USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1949 > Part 9
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occupies in the educational process is important to the schools. Whatever helps in directing the forces which shape and mold the general pattern of living for an individual must claim the closest attention.
Somerville can point with pride to the fact that whatever the condition of living may require, the schools adapt them- selves to the needs of the moment and proceed to perform a service commensurate with the demands of the occasion. Under the war and postwar conditions, the highly successful School-at-War and School-at-Work programs provided, through the sale of stamps and bonds, a medium for the exercise and practice of thrift with its attendant beneficial aspects. The compelling motive for thrift furnished by the war and the postwar era no longer exists, but the business of living goes on. Therefore, it is even more essential now to make certain that under peacetime conditions the proper direction to living be given; in fact, the very continuation of the life of our democracy depends on a responsible citizenry.
As school savings present the most direct and tangible outlet for the practice of thrift during the school life of children, the situation at hand has been met by a system of school savings based on regular bank practice. The system is. designed to approximate most nearly the situations found in adult life, thus providing the young people with a realistic training ground. The special feature of the system which adds to its educational value in the curriculum is the organiza- tion of regular banking classes in the High School. The care- fully selected members of these classes meet in the newly equipped High School Bank, where the entire bookkeeping for the school savings accounts of the city will be handled. The experience to be gained by the student bank workers cannot be overestimated.
Realizing that the broad base of thrift training cannot be contained nor confined within the school hours, but must be correlated with the hours of living in the home, the coopera- tion of the parents has been actively enlisted. The following; excerpts are from a "Letter to Parents", sent out from the School Department for distribution to the homes of the pupils:
"It has been recognized that it was the excellent cooperation between the home and the schools of Somer- ville that made possible the exceptional records estab- lished by our school children during the war years in the
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purchase of bonds and stamps. Those efforts combined to give the habit of thrift a new and vital significance to the boys and girls. As there is a crying need today for further emphasis in the direction of personal thrift, the program of school savings lends itself most effectively as the medium to carry on such expansion.
"The Somerville Saving Bank, the oldest savings bank in the city, has undertaken to cooperate in the task of bringing home to our children the value of thrift prin- ciples. A most gratifying feature of the new program is the fact that the Somerville Savings Bank will act as the depository for our school savings. It is a great contri- bution to the general welfare of our community since no greater service can be rendered to our future citizens than providing them with the proper training ground for the development of good citizenship traits.
"Our schools, in collaboration with the Somerville Savings Bank, together with the anticipated cooperation of the home in the thrift program, will thus be prepared to do their part for the best interests of our youth."
The new program of thrift offers both a challenge and a privilege to the teaching corps in the unlimited possibilities of correlation with the entire program of their work. As they encourage their pupils to acquire regular, systematic habits of saving, to learn to prevent waste, and to adopt personal thrift habits as an integral part of the way of life, they may well feel that they are doing their share to help make the business of living a well managed affair for their charges.
Music
The music program in the Somerville schools is an over- all program which extends from kindergarten through grade twelve of the High School. It is interesting to note that dur- ing the year 1949 there has been progress at all levels. The aims of this program in the public schools are:
1. To teach children the rudiments of reading music
2. To develop an appreciation of all types of music
3. To encourage the study of musical instruments
4. To determine the aptitude of children for in- strumental music by test and observation
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5. To encourage those with aptitude to study for a vocation or avocation
6. To provide all children with a worthwhile and interesting hobby for their leisure
The program at the elementary level has given consider- able experimentation with rhythm response through bodily movements. Development along these lines will be expanded slowly and gradually under careful supervision. Because of the waning interest in the study of stringed instruments, and the possibility of some assistance in the purchase of violins by one of the service clubs of the community, a survey was conducted to ascertain the interest in violin lessons in the after-school music program among pupils of the third, fourth, and fifth grades. Over three hundred expressed a desire. After a screening by the personnel of our music instructional corps, and the receipt of a large donation for the purchase of violins from the Somerville Kiwanis Club, classes were established, at a very small charge per lesson, in three or four elementary schools, conducted by very competent instructors. This in- struction in stringed instruments is proving so successful that it is felt that before long the orchestras of the junior and senior high schools will be well supplied with players of stringed instruments. It is hoped that this after-school pro- gram can again be expanded to include instruction on other instruments, such as clarinets and trumpets.
At the junior high school level instrumental classes after school are rapidly advancing and also increasing in popularity, so that there are now classes meeting in each of the three junior high schools every afternoon. Considerable study is being given to the possibilities of extending appreciation courses from the high school to the junior high and elemen- tary school levels. This will involve considerable expense for record playing machines and an adequate library of record- ings. While the equipment of city-owned band instruments is rather extensive, it will be necessary soon to begin to replace some instruments now being used in the junior high schools, and whenever possible to add new instruments.
