Voted to increase the salary of the principal of the- Bingham School $100.
August 27. The resignation of James F. Beard, a member from Ward 3, and Chairman of the Committee, was received and placed on file.
Resolutions in recognition of Mr. Beard's services were- adopted.
Voted to employ an assistant for the principal of the Burns School for three days each week.
September 13. The Board met in joint convention with the Board of Aldermen and elected Alvah B. Dearborn a member of the Committee from Ward 3, to fill the vacancy caused by Mr. Beard's resignation.
September 24. S. Newton Cutler was elected Chairman of the Committee, and George A. Miles was elected Vice-Chairman ..
Alvah B. Dearborn was appointed to fill vacancies in Stand- ing Committees caused by Mr. Beard's resignation, with the ex- ception of the High School Committee. The vacancy in this. committee was filled by the appointment of Dana W. Bennett.
October 29. Voted to adopt the following recommendations of the Committee on Additional School Accommodations, and refer them to the Board of Aldermen :-
1. For a ten-room building on the site of the present Jack- son School, to replace that school, together with the Bennett and Prospect-hill Schools.
2. Renewing the request made in January for a second six- room building in the Hodgkins district in Ward 7.
The Superintendent was given permission to make tests of the sight of pupils in the public schools through the teachers.
Voted, that the Board of Aldermen be requested to name the- Willow-avenue school the "Benjamin G. Brown School."
November 26. Voted, that the Secretary be instructed to in- form the Board of Health that the School Committee and all its employees stand ready to co-operate in every way possible in the- establishment and execution of a system of daily medical inspec- tion in the Somerville schools.
Voted, that the Board of Aldermen be requested to give to the Board of Health whatever financial support may be needed' to defray the expenses of a daily medical inspection in the public schools of Somerville.
Voted, that the sum of $20 per month be allowed the truant officer for the expense of keeping a team.
158
ANNUAL REPORTS.
Voted, that the course of study for the primary and grammar schools be revised.
Voted, that a secretary and librarian be employed in each High School.
Voted, that the Board of Aldermen be requested to name the new school on Bolton street the "George L. Baxter School."
Voted, that the Board of Aldermen be requested to provide for the immediate removal of the residence of janitors from school buildings.
December 8. Voted, that the Commissioner of Electric Lines and Lights be requested to install a system of telephones that shall connect each school building in the city with the office of the Superintendent of Schools, the same to be owned and maintained by the city, the expense to be paid from the school contingent fund.
December 31. Voted, that the salary of ninth grade teach- ers other than masters' assistants be $700 from September 1, 1900. Voted, that the annual increase in the salary of sub-masters in the High Schools be $100, instead of $50.
A communication was received from the treasurer of the School Board of Galveston, Tex., acknowledging the receipt of $180.69 from the children of Somerville for the rebuilding of the schoolhouses destroyed in the disaster of September 8.
Resolutions were presented complimentary to Martin W. Carr, of Ward 6, who closes a continuous service of seventeen years on the School Committee.
Summary of Statistics.
The salient facts regarding the schools as far as they may be indicated in figures are given below. It will be interesting to con- trast the statistics of 1890 with those of 1900, to show how the in- crease of expenditures compares with the increase in the popula- tion as shown by the United States Census of the two years. For this purpose the figures for both years are given.
1. - POPULATION OF SOMERVILLE.
1890 .- United States Census
. 40,117
1895 .- State Census.
.52,200
Increase in five years .12,083 or 30.1 per cent.
1900 .- United States Census
.61,643
Increase in ten years.
21,526 or 53.6 per cent.
2. - SCHOOL BUILDINGS.
1890
1900.
Per Cent. of Increase.
Number of school buildings
22
24
9.1
Number of classrooms .....
134
222
64.2
Valuation of school property
$508,600
$1,105,604
117.3
-
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
3. - TEACHERS.
In high schools.
In grammar schools
76
127
67.1
In primary schools
67
91
35.8
In kindergartens
143
226
58.7
Total in elementary schools.
6
7
16.6
Special
159
273
71.7
Total
4. - ATTENDANCE FOR YEAR.
Entire enrollment for year.
7,878
12,345
56.7
Average number belonging.
6,485
9,823
51.4
Average number attending.
6,075
9,174
51.0
Per cent. of daily attendance.
93.6
93.4
High school graduates ..
61
131
114.7
Grammar school graduates
318
434
36.4
5 - ATTENDANCE IN DECEMBER.
