USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1905 > Part 10
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EX-OFFICIIS. Term expires January.
LEONARD B. CHANDLER, Mayor, 45 Jaques street.
1906
JOHN J. HIGGINS, Pres. Board of Aldermen, 10 Dartmouth street. 1906
WARD ONE.
DR. HENRY F. CURTIS, 145 Perkins street. 1906
WILLIAM W. KENNARD,
15 Hathorn street. 1907
WARD TWO.
DANIEL H. BRADLEY,
19 Concord avenue. 1906
JOHN H. O'NEIL,
44 Oak street. 1907
WARD THREE.
GEORGE E. WHITAKER,
75 Walnut street. 1906
WILBUR S. CLARKE,
40 Vinal avenue. 1907
WARD FOUR.
DR. GEORGE W. W. WHITING,
282 Broadway. 1906
WILLIAM P. JONES,
13-A Maple avenue. 1907
WARD FIVE.
QUINCY E. DICKERMAN,
85 Central street. 1906
J. WALTER SANBORN,
183 Central street. 1907
WARD SIX.
FREDERICK A. P. FISKE,
44 Cherry street. 1906
CHARLES H. HOOD,
2 Benton road. 1907
WARD SEVEN.
DR. GEORGE C. MAHONEY,
415 Highland avenue. 1906
MRS. HENRIETTA B. H. ATTWOOD, 18 Herbert street.
1907
The Committee holds its regular meetings on the last Monday evening of each month, except July, August, and December, at 8.15 o'clock. The last meeting of the year is held on the Friday next pre- ceding the first Monday of January.
Superintendent of Schools, GORDON A. SOUTHWORTH.
Office: City Hall Annex, Highland avenue.
Residence: 40 Greenville street.
The Superintendent's office will be open from 8 to 12 and from' 1.30 to 5; Saturdays, 8 to 10. His office hours are from 4 to 5 on school days and 8 to 9 on Saturdays.
Office telephone, 314; house telephone, 12.
Cora S. Fitch, Superintendent's clerk, 82 Munroe street.
STANDING COMMITTEES, 1905.
High Schools .- Whiting, Mahoney, Curtis, O'Neil, Clarke, Sanborn, Fiske.
LATIN, ENGLISH.
District (or Ward) I .- Curtis, Kennard, Jones.
PRESCOTT, HANSCOM, DAVIS, BENNETT.
District (or Ward) II .- Bradley, O'Neil, Curtis. KNAPP, PERRY, BAXTER.
District (or Ward) III .- Whitaker, Clarke, O'Neil. POPE, BELL, CUMMINGS.
District (or Ward) IV .- Whiting, Jones, Higgins. EDGERLY, GLINES.
District (or Ward) V .- Dickerman, Sanborn, Chandler. FORSTER, BINGHAM.
District (or Ward) VI .- Fiske, Hood, Dickerman. CARR, MORSE, PROCTOR, DURELL, BURNS, BROWN.
District (or Ward) VII .- Mahoney, Mrs. Attwood, Fiske. HIGHLAND, HODGKINS, LINCOLN, LOWE.
Additional School Accommodations .- Hood, Sanborn, Curtis, Bradley,. Whitaker, Whiting, Mahoney, Chandler, Higgins. Evening Schools .- Fiske, Whitaker, Jones.
Finance .- Curtis, Hood, Dickerman, Chandler, Higgins.
Industrial Education .- Clarke, Dickerman, Mrs. Attwood.
Music .- Mrs. Attwood, Whiting, Dickerman.
Private Schools .- Mahoney, O'Neil, Whiting.
Repairs of School Buildings .- Bradley, Kennard, Mahoney.
Rules and Regulations .- O'Neil, Jones, Fiske.
Salaries .- Whitaker, Sanborn, Fiske.
Supplies .- Sanborn, Hood, Clarke.
Text-books and Courses of Study .- Dickerman, Whitaker, Kennard,. Bradley, Jones, Hood, Mrs. Attwood.
Vacation Schools .- Jones, Kennard, Bradley.
Note .- The member first named is chairman.
REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS.
To the School Committee of Somerville :-
I herewith submit my thirteenth annual report. During the thirty-four years of city history, I find that on only three oc- casions has the school board accompanied the report of the superintendent of schools by a report of its own. Hence that official is compelled to write with sufficient fulness to enable the citizens of Somerville to judge intelligently whether the public schools are being managed wisely and with due regard to the important interests involved. It should be distinctly understood that the opinions and judgments expressed are those of the superintendent only, and do not necessarily reflect the senti- ments of the committee or commit that body in any way to any line of action.
