USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1907 > Part 11
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Additional Accommodations. High Schools. The increase in the membership of the high schools predicted last year was real- ized in September, when 135 were added to the enrollment of the preceding year. There were in October a total of 1,614 high school pupils, 1,136 in the English and 478 in the Latin School. Seats enough were found in the Latin School for the forty extra pupils, but there were and are now no additional rooms that can be used by teachers for recitation purposes. There should be seventeen teachers in the Latin School, in ad- dition to the principal, in order that justice may be done in the assignment of work. There are, however, but fifteen. If we should take for the Latin three additional rooms in the Annex now used by the English School, the present needs of the Latin School as far as room goes would be supplied.
The English School, however, not only needs these rooms, but at least three more rooms in order that its forty teachers may. have facilities for class instruction. Two clothes closets and the old office have again been put into commission as recitation rooms. It will be remembered that the plan proposed in ex- Mayor Chandler's administration for increased high school ac- commodations included not only an annex to the Latin School, but a northerly wing to be added to the English building. In all probability provision must be made by September, 1910, for at least 1,900 high school pupils, divided between the schools in the same proportion as at present. Whenever an attempt is made to increase existing accommodations, something more than mere
151
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
1
seating facilities should be provided. There are certain things that must be secured to the high schools if their efficiency is to be maintained and our city be found abreast of other cities of the Commonwealth in the provision that it makes for high school necessities. These needs have so often been set forth in detail that nothing more than the following brief mention of them is now needed :-
(1) Suitable quarters for manual training with a view to its extension.
(2) Enlarged facilities for commercial work.
(3) A readjustment of seats and the release of the lecture hall for its original purposes.
(4) More room for the library.
(5) Thoroughly-equipped gymnasiums for both sexes.
(6) Additional room for the chemistry and physics depart- ments.
(7) Facilities for the teaching of domestic science.
(8) A suitable lunch room accessible to both schools.
(9) More convenient toilet rooms for pupils.
(10) Dressing rooms for teachers.
(11) Larger book and supply rooms.
(12) An assembly room large enough to accommodate an entire school.
In this connection due attention must be paid to chang- ing educational conditions and to the constantly-growing demand that schools must fit their students for vocational pursuits. The commercial and industrial side of the high school is sure to de- velop more rapidly than the purely academic, and provision must be made therefor.
Whatever is to be done to relieve the situation should not only regard present needs, but should be adequate to meet those of the next twenty-five years. There is ample room in the rear of the English School for an enlargement that shall more than duplicate the present building. With four clear stories on its northerly side, room can easily be provided for manual training shops, for gymnasiums, and for all the other necessities enumer- ated above. The expense should not deter, for the example of other municipalities may well be followed. They have been granted permission by the Legislature to issue twenty-year bonds to meet similar expenditures. Is it not perfectly legitimate to ask the future to share the financial responsibility incurred to provide educational facilities that are to serve for generations?
The problem demands an immediate solution, for at the best relief cannot be provided in less than two years.
School Accommodations, Elementary Schools. Ward One. Ward One has four school buildings, containing thirty-four rooms, occupied by 1,593 pupils, under the charge of forty-one teachers, an average of 46.9 pupils to a room. An addition of
152
ANNUAL REPORTS.
four rooms to the Hanscom School is nearly completed, and will be occupied in January. For seven years 100 first-grade children in the Prescott School have been on half-time, and for two years fifty children of the same grade in the Hanscom School have lost one-half of the school time rightly belonging to them. The new rooms provided will secure an all-day session to all pupils within their radius, and will terminate the congestion concerning which so much complaint has been made. The schoolhouses in this dis- trict will be fully adequate to meet the probable needs of the next five years.
