USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1946 > Part 8
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Our nation's future in an uncertain world depends upon our political wisdom, our science, our industrial and mili- tary strength. Education lies at the core of all of these. It would be a calamity and a crime against the nation to continue to underpay and discourage and drive away those who have in their hands the shaping of our citizens' funda- mental knowledge and earliest ideas.
ENCORE (September 1946)
This problem of the deterioration of our schools is one that is too immense for the teachers themselves to handle. It belongs now to the public, to the fathers and mothers of the land, whose children's future may be ruined by un- skilled and inadequate teaching. Pressure from the public alone will force state and national legislators to grant the immense sums of money necessary to regenerate the schools and give them a constant flow of able and well- trained teachers.
CORONET (October 1946)
Today, the American educational system of which we have long been proud is sagging sadly-so sadly that un- less corrective action is taken quickly and decisively, ir- reparable damage will be done. And who is responsible for this crisis in our schools? No one but ourselves.
LIFE (September 1946)
We asked the school to give us patriots, classless so- ciety and an end to racial intolerance; we expected im- proved labor relations, happier marriages and even honest politicians. In short, the schools, at low expense, were to make good all the deficiencies of man and nature . . . As living costs zoomed in recent years and as better paying jobs opened, teaching posts began to empty . .. . Today's shortage is not temporary. It requires long-range planning. It also demands drastic and immediate action. .. We have got to take the rubber bands off our wallets and do something handsome for our teachers.
McCALL'S (June 1946)
All hands, from the bellweathers of American education to the simple taxpayer sitting at home, agree that our sys-
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tem must stand or fall on the quality of the teachers in classrooms. We constantly require more and more of pro- spective teachers in the matter of education and training, of flexible mentality and patience and genuine devotion to their profession. But we do not pay them enough money.
LOOK (May 1946)
The great majority of the teachers in our schools are able, sincere, hard-working men and women whose effec- tiveness is reduced by low salaries, overcrowded classes and unintelligent supervision. . . . Are you and I respon- sible ? Yes-the bulk of the blame must fall on us because we allow such conditions to exist. We as parents and tax- payers could correct them. We don't because we are ig- norant, indifferent or bewildered.
SURVEY GRAPHIC (July 1946)
The greatest single reason why trained teachers have been leaving the profession in such numbers in the past six years is to better themselves in income and status. . . Free education, as a bulwark of democracy is part of the American tradition. The experience with the Selective Service served to make clear how far we fall short of meeting this ideal in practice. A mounting teacher short- age is a major handicap in plans and efforts to do beter than we hitherto have done in providing equal educational opportunity for all our children.
WASHINGTON POST (June 18, 1946)
Unless teachers' salaries can be brought into something like parity with the Government's pay scales, the ablest graduates of our teachers' colleges will not be drawn into the teaching profession, and thequality of our schools will fall accordingly. In addition, the lives of teachers will be so cramped and harassed by increased living costs that they will not be able to contribute their full capacities to their jobs. And, finally, we shall have dealth meanly with those to whom we entrust the highest of responsibilities- the education of our children.
MORNING CALL, Paterson, N. J. (March 1, 1946)
Never was public opinion so strongly united on any is- sue, as it is in this one on the side of teachers. . . Justice
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for the teachers is a "must"; however not for remote 1947, but for a present 1946!
NEW YORK TIMES (September 23, 1946)
Teachers' pay must go up. . . we all know well, that the quality of teachers is a matter of deepest social concern. Clearly the question has emerged from the level of paying a just and fair salary for teaching, as a matter of human- ity. We are now confronted with a situation in which ed- ucational standards are plainly degenerating throughout the country.
On September 24 the members of the Somerville School Committee, believing that they would not be meeting their ob- ligations as elected public servants unless they made an at- tempt to establish a salary schedule which would provide a living wage for the employees of the school system to the end that our standards may be retained and our children given their constitutional birthright - an adequate education, - adopted by a roll call vote of 8 to 1 a new salary schedule to be- come effective in full on January 1, 1947, but with a provision that, because of a surplus in the appropriation made for the year 1946 by conditions mentioned earlier in this report, $300 of the increase be made effective as of October 1, 1946.
In anticipation of this action, the School Committee had given much study to the provisions of the Municipal Finance Act, contained in section 32 and 33A of Chapter 44 of the Gen- eral Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and to the decisions of the Massachusetts Supreme Court passed down by Chief Justices Shaw and Rugg, as quoted earlier in this report.
