USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1920 > Part 12
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Mrs. Bertha M. Morton, 62 Highland Avenue
1,550
1913
Julia M. Riordan, 165 Albion Street
1,450
1914
Supervisor School Gardens.
William B. Moore, West Peabody
$1,050
1919>
* Additional to salary as Director of Household Arts Courses.
t Additional to salary as Principal of Boys' Vocational School. ¿ Part time.
TABLE 30. - OFFICERS, ETC., IN SERVICE JANUARY, 1921.
Name and Address. SUPERINTENDENT AND SECRETARY
Charles S. Clark, 75 Munroe Street
Salary. $5,000
CLERKS.
Mary A. Clark, 42 Highland Avenue
$1,400
Mildred A. Merrill, 26 Cambria Street
1,250
H. Madeline Kodad, 104 Sharon Street, West Medford
1,150
Marion E. Marshall, 30 Gilman Street
$16.00 per wk.
ATTENDANCE OFFICER.
Benjamin R. Jones, 25 Loring Street $1,800
179
TABLE 31. - SCHOOL JANITORS, JANUARY, 1921.
School.
Name.
Residence.
Weekly Salary
'High School, assistant
Jeremiah M. Brennan 482 Medford St.
$26.00
High School, assistant
John N. Quirk
202 Somerville Ave. 25.00
High School, assistant
Nicholas J. Lacey
327 Washington St.
30.00
High School, assistant
* Andrew H. Finnegan
77 Concord Ave.
25.00
High School, assistant
Joseph McCormack
206 Washington St.
25.00
'High School, assistant
Charles Hoyt
18 Trull St.
30.00
High School, assistant
Thomas G. Pullen
6 Madison St. 25.00
27.50
John T. Morey
21 Michigan Ave.
28.50
Hanscom
Charles F. Rose
15 Brastow Ave.
26.50
Boys' Vocational
Charles B. Kelley
25 Clark St.
26.00
Bennett
Michael Mullaney
467 Somerville Ave.
28.00
Baxter
Jeremiah Sullivan
60 Newton St.
24.00
Knapp
Maurice T. Mullins
13 Fremont St.
28.50
Perry
Dan'l E. Cunningham
15 Leland St.
24.00
Pope
John J. Kilty
662 Somerville Ave.
28.00
Southern Junior High
William Meskill
53 Partridge Ave.
30.00
Southern Junior High Cummings
Lewis G. Keene
54 Prescott St.
22.00
Edgerly
Charles P. Horton
22 Everett Ave.
28.00
Glines
Roy C. Burckes
20 Jacques St.
29.00
Forster
George W. Coombs
73 Bonair St.
28.00
Northern Junior High
Michael A. Mullin
16 Bowdoin St.
27.50
Bingham
John F. O'Brien
347 Lowell St. 5-A Belmont St.
34.00
Morse
John W. Cremen
69 Oxford St.
28.50
Proctor
James F. Flynn
31 Linden St.
25.50
Durell
Ellsworth C. Lundgren 50 Harrison St.
22.00
Burns
Charles J. Elkins
35 Mansfield St.
25.50
Brown
James J. Cooper
105 Willow Ave.
26.50
Highland
E. Parker Cook
103 Willow Ave.
28.00
Hodgkins
George A. Givan
17 Henry Ave.
29.00
Western Junior High
James T. Eddy
38 Wallace St.
34.00
« Cutler
Daniel Campbell
22 Barton St.
28.00
Cutler
Walter F. Burns
23 Avon St.
25.00
Lincoln
Thomas F. O'Day
134 Lowell St.
22.00
Lowe
Frank H. Flagg
22 Clyde St.
25.50
Leave of absence.
John C. Kelleher
8 Newman Pl. 26.00
31.00
Carr
John H. Lane
Eastern Junior High Prescott
James J. Quirk
216-B Medford St.
1
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
180
ANNUAL REPORTS.
Report of a Special Committee appointed by the School" Committee to consider and report upon the Junior High School and Vocational system, submitted to the School Committee on. June 11, 1920. This report was accepted by the School Com- mittee and its recommendations were adopted.