I shall try to make the report as brief as possible.
First of all, attention is called to the following
Summary of Statistics,
which will be considered in detail in the following pages :-
United States census, 1890
40,117
State census, 1895.
52,200
United States census, 1900
61,643
State census, 1905.
69,272
Children between five and fifteen years of age, October,
1904, by school census.
11,941
Children between five and fifteen years of age, October, 1905, by school census
12,173
Increase
232
2 .- SCHOOL BUILDINGS.
1904.
1905.
Increase.
Number of school buildings.
25
26
1
Number of classrooms ...
260
269
9
Valuation of school property
$1,365,509
3 .- TEACHERS.
1904.
1905.
Increase ..
In high schools.
48
48
0
In grammar schools
152
153
1
In primary schools.
'97
99
2
In kindergartens.
8
8
0
Total in elementary schools.
257
260
3
Special
7
7
0
Total
312
315
3
4 .- ATTENDANCE FOR YEAR.
1904.
1905.
Increase ..
Entire enrollment for the year
13,804
14,296
492
Average number belonging.
11,094
11,543
449
Average number attending.
10,422
10,897
475
Per cent. of daily attendance
93.9
94.4
0.5
High school graduates.
179
211
32
Grammar school graduates.
512
606
94
144
ANNUAL REPORTS.
5 .- ATTENDANCE IN DECEMBER.
1904.
1905.
Increase.
Whole number attending.
13,506
13,882
376
In private schools.
1,719
1,764
45
In public schools.
11,787
12,118
331
In high schools.
1,233
1,361
128
In elementary schools.
10,357
10,562
205
In kindergarten
197
195
-2
In first grade.
1,586
1,581
-5
In second grade
1,424
1,456
32
In third grade.
1,279
1,336
57
In fourth grade
1,267
1,274
7
In fifth grade.
1,203
1,189
.14
In sixth grade.
1,114
1,152
38
In seventh grade.
1,003
967
-36
In eighth grade.
851
917
66
In ninth grade.
630
690
60
6 .- COST OF SCHOOL MAINTENANCE.
1904.
1905.
Increase.
Salaries of teachers
$250,580.68
$254,697.12
$4,116.44
Salaries of officers
4,900.00
4,900.00
0.00
Cost of books and supplies.
21,411.25
20,136.82
-1,274.43
Cost of light ..
1,435.70
4,344.95
2,909.25
Cost of janitors' services
22,024.21
21,949.25
-74.96
Cost of fuel.
15,315.30
15,166.43
-148.87
Telephones
236.60
482.26
245.66
Total cost of day and evening schools
315,903.74
321,676.83
5,773.09
Per capita cost.
28.48
27.87
-0.61
Cost of high school instruc-
tion
54,653.17
57,011.15
2,357.98
Per capita cost.
. .
47.20
45.79
-1.41
7 .- MISCELLANEOUS.
1904.
1905.
Increase.
Paid for new school
buildings .....
$23,703.11
$51,987.40
$28,284.29
Repairs and permanent improvements
18,208.97
8,305.48
-9,903.49
Total school expendi-
tures
357,815.82
381,969.71 59,146,600.00
1,089,900.00
Number of dollars spent to maintain schools
out of every $1,000 of valuation ....
5.44
5.44
0.00
Number of dollars spent
for all school pur-
poses out of every
$1,000 of valuation ..
6.16
6.46
0.30
24,153,89
Valuation of city ..
58,056,700.00
Existing Accommodations. For several years the annual in- crease of school population in our city has been sufficient to fill an eight-room school building. The regular yearly addition to . our school accommodations was made this year in the form of a nine-room building located on Hudson street, in the rear of the
145
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
Armory, and named the George O. Proctor school, in honor of one of our highly esteemed mayors.
This addition to our school buildings, without being ornate or extravagant, is one of the best. Thorough in its construction, pleasing in its architectural effects, convenient in all its arrange- ments, quietly located, it fully answers all the demands of a modern school. The heating and ventilation are perfect; the sanitary requirements are fully met; and the schoolrooms are ample in size and well lighted. Closets and book-rooms for storage and principal's and teachers' rooms are all that could be desired. Originally planned as an eight-room building, it was possible to provide a ninth room seating thirty-five pupils with- out additional expense. The cost of the building was $41,029.16.