Section 32 specifically sets forth the rights of the school committee to use appropriated funds in the manner deemed most advisable to provide adequate educational instruction for all the children of all the people, in accordance with their obli- gations and responsibilities as set forth in the statutes. It further provides that : "The budget shall consist of an itemized and detailed statement of the money required, and the city council, by a majority vote, shall make such appropriations in detail, clearly specifying the amount to be expended for each particular purpose; but the budget shall not be in such detail as to fix specific salaries of employees under the direction of boards elected by the people, other than the city council."
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Section 33A as amended by Chapter 62 of the Acts of 1943 states that : "The annual budget shall include sums sufficient to pay the salaries of officers and employees fixed by law or by ordinance, but no new position shall be created or increase in rate made by ordinance, vote or appointment during the fi- nancial year subsequent to the submission of the annual bud- get unless provision therefore has been made by means of a supplemental appropriation :"
Since Section 32 provides that the School Committee is not compelled to indicate specific salaries for individuals in its budget, and can use the appropriated funds to the extent of the appropriation, and in view of the fact that Section 33A sets forth a procedure for the regulations of salaries set by law or ordinance, it should be very evident to any person that the teachers' salaries which are set neither by law nor ordinance, but by the School Committee, are in no way affected by the provisions of Section 33A of Chapter 44 of the General Laws.
When the payrolls for the October payments of salaries of School Committee employees, made in accordance with the action of the School Committee, were presented to the City Auditor for verification and preparation of the warrant, changes were made by the Auditor, disallowing the increases called for in the new salary schedule, on the ground that Sec- tion 33A of Chapter 44 prevented the payment.
At the time of the writing of this report, the deficiencies in payments cover the months of October and November, and suit has been filed for payment by the teachers' groups' in the Middlesex County Superior Court. The decision of the Court will be one of the most far reaching decisions ever rendered by the Court in regard to education because it will determine the rights and powers of every school committee in the Common- wealth, and will provide ease of mind for the teachers whose importance to the welfare of the country has so long been un- recognized and ignored.
The Regional Secondary School for Veterans, instituted in conjunction with the State Department of Education in the latter months of 1945 for the purpose of enabling veterans in Somerville and its vicinity to finish their high school educa- tion or to prepare themselves for further study during evening hours, proved to be of such value that a summer course during the daytime hours was established. This course provided the
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same type of instruction as the evening center, but was in- tensified and accelerated by being operated five days a week for five hours a day. At the conclusion of the summer term, the evening center was again made operative and is continuing to carry out efficiently and well the purpose for which it was established. During the year 1946 diplomas have been awarded to forty-six veterans who by study in the evening center and the summer courses have fulfilled the requirements for a high school diploma.
In addition to the secondary school courses mentioned for veterans, and in accordance with the ninth recommendation of the Superintendent in his 1945 report, consideration was given by the School Committee to the vocational training needs of the veterans and those graduates of our vocational program so that the out-of-school youth and the employed adult could be retrained and upgraded on his job.
Immediately after the opening of the regular day schools in September, a campaign of publicity was carried on by the press and by mail, giving notification of the possible oppor- tunities which could be offered by the School Committee in evening trade instruction. As a result of this survey and reg- istration, three courses were established to begin on October 21, two evening sessions of three hours each per week. A prin- cipal and five instructors were elected by the School Commit- tee to teach the classes in Auto Repair, Printing, and Painting. Immediately after the opening evening the registrations rapid- ly increased for the courses already established. and there was great demand manifested for other trades, including Machine Shop Practice, Electrical work, and Carpentry. Inasmuch as the instructors of the three established courses have received no compensation for their services rendered up to date because the City Auditor refuses to approve the payroll, it was deemed advisable to delay the opening of the additional courses until after the opening of the new year. It is a pity that veterans should be delayed in their efforts to prepare themselves to carn a profitable livelihood.
Another problem facing the School Committee of 1946 was that of finding a proper method of administering the provisions of an action of the 1945 Committee whereby it was voted to award professional improvement increments to returned teach- er veterans for courses pursued or experiences gained while in the armed forces which in the opinion of a special commit-
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tee would benefit the efficiency of the teaching in our schools. A plan of evaluation was formulated, and seventeen veterans, upon presentation of credentials, were awarded increments varying from twenty-five to three hundred dollars.
A further action of importance taken this year was that which provided for the authorization of release time for chil- dren of the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades for the purpose of pursuing midweek religious instruction in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 423 of the Acts of 1941. Letters of in- formation concerning the release time were sent to parents through the children of those grades, and cards were furnished for formal request for permission for dismissal by the signa- ture of the parent. The names of the children who are to par- ticipate were compiled in lists and submitted to the proper members of the Inter-Faith Council to allow the various groups to make arrangements for the formation and instruction of the classes. Present information indicates that the first classes will meet on January 7, 1947.