To the School Committee :
Your committee has given careful consideration to the communication of the board of aldermen dated May 14, noti- fying the school committee that it had accepted a report from the committee on public property relative to additional school accommodations, and reporting "that no action is necessary" and that it is the opinion of this committee that the present junior high school system and the present system of vocational education be abolished and in its place be substituted a cen- trally located vocational school, and that the present Western Junior High School be converted for use as a high school."
In reply your committee begs leave to report adversely upon all the recommendations therein contained. In support of its action it submits herewith a report which points out er- rors in the assumptions of the board of aldermen and states. reasons for opposing its conclusions.
Taking up first the recommendation that "the present sys- tem of vocational education be abolished and in its place be- substituted a centrally located vocational school," your com- mittee calls attention to the fact that the Somerville system of vocational education was established in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth in 1910 by the joint action of the school committee, the city government, and the Massachusetts State Board of Education. On December 8, 1910, the board of aldermen of the city of Somerville passed the following reso- lution and it was approved by the mayor on December 9, 1910 :
"That the board of aldermen of the city of Somerville here- by authorizes and approves the establishment and maintenance. of an independent industrial school for boys and an indepen- dent industrial school for girls by the school committee of Somerville."
Vocational education has been conducted since that time in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth and in part- nership with the State department of education. By law this opportunity is open to youths 14 years or more of age. This system is the established system of the State and cannot be. changed unless Somerville desires to go contrary to the practice of the other communities. If this should be done the entire expense for such school would have to be borne by the city of
181
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
Somerville instead of being borne as now, one-half by the State and one-half by the city.
Nor can manual training and household arts be withdrawn from the course of study of the junior high school inasmuch as by law communities of 20,000 or more inhabitants are re- quired to provide both manual and household arts instruction in the elementary and high schools.
Proceeding now to the main recommendations of the board of aldermen "that no action is necessary and that it is the opinion of this committee that the present junior high school system be abolished," your committee contents itself with pre- senting several convincing reasons for opposition to these rec- ommendations.
Chief among these reasons is the one of educational policy. The committee is thoroughly convinced that the junior high school system should be maintained because of the educational advantages which it affords the children of the early adolescent age.
The second reason is that the committee is convinced that the cost of the junior high school system as compared with the cost of any substitute therefor is not enough greater, if any greater, to be a consequential factor.
Finally the committee is convinced that the proposed program of additional accommodations is one which provides for the needs of future years in a way consistent with the spirit of the times and with the practice of other progressive com- munities. Moreover, this program can be carried into effect by units, one unit at a time, rather than all at once, if, for any reason, it is desirable to do so.
This report will consider the junior high school question in relation to the educational advantages which that system provides, in relation to cost of education, and in relation to the building program involved.
For a number of years a discussion of re-organization of the educational system of the country has been carried on by leading educators and by various bodies devoted to the study of education. The purpose of the study has been to define more clearly the objectives of education and to determine in what way those objectives could best be accomplished. During the last ten years the discussion has taken more definite form and direct proposals for action have been advanced. In his re- port for 1913, page XXIV, the United States Commissioner of Education, among other suggestions, made the following: "The 12 years of elementary and high schools now grouped in the primary and grammar school and four years of high school should be rearranged into six years of elementary and six years
182
ANNUAL REPORTS.
of high school. The high school should be sub-divided into three years junior high and three years senior high school." Some of the reasons given for this change are the following :
"For most children the beginning of adolesence marking the transition from childhood to youth comes at 12 or 13. In most of our schools children make little real progress in the 7th and Sth grades. There has been much complaint that this is a period of marking time. Taking up the 7th and 8th years as part of the high school makes it easy to begin departmental teaching in these grades and to adapt the methods of teaching and discipline to the changing demands of the children."
"We lost much by postponing the study of languages to the later years, when children have grown out of the imitative period of life in which they can learn to speak, read, and write a new language."
"Many more children than now enter the high school at all would remain throughout the entire high school period."
In the Annual Report of the Massachusetts State Board of Education 1914-1915, (page 37) the Commissioner of Educa- tion, Dr. David Snedden, in discussing the work in the 7th, 8th and 9th grades says : "The older pupils in our elementary schools should as far as possible be gathered into central schools where departmental and flexible courses can be pro- vided. The creation of the intermediate or junior high school in central locations for all children over 12 years of age is es- sential to other administrative changes to be expected as edu- cational demands become more exacting and knowledge of how to meet these demands is accumulated."