Ward Two. This ward has three school buildings, contain- ing twenty-four rooms, occupied by 1,167 pupils, under the charge of twenty-eight teachers, an average of 48.6 to a room. In this count the ward room in the Knapp School is not included, although this is the second year of its use as a regular class- room for fifty first-grade pupils. It is ill adapted for this pur- pose, and is used because nothing more suitable is available. In the Baxter School seventy-five children are on half-time. These children, whose ages run from five to twelve, and many of whom are ignorant of English, are deprived of one-half of their legiti- mate school session in order that thirty children of four years of age may enjoy the supposed advantages of kindergarten training. Without questioning the value of kindergartens where school accommodations are plentiful and financial requirements easily met, it will not be denied that it is short-sighted economy and a perversion of educational rights to pay a thousand dollars a year for the benefit of thirty four-year-olds, while for seventy per cent. of that sum seventy-five six-year-olds could be given twice the school time that they now enjoy. This kindergarten should be suspended, and the room used for first-grade children and for the relief of a seriously-crowded second-grade room. The majority of children in the Baxter School at the best have a brief school life, and all they learn must be crowded into the few years coming before the limit of the compulsory school age. The increase of pupils in this district emphasizes the request made last year for an addition to the Perry Schoolhouse. Six rooms should be added to the building to provide for the establishment of another grammar school centre containing the nine grades.
Ward Three. There are in Ward Three three schoolhouses, containing twenty-eight rooms, occupied by 1,203 pupils, under the charge of thirty teachers, an average of forty-three pupils to a room. There has been little change for a dozen years in the school population of this district, and present accommodations are ample for all present and prospective needs.
Ward Four. This ward has two school buildings, containing twenty-four rooms, occupied by 1,069 pupils, under the charge of twenty-seven teachers, an average of 44.5 pupils to a room. It is no longer necessary to use the ward room in the Glines, the
153
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
transfer of pupils to the Forster School rendering this unneces- sary. One room in the Glines building has been taken for a manual training centre, and is no longer available for ordinary school purposes. An increase in the school population of the northerly part of this ward is probable in the near future, but re- lief may be found in the Hanscom addition. No immediate ex- penditure for school buildings will be required in this ward.
Ward Five. There are two schools in this ward, having thirty-four rooms, occupied by 1,489 pupils, with thirty-six teach- ers, an average of 43.8 to a room. The school census for the last three years shows no variation in the numbers in this ward,-the figures running 1,911, 1,908, and 1,910. It is probable that the present accommodations will be sufficient for several years to come.
Ward Six. This ward has six school buildings, containing fifty-five regular classrooms, with 2,607 pupils, under the instruc- tion of sixty-one teachers, an average of 47.4 to a room. This enumeration includes, as one room, two small rooms in the Carr building originally designed for recitation rooms, but which for several years we have been compelled to use as classrooms. These rooms are dimly lighted and practically unventilated. Twenty-four children are crowded into each of these rooms, and a teacher is provided for each room. This entails an expenditure of $1,300, twice as much as would be necessary if a proper class- room were provided. These rooms have been pronounced unfit by the medical inspector of the school, and their use should be abandoned. By sacrificing the westerly entrance of the school- house, which is used only for fire drill purposes, these two rooms could be put into one well-lighted and well-ventilated school- room. This could be done for the salary now paid the superflu- ous teacher for a single year.
Pending the completion of an addition of four rooms to the Brown School, we have been compelled to place the first grades in the Burns and Brown Schools on half-time. It is expected that these new rooms will be ready for occupancy early in Janu- ary. This addition, while only half as large as the prospective needs demand, will accomplish several desirable things.
(1) It enables us to open another full-grade grammar school centre, with a master at its head. Ward Six has had but two grammar masters, although its pupilage outnumbers that of Wards Three and Four together, where four grammar masters are in service.
(2) It enables us to dispense with half-time conditions in the Burns, Brown, and Hodgkins Schools.
(3) It releases six assistants from service whose aggregate salaries are nearly $2,500.
(4) It temporarily relieves the congestion in the Lincoln School,
154
ANNUAL REPORTS.
(5) It removes a ninth-grade class from the Highland School, where for several years there have been three ninth-grade classes,-a condition to be deprecated.
Ward Seven. This ward has four schools, containing thirty- six regular classrooms and 1,776 pupils, in charge of forty-two teachers, an average of 46.7 to a room. I have not included two rooms in the Hodgkins School, one the basement ward room, and the other a small room which furnishes seating accommoda- tions for half a class, and which requires the services and salary of a whole teacher. For economical reasons, if for no other, at least one of these rooms should be abandoned. The needs of Ward Seven for the immediate future demand additional accom- modations.
