USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1901 > Part 13
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There are in these buildings six classrooms, each with a seat- ing capacity of fifty pupils. Each classroom has a book and storage closet, is fitted with slate blackboards and all the con- veniences needed in a modern school building. The coatrooms lead directly from the corridors, and each has its outlet into the classrooms. These coatrooms are fitted with coat and hat hooks and rubber racks. A comfortable room is provided for the use of the teachers between school sessions, and will be furnished for their comfort and convenience. In the basement there are two play rooms, a ward room, the boiler room, and the usual base- ment and storage space.
Special attention has been given to the arrangement of the sanitary requirements of the building. The toilet rooms are in a separate building, which is connected with the main building by a corridor, which can be opened to the air, and thus keep the sanitary part entirely independent of the school building. The boys' toilet room is on the same level as the basement, and the girls' on the same level as the first floor.
The heating and ventilating is by the gravity system, and the plant consists of two forty-two inches by sixteen feet tubular boilers, fitted with the modern appliances to regulate drafts, in- sure safety, and facilitate firing. The warm air is taken into the rooms though openings eight feet from the floor, and the vitiated air removed through openings at the level of the floor. The coatrooms, teachers' room and toilet rooms are heated by direct radiation.
The cost of these buildings was as follows :-
BAXTER.
Land, 11,000 feet .$4,000.00
Building complete 28,309.27
Total
$32,309.27
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ANNUAL REPORTS.
BROWN.
Land. 20,093 feet $5,023.25
Building complete 31,844.30
Total $36,867.55
It is worthy of remark that these new buildings have been erected complete,-walls tinted, walks bricked and concreted, and yards curbed,-at less expense per classroom than any other school building in the city.
A brief sketch of the gentlemen whose honored names these schools are hereafter always to bear is here given :-
George L. Baxter, the son of William W. and Ann E. (Weld) Bax- ter, was born at Quincy, Mass., October 21, 1842, and is descended from Gregory Baxter. who came from England with Winthrop, and married Margaret Paddy, sister of William Paddy, of the Plymouth colony. He obtained his early education in the Quincy schools, entering at eleven years upon a course preparatory to college with special reference to the profession of teaching, was admitted to Harvard College in 1859, and graduated with high honors in 1863. During his college course he had become well acquainted with the management of the public schools and the methods of instruction, and immediately on graduating began his work of teaching. He taught Latin and English in a private French school in Boston till April, 1864, when he was appointed, at the age of twenty-one, principal of the Reading High School. After remaining at Reading nine months, he was chosen principal of the Plymouth High School, as successor to A. P. Stone. He taught nearly three years at Plymouth, and in July, 1867, came to Somerville to the position of prin- cipal of the High School. He has had thirty-four graduating classes and 1,608 graduates, of whom over 400 have completed a course preparatory to college. In 1872 he married Ida F .. daughter of William and Sarah E. L. (Berry) Paul, and has one son, Gregory Paul Baxter, a recent graduate of Harvard.
Besides filling various offices in other societies, he was secretary of John Abbot Lodge and Somerville Chapter of R. A. Masons for nearly twenty years, and he has been associate corporator and trustee of the Somerville Savings Bank since its incorporation.
Benjamin G. Brown was born at Marblehead February 22, 1837. He was fitted for college in the Marblehead High School and entered Har- vard in 1854, from which institution he was graduated in 1858. His first experience in teaching was as principal of the Marblehead Academy. where he taught from the fall of 1858 to the summer of 1861. He was then appointed tutor in mathematics in Tufts College. After serving suc- cessfully four years in that position, he was appointed Walker professor of mathematics in Tufts College. This position he holds to-day, Decem- ber, 1901, having been connected with the college for forty years.
He served upon the School Committee of Somerville seventeen years and three months, between 1872 and 1894. In this connection he rendered valuable services to the city. his education and training admirably fitting him for the work. The excellence of our schools may be in a large meas- ure attributed to his counsel and influence.
Eleven of our newer schools bear the full names of Somer- ville citizens, and thus the honor conferred is definite and obvious. Ten others are known by the last name only, which seems in some cases at least not to be sufficiently distinctive. We naturally connect the Lincoln School with Abraham Lincoln,
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SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
the Morse School suggests at once the inventor of the telegraph, while "Prescott" brings to mind the commander at Bunker Hill. Is it not advisable that some action be taken, so that hereafter each school may be known by a complete name, and thus the honor which the city intended to confer be made specific and unmistakable?
Surely the names
William H. Prescott,
Charles Forster,
Joshua H. Davis,
Norman W. Bingham,
Clark Bennett, .
Enoch R. Morse,
John A. Cummings,
Mark F. Burns,
John S. Edgerly,
Charles S. Lincoln,
suggest men the memory of whose services and character may well be definitely perpetuated as a stimulus and an example to the young.