Whole number attending.
7,215
11,751
62.8
In private schools
703
1,386
97.1
In public schools
6,548
10,365
58.2
In high schools
470
1,008
114.4
In elementary schools
6,078
9,357
53.9
In kindergarten
186
In first grade
1,215
1,567
28.9
In second grade
822
1,319
60.4
In third grade
751
1,227
63.3
In fourth grade
781
1,109
41.9
In fifth grade
639
1,111
73.8
In sixth grade
629
920
46.2
In seventh grade
495
756
52.8
In eighth grade
417
641
53.7
In ninth grade
329
521
58.3
In high schools
470
1,008
114.4
6. - COST OF SCHOOL MAINTENANCE.
Salaries of teachers
$100,255.00
$208,130.00
107.6
Salaries of officers
3,928.00
4,733.00
20.5
Cost of books and supplies
10,403.00
15,735.00
51.2
Cost of water and light
997.00
1,729.00
73.4
Cost of janitors' services.
7,539.00
19,236.00
155.1
Cost of fuel
5,586.00
10,840.00
94.0
Total cost of day and evening schools
128,708.00
260,403.00
102.3
Per capita cost
19.84
26.51
33.5
Cost of high school instruction ..
11,550.00
45,350.00
294.3
Per capita cost
27.30
48.28
76.8
7. - MISCELLANEOUS.
Paid for new school build-
ings
$75,775.00
$51,232.00
Repairs and permanent 11-
19,168.00
21,745.00
13 4
Total school expenditures
223,651.00
333,380.00
49.0
Valuation of city
32,557,500.00
52,513,400.00
61.6
Per cent. of valuation spent
to maintain schools . . . . .
0.395
0.495
25.3
Per cent. of valuation spent
for all school purposes ...
0.686
0.634
:
10
40
300.0
0
8
159
provements .
160
ANNUAL REPORTS.
According to the United States Census there has been an increase of 53.6 per cent. in the population of the city since 1890. The increase from 1890 to 1895 was 30 per cent., and from 1895 to 1900, 18.1. The increase in the valuation of the city was in excess of the increase of population, being 62 per cent. The number of school buildings has increased from twenty-three to twenty-four, but it is interesting to note that seven have been abandoned, namely : the Brastow, Webster, Union, Cedar-street, Beech-street, Franklin, and Harvard, containing sixteen rooms; while eight buildings have been erected, namely: the English High, Hanscom, Pope, Glines, Durell, Carr, Hodgkins, and Perry, containing sixty-eight roonis, and the Knapp, Bingham, Burns. Forster, and Edgerly have been enlarged by the addition of twenty-two rooms. This is certainly a remarkable record for any city to make within the space of ten years. It shows an in- crease in the valuation of school property of 117 per cent., more than doubling in the decade, $572,000 having been spent for new schoolhouses.
The number of pupils in the city in 1900 shows a slight in- crease as compared with the increase in population. The in- creased membership in the elementary schools is 54 per cent. The membership in private schools has nearly doubled, the boys' parochial school having been opened during the time we are con- sidering. There has been a remarkable increase in the member- ship of the High Schools, being no less than 114 per cent., a rela- tive increase more than twice as large as the increase in popula- tion. The number of high school graduates shows precisely a similar increase. The number of grammar school graduates has increased 36 per cent., the number in 1900 being considerably smaller than in 1899.
There has been a marked advance in the cost of school maintenance, the cost of construction having been more than doubled, the increase being 108 per cent. The increase in the salaries of officers has been 21 per cent., in the cost of supplies, 51 per cent. The increase in the cost of water and light has been 73 per cent. This is due to the introduction of modern sanitary appliances. The sum paid to janitors is greater by 155 per cent. The salaries of janitors have been raised, and the care of larger buildings costs much more, relatively, than that of the cheap wooden buildings that were abandoned. The increase in the cost of fuel has been 94 per cent. It costs more to heat perfectly ventilated buildings. The increase in the total cost of maintain- ing the schools has been 102 per cent., practically double what it was in 1890. The increase in the per capita cost is 33 1-2 per cent.
High school instruction costs four times as much as it did ten years ago, while the per capita cost is 77 per cent. greater. This increase is accounted for by the large gain in the number of pupils, the higher salaries paid to teachers, and in the larger
161
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
relative number of teachers employed. In 1890 the high school class unit was forty-seven pupils to a teacher. In 1900 it is twenty-five.