The mistake of the past should not be repeated. We have heretofore built to relieve urgent present needs, with little regard to the future. Instead of a small structure that tides over the present emergency, we should build with the prospective de- mands in mind. An enlargement of the Lincoln School building, if feasible, would afford only temporary relief. Even six rooms added to the Hodgkins would be prospectively inadequate. A location convenient and suitable in every way can readily be found on the old ledge lot on the proposed extension of Cam- eron and Packard avenues, midway between Broadway and Hol- land street. Here should be erected a building of twelve or fif- teen rooms, with an ample assembly hall for public as well as school convenience. Such a building can be easily reached, and will apparently serve the needs of the ward for many years. A portion of the expense may be transferred to the future, as in the case of the high school enlargement.
To recapitulate the requirements for additional school ac- commodations, there are needed :-
(1) An adequate enlargement of the English High School building.
(2) An addition to the Perry School that shall duplicate its present accommodations.
(3) A twelve or fifteen-room building located on the city ledge lot in Ward Seven.
Teachers. There are now 337 teachers employed in the city, not including sixty at work in the evening schools. Thirty-two of these are men. Fewer changes than usual have occurred dur- ing the year in the teaching corps. Eighteen teachers have re- signed. and one has died. Nine of our best teachers have left us for positions in other cities that offer stronger professional and financial inducements. Seven have resigned to be married. One, Miss Gorda N. Bean, of the Bell School, an excellent and well-beloved teacher, died suddenly on December 6. Miss Anna E. Sawyer retired from teaching during the year, after a
155
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
faithful and efficient service in our schools covering an unusual period of thirty-four years. Twenty-five teachers,-four men, twenty-one women,-have been elected during the year. Ac- cording to custom, these new teachers have been carefully se- lected, all but two having had successful experience that justified the payment of the maximum salary from the outset.
Four of the eighteen teachers who resigned in 1907 taught in Somerville an average term of eleven years, the length of service of the remaining thirteen averaging four years and two months. In this latter list all of those who left us for better posi- tions are included .. It is difficult in the nature of things to secure permanency of service from teachers. The chief cause of the present instability is found in the fact that so many yield to the allurements of matrimony. Of the 114 teachers that have re- signed during the last five years, fifty-five, or forty-eight per cent., have been married, and fifty per cent. of the remainder have left us for financial considerations. We must probably expect losses from these two causes in about the same proportion an- nually. We may possibly retain teachers longer by larger sala- ries. It will be in the interests of the schools to do this, for it is growing constantly more difficult to replace teachers that can command larger salaries by those equally good. Whatever other inducements we can offer for longer service should be made. In this connection I wish again to call attention to the plan of allowing long-service teachers a year or part of a year once in a while for travel and study, on half-pay, and to permit teachers who have been twenty years or more in service to retire from teaching for a year simply for rest, under the same condi- tions. Experience elsewhere shows that this provision entails a relatively small expenditure, but results in increased efficiency on the part of valuable teachers, and has a tendency to prolong the period of service. Occasionally a teacher now does one of these two things, but the great body of teachers cannot afford the ex- pense, many of those most needing the change being the least able.
The Latin School. The membership of this school has risen from 432 to 480 within a year, an increase of forty-eight, without any change in the teaching force. This number is divided among the classes as follows :-
1906.
1907.
Change.
Senior
83
102
+19
Junior
101
107
+6
Sophomore
124
109
-15
Freshman
124
162
+38
With the head master, there are fifteen teachers in the school, six of whom are men. Including the principal, who teaches two-thirds of the time, the average class unit is thirty- two. Some of the classes are small, and others number almost forty. This is altogether too large a quota for each teacher, but
156
ANNUAL REPORTS.
the number is compulsory rather than optional, for there is no room for additional teachers to work. Indeed, even under exist- ing conditions, either the assembly hall or the library room is fre- quently used for recitation purposes. By good rights the Latin School should use four additional rooms in the Annex. But such rooms cannot be taken without forcing the English School to the wall. This is one urgent reason for the enlargement of the English School building.
There has been but one change of instructors during the year. Miss Pratt, the head of the English department, left the school for professional advancement. Her place was taken by Miss Gertrude M. Hall, a teacher in the Winchester High School and a graduate of Wellesley, '97.
Seventy-five pupils were graduated from the school in June, fifty-one of whom entered college or technical schools,-an un- usually large proportion.
The standing of the school among institutions that fit for college is unsurpassed. Its graduates take high rank wherever they go, and reflect honor not only upon the school and its teachers, but upon the city as well. The numbers pursuing each study is shown in the following table :-
English
475
French 117
History
269
German
196
Mathematics
480
Greek 112
Physics
55
Drawing
21
Latin
470
Chemistry
12
Thirty more pupils would take chemistry if there were room for them.