The plan here outlined and the reasons given have been adopted and approved by various organizations and societies. The National Education Association, the Federal Bureau of Education, State Departments of Public Instruction, the lead- ing universities and recognized educational authorities of the country are all on record as favoring the movement. The 15th Year Book of the National Society for the Study of Education, published in 1917, said : "If a complete canvass were made of all the cities of the United States, it would probably be found that the nation is pretty well committed to the plan of reorgan- izing its schools on a broad junior high school basis."
The report of the special commission of Education for Massachusetts, appointed under authority of Chapter 88, Re- solves of 1918, to investigate educational systems of the Com- monwealth, says (on page 38) : "The junior high school is a dis- tinct step in advance. It offers to pupils an earlier opportunity to find themselves; to discover their tastes and capacities by extending the range of their school experience. It affords a cer- tain amount of prevocational experience in manual training
183:
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
and homemaking courses. If well organized and managed, it lessens the number of misfits in the senior high school. It in- troduces at an earlier stage studies which, while in a sense by nature elementary, are usually deferred to the high school : e. g., foreign languages and algebra. If desirable, it may les- sen the time needed for preparation for higher institutions .. It increases markedly the advantage of departmental teach- ing."
It is estimated by competent educational authority that. at the present time the number of communities in the United States having established junior high schools is between 800 and 1,000 and that in the near future the plan of six elemen- tary, three junior high school, and three senior high school grades will be adopted generally throughout the country. Over 40 communities in Massachusetts have now established junior high schools, and half as many more are now making plans to. establish them or are investigating the subject with that end in view. Nearly all the large cities of the State are included in. one or the other of these two lists.
In Somerville in 1914 the school committee authorized the organizing of an intermediate school in the upper grammar grades in the Forster School. Departmental teaching was es- tablished and manual training and household arts were pro- vided. A program of studies was adopted which included all of the work of the elementary course, while at the same time it provided an opportunity for the pupil to make selection of an additional study in accordance with his inclinations and aptitudes.
This school had been in successful operation for two years, when in 1916 it became necessary for the school committee to make recommendation to the mayor and the board of aldermen concerning building accommodations. At this time there was complaint about the overcrowding of the high school, and there was overcrowding in the Prescott, Hanscom, Edgerly, Glines, Carr, Morse, Burns, Brown and Hodgkins elementary schools. The whole situation both in relation to the giving of relief from overcrowding and to providing for the future educational pol- icy of the city was considered by the school committee, His. Honor the Mayor, and the president of the board of aldermen in meetings held during the early part of 1916. Various organ- izations and representatives of citizens' associations took part in the consideration.
It was finally decided to adopt the junior high school plan of organization and in September, 1916, a junior high school was established in the Forster School district and one in the Prescott School, where a new nine-room building had just been
184
ANNUAL REPORTS.
completed. In September, 1917, a third junior high school was opened in a new building on Holland street, and in 1918 the fourth was opened in the Bell School, where an addition pro- vided for the purpose was completed in September of that year.
When this plan was adopted it was clearly intended to pro- vide at each center the additional room which then could be foreseen would be needed. The character of this undertaking is well shown by the letter quoted below, which was written by Hon. Z. E. Cliff near the close of his last term as mayor in the city of Somerville.
January 4, 1918.
"Mr. Charles S. Clark, Superintendent of Schools, Somerville, Mass.
"Dear Sir: At this time, at the completion of my four years' service as mayor and as a member of the School Commit- tee,. I desire to express to your committee my appreciation of your hearty co-operation in all matters considered by us.
"At the beginning of my administration, we were con- fronted with the high school problem, and I believe that the solution at which we have arrived, made possible by the action of the school committee, board of aldermen and the mayor, is a satisfactory one. The comprehensive plan contemplated four junior high school centers.