Eight rooms were occupied in September, relief being thus afforded to the Morse, Burns, Brown, and Carr schools. Seventy-five pupils living in the immediate vicinity of the school were transferred thereto from the Forster.
Miss Nora F. Byard, formerly principal of the Bingham, and for the last twelve years principal of the Durell, was given charge of the new school. Six of her seven assistants are all experienced teachers transferred from other schools in the city. The ninth room in the building will be occupied next September.
The following is a brief sketch of the gentleman for whom the school is named :-
George O. Proctor was born in Rockingham, Vt., February 23, 1847. He was brought up on the farm, and received his education in the public schools of that town and at the academy at Chester, Vt. After working in a store, he became engaged in farming and lumbering for five years. In 1874 he came to Boston and formed a partnership with his brother in the grain and hay business. Later they removed to Cambridge. In 1877 he came with his family to Somerville.
Mr. Proctor served in the common council in 1887 and 1888, the second year as president. In 1892 and 1893 he represented the city in the legislature. He was mayor of the city in 1898 and 1899.
Mr. Proctor was pre-eminently a business mayor, bringing to the office the experience and capacity of a many-sided man of affairs. After one year as chief executive under the old charter, his was the important task, under the new charter, of completely re-organizing the great mass of city business. The re-organization was brought about by Mayor Proctor with a minimum of friction and a greatly increased efficiency of the whole municipal service.
No mayor ever worked more unselfishly for the advancement of the interests of the city than Mayor Proctor. The esteem in which he is still held is shown by the action of the city government of 1904 in naming the new school on Hudson street the "George O. Proctor School."-Somer- ville Journal.
Length of the School Year. It will be remembered that a rule of the board provides that the length of the summer vacation shall be determined annually at the February meeting. This year the vacation extended from noon of June 28 to September 6. Theoretically, the schools have been in session 39.1 weeks. This time has been shortened by the loss of eight sessions on .
146
ANNUAL REPORTS.
account of legal holidays, two sessions for the teachers' conven- tion, three sessions for the Thanksgiving recess, and ten sessions lost through stormy weather. The schools then have kept a total of thirty-seven weeks, lacking one day. In the aggregate, 120 sessions of single classes have been lost for various reasons. Eighty classes have been dismissed at various times on account of cold rooms ; six sessions have been lost for election purposes ; and thirty-four on account of infectious disease. Although the financial loss by these dismissals is only $200, the interruption to school work is a matter so serious that such dismissals should be reduced to an absolute minimum. It will be seen that the majority of them could have been avoided by the exercise of proper care and foresight.
School Population. The annual census of children of school age which the public statutes require us to take shows this year more accurate results than last year. The following table pre- sents the comparative results :-
Ward
1
1,929
1,866
+63
66
3
1,100
975
+125
4
1,042
926
+116
66
5
1,911
1,869
+42
66
6
1,972
1,710
+262
66
7
1,479
1,416
+63
Total
11,969
11,308
+661
1905.
1904.
Change.
2
2,536
2,546
-10
It will be seen that there appears to have been a net in- crease of 661 in the number of children between five and fifteen years of age. This increase is distributed among all the wards excepting ward two, which appears to have lost ten. The number of pupils accounted for in public and private schools on October 1 showed a net increase of 232, as compared with similar records of the previous year. At the present time, how- ever, December 15, the school records show that 12,118 children are connected with the public schools, an increase of 331 as com- pared with the membership December, 1904.
An important change in the compulsory school attendance laws was made by the last legislature. After January 1, 1906, "every child under sixteen years of age who cannot read at sight and write legibly simple sentences in the English language shall attend some public day school in the city or town in which he resides during the entire time the public day schools are in ses- sion." There are numbers of illiterate children fourteen and fifteen years old in Somerville to whom this statute applies. It will be difficult to secure their attendance at school, for our ex- perience in enforcing the attendance of illiterate minors at the evening school shows that this class will use all means in their power to elude the vigilance of attendance officers. The law im-
14:
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
poses a fine of $50 upon all who employ such illiterates while the public schools are in session. A strenuous effort will be made to enforce the regular attendance of this class. Working certificates cannot be given to them. These children, however, cannot advantageously enter any existing classes in the schools, and some provision must be made in a central locality for their instruction. A teacher of exceptional skill and experience in this line of work will be needed.