Music at the high school level gives ample evidence of the effectiveness of our progressive program of instruction. The large number of groups in vocal, appreciation, and in- strumental music attest to the popularity and success of the instruction. Various public performances, such at Talent Night, Christmas Concert, and the concerts of the Girls' Glee Club,
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the Boys' Glee Club, and the Band, have been well received and supported by parents and students alike, and from the proceeds the Glee Clubs have been provided with one hundred eighteen red choir robes. Small entertainment groups have performed at many affairs in and out of the city and have brought much favorable comment and credit to the school. Appearances at Veterans' Hospitals, Homes for the Aged, Parent-Teacher Association meetings, Church Socials, and Service Club meetings have aided the scholarship fund.
The record library has grown each year through the purchase of new records, and other equipment is constantly being added that increases the interest in Music Appreciation. Stage material, such as new rheostats, and carbon-arc and small spotlights add to the effectiveness of the accomplish- ments of those students pursuing the music program.
Art
The progress in art work in the Somerville schools during the past year has been very satisfactory.
Sixty-seven teachers participated in and benefited by an in-service art workshop, held in the High School this year. The teachers were given the opportunity to acquire a broader scope of art education in the use of materials and the planning and teaching of school art through actual participation in pro- jects carried through to completion. They were most enthu- siastic about the course, worked hard, and obtained many good ideas to give to their pupils. Many of them discovered some hidden talent in themselves, and all developed a better under- standing of art as a thing, not just for the chosen few, but for all people.
Children in the elementary grades have been expressing themselves quite freely with their crayons and paints. More than ever, the work in representation showed that the child is concerned with the things that touch his life. The subjects selected for drawing and painting were about the child's fam- ily, his home activities, his pets, his recreations, his ambitions, and the community with its shops and workers. Most satis- factory, however, is the fact that our children have shown keen interest in their drawing, and while a lesson was being conducted every pupil was busy expressing himself to the best of his ability and was doing that joyfully.
Some very fine work was done in textile painting in the junior high schools. The students participating made their
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own designs, cut their own stencils, and painted on scarves, towels, aprons, neckties, and many other articles with textile paint.
The High School reports that the school has won numer- ous prizes and favorable comments. Eleven students who were graduated from the High School in 1948 entered Boston art schools in September and have had excellent records for the past year.
Plans are being made to develop keener interest in child- ren in their community. Through outdoor sketching, it is hoped that children will learn to observe buildings in their neighborhood, that they will pack these observations in their memory, and that they will gain the ability to recall these ob- servations in classroom drawing.
Americanization
The immigrants now entering the United States are dif- ferent from the type which entered after World War I, and require a different training in order to be kept in classes long enough to assimilate American ideals. These persons, repre- senting fifteen to twenty nationalities, are keen, earnest, and desirous of learning the American ways, customs, and the new language, and frequently have been well educated in their own country.
During their period of instruction all signs of enmity disappear as they enter the classroom, and in a very short time new friendships have been made while learning to talk Eng- lish. After learning our language they are enabled to secure skilled employment in the line of work in which they had received education and training before the start of World War II.
Displaced Persons are guaranteed work before arriving, and those who have located in our country have immediately joined evening classes, causing a second beginners' class to be organized.
During the year two teachers from England who were studying Basic English at Harvard under a grant from their government, and two persons formerly from Jugoslavia who had been teaching the Displaced Persons who were working in the British mines, did practice teaching in our day and evening classes as part of their training at Harvard.
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A marked change in policy as regards citizenship work was the agreement finally reached between the federal depart- ment of Naturalization in Boston and the Massachusetts State Department of Education, which provided for the acceptance of a certificate of completion of the local state-approved Americanization course in lieu of the former examination before the Naturalization court.
Athletics
A program which provided an opportunity for every boy who wished to participate in athletics was carried out both in the junior high schools and in the senior high school. The policy of close coordination of athletics in the junior and senior high schools was adhered to.
The coaches in the Senior High explain the systems that they are using and the fundamentals that they would like to have taught. The coaches in the Junior high schools follow these instructions as closely as possible so that the boy, upon arrival at High School, fits into the system being used there.
During the football season, the junior high school teams play practice games at Dilboy Field, which affords the senior high coaches the opportunity to acquaint themselves with the material coming from the junior high schools and also to make any suggestions which they feel would be beneficial. This same plan of having the junior high teams play under the observation of the senior high school coaches was also carried out in basketball and baseball. Because of lack of facilities in track, the junior high seniors who were interested in track were contacted and met with the senior high school track coach for instructions.
