USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Attleboro > Reports of town officers of the town of Attleborough 1911 > Part 7
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The following schedule as made public in October. 19II, shows the salary schedule for the present year.
Schedule of Teachers' Salaries 19II-1912
Position
Present Salary
Regular Maximum
High School-
Principal
$2000
Not fixed
Science
1000
$1200
ANNUAL REPORT
Position
Commercial Department
1000
Present Salary Regular Maximum 1000
Regular assistants 600- 800 800
Number receiving $600. . . I
Number receiving $650. . . 2
Number receiving $700. . . 2
Number receiving $750. .. 2
Number receiving SSoo. .. I
Grammar principals-
Large buildings
$1100-1150
$1400
Small buildings 600- 750
650-750
Number receiving $1100. . 2
Number receiving $1150. . I
Number receiving $600. . . I Number receiving $625. . . I
Number receiving $650. .. 3
Number receiving $700 ... I
Grade teachers $420- 620 $600
Number receiving $420 2 Number receiving $480. .3
Number receiving $500 4
Number receiving $525 I
Number receiving $530. . 2 Number receiving $540 .I Number receiving $550. .12
Number receiving $570. . . I
Number receiving $575. .2 Number receiving $600. . .. 26
Number receiving $620 2
Kindergarten assistant $300
There is no fixed minimum. but the salary of new teachers is determined according to their ability. ex- perience and the position for which they are engaged.
Two teachers receive more than regular maximum owing to long service.
159
ANNUAL REPORT
Supervisors -
Music $900 (Three days per week)
Drawing 850
Penmanship 470 (One week per month)
Manual training 800 (Two days per week)
Sewing
625
MANUAL TRAINING AND SEWING
The interest shown in these two subjects continues un- abated. Bench work for the boys of the eighth grade was begun in January, 1910, the classes being held in the South Main street building. In May, 1911, a canvass of the boys showed that forty-three would take manual training as a part of their high school course provided the opportunity were given. As a result of this canvass the Committee voted to make manual training an elective subject for the freshman class of the high school this year. When school opened in September it was found that a number of those who had signified their desire for the subject had not entered the high school, the num- ber being reduced to twenty-nine. This number, how- ever, made two good classes, and each class has had about three hours work a week.
To introduce this subject into the high school it was necessary to employ the instructor two days a week in- stead of one as we had been doing. This was made pos- sible by the Trustees of the Richardson School Fund paying the salary of the instructor for the additional day.
The Trustees are also to be thanked for a wood turning lathe and a two-horse power motor, together with over $50 worth of tools, which have just been added to the manual training equipment. This will make possible this year a little work for each pupil in wood-turning and pattern-making. The instructor also plans some work with brass or copper later in the year. It is hoped that gradually the equipment may be still further increased
160
ANNUAL REPORT
and that a second year of manual work may be offered as a part of the high school course.
The work in sewing, as was to be expected, shows con- siderable improvement over the work of last year. The value of having one teacher for all the work, instead of having the work done by the different teachers in the rooms, is plainly evident. Pupils passing from room to room and from grade to grade lose less than they did be- fore. Each year's work is carefully planned, and with the carrying out of the plan in the hands of one teacher, more rapid progress for the pupils is possible. At the public exhibition of the work of the schools last June, the work in manual training and sewing attracted much attention and many favorable comments were heard. This work in sewing, like the manual training spoken of above, is made possible by the fact that the Trustees of the Richardson School Fund pay nearly half the salary of the teacher of sewing.
Transportation
I called attention in my report last year to the very rapid increase in the amount expended for transportation in the last five years, and to the fact of a saving of $800 in this item of expense could be made by the erection of a school building on Thacher street.
Amount Expended for Transportation
Year
Barges
Electric Cars
Total
1905
$1632.00
$625.00
$2257.00
1906
1740.00
653.75
2343.75
I 907
1740.00
680.00
2420.CO
1908
2085.00
800.00
2885.00
1909
I797.00
1075.00
2872.00
1910
1911.00
II32.41
3043.4I
I9II
1911.00
1325-45
3236.45
Increase this year. .