With the abandonment of the three old buildings which the completion of the new Ward 1 Schoolhouse renders possible, every one of our schools will be housed in a way to promote the health and comfort and progress of our children. It is grati- fying to record the fact that in general our schoolhouses are well cared for. Nearly all our janitors have the instinct of ยท cleanliness ; they are prompt, courteous, accommodating, and efficient. And yet if the standard set up recently by a leading university president, "A schoolhouse should be kept as clean as a hospital," is to be maintained, much remains to be done. A monthly,-or in some cases a weekly,-scrubbing may well be substituted for the present quarterly house cleaning, and a daily sweeping may replace a semi-weekly one. No public gatherings can compete with schools in the opportunities for the spread of contagion or the distribution of germs, and it behooves us to in- sist not only on the safest possible schoolrooms, but also on ab- solute cleanliness of person and clothing on the part of the chil- dren who fill them.
Attention is again called to the defective lighting of some of our older buildings. Tests show thirty per cent. of defective vision in Somerville school children, and the ratio increases with age. Some of these defects are natural, but many are caused and all are aggravated by schoolroom habits or disadvantages. There are many afternoons during the year when the absolute suspension of eye-work is compulsory in our ill-lighted rooms. The contrast between the old buildings and the new in this re- spect only emphasizes the need of change, and it is hoped that early relief may be afforded.
Careful investigations by German scientists prove two things .- that myopia steadily increases as the pupil advances in the grades, and that myopic affections are less in modern, well- lighted buildings.
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ANNUAL REPORTS.
Additional School Accommodations. For the first six months of the year, the first-grade pupils in the Glines, Carr, Burns and Highland Schools were on three-hour time, and those in the Prescott, Morse and Hodgkins have attended but a single ses- sion daily for the entire year. As far as their advancement is concerned, this half-time attendance has worked no disadvantage to the children, for by the end of their second year they will have accomplished as much as their mates who have been on full time. The three-hour session, however, is not popular with parents, many of whom feel that there is an injustice in depriving certain children of as many hours schooling as the majority receive.
To obviate this plan in the Prescott district, the kindergarten in the Hanscom School would need to be closed, a procedure that would arouse a vigorous protest and result in a distinct loss.
To avoid the three-hour session in the Morse School seems impossible until an additional building shall be provided in the vicinity,-a rather remote remedy.
In the Hodgkins, the present arrangement of classes must continue until a new schoolhouse shall be constructed.
The Carr and the Morse Schools will be seriously crowded in September next, and can be relieved only by an easterly move- ment of pupils into the schools of Wards 2 and 3, which can easily accommodate the surplus. This will compel the transfer of pupils from the school of their possible strong preference to another concerning which they or their parents may have a fancied prejudice. This has led in days past to remonstrance and ill-feeling, but our schools present equal educational advan- tages, the difference in distance is trifling, and in this democratic age social distinctions should not control. Why, then, should not children be assigned to buildings where there is room in abun- dance whenever the exigencies demand it?
Ward V. The necessity of providing for the overflow from the Bingham and Glines Schools led to the opening in September of the two rooms in the basement of the Forster Annex. These rooms were designed not for classrooms, but for manual training and cooking, and are hardly adapted to their present use. While defects in heating have been remedied, they still remain unven- tilated and undesirable. For this reason, and because the rooms are needed for the purpose for which they were originally de- signed, their use as classrooms should be but temporary.
But even the use of these rooms will not provide for the growing needs of this section of the city. The time seems to have come for the erection of a six-room building very near the Bingham School. Were such a building ready in September, 1902, pupils now in the Forster, living west of Jenny Lind avenue, would fill three of its rooms, and kindergarten children a fourth. Should a bridge be built across the railroad at Lowell street, children from the Morse and Burns would occupy the
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SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
fifth room at once. This building would make room in the Forster for the normal growth in its immediate vicinity, and would release the basement rooms in the Forster Annex for their original purpose.
Ward VII. The opening of the Brown School in Willow avenue temporarily relieved the pressure on the Burns and High- land Schools, but did very little for the Hodgkins. The wisdom of the call of the Committee a year ago for another building at West Somerville is now apparent. Two additional rooms have been needed since September, and two more will be imperatively called for at the opening of another school year. Hence the re- quest for a building on College avenue, made by the Board in February last, should be renewed and emphasized.
High School Accommodations. There is little need to say much at this time concerning our most urgent requirement in the line of additional school accommodations. The necessity of immediately providing enlarged high school facilities is recog- nized alike by the School Board, by the City Government, and by citizens generally. A request of the Board for a new Latin schoolhouse, to be located on Central Hill, was made early in the year, and has been recently endorsed by the Committee on Public Property, and will undoubtedly be honored as soon as the finances of the city will permit.