The following table shows the extent to which pupils drop out of the school during their four-years' course :-
TABLE SHOWING LOSSES OF CLASSES IN LATIN HIGH SCHOOL EACH YEAR.
MEMBERSHIP.
Class of 1902.
Class of 1903.
Class of 1904.
Class of 1905.
Class of 1906.
Class of 1907.
Class of 1908.
Class of 1909.
Class of 1910.
Class of 1911.
December 15, 1st year
77
64
103
111
125 106
121
136 120
139
124
162
2nd
73
47
93
97
95
93
92
101
107
. .
. ..
4th
62
GO
84 73
81
93
83
102
..
...
. .
Graduates
56
46
76
81
75
...
...
...
Loss per cent. 1st year
2nd
5.2 12.3
26.5 4.3*
9.7
12.6 2.1
15.2 14.0 0.0 12.9 35.2
7.4 17.9
11.8 15.8
10.8 13.7
12.1
-
3rd
3.1
22.4*
4.5
14.7
4th
9.7
27.3
23.3* 28.1
13.1 29.1
G.1 31.5
9.8 9.6 38.0
...
..
. . .
Total
. .
. .
. ..
..
112
124
109
...
3rd
64
49
5.4
..
0.0
...
*Gain.
The English School. Eleven hundred eighty-one pupils have been members of the school since the opening of the term in September. Seventy-seven of these have dropped out, leaving
151
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
at the present time a membership of 1,104, fifty-six more than there were a year ago at this time. They are classified as fol- lows :-
1906.
1907.
Change.
Post-graduate
7
12
+5
Senior
162
164
+2
Junior
194
205
+11
Sophomore
286
301
+15
Freshman
399
422
+23
There are forty teachers, exclusive of head master and secre- tary, eleven of whom are men, three of them being employed in the manual training department. The average number of pupils to a teacher is twenty-six and three-fourths.
Four new teachers were added to the corps in September :- Albert I. Montague, Amherst, '96, mathematics.
Mary E. Hadley, B. U., '96, Latin, English, and history.
Winifred E. Howe, B. U., '01, English.
Flora E. Anderson, Chandler Normal Shorthand School, '03, commercial department.
The school lost one teacher, Miss Ella A. Newhall.
Since September the school has been handicapped by crowded conditions. Three teachers have been obliged to use rooms wholly unsuitable for recitation purposes. The manual training department has been so crowded that one section has been obliged to attend in the afternoon from two o'clock to four, Mr. Jaynes being employed as instructor. The chemistry de- partment has been taxed to its utmost. Twelve Latin School pupils are taking the chemistry course. Others were excluded on account of lack of room. The commercial department has been full to overflowing. Notwithstanding these disadvantages. the work of the school has been pushed energetically, and its high standard fully maintained.
As before stated, seventy-seven members of the school have dropped out since the opening of the term. While there has al- ways been a loss of pupils during the first of the year, this year shows an exceptional number. It is difficult to account for this. Many of the entering class come into the school with no well- defined purpose and with no disposition to make studious appli- cation to work. They easily become disheartened and fall out. The following tabulation shows losses by classes, and also, as far as can readily be ascertained, by causes :-
Summary of Causes.
Summary by Classes.
Girls. Boys. Total.
IV year
3
6
9
TII year
5
6
11
II year 12
5
17
Cause unknown.
I year
26
14 40
Indifference
26
46 31
77
77
Work 16
Other schools 13
Ill health or home needs 15
Moved 7
158
ANNUAL REPORTS.
This diminution of numbers during the first year is not pe- culiar to this school, but is a matter of general observation and complaint. No efficient remedy has yet been found. The fol- lowing table shows the losses that the school has sustained during the last ten years.
TABLE SHOWING LOSSES OF CLASSES IN ENGLISH HIGH SCHOOL EACH YEAR.
MEMBERSHIP.
Class of 1902.
Class of 1903.
Class of 1904.
Class of 1905.
Class of 1906.
Class of 1907.
Class of 1908.
Class of 1909.
Class of 1910.
Class of 1911.
December 15, 1st year
217
299
246
261
250
252
267 224
350
399
422
66
3rd
135
178
147
180
158
187
194
205
...