$193.04
$193.04
Increase since 1905 279.00
700.45
979.45
161
ANNUAL REPORT
This increase in transportation expense is due very largely to the growth of two sections of the town- Pleasant street and County street near Thacher street. In the Pleasant street section we are furnishing trans- portation for twenty-seven more pupils than we did in 1906, and in the County street section to about seventy- five more. We are also transporting fifteen pupils in the Farmers section and eight in South Attleboro, where no pupil received transportation five years ago. An at- tempt was made this fall to reduce this expense by in- creasing the distance for which transportation should be furnished, but the enforcement of the plan met with such strong and vigorous opposition from the parents whose children were affected that after a brief trial the attempt was given up.
At the present time we are furnishing transportation for 315 pupils, III by barges and 204 by electrics. Three barges carry an average of 21, one carries 12 and the County street barge, 35. I have already stated that from the County street section we are carrying 75 pupils by car, a special car running morning and night for their accommodation. This means that from the County street section we are transporting 110 children. I be- lieve it is a mistake to transport so many pupils from one section, and that for the good of the pupils and the good of the schools the erection of a school building on the Thacher street lot purchased this year ought to be pushed through as rapidly as possible.
To transport these pupils this year, making no allow- ance for an increase in numbers, which is sure to come, will cost $1,160.25. An increase of a few pupils will carry this figure up to $1,200. Our total transportation expense for 1912, based on present conditions, I estimate at $3.900. It is much cheaper and better to furnish transportation for a few pupils than to have a small ungraded school, but when the number gets so large that it is both diffi- cult and expensive to transport them, it seems to me that
162
ANNUAL REPORT
the erection of school buildings is the best solution of the problem. The Town is growing fast, in all sections. and school buildings must necessarily be erected to keep up with this growth.
PUPILS RECEIVING TRANSPORTATION JANUARY, 1912
Electric Cars
SCHOOL
INTERSTATE
N. & T.
T. & P.
Dodgeville & County St. Farmers Hebronville
Total
Sanford Street
59
11
24
94
Capron
14
14
Farmers
1
4
Richardson
10
10
Bliss
13
32
45
Pleasant Street
12
12
Briggs Corner
17
17
South Attleboro
8
8
-
-
-
Total
81
15
10
49
49
204
Barges
SCHOOL
County
Lindsey St.
Bishop St.
St.
Section
Total
Sanford Street
24
24
Capron
13
13
Bliss
10
21
31
Pleasant Street
2
2
Briggs Corner
20
20
South Attleboro
21
21
Total
37
12
21
20
21
111
Total carried by cars
204
Total carried by barges
111
Total receiving transportation
315
-
-
-
Wilmarth Read & Ide
St.
163
ANNUAL REPORT
The High School
For the past five years the reports of the School Com- mittee, the Principal of the High School and the Super- intendent of Schools have urged the necessity of some action regarding a new High School building. In 1906 the Committee recommended that "the Town take meas- ures to procure a suitable lot for a new High School building, at once, as plenty of time and great care should be given to so important a matter." Five years after this recommendation was made, a lot for a new building was purchased on County street. The matter of appro- priating money for a new building will be acted upon at the coming Town meeting. I do not wish to repeat what has been said regarding the need of a new building. A visit to the school or inquiry of the pupils will convince any one that more room is needed. I simply wish to show the growth of the school since 1901-1902, and to state again that the seating capacity of the school is 287. At times this fall there has been an enrollment of 300.
Table Showing Growth of High School.
Average Membership
Gain over previous year
1901-1902
I36
2
1902-1903
163
27
1903-1904
188
25
1904-1905
201
I3
1905-1906
224
23
1906-1907
228
4
1907-1908
209
-19
1908-1909
217
8
1909-1910
237
20
1910-19II
260
23
IgII fall term
289
29
Since 1901-2 the school has more than doubled. There is every reason to believe that its growth will be more rapid in the next ten years than it has been in the past.
ANNUAL REPORT
Evening Schools
The evening schools were in session the msmall : of thirty-Sve nights from Tuesday, October 3. to Thurs- day, December 21, schools being held in the High School building on Bank street, and at Dodgeville and Hebron- ville
Attendance Statistics
Enrollment
79
average attendance III
12
202
Per cent of attendance 30 enrollment
55
Number of illiterates
10
The total average attendance at these schools this year was fity-seven more than last year, making necessary the employment of three more teachers and causing an expenditure of Stb- 08 over the Si,bob allowed for even- ing schools. The work of the schools has been excellent The attendance has been good and the pupils have shown continued Interest in their work:
The evening schools are in session three nights a week for twelve weeks, or thirty-Eve nights for the term -- there usually being only two sessions the week of Thanksgiving Day.