It is understood, however, that the new Latin building is to be but part of a comprehensive plan that shall provide for all our high school demands for an indefinite future. As a possible help in maturing this plan, the following statements regarding present and prospective needs are presented :-
It is not improbable that within thirty years Somerville will have a population of at least 90,000. This assumes a decennial increase of less than one-third of that of the last decade.
If this assumption is reasonable, provision should be made for 1,600 high-school pupils,-600 in the Latin School and 1,000 in the English.
This will demand a Latin building of the capacity of the present English schoolhouse, and of very much the same internal character. This is said in expectation that in the near future a five years' course will be adopted. If the present course is con- tinued, a smaller building will serve.
In order to do the work expected of it, the English School should be provided with the following accommodations for a thousand pupils :-
Twenty-five classrooms, each with forty seats; four larger rooms above ground for manual training purposes ; two suitably lighted rooms for free-hand and mechanical drawing; three well arranged laboratories for physics, chemistry, biology, and one for physical geography, geology, and astronomy, with ac- commodations for cabinets and apparatus ; one room for domestic
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ANNUAL REPORTS.
science; four recitation rooms; two large rooms for the com- mercial and typewriting departments ; one ample room for library purposes ; an assembly hall to accommodate 1,000 pupils ; a well- fitted gymnasium for the much needed physical training which is now entirely neglected ; a reception room, a large principal's office, three rooms for teachers' use, and a room for books and supplies ; lavatories for students in different parts of the building ; a lunch room, and rooms for the storage of bicycles.
To what extent are these demands at present supplied? If the present English building could be taken for the Latin School, all needs of that school would at once be met. If an architect's skill were equal to the incorporation of the present Latin building as a part of a new structure, which should supply all the wants of the English School, nothing further would be required.
When the new Latin building is erected, how far may the English School be accommodated in the present buildings? The capacity of the English School is 600 pupils and twenty- four teachers, and that of the Latin School is 275 pupils and ten teachers, on the basis of the same class unit. The two large rooms in the Latin School could be easily converted into four classrooms, measuring twenty-six by forty feet, each accommo- dating forty pupils. This would increase the capacity of the Latin School to 350 pupils. The English Freshman class could then be accommodated in it, if the biology laboratory were re- moved to that building. Pupils would, however, be obliged to go to the English building for drawing, manual training, and music. Between five and six hundred pupils would be left in the English building. Such an arrangement, however, would be in- adequate and unsatisfactory. The school would still be without suitable rooms for manual training, mechanical drawing, and domestic science; one laboratory would still be wanting; there would still be no recitation rooms; the commercial and type- writing departments and the library would continue inadequate ; the much-needed assembly hall and the gymnasium would be unprovided ; and convenient lavatories and bicycle accommoda- tions would still be needed. These additional facilities are essen- tial if the school is to accomplish the best results. It is evident that the plan heretofore suggested and considered by the Com- mittee, of making some enlargements to the English School in connection with the new Latin building, is one that sooner or later must be carried out, if no substitute can be provided.
It is not necessary to present anew the value of our high schools to the community. It is thus given by two competent judges :---
"A remarkable increase has taken place within the past fifteen years in the proportion of American children who attend secondary schools: and it would be difficult to imagine a greater educational gain for the whole country."-President Eliot.
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SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
"The argument that the high school should not be supported by the many because it is attended by the few is utterly false and fallacious. The indirect benefits of the high school in improving the quality of the teaching in the elementary schools, lifting the standard of business efficiency, public service and general intelligence, are incalculable. The public high school is the unique American contribution to education. When emancipated from narrow college domination in the substance, yet inspired by college examinations in the quality of its courses, wisely adapted to the various needs of its pupils, generously supported by tax- payers who believe the best teaching none too good for their children, the high schools are destined to play a leading part in making America the land of intelligent workmen, loyal citizens, and happy people."-President Hyde, of Bowdoin.
Within ten years the number of high schools in the country has increased from 2,500 to 6,200, one hundred fifty per cent. This increase is not due to growth of population, but it is a part of a widespread movement towards higher education. Private schools, colleges, public libraries, all institutions for the promo- tion of intelligence among the people, share in the advance.
This has created everywhere a demand for new and larger high school buildings. Within a short time Boston has dedi- cated five buildings, costing more than $300,000 each, in various outlying parts of the city. Within a few years Worcester has built three new high school buildings; Lowell, two ; and Spring- field, Newton, Malden, Medford, Fitchburg, Cambridge, Lynn, Woburn, Stoneham, Brookline, Melrose, and cities and towns all over the state and country, have been compelled to spend from $50,000 to $350,000 each to provide accommodations for high school pupils. It must not be expected that our own city can es- cape the general increase and the necessary expenditure that it entails.
High School Courses. In view of the probability of the ulti- mate erection of a new building for the Latin School, it would seem wise to make a closer differentiation of the work of the two high schools than at present seems to exist.