"In the eastern district, the new building adjoining the Prescott schoolhouse is now in use ; in the northern district, the Forster School annex has been adapted for junior high school purposes ; in the western district, the new building on Holland street property has been completed and is in use; in the south- ern district, a building is now in process of erection on Vinal avenue, adjoining the Bell schoolhouse. It was not considered by us that these buildings would be sufficient to care for all the pupils, but we have built as far as the finances would per- mit. The comprehensive plan anticipated the construction of future units in each of these districts from time to time, and the buildings are designed with this in mind.
"I earnestly hope that appropriations will be made from year to year and additional units constructed until sufficient accommodations are provided in all thèse districts.
"My experience in the school committee has convinced me of the wisdom of the charter change which provided for the membership of the president of the board of aldermen and the
185
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
mayor, and I believe that this membership enables both of these officers to consider school needs with much greater understand- ing.
"Though my official connection with the school committee ceases within a few days, I wish to assure you that my per- sonal interest in the schools and your work will continue in the future years.
Very truly yours, (Signed) Z. E. CLIFF, Mayor."
The plan contemplated, also, the release from school use of certain elementary buildings which had been used approxi- mately a half century. As a consequence of these changes there has been set up an educational organization correspond- ing to the prevailing opinion of the day. Relief has been given to the high school; relief has been given to a number of ele- mentary schools which were formerly overcrowded; the num- ber of pupils per teacher in the elementary schools has been reduced so that now the average is about 42. For a number of years the opinion of educational authorities has been that no elementary school teacher should have more than 40 pupils. In a bulletin recently issued by the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Education, the number was made as low as 35.
Somerville was one of the first cities in the East to estab- lish junior high schools and during the few years of their operation, school men, including members of the school com- mittees, superintendents of schools, principals of high and ele- mentary schools, and teachers have visited the junior high schools of Somerville for the purpose of studying their organ- ization, course of study, and educational practice. Among these are representatives of the following school systems: Cam- bridge, Haverhill, Wellesley, Salem, Arlington, Watertown, Revere, Malden, Gloucester, Newton, Boston, Winchester, Lynn, Lowell, Brockton, Wakefield, Melrose, Natick, Medford, Hol- yoke, Needham, New Bedford, Fall River, Milton, Danvers, Lexington, Springfield, Chelsea, Waltham, Brookline, Beverly, Worcester, Woburn, Hingham, Pepperell, Webster, Ipswich, Everett, Bridgewater, Franklin, Quincy, Chicopee, Swamp- scott, Marlboro, Hamilton, Gardner, Marblehead, Stoneham, Fitchburg, Keene, N. H., Jefferson, Vt., Englewood, N. J., Wa- terbury, Conn., East Orange, N. J., Forest City, Ark., Salem, Ind., Manchester, N. H., St. Johnsbury, Vt., Pawtucket, R. I., Rochester, N. H., Augusta, Me., Bethel, Me., Wilton, N. H., St. Paul, Minn., Madison, Wis., New York City, Nashua, N. H., Rockland, Me., Camden, Me., Charleston, W. Va., Baltimore,
186
ANNUAL REPORTS.
Md., Kansas City, Mo., Bellows Falls, Vt., Canaan, Vt., Sen- dai, Japan, Hartford, Conn., Bristol, R. I., Bangor, Me., Brook- lyn, N. Y., Kumamoto, Japan, and others. The interest in our schools shown in this way is continuous. Only within a week seven members of the school committee of Watertown visited one of our junior high schools.
The present outlook for the junior high school movement is shown in this statement recently made by the Commissioner of Education of Massachusetts, Payson Smith : "In my opin- ion, there is no question of the fundamental soundness of the junior high school idea. I believe the public as well as school officers are coming to see that the elementary schools, including the first five or six grades, ought to be devoted more definitely to giving the children a mastery of what we may call the "tools" of an education. With the beginning of the adolescent period, much larger provision must be made for individual dif- ferences in children. The junior high school represents the only economical plan for making this provision. Junior High Schools have been rapidly developing in this State in the past four years and the idea seems to be gaining such rapid accept- ance that the general adoption of it in the very near future seems probable."
Practically every survey of a school system conducted in the country by the U. S. Bureau of Education has recommended the establishment of junior high schools as a means of increas- ing school efficiency.