Illiterates under twenty-one years of age-that is those who cannot read and write sufficiently well to en- able them to enter our fourth grade-are required by law to attend emening school It has alwars seemed to me that our evening school term was too short. Very little can be accomplished the first might except to organize the school Maling allowance for stormy nights, sick- ness etc. the number of nights that the pupils can work
effectively is reduced to thirty or hirty-tmo. Some pupils hardly get well started in their effort to acquire a knowledge of English ben the school closes It seems
165
ANNUAL REPORT
a pity when people want to learn and to better their con- dition not to afford them the opportunity. I believe the money spent for evening schools is a good investment for the Town, and that a longer term would prove a benefit to the pupils more than proportionate to the in- creased cost. Accordingly, I recommend that the term of the evening schools be increased to sixteen weeks the term being divided so that the schools shall be in session ten weeks before Christmas and six weeks after the Christmas vacation. This arrangement would not in- crease the cost for 1912, but would increase the expense in 1913.
Vacation Schools
The vacation schools were held as usual in Dodgeville and Hebronville for six weeks during the summer, from July 10 to August 18, 1911. The attendance this year was larger than ever before, an additional teacher being employed at Hebronville. These schools have grown from an averag attendance of 55 in 1906 to an average at- tendance of 139 in 1911, while the cost has increased from $255.24 to $359.75 for the same period, nearly three- fourths of this increase being due to teachers' salaries.
Following are the attendance statistics for this year :
Dodgeville Hebronville
Total
Enrollment, boys
108
39
147
Enrollment, girls
47
52
99
Total
I55
16
246
Average attendance
84
55
I39
Largest attendance
98
69
167
Smallest attendance
68
23
9I
166
ANNUAL REPORT
Cost.
Teachers' salaries $282.00
Supplies 77.75
Total
$359.75
School Savings Bank
Dr.
Balance on deposit January 1, 1911, including interest ($48.29) .$1,779.79
Deposited from January I, 19II, to January I, 1912 4,142.16
Interest from November, 1910, to May, 191I ... 28.64 Interest from May, 1911, to November, 19II. .. 21.19
Total
$5.971.78
Cr.
Transferred to pupils' individual accounts, Jan- uary I, 1911. to January 1. 1912. $4,211.00
Withdrawn, 19II 58.72
Interest withdrawn 54.00
Balance on deposit January I. 1912, including interest ($44.12) 1,648.06
Total $5.971.78 Total amount deposited since October. 1908. . . $15,267.26 Number of individual accounts opened at the bank from October. 1908, to January, 191I 710
January, 1911, to January 1, 1912. 167
Total number of individual accounts. 877 Number of pupils depositing in the school bank January 1, 1912 II33
167
ANNUAL REPORT
Sight and Hearing Tests
The tests for sight and hearing prescribed by law have been made during the fall term. The results are as fol- lows :
Number of pupils enrolled. 2363
Number of pupils defective in eyesight. 231
Number of pupils defective in hearing 75
Number of parents or guardians notified. 210
Age and Schooling Certificates
In previous reports attention has been called to the law regarding the employment of minors and their com- pulsory attendance at evening schools. As the law is at present, no minor under eighteen can be employed with- out a certificate. Illiterate minors under sixteen-per- sons who cannot read and write English well enough to enter the fourth grade-must attend day school ; illit - erate minors between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one must attend evening school. To be safe, employers should insist upon a certificate from every employee under twenty-one years of age. Many employers are careful in this respect, but I frequently have minors come for certificates who say that they have been working for a year or more and have never been asked for a certi ficate. This often happens also in the case of boys who are attending High School and working afternoons, as was mentioned last year. The law places responsibility upon parents as well as upon employers and I think if more parents realized this there would be fewer minors working without certificates.