There are four times as many teachers employed in the High Schools, four times as many men and four times as many women.
The number of elementary teachers has risen 59 per cent., due to the opening of kindergartens and the smaller number of pupils assigned to a teacher.
School Buildings. The only increase in school accommoda- tions for the year was furnished by the completion in February of the six-room building known as the Forster Annex. This building stands in the southeasterly corner of the lot, 3,000 square feet of land having been added in 1899. The building is in all respects well adapted to school purposes. The rooms are light, well-ventilated, and convenient. The furniture is of the adjust- able pattern. Sanitaries are provided on each floor level, as well as in the basement. Closets, teachers' rooms, and corridors are ample. Clothes-rooms for pupils are set off from the corridors by iron netting, thus providing ventilation as well as security. In the basement two well-lighted rooms, each thirty feet square and in every way suitable for the purpose, are provided for manual training and cooking.
The cost of the building complete, exclusive of $1,500 paid for land, was $34,137.84.
In response to the request of the Committee for increased accommodations, a six-room building is now in process of con- struction on Bolton street in Ward 2, which will probably be ready for occupancy in March. A similar building is being erected on Willow avenue in Ward 6, designed to meet the needs of that section of the city. This house will not be finished until September next.
During the year the heating and sanitary arrangements of the Knapp School have been entirely changed. Steam has re- placed furnace heat, the ventilation has been perfected, and modern closets have been provided. The advantages of these changes more than justify the expenditure of $7,886 required.
In May what seemed to be an unusual number of cases of diphtheria in the Pope School led the Board of Health to close the school for two weeks. The building was thoroughly fumi- gated and washed, and several hundred books used by pupils in the room most affected were burned. During the summer vaca- tion a complete change in the sanitary department of the building was made, the most modern conveniences being provided at an expense of $1,898. As far as it may affect the health of its occu- pants, the building is now beyond criticism.
The work of improving the very defective lighting of some of the older buildings has been begun by the addition of windows in several rooms in the Forster and Latin buildings. This work
162
ANNUAL REPORTS.
should be prosecuted with the utmost diligence until all school buildings in the city are as well lighted as the most modern. The Commissioner of Public Buildings is intending to try the experi- ment of using prismatic or ribbed glass in the upper three-fourths of the windows of some ill-lighted room. The claim is made that in this way the effective light may be nearly doubled. If this theory shall develop into a fact, it will furnish an easy and less expensive solution of a problem of pressing importance.
When adequate lighting facilities and the requisite adjust- able furniture have been furnished, all but three of Somerville's school buildings will be in satisfactory condition as far as they minister to the health and comfort of their occupants.
These three exceptional buildings, the Prospect-hill, Ben- nett, and Jackson are antiquated wooden structures, unventilated, stove-heated, and unprovided with respectable sanitary con- veniences. The need of something better is everywhere recog- nized, and the School Committee have already made an urgent request for the construction of a ten or twelve-room building on the Jackson lot, which, when completed, will enable us to aban- don the old buildings and do tardy justice to the residents of the locality, who have borne their deprivations with great patience.
The request made in January for two six-room buildings at West Somerville was partly honored by the construction of a building on Willow avenue, which, as has been said, is well under way. The request for the second six-room schoolhouse to be located in the Hodgkins district has recently been renewed, and the building should be ready for use in September, 1901. It should be located so near the Hodgkins that it can ultimately relieve that school of its primary grades. In a twelve-room building, one room is emptied annually by graduation, but it is immediately filled by the admission of first-grade children. Now, if the school has two feeders, from each of which it receives a class yearly, it is obvious that there will be added three classes each year to take the place of the single one that graduates. This is evidently impossible. Therefore a large building with two feeders must be devoted wholly to grammar grades, and its pri- mary pupils must be accommodated elsewhere.
The other horn of the dilemma is to build more twelve-room buildings under charge of masters, but this, as has been shown in previous reports, involves a needless annual outlay of $1,500 for each large school. We now employ eleven grammar masters, and Cambridge, with a population greater by 30,000, employs ex- actly the same number.