Due to manifest shortage of nurses, and a shortage of properly prepared candidates for nursing training courses, the Committee gave serious consideration to a proposal to estab- lish a pre-nursing course in Somerville High School. Investi- gation gave evidence that the requirements for entrance into nursing training were the same as for entrance into college plus any practical courses pertaining to nursing that could be organized. In consequence a plan was approved whereby the students in the ninth grades would be addressed, prior to filling out their elective blanks for the tenth year, by doctors and superintendents of nursing training courses, who would acquaint the students with the importance of the profession, its requirements and its benefits and advantages, to the end that a desire would be created to pursue the college prepara- tory course during their high school years and to take one year of home nursing and first aid during one of the three years, for which year's successful work the Committee author. ized the granting of one point of diploma credit.
The preceding statements provide evidence that the School Committee of 1946 has been seriously devoted to the obliga- tions of its responsibilities and has made considerable pro- gress toward the goals which it set for accomplishment during its stewardship. With but one change in the personnel for 1947, that of the Presidency of the Board of Aldermen, the pros-
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pects for continued progress of accomplishment during the next year are encouragingly bright.
CHANGES, IMPROVEMENTS, AND PROGRESS
During the year 1946 the various units of our school or- ganization have continued to progress in fulfilling the require- ments of our postwar education plan, which, as has been stated previously, will provide for improvement, adaptation, and ex- tension of the educational services for all the youth of the community, regardless of sex, economic status, or race.
High School
The year 1946 has been characterized by marked changes in the administrative setup and the personnel of the High School. The number of retirements of teachers in the school and other necessary and possible changes in personnel were the greatest in the history of the school.
The School Committee selected a new Headmaster, two Vice-Headmasters, a Head of the General Course, an assis- tant to the Head of the Commercial Course, and four Heads of Departments.
These actions of the School Committee made it possible to make a revised arrangement of the administrative setup of the High School in anticipation of establishing the curriculum and courses of study of our postwar educational program for the increasing enrollment, which in December 1946 showed a gain of 138 over that of the corresponding date of last year.
This administration, under the direction of the Headmas- ter, is organized as follows:
Administration. This phase of the work is under the active direction of a Vice Headmaster, who is assisted by four Building Masters and the Business Manager of High School Activities. The Building Masters, in turn, are as- sisted in their work by Floormasters and three Personnel Workers.
The group composed of the Building Masters under the chairmanship of the Vice Headmaster, holding weekly con-
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ferences, forms a board which among other matters considers cases of discipline and truancies that warrant special at- tention. This Administrative Board meets with parents as well as pupils when occasion requires. Such practices, giv- ing evidence of the interest of the school in the welfare of the students, have brought forth many statements and letters. of commendation from parents, and the Headmaster feels that a greater bond of cooperation has been established be- tween the home and the school.
Education. This phase is under the active direction of a Vice Headmaster, who is assisted by three Heads of courses. This group forms the Curriculum Board, which meets regularly under the chairmanship of the Vice Head- master, and is charged with planning, organizing, and de- veloping the curriculum. The revised organization of this field permits more careful and specialized attention to the needs of the curriculum and its adaptation to the postwar world.
The active participation of the Heads of Departments, who hold regular meetings with the teachers of their de- partments, in this continuing project is being secured through frequent meetings and consultations with the Cur- riculum Board.
The official contacts with the home, for both the Ad- ministrative and Curriculum Boards, are made by the three male Personnel Workers, who devote half time to teaching. A personnel worker is assigned to the Sophomore Class and continues to work with the members of that group until they graduate. These men, who spend part of each day visiting the homes and consulting with parents, accomplish much good in aiding pupils to continue in good standing in school and preventing retardation and failure.
It is hoped that in the near future it will be possible to establish more efficient building maintenance and to make re- pairs which are needed to insure safe and healthful conditions for the students at all times.
Somerville High School is definitely in need of a stadium for use not only of our athletic teams but by physical educa- tion classes and the Band and other Field Music groups, lo- cated as near to the High School as possible. A suggestion,
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worthy of serious consideration, made by the Headmaster of the High School recommends the building of a bowl-like-sta- dium located between the rear end of the High School Gymna- sium and the western end of the Library on the Medford Street side of Central Hill. In such a location no field house would be needed, for all purposes of a field house could be cared for in the gymnasium.
Progress is being made in the administrative and educa- tional fields and attention is urgently requested to the needs. of the extra-curricular activities enumerated which a stadium adjacent to the High School would serve.
Junior High Schools
Emphasis on all fundamental skills stressed so much dur- ing the war years is being continued during the period of re- conversion and peace. Never before have young people so needed skills in all essential subjects as today when they must accept difficult responsibilities in a not too well ordered world. Essential skills are not limited to reading, writing and arith- metic, as our hope lies in the development of the whole child. This development must include mental, physical, and spiritual growth and progress.