The following table shows the age and schooling certi- ficates issued to minors between the ages of fourteen and sixteen since 1904:
1904 1905
1906
1907
1908
1909
1910
19II
I66
190
292
231
152
224
255
267
165
ANNUAL REPORT
No School Signals
From September. 1910, to June 1911, the signals for no school were sounded only twice :
Date
Grades closed
November 14. 1910. Grades I-VIII, one session
February 7, 19II. Grades I-VIII afternoon
Drinking Fountains
By an act of legislature in April, 1910, the common drinking cup was banished from the school room. Since then pupils have been obliged to bring a glass from home or be deprived the privilege of drinking at school. Two schools only are adequately provided with drinking foun- tains-the Richardson and Bliss Schools. There is one fountain at the High School and one in one room at the Sanford Street School. This is a matter that should not be neglected longer. Owing to the construction of most of our buildings it will be expensive to provide them all with fountains. but a beginning should be made this year. at least one hundred dollars being devoted to this pur- pose. Some attempt should be made at once to remedy the conditions that now exist.
The reports of the Principal of the High School. the supervisors and special teachers, the School Physician and the Truant Officer accompany this report and con- tain matters of interest relating to the different depart- ments.
The past year has been one of progress. Much has been accomplished. We are still anxious, however, to reach a higher standard. Principals and teachers are striving as never before for better results. A spirit of loyalty and co-operation and presistent endeavor per- vades the teaching force, and is sure to result in im- proved work on the part of the pupils. There is no such thing in education as standing still ; we must go forward
169
ANNUAL REPORT
or we are certain to go backward. I believe in Attle- borough we are going forward, and I feel that great credit is due the teachers for the good work that is being done.
I wish also to thank the Committee for the manner in which they have at all times shown their confidence in me, and to express my appreciation for the assistance and support which have always been so cordially given.
Respectfully submitted,
LEWIS A. FALES.
January 29, 1912.
170
ANNUAL REPORT
REPORT OF THE PRINCIPAL OF THE HIGH SCHOOL
Mr. Lewis A. Fales, Superintendent of Schools :
I have the honor to submit the following report as Principal of Attleborough High School. This can not be as exhaustive as I would desire owing to the fact that I have been in charge of the school for the last four months only and am not in a position to make comparisons be- tween the first and latter parts of the year.
We have made about the usual annual gain in num- bers, the total registration for the fall term of 1911 be- ing 298, an increase of 21 pupils over the preceding year. In addition to the change in the principalship, four changes were made in the teaching force, Miss Puring- ton, Miss Thacher, Miss Yeaw and Mr. Vail having taken the places of Miss Harris, Miss Perham, Miss White and Mr. Smith, respectively.
The new course of study as adopted by the School Committee in the spring of 1911, enabled us to arrange a schedule of recitations that permitted us to begin ac- tual work the first day of school. Our permanent program has served us without any alteration since its adoption at the beginning of the second week. This year we are able to have all the school work, including the drawing. during the regular school hours. Manual training has been added to the list of first year electives and nearly thirty boys are availing themselves of this course. This work is conducted in the South Main street building. which compels those taking this subject to lose from ten to twenty minutes twice each week walking to and from that building. Mechanical drawing is required of all who elect manual training.
During the year various problems have come up for solution and an earnest effort is being made to meet these properly. One has been to establish such a relationship between school and home that more and better work may
171
ANNUAL REPORT
be accomplished at the expense of less nervous energy on the part of the teacher. There are certain forms of co-operation which properly belong to the home. If our pupils are to be industrious, obedient and orderly, the home must join heartily and persistently with the school to attain these ends. To accomplish this, a letter, of which the following is an extract, was recently sent to all parents.
"No pupil can do his work satisfactorily without at least two hours of home study daily. Less than this shows neglect of school duties, and in the majority of cases more than this amount of time can be spent profit- ably. Although 'C' is the passing mark, it does not necessarily indicate satisfactory work. Many of our pupils receiving 'B' and 'C' marks are capable of doing 'A' work and I am certain that the forming of the habit of home study will result in the raising of all averages. I would, therefore, recommend that certain definite hours be set apart as study hours and that parents insist that outside duties or pleasures be not allowed to interefere with the strict observance of these. In case a pupil says that it is unnecessary for him to study at home, it is ad- vised that a consultation be held with the Principal."