Increased Accommodations. With the completion of the four buildings of which we have already spoken,-in Bolton street, Willow avenue, Maple street, and the Hodgkins district,- the pressing needs of grammar and primary schools for 1901 will be met. Another year, however, a new building, either contigu-
163
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
ous to the Bingham School or located in the northwest section of Ward 5, near Moreland street, will be necessary. If built near the Bingham, it will relieve the Forster of some upper grade pupils and render possible transfers from the Glines. It should be pro- vided with rooms for kindergarten, manual training, and cook- ing purposes, not only for the regular work of the school, but also for the use of a vacation school, as indicated in subsequent pages of this report.
Under the head of increased accommodations it only re- mains to consider the vexed question of what shall be done for the High Schools. It is conceded on all sides that more room is needed. What are the existing and prospective conditions? The English High schoolhouse was built to accommodate 600 pupils. Since September 776 pupils have been registered, and the membership at the present time is 729. To accommodate these extra 129 pupils the lecture hall has been converted into classrooms. The original recitation rooms have all disappeared. One of the laboratories is used as a classroom. Clothes closets have been utilized for recitation purposes. Notwithstanding this congestion, the work of the school has gone steadily forward, but it has been at the expense of the comfort and convenience of teachers and pupils. In September of another year, according to the pretty well established law of increase, the membership will be 760. This number will, doubtless, be stowed away in the building, even if stairways and corridors are brought into requisi- tion. But surely something better should be provided.
The Latin School received 100 freshmen in September. This experience will probably be repeated in 1901. If so, the capacity of the building will be exceeded. At least two hundred pupils more than the present buildings can accommodate will then de- mand high school privileges. But the question is larger than the simple one of seating pupils. Facilities for doing the work well are lacking. The Latin School is now without laboratories and library, and in need of requisites for teaching by the most modern methods. The English School has no recitation rooms, is restricted in its growing business department and in the draw- ing and manual training section, while special rooms are re- quired if the best work is to be done in science, or if provision is to be made for all features of the present course of study.
Such, then, are briefly the conditions and the needs. What is the remedy? Two plans have been presented and discussed without agreement. One plan contemplates the enlargement of the English building, the other, the construction of a new Latin schoolhouse and the use of both the present buildings by the English School. Either plan is expensive, but one of them is urgently necessary. More and more is a high school education considered needful, more and more do our citizens appreciate and approve the work of our High Schools, and unless we are ready to deny the claims of our children, to repress their aspira-
164
ANNUAL REPORTS.
tions, and to close the door of opportunity, we cannot refuse longer to provide enlarged accommodations and increased facili- ties for these schools.
Pupils. Twelve thousand three hundred and forty-five dif- ferent pupils have been connected with the schools during the year. Two thousand five hundred and twenty-two of these, how- ever, have been members of the schools but part of the year, one- half of them having moved into the city, and the other half having dropped out of school, either on account of removal from the city or from other causes. This shows the average membership of the schools to be 9,823. Of this number, 9,174 have been present at every session, showing an average attendance of 93.4 per cent. This is the lowest rate of attendance for fifteen or twenty years. It is occasioned by the unusual prevalence of contagious diseases and the fact that the statute obliges us to continue children quar- antined for this reason for twenty sessions, instead of six, as for- merly. There have been eight and one-sixth tardinesses and four and three-fourths dismissals out of each ten thousand opportuni- ties.
There are 10,365 pupils belonging to the schools at the pres- ent time.
In the Latin School 279
In the English School 729
In both High Schools 1.003
In the grammar schools. 5,058
In the primary schools 4,113
In the kindergartens. 186
This is an increase of 470 pupils during the year, a closed kindergarten and the exclusion of children under five being taken into account.
The High Schools have kept 181 days. The elementary schools have kept 184} davs of four and three-fourths hours each, or 876 hours, just one-tenth of the entire year. The time lost out of the theoretical school year of forty weeks includes seven legal holidays, two days on which the schools were closed by the strik- ing of the storm signal, five and one-half days taken for the exten- sion of vacations, and one day for a teachers' convention. We are accustomed to say that our schools keep forty weeks in the year, but, as a matter of fact, the actual time is thirty-seven weeks. We are sometimes inclined to consider this loss of time incon- sequential. If we were running a cotton mill with a million- dollar plant at an annual expense of $250,000, the loss of seven and one-half per cent. of our working time would quickly carry the stock below par and shut off the dividends. There is a differ- ence between cotton cloth and an intangible product. Every day of the school year and every hour of the school day should be made to contribute its proportionate part to the year's work. The loss of one-seventh of the time by a shortened year and poor attendance must of necessity affect the amount of work accom-
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