In the senior high school during the fall and winter, regular schedules were carried out in football, basketball, track, and hockey. Second team schedules with outside teams are arranged in football and basketball. A sophomore basket- ball team also plays a complete schedule with outside teams. These same activities are carried on in the junior high schools, with the exception of track and hockey. There are no school facilities for hockey and only an outside board track for the high school team, which has recently been dismantled.
Despite the lack of facilities in these activities, both our hockey and track teams made very creditable records. Our
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hockey team was in the running for the league championship right up to the last game, and our track team did fairly well, particularly in dual meets. Our baseball team was without a practice field and was forced to practice on fields in neighbor- ing cities, wherever arrangements might be made. Under such a handicap, the team lost the league championship by only one game. Our football team had a fair season. Our basketball team won the state championship, and for the first time won the New England championship. Our junior high school teams also had splendid records. In the selections for the state basketball championship, two of our teams were nominated, and for the third time one of our teams, the South- ern, won this title. Our schools were ably represented in all athletic activities.
BUILDINGS AND REPAIRS
A school plant is merely the biggest single piece of learn- ing equipment essential for a good school system. It is, therefore, very important that the school plant be properly maintained and cared for. This task is especially difficult in Somerville when we consider that the school buildings are uniformly old and that several have been in use over seventy years. The Building Commissioner has been very cooperative with the School Department during the past year and has, within the limits of his department appropriation, made every effort to satisfy the demands made upon him.
A considerable amount of work was done in the schools during the past year in an effort to make the school buildings conform to the safety regulations of the Massachusetts De- partment of Public Safety. This work was very extensive and involved many structural changes. Fire doors and fire walls have been installed whenever necessary in every school build- ing. Intercommunication doors were installed wherever nec- essary to provide additional exits. Emergency lighting units have been provided in conformity with the requirements of the Department of Public Safety. This project cost approxi- mately one hundred eighty thousand dollars.
In order that the Audio-Visual Education Program in the schools might be more effective, electrical outlets were in- stalled in the Senior High School, the Perry, Proctor, Burns, Cutler, and Lowe Schools. Electrical work of a general nature was done in fifteen buildings, such as maintaining clocks, fire alarm systems, and program bells. Other electrical re- pairs were made to the elevators in the Northeastern Junior
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High School and the Southern Junior High School. Switches and sump pumps were repaired in the Southern Junior High School, the Hanscom School, and the Cutler School.
Roofs were repaired at the Glines and Southworth build- ings and minor repairs were made to general plumbing and painting and decorating. Steamfitting and boiler work of a general nature was done in practically every school building, as needed. There was plastering work in thirteen schools and masonry repair work in fifteen buildings. A considerable amount of glass was set in all of the buildings and window cords were renewed and sashes replaced wherever needed.
The schools are very much in need of new furniture inas- much as no furniture has been purchased for many years. There was considerable repairing and refinishing of desks and tables in the schools. A special project was undertaken in the Pope, Glines, Durell, Burns, Brown, Cholerton, Hodg- kins, Cutler, and Southworth Schools, whereby new holes were bored in the desks to allow for the use of a new size inkwell. Later, due to the closing of the Pope School, it became nec- essary to transfer several classrooms of furniture to the Han- scom and Bennett Schools.
The stairways in the Senior High School needed attention because the linoleum covering on the steps was in a worn and dangerous condition. This has been taken care of by re- placing the linoleum on the steps with a new composition of carborundum pavement. Before this was applied the stairways had to be reinforced. The center stairway at the Knapp School has been removed and the stairway at the Cutler School was reinforced.
Classrooms in many of our buildings are without window shades. There is a definite need for new blackboards or chalkboards in several elementary schools. The school admin- istration office has been requesting new furniture and filing cabinets for several years, and this need still exists.
CHANGES IN PERSONNEL
During the year just closing the schools of our city have been deprived of the services of nineteen persons whose con- tributions to Education will be remembered for decades by those fortunate enough to be the beneficiaries. Of these nineteen, all of whom had been faithful and devoted servants of the public, and whose services were recognized by public expressions of appreciation by the School Committee, three
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were taken by death, Margaret M. Brown, Head of the Com- mercial Course in the High School, after a period of service of sixteen years; Joseph J. Nangle, High School teacher, after a period of service of nineteen and a half years; and Gladys Sheldon, who served the schools thirty years, most of which was as Librarian at the Northeastern Junior High School.