This law and that requiring the attendance upon evening schools of all illiterate minors are well-designed attempts to counteract the effect of the immigration of uneducated foreigners. If it is impossible to stem the tide or to regulate its flow, no pains must be spared to qualify these people for intelligent citizenship by every means in our power. Next to greed of money and office, ignorance is the nation's most portentous menace. The children of these foreigners readily learn lessons of patriotism and of fealty to their adopted country. An Italian child in one of our schools, when shown an American and an Italian flag, said with evident pride, "This is my father's flag, but that is my flag." No serious apprehension need be felt with regard to the children that come under the influence of the public schools. The danger will come from their un-Americanized elders.
The question of raising the compulsory school age from fourteen to fifteen has recently been very carefully discussed by the State Board of Education. While there are many strong reasons for such increase, the board decided that it would be unwise to make any change in existing laws at the present time, for the following reasons :-
"The board reports that it does not consider it feasible or desirable to raise the age limit for compulsory school attendance from fourteen to fifteen for reasons that a large majority of chil- dren in their fifteenth year are now in school; that of those who have been withdrawn a large proportion have acquired a fair amount of education ; that others are so disposed towards school as not to be likely to reap much advantage from continued at- tendance; that most of those who have been withdrawn are aid- ing in the family support, and that this assistance is needed in a majority of cases; and that to raise the school age would in- crease the difficulty of the enforcement of the law."
The number of children who drop out from our schools to go to work is increasing year by year. During 1905 we have issued 329 age and schooling certificates. Last year 250 were issued. We have also given to minors sixteen years of age or over about 500 certificates stating that the applicant is able to read and write English. Most of these have been graduates of our grammar or high schools. Now and then a college graduate has applied. If some other way of catching illiterate minors could be devised, it would save school superintendents a large amount of what appears to be unnecessary trouble.
148
. ANNUAL REPORTS.
Additional Accommodations, High Schools. When the Eng- lish high school was opened ten years ago, it was thought that provision had been made to accommodate high school pupils for at least ten years. It became apparent, however, seven years since that if Somerville made provision for high school students equal to the needs and to the importance of the work to be done, additional accommodations must be immediately provided. Since that time the question has been under discussion. Various plans have been suggested, none of which have proved feasible. Meanwhile the number of high school students has multiplied rap- idly, the schools have risen in popular appreciation, and existing accommodations long since were outgrown. On seven distinct occasions appeals for relief have been made to the city govern- ment, accompanied by recommendations of what seemed to the school committee the best plan for providing for the present and the future. The first of these recommendations contemplated the addition of wings to the English building. The remaining six emphasized the idea of a new and separate structure for the accommodation of the Latin school, with additions and exten- sions that would eventually provide for the relief of the English school. The plans suggested by the school board have in- volved an encroachment, as some are pleased to term it, upon Central Park, and they have also involved the expenditure of sums of money ranging from $150,000 to $300,000. There has been no time when the views of the school board and the senti- ment of the public could be made to harmonize with the state of city finances and the opinions of those upon whom we depend for the construction of school buildings.
The situation having, however, become so urgent as to admit of no longer delays, independently of the school board, and contrary to its oft-renewed recommendations, a plan of relief was adopted that provides (1) an addition to the present Latin building, and (2) the addition of a wing or wings to the English building. The first part of this plan is now being executed, and an addition which may contain eight classrooms and an equal number of recitation rooms is being made to the northerly end of the Latin building. This is to be connected by a covered passageway with the English building, in the expectation that the annex will be used conjointly by the two schools. Any relief of the no longer bearable congestion in the English school is welcome, and it may seem ungrateful to complain of its in- adequacy. Due regard for the present and future needs of the schools, however, compels us to show the necessity for the im- mediate carrying out of the second part of the plan by the en- largement of the English building.