Better work on the part of many pupils during the last month and the number of parents consulting with the Principal indicate that this letter is having the desired effect. I wish it were possible to have a personal inter- view with each parent. To attain the best result with the individual pupil, we need the intimate knowledge of the child's personality, that no one but the father or mother can furnish.
Especially does this apply to the freshman entering the school. Just as the school is new and strange to him, so is he new and strange to the teacher, and in many cases valuable time is lost before the proper adjustment is made. He is no longer under the watchful eye of a. single teacher, nor does he recite to the same person in
ANNUAL REPORT
all his studies. Some freedom of movement is allowed him, since he may be sent to several rooms during the day for study or recitations. The tendency on the part of some new pupils is to take an unfair advantage of this new liberty and the result is plainly shown when the the first reports are sent out at the end of October. For many pupils this first two months is the most critical period of the high school course and it is during this time that parents should try to find out through per- sonal interviews with teachers and principal, just what is expected of their child and whether or not he is doing it. Many regretable cases of pupils who grow dis- couraged because of their poor beginning and either drop out of school or remain an incubus on their teachers and class. might be avoided by a little co-operation at this time between home and school.
Many pages have been written by my predecessors about our school building. All they have said applies with increased force this year. The building is not elas- tic. the school is larger than ever and we are handi- capped in every direction in our efforts to give Attle- borough a better school than ever before. Most of our difficulties proceed directly from the character of the school building. Need more be said?
In conclusion, allow me to express my thanks to the School Committee and yourself for the cordial support you have given me in my efforts. My thanks are also due my teachers and pupils for their earnest co-operation dur- ing this school year.
Respectfully submitted.
H. R. EATON.
173
ANNUAL REPORT
REPORT OF THE SUPERVISOR OF MUSIC
Mr. Lewis A. Fales, Superintendent of Schools :
In my report last year I wrote quite fully on the suc- cess of our efforts to teach the unmusical pupil to sing. To train the ear and the voice through song singing is the problem of the first grade. Beginning in the second and continuing through the eight grades our aim is to train the voice and the ear and to teach the pupil to read music. After careful consideration I asked the privilege of introducing a new music book, the New Educational Music Course. I did so because of the literary as well as the musical excellency of the material. It's use in the Bliss School is proving quite satisfactory. It may be of interest to state that recently the book that we displaced, the Normal Music Course, has been entirely revised and improved to such an extent that I would advise the re- tention of certain books of the revised Normal to be used in conjunction with the New Educational. This com- bination would give us the best of two courses of study and would affect in no way the grading of the music diffi- culties of the various classes.
An elective course one period each week is devoted to music in the high school. I have yet to be convinced that this time can be spent to any better advantage than to learn to sing a collection of good classical music. I have attempted at various times to give music history, opera and oratorio lectures with ยท phonographic illustrations, but I am still of the opinion that to study the best works of the great composers by singing brings pupils into closer touch with the best thought in music and does more for the music development of the pupil than any other way which may be devised in the short time at our disposal.
Respectfully submitted.
JOHN LAING GIBB.
174
ANNUAL REPORT
REPORT OF THE SUPERVISOR OF DRAWING
Mr. Lewis A. Fales, Superintendent of Schools :
In the grades. the work in drawing is done in much the same manner as last year. However. where the old projects did not prove practical. new ones have been substituted that the work might be improved.
This year there is an attempt to have a closer relation between the drawing and manual training. and between the drawing and sewing. For example, problems in de- sign to be carried out on book rack ends. made in manual training. have been undertaken by the eighth grade boys. The girls in this grade are making stencil designs for sofa pillow tops. The pillows will then be made in the sewing class. The seventh grade girls are making designs for bureau covers, which are being made in the sewing class.
In the eighth grade some time will be given to view drawings. that the boys may interpret more readily the blue prints used in manual training. The boys may feel that drawing really counts for something when they see it in relation to the shopwork. The girls will also benefit by this work. I feel that the freshman class in the High School should have had more of working drawings last year.
Home Decoration was one of the projects we took last year in the upper grades. This year some phase of that project will be worked out in each grade. It will begin simply in the first grade with straight line drawing of a picture of a dining room. In the second grade the pupils construct a dining room table by paper folding and color the dishes to suggest one set. The problem for the third grade is to construct a dining room. make the furni- ture by simple measurements rather than by paper fold- ing. and have a harmonious color scheme for walls and
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