When the high school was divided in 1895, the plan always followed where English and Classical High Schools co-exist was adopted here. The college-preparatory work, considered the most important feature of the High School everywhere then as now, was assigned to the Latin School, and the curriculum was shaped solely in accordance with the existing requirements for admission to college. All but the presumably college-bound stu- dents were collected in the English School. These included those fitting for entrance to technical and normal schools, for which preparation in science and manual training was needed, a prep- aration for which the English School alone offered complete facilities. A course of study, necessarily wide in its range and largely elective, was adopted, and an unexpectedly large number of students took advantage of it. This line of demarkation be-
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ANNUAL REPORTS.
tween the schools has been pretty closely followed since the divi- sion.
But within a few years the requirements for admission to col- leges have been greatly modified. Attainments in science, mathe- matics and modern languages are given greater weight, and less is demanded along the old lines. This wider opening of college doors necessarily affects the work of preparatory schools, and renders needful a broader curriculum. It also enables English schools to fit students for college. Indeed, these schools have been largely influential in bringing about the changes indicated in admission requirements.
In view, then, of these conditions, some readjustment of courses may be made, and should be determined upon before plans for a new building are finally accepted. The work of each school should still be distinctive. The courses need not be par- allel. Financial reasons render the equipping and maintenance of duplicate art studios, or biological laboratories, or commercial departments, unwise. Libraries adapted to modern methods of instruction, physical and chemical laboratories. rooms for physical exercise, lunch-rooms, and modern sanitary conveniences, should be provided equally for both schools, and nothing should be with- held that may contribute to efficiency or comfort.
Another question is vitally connected with this discussion, and should be permanently settled before decisions are made that cannot be changed for many years. It is the question whether the Latin School course should be four or five years in length. It cannot be denied that for many students the thorough fitting for college or university in four years involves too severe a strain and jeopards health. It compels the omission of certain impor- tant branches that would be taken under less strenuous condi- tions. No Radcliffe-bound girl can spend time on drawing or music, and make the trip in less than five years, and some may well take longer. True, such is the flexibility of the present course that a fifth year may even now be taken, but where it is the exception rather than the rule, to take it is an admission of frailty of either mind or body, from which the student naturally shrinks. Besides, it leads to the rupture of pleasant class asso- ciations. Making five years the rule and shorter periods the ex- ception relieves the situation in this respect.
Aside from the question of health, preparation for Harvard cannot well be made in four years of regular school time. As evidence of this, we need only to be reminded that for the last ten years instruction in physics in the Latin School has been given outside of legitimate school hours on Friday afternoons. With- out extra remuneration, Mr. Baxter and Mr. Murray have spent two hours weekly in the physics laboratory with pupils fitting for Harvard, who have willingly given this additional time, because in no other way could their work be accomplished. This burden
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SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
ought not to be laid upon either teachers or pupils. It cannot be removed, however, without a radical change in the course.
If, however, another year is to be provided for high school work, it may well be subtracted from the grammar school course, and pupils be admitted from the eighth grade and given what is most important of the ninth-year work while setting out at once on their college preparation.
It must be borne in mind, however, that this change, while not lessening the cost of grammar school instruction, would in- crease that of the Latin School twenty-five per cent., and demand at least one-fifth more generous accommodations. The subject is of sufficient importance to demand full consideration in all its phases, and has a place in deciding what readjustments are neces- sary.
School Census. The Public Statutes require that a census of all school children between five and fifteen years of age shall be taken between September 1 and November 15 in each year. This census serves no useful purpose, as far as the city is concerned. An effort was made in the Legislature last year to secure the re- peal of the law, but without avail. The two previous enumera- tions were carefully made, but were in their results unsatisfactory, for they fell short by several hundreds of the number of pupils actually in the schools. Extreme care was taken this year to se- cure a careful count. The school census for 1901 shows a school population between five and fifteen years of age of 10,715 on the first day of October. The number of pupils in the schools or ac- counted for was 10,799 at the same date. This shows a reason- able degree of accuracy on the part of the census takers. The census also shows the following facts :-
Number of illiterate minors 36
Children under seven years of age not in school. 248
Children between five and fifteen out on account of sick- 70 ness
Children fourteen years old at work 69
Total number out of school. .387
Pupils. Twelve thousand four hundred ninety-nine different pupils have been connected with the schools during the year ; 2,500 of these, however, have been members of the schools but part of the year, one-half of them having come into the city during the year, 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 9,991, nine short of 10,000 pupils. Of this number, 9,350 have been present at every session, showing an average attendance of 93.6 per cent. There has been one tardiness in every 1,091 chances, and one pupil dismissed in every 1,836 opportunities.
On December 15 there were 10,643 pupils belonging to the
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ANNUAL REPORTS.
public schools, an increase of 278 over the corresponding number last year. These are distributed as follows :-
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