Whatever else may be done, the Latin school must find its home for a generation to come in the enlarged building. From the very outset, such parts should be taken and so fitted up as to fulfill as far as possible the urgent demands that have so long
149
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
been made for this school. Somerville does not ask luxuries or needless frills, either in school buildings or in schools. It does, however, claim, and with right, that its school buildings shall be healthful, comfortable, convenient, and so arranged as to secure the best results with the least expenditure of time and labor. The Latin school requires, and therefore must have, the exclu- sive use of the old building and the two upper floors of the annex. Of course the assembly hall will be used by both schools. The purposes for which the various rooms thus assigned to the Latin school would be used are as follows :---
(1) There can be no question that the underground rooms originally fitted up as physical and chemical laboratories, and more recently used in part for recitation purposes, should be abandoned. Originally constructed when science held a very subordinate place in the school curriculum, they are wholly in- adequate for this purpose at the present time. The rooms are poorly heated, ventilated, and lighted, and should be at once and permanently abandoned for use for any school purpose excepting storage. These rooms properly fitted up would be very useful for the storage of books and supplies, either for the high schools or for the school department in general. The laboratories would be transferred to the two rooms in the third story of the old building on the Highland-avenue front. One of these rooms should be fitted as a physical laboratory, and the other as a chemical laboratory. The question will be at once raised whether the laboratories in the English school are not sufficient for the entire plant. Why have laboratories in duplicate? The answer is that the laboratories in the English building were made for a school of 600, and for such a school are admirable in size and equipment, but laboratories sufficient for 600 are wholly in- adequate for fifteen or eighteen hundred. Even now not all pupils who wish to pursue the study of chemistry can be accom- modated under existing conditions. It is not feasible to remove or remodel the present laboratories so that their capacity may be adequately increased. Laboratories, therefore, in the Latin building are indispensable.
.(2) One of the rooms adjoining the principal's office must be taken for a library and reference room. It is impossible to furnish proper reference books for each of a dozen classrooms. They must be collected at some central point, and conveniences for their consultation provided. Such a room has long been an urgent need of the Latin school. Library methods are more and more being employed in modern education, and conveniences therefor are necessary.
This room might also serve as a reception room for callers. Private interviews with pupils and parents are very often neces- sary in a large high school. Now callers are obliged to wait in the corridors or in one of the classrooms, and some better pro- vision should be made for them.
150
ANNUAL REPORTS.
(3) The decision to provide an assembly hall on the third floor has been rendered absolutely necessary by the demands of the situation. At the present time there is no room in the Latin building, nor will there be in the annex, in which the senior class or any other class can be assembled. There is no room in which the music teacher can work to any advantage. An assembly hall in a high school is a sine qua non, and probably no high school- house constructed within fifteen years can be found anywhere in the country that is without one. In this hall the Latin school may be assembled when necessary, and the English school can be accommodated in it in two sections. Such a hall is also greatly needed for general school purposes. There certainly should be some room in some school building in a city like Som- erville in which all the teachers of the schools can be gathered at one time. On four occasions we have found it necessary this year to use church buildings or public halls for this purpose.
(4) In the reconstruction of the Latin building, ten class- rooms have been provided, four of which seat thirty pupils or less. If three of these rooms are taken, as they must be, for the purposes indicated, seven classrooms remain which will seat 250 pupils. There will be four classrooms on the two upper floors of the annex seating 200 pupils. This furnishes eleven class- rooms that will accommodate 450 pupils, which is practically the present membership of the school. Two recitation rooms have been provided in the old building, and four may be had in the annex. This gives six recitation rooms, and makes the teacher capacity of the enlarged Latin building seventeen, and provides for a class unit of twenty-eight.
It will be seen that this disposition of the rooms provides for the Latin school as it exists to-day. As it grows, additional rcoms must be taken on the second and first floors as needed. With this arrangement, while the Latin school will by no means be housed as are similar schools in other cities, provision will be made for the convenient working of the school, and its efficiency greatly increased.
The needs of the Latin school will not be properly set forth unless something is said about a matter closely connected with the physical well-being of its students. Somerville does nothing in a methodical way towards physical training for the members of the high schools. We smile complacently upon school ath- letics, and rejoice' when our side wins. They are, however, sporadic, and, in the opinion of many, objectionable. They do nothing for the great mass of pupils unless possibly to give them an opportunity to officiate as "rooters." The responsibility that rests upon school authorities to care for the bodies of children, as well as for their minds, is coming to be widely recognized. Modern school buildings are provided with gymnasiums, exer- cises therein being regular and compulsory. I see no immediate opportunity to provide what is needed in this direction.
151
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
More important, more urgent, and more easily attainable, however, are suitable lunch-rooms for the 1,500 pupils assembled on the hill. All will concede that, between a hasty breakfast and a cold dinner at two o'clock, a light, hygienic luncheon is an es- sential to health. There is, to be sure, already an alleged lunch- room in the basement of the English building. It is in every way unattractive and inadequate. If similar lunch privileges were provided in the homes of pupils, the dining table would be set in the cellar. A lunch-room should be neat, well lighted, ample in size, and provided with kitchen facilities where soups and other suitable viands may be prepared. There should be
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