...
4th
120
151
112
148
140
162
164
...
...
...
Graduates
108
135
106
135
127
148
...
...
.
...
Loss per cent.
1st year
25.3
26.0
27.2
18.0
24,0
12.7 15.0
16.1 13.4
18.3 28.3
24.6
66
46
2nd
16.6
19.5
17.4
15.9
16.8
66
3rd
11.1
15.2
23.8 5.4 56.9
8.7 48.3
9.0 49.2
8.6 41.7
...
...
..
In June the school graduated 148. Seven of these entered college, thirteen, technical schools, and seven, normal schools.
The twenty-five subjects of the curriculum are pursued by pupils at the present time as follows :-
English
1,104
Freehand drawing. 335
History
921
Commercial :-
Law
30
Chemistry
82
Bookkeeping
109
Astronomy
13
Stenography
166
Physics
57
Arithmetic
183
Biology
47
Geography
63
Physiology
221
Penmanship
329
Latin
87
Typewriting
177
French
403
Elocution
1,104
German
150
Manual training.
293
Physical geography.
33
Music
1,035
Mechanical drawing.
358
General science. 355
Elementary Schools. There are now in these schools 10,710 pupils, 147 more than a year ago. They are classified as fol- lows :-
1907.
1906.
Change.
Grade 1
1,532
1,526
+6
66
3
1,375
1,352
+23
66
4
1,337
1,292
+45
5
1,239
1,240
-1
66
6
1,201
1,109
+92
7
1,022
1,003
+19
66
8
831
872
-41
9
789
797
-8
66
2nd "
162
221
178
214
190
220
286
301
...
66
4th
10.0
10.6
Total
ยท
50.2
54.8
17.8
11.4
13.4
15.5
.. .
66
2
1,384
1,473
-89
Mathematics
877
159
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
In June last 725 were graduated from the grammar schools, eighty-five more than last year. Of these, 561, or 77.4 per cent., entered the high school, 414 going to the English and 147 to the Latin.
The number of graduates was larger than ever before. Of the 1,183 in the class in the fifth grade, we have succeeded in holding sixty-two per cent. for graduation and about one-half for entrance upon high school work. The remainder dropped out as follows : From Grade 5, 49; Grade 6, 131; Grade 7, 86; Grade 8, 120; Grade 9, 72; at graduation, 164.
This large loss of pupils from the upper grammar grades is a serious matter, a remedy for which is being diligently sought in educational circles. Similar conditions prevail in many com- munities. During the year we have issued 386 working certifi- cates to minors under sixteen, 300 of which have been given to grammar school boys and girls from the five upper grades. None are issued to those under fourteen. From these grades children fourteen and fifteen years of age are constantly drop- ping out to go to work. The chief impelling cause is doubtless financial needs in the home. Another cause is lack of interest in school work, a feeling that it is contributing little to an equip- ment for wage earning. A few more leave school rather than repeat the year's work. Most of this class are poorly qualified for any permanent productive work. Because they can do no better, they gladly take manual or mercantile work requiring little or no skill or scholastic attainment, at small pay. As they grow older, they feel the need of more money. They change employers for an additional dollar a week now and then, drifting with nothing permanent in view, until they finally settle down in the ranks of unskilled labor, ranks already crowded, although the demand for skilled labor is unsupplied.
Industrial Education. It is facts such as these, in part, that have given rise to the widespread movement for industrial or trade schools. An urgent need exists for institutions that shall receive boys and girls from fourteen to eighteen years of age and for a year or more give them training for some productive mechanical pursuit in which skilled laborers are needed and in which they may earn a comfortable living and find a life occupa- tion. This matter was fully presented in last year's report. The State Industrial Commission is actively engaged in perfecting plans to meet the demand, and has invited the co-operation of municipalities. The suggestion has been made that several con- tiguous cities and towns unite with the state in the establishment and maintenance of such schools. . For example, Cambridge, Somerville, Watertown, Arlington, and Belmont might unite as a district in a location accessible to all, and each contribute its quota of that half of the expense which the State does not pay.
160
ANNUAL REPORTS.
The question is a large one in all its phases, educational, socio- logical, and industrial. It is in the hands of able experts, and out of their investigations let us hope some scheme will be evolved to meet the needs of the pupils who are forced by circumstances out of school and into the overcrowded field of unproductive labor.
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