Of the remaining sixteen teachers, one, Lois P. Wilbur, voluntarily retired after rendering twenty-six years of very effective, loyal, and devoted service to the pupils of the elementary schools, nine terminated their teaching service due to marriage after terms of employment of from one to nineteen years; two, who had been on leave of absence for a year, re- signed to assume teaching duties in another community; three left to enter the business field; and one resigned her position to move to another part of the country.
Vincent R. Cronin, who had made an outstanding record as the basketball coach for the High School for seven seasons, regretfully relinquished his duties here to become the coach of basketball at Boston University.
COSTS
Again it is gratifying to be able to point to the efficiency and effectiveness of the Somerville School System with rela- tion to its costs, as shown by the tabulation of costs of educa- tion for the thirty-nine cities of the Commonwealth. From a tabulation made by the Massachusetts Teachers Federation of statistics covering the school year, September 1948 to June 1949, the per capita cost of education in Somerville is shown to be $174.30, which is $21.58 lower than the median for cities of the Commonwealth. This per capita cost places Somerville in thirty-second position among the thirty-nine cities of the State.
RECAPITULATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Another year of activity in the history of the City of Somerville has been concluded, and the citizenry is entitled to know how their schools have been operated, what the accom- plishments have been, and what the costs have been. In con- sequence of the fact that the Superintendent is not in a posi- tion to meet the whole public as individuals, he has in this, his twenty-second report in a series of seventy-eight attempted to discuss pertinent matters, circumstances, and conditions concerning the schools and the activities and considerations of the School Committee during the year 1949.
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Attention has been directed to the manner in which the School Committee, with serious intent to consummate the plans formulated in the first year of its two-year stewardship, was forced by circumstances to devote serious and energetic efforts to matters of legislation directly affecting the educa- tional system of Somerville, financially and physically, which were being considered by the Great and General Court of our Commonwealth. The efforts, not being rewarded with success, have spurred them to greater activity for success in these respects during the year 1950. Serious attention was then devoted to the further development of the improvement and extension of educational services to the youth of the city.
Statements have been made about the matters which concerned the educational program, and discussion has been presented of the manner in which the members of the in- structional corps have attacked the problems involved, and the methods used to guide their charges to a successful accom- plishment, through their usual degree of industry and deter- mination. Evidence has been provided to show that through the cooperative efforts of the legislative body, the administrators, supervisors, and teachers, the development of an improved citizenry is bound to result.
The statutes of the Commonwealth require the Super- intendent of Schools to submit to his School Committee recom- mendations upon those things which, in his opinion, deserve careful thought, consideration, and action during the years ahead. Of course, it is impossible to put into operation at once all phases of a long-term plan of action; consequently there are recommendations made each year that need to be repeated, in order that the processes of action will follow the proper and logical continuity. It is strongly urged that re- newed effort be given to those matters which have not as yet received favorable action, in addition to others which now seem necessary. It is therefore recommended:
1. That the School Committee continue to main- tain vigorously the well founded tradition and concep- tion of the unhampered control of education by the School Committee, exert its utmost influence to repel any encroachments upon its powers and jurisdictions which would result in detriment to the schools and the children, and endorse and use every means at its disposal to foster support for further increased state aid for Education.
2. That the School Committee endorse whole- heartedly a bill presented to the Legislature which will.
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amend the City Charter of Somerville and give the con- trol of the care and maintenance of public school build- ings into the hands of the School Committee, where such control rightfully belongs.
3. That further thought be given to the necessary planning for added accommodations for first grades and kindergartens, which will be required as a consequence of the rapidly increasing birth rate of the city and the prob- able increased number of children of school age who will be living in the housing units now being built or contem- plated.
4. That serious consideration be requested of the City Government of 1950 to providing an adequate sta- dium for High School athletic and other activities and to providing adequate seating accommodations in the audi- toriums of the Northeastern Junior High School and the Vocational School.
5. That a comprehensive study be made of the necessity for additional space for the auto body work and the painting and decorating activities at the Vocational School; and that the need for trained workers in the com- paratively new fields of Radar, Television, Refrigeration, and Diesel Engines be surveyed and the necessary actions taken to provide for the establishment of these courses at the school in the not too distant future. Such addi- tions to the curriculum and plant can be aided by federal funds in accordance with the provisions of the George- Barden Act.
6. That formal action be taken to request the Board of Health to consider the advisability of revising the present medical inspection plan for school children, in order to make possible a more thorough annual exam- ination, by the employment of an adequately compen- sated full-time force of two or three physicians, to re- place the force of seven inadequately compensated in- spectors of the present time. This recommendation, when previously presented four times, received much favorable commendation from prominent citizens, par- ticularly doctors and parents.
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