Following are quotations taken from statements made by well-known educational authorities. These statements ap- peared in the Somerville Press of May 28, 1920. They consti- tute a notable contribution to the literature of the junior high school, and The Press is to be congratulated for the civic in- terest it has shown in collecting them and making them acces- sible to the public. They were made with specific reference to the Somerville junior high schools.
Clarence D. Kingsley - Agent in charge of high schools for the Mass. State Board of Education and chairman of the Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education of the National Education Association.
"I know of no one who has made a careful study of the junior high school who is not convinced that it is highly de- sirable. It is advocated not by theorists, but by practical school administrators, teachers, and parents. No city to my knowledge which has given the plan a thorough trial has dis- carded it. It is no longer an experiment. It has demonstrated its value.
"The junior high school has met a long felt need. Hereto- fore the last two years of the elementary school and the first
.
187
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
year of the four-year high school were the weakest points in our school system. The junior high school is adapted to the needs, interests, and capacities of children 12 to 15 years of age, as neither the elementary nor the senior high school can be. As a result fewer children become discouraged and drop out of . school.
"The junior high school helps young people to find out what they can do best so that it will not be necessary to choose blindly the work which they should begin in the senior high school.
"The junior high school should be supported by everyone who wants to see the school system turn out the most effective citizens, because it is possible in the junior high school to de- velop certain civic qualities that cannot be so effectively devel- oped at any other time in the life of the child."
Dr. John M. Brewer - Director of Bureau of Vocational Guidance, Harvard University.
"More than sixty per cent. of the children who leave school do so because they or their parents do not believe further edu- cation worth while. This erroneous opinion is largely due to. the rigid program of studies and artificial atmosphere of the old-style 7th and Sth grades. The junior high school has largely changed these evils and it aims to give an education that fits. for life. Citizens with civic imagination see the dangers ahead if children are allowed to grow up without knowing about the serious social and economic problems of the future. If the . fire department were to be abolished to save money, we should suffer loss at once. A blow at the schools causes a loss which is. postponed, perhaps, till long after the term of office of our present city officials has expired, but a loss just as real and dangerous."
Dr. Paul H. Hanus - Professor of Education, Harvard University ; for many years a member of Massachusetts State Board of Education.
"To abandon the junior high schools already established in Somerville would be a calamity. Junior high schools are- the best means yet developed for adapting the educational op- portunities which a school system affords to the needs and abilities of individual pupils, and this adaptation is an indis- pensable element of efficient schools."
Prof. Henry W. Holmes - Dean of the New School of Education, Harvard University.
"I believe heartily in the general theory of the junior high school, and I have supposed from all I have heard that the Somerville practice in junior high school work is as effective and valuable as any that has been worked out."
1
188
ANNUAL REPORTS.
'Dr. Thomas H. Briggs - Professor of Education, Teach- ers' College, Columbia University, who has recently finished a survey of junior high schools of the country for the U. S. Bu- reau of Education.
"Although less than ten years old, the movement has spread to all parts of the country, with the exception of five Southern and two arid states. The total number of junior high schools today is probably about 800."
Dr. A. H. Wilde - Director of Boston University, School of Education.
"The junior high school is an important addition to our pub- lic school organization. It saves losses of time and energy in the 7th and 8th grades, gives adolescent boys and girls a better preparation for life or for higher education, and appeals to them more deeply."
Prof. Antoinette Roof - Instructor in Education at Sim- mons College.
"The results prove the soundness of the theory, for when put into operation it holds children in the schools, it opens the door of opportunity for many who would otherwise drift into unskilled occupations and be lost in blind alley jobs-in other words, it aims to give a fair deal to 'all the children of all the people,' giving them the right kind of an education at the right time. No community can afford to give its future citizens any- thing less than the best educational opportunities."
Prof. Alexander Inglis - Assistant Professor of Education at Harvard.
"It should be recognized that the primary and fundamental purpose of the junior high school is to provide a more effective and valuable form of education, with special reference to the different capacities and needs of children of ages approximately 12 or 13 to 15 or 16-a form of education which is absolutely impossible under the old form of organization. A return to the older form of education in Somerville would be nothing short of an educational crime against the interests of the children."
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