In April of 1945 the recommendations of the Junior High School Curriculum Committee concerning the elimination of electives in the seventh grade and involving also changes of emphasis on certain subjects in grades eight and nine were tentatively approved and became effective in September of the same year. It was the intention of the Junior High School Curriculum Committee that, by constant study and analysis of the changed curriculum in operation, and after a reasonable time, definite recommendations might be made with respect to its continuance or further revision and change. The new plan is in its second year and seems to be meeting the situation acceptably. The Curriculum Committee is engaged in a con- tinuous study of the whole junior high school program.
A committee of junior high school teachers is at present working on a new course of study for junior business training in grade eight and general business training in grade nine. Closer supervision of instruction in the ninth grade has been made possible by the scheduling of regular visits by senior high school department heads to at least one school a week.
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The work in remedial reading, which was instituted sev- eral years ago at the Northeastern Junior High School and in- terrupted during the War, has been revived through the return of a teacher from military service. This work has been under- taken with eighth and ninth grade pupils. The Eames Eye Test was used for screening and the Massachusetts Vision Test to check those who failed the Eames Test. Tests used included the Iowa silent Reading Test, Elementary Form A, the Otis Quick Scoring Test of Mental Ability, and also the Revised Beta Ex- aminations. Small classes were formed of those with low read- ing scores, and such texts as "Flying the Printways", "Let's Read", and the set of workbooks. "Getting the Meaning" were found to be very useful.
Monthly meetings of librarians were held at the High School Library together with the representative of the Somer- ville Public Library and the Assistant Superintendent of Schools. Topics of interest were assigned in advance for dis- cussion. A clearing house of useful information was thus created which has proved of considerable value in our library program.
In September the Massachusetts Vision Test was first in- troduced as a substitute for the Snellen Test Letters. In ad- dition to the new kit owned by the School Department, a sec- und kit has been made available through the generosity of a parent-teacher association. Using these two sets, the work has progressed very satisfactorily in all three junior high schools, with the cooperation of the Massachusetts Department of Pub- Jic Health.
Elementary Schools
In the elementary schools, during the year 1946, there has been a continuance of the constant analysis and revision of teaching content, methods, and techniques which results in improvement of the efficiency of the educational functions. The revised methods and recent scientific studies are closely fol- lowed by both administrators and teachers, so that social ef- ficiency shall be attained in every classroom and that the ca- pacity of every student shall be developed to its fullest extent.
In addition, all concerned have given much attention to (1) combatting the spread of juvenile delinquency, (2) in- creasing the development of humaneness and endeavoring to
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cause the children to lead better, richer, and fuller lives, and (3) increasing tolerance and charity, the results of which are evidenced by increased interest in donations of their efforts and pennies to the various drives, and in the work of scouting and the like.
The Book Council has continued its valuable work of scientifically discovering all available new material and making the proper recommendations for adoptions and deletions with reference to the authorized lists of textbooks. This year the Council gave particular emphasis to available texts in Arith- metic.
Masters have been doing specialized work in their dis- tricts, devoting much time to a continued study of reading in all grades, to an extension of our already nationally known Safety Program, to the improvement of the mechanics of spell- ing, and to a furtherance of the benefits of Basic English.
The plan developed early in 1945 for the improvement of the study of Geography, which resulted in the adoption of an authorized list of maps and globes by the School Committee, has been followed as closely as possible, and at the present time the fourth and fifth grades have been completely provided with the basal material. Near the close of this year a start was made to equip the sixth grade with the necessary mater- ials and equipment, and provision has been made in the bud- get for 1947 to complete the basal material early in the year.
The practice followed for a few years of providing oppor tunity for the teachers youngest in service to visit classrooms in other schools for the purpose of observing the work of the more experienced teachers has been continued, because teach- ers have always generously shared with their fellow teachers the devices and techniques acquired over a period of years.
The annual presentation of the work of the year in the grades was made through an open-house period in May, and as usual called forth an enthusiastic response from parents, and received much enthusiastic commendation from teachers and supervisors from neighboring communities who visited our presentation.
A testing program, conducted in numerous communities, in which the children of our grades two, three, and four par- ticipated, has brought forth evidence of effective and efficient
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teaching by the Somerville elementary teachers. While all the results are not yet reported so that comparisons with other communities can be made, there is evidence available to indi- cate that the achievement of the elementary schools can be compared favorably with that of our neighboring communi- ties.
The foregoing statements bear witness to the fact that all associated with the elementary organization are devotedly pur- suing their tasks with enthusiasm and industry and are being rewarded for their endeavors by results which express an ap- preciative, "Well done".
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