USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Attleboro > Reports of town officers of the town of Attleborough 1926 > Part 11
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1927
Leonard I. Lamb.
1927
Edwin F. Thayer.
1928
Mrs. Margaret Conro
1928
Joseph Finberg. 1928
Mrs. Florence B. Theobald. 1929
Harold K. Richardson 1929
George E. Nerney
1929
ORGANIZATION
Edwin F. Thayer Chairman
Dr. Reginald P. Dakin.
. Secretary
Edwin F. Thayer Representative before Municipal Council
STANDING COMMITTEES
Teachers and Course of Study
Mrs. Theobald
Mrs. Holbrook Mr. Thayer
Text Books and Supplies
Dr. Dakin
Mrs. Conro
Mr. Nerney
Buildings
Mr. Finberg
Mr. Richardson Mr. Nerney
Finance
Mr. Thayer
Mr. Lamb Dr. Dakin
Regular meetings, first and third Mondays of each month at 7:30 o'clock P. M.
Bills are paid on the fifteenth of each month. All bills to be acted on must be submitted in duplicate, and be in the hands of the clerk of the committee, Superintendent's office, on the Saturday preceding the meet- ing.
Superintendent of Schools
Lewis A. Fales, 22 Mechanics St. Telephone 22-R Office, Sanford St. School. . Telephone 12
141
ANNUAL REPORT
The Superintendent's office is open on school days from 8:30 to 5:00; Saturdays 9:00 to 12:00. The Superintendent's office hours on school days are from 8:30 to 9:00; 4:00 to 5:00 Monday, Wednesday and Friday; 7:00 to 8:00 Monday evening.
Superintendent's Secretary
Alice I. Wetherell 32 Sanford St. ..
Telephone 347-J
Clerks
Ann B. Hinckley 79 No. Main St.
Hilda R. LaPalme 28 Hebron Ave.
School Physician
Dr. Jesse W. Battershall
... 18 North Main St. Telephone 284
School Nurse
Mrs. Anna Bradford. 71 George St. Telephone 441-W
Office hour: Sanford St. School, 4:00 to 4:30 on school days.
Attendance Officer
Charles T. Crossman. 32 Benefit St. Telephones: Home, 670-M; Office 670-R.
Office hours on school days: 8:45 to 9:30 A. M. daily at the office of the Superintendent.
School Calendar
Fall Term. Thurs., Sept. 6 to Dec. 24, 1926
Winter Term. Jan. 3, to Feb. 18, 1927
Spring Term Feb. 28, to Apr. 15, 1927
Summer Term. Apr. 25 to noon Wed., June 29, 1927
School Sessions
High School-One session, from 8:15 to 1:40, with recess of fifteen minutes.
Bank Street-One session, from 8:15 to 1:15.
Grammar and Primary Schools-Morning session from 9:00 to 11:45. Afternoon session from 1:30 to 3:45, from March 1 to November 1; 1:15 to 3:30 from November 1 to Ma rch 1. Grade I closes fifteen minutes earlier than the other grades.
No School Signal
Four. Double Strokes on the Fire Alarm 2-2-2-2
7:15 A. M. No session for the High School and Bank Street School.
8:00 A. M. No morning session for all grades below the High School except Bank Street School.
142
ANNUAL REPORT
8:15 A. M. No morning session for the first, second and third grades. Afternoon session for all grades unless the signal is repeated at 12:15 or 12:30.
11:15 A. M. One session. Grades I to III will close for day at 12:00 M. All higher grades then in session will close for day at 1:00 P. M.
12:15 P. M. No afternoon session for all grades below the High School.
12:30 P. M. No afternoon session for the first, second and third grades. 6:50 P. M. No session for evening schools.
The signals will be given at 8 A. M. and 12:15 P. M. only in very se- vere weather.
FINANCIAL STATEMENT
Appropriation
$329,240.32
Smith-Hughes Fund (April 1926) .
619.17
$329,859.49
EXPENDITURES
General Control
General
High School
Elementary School
Clerks
Telephones
$50.23
$645.78
Census enumerator
200.00
Office expenses
206.90
Superintendence
Superintendent
4,000.00
Attendance officer &
custodian of buildings
1,500.00
Office expenses, fuel,
etc
349.44
Expenses out of town
147.09
Automobiles
700.00
Instruction
Teachers
59,886.80
162,169.09
Supervisors
2,475.00
5,485.00
Books
1,761.77
2,845.60
Supplies
1,546.12
3,749.84
Cooking
301.19
153.83
Manual
Training . . .
522.74
286.71
Sewing
11.82
Operating School Plant
Janitors
3,512.24
16,086.78
Fuel
1,130.45
11,950.78
Water
119.09
671.55
Janitor's supplies
167.69
739.34
Lights-Gas
93.66
Lights-Electricity
616.98
664.73
Power
58.29
72.97
Account
$3,331.43
143
ANNUAL REPORT
Towels
19.75
252.72
Maintaining School Plant
Repairs
1,063.29
9,121.68
Replacement of
equipment
148.93
144.49
Care of grounds
25.70
183.31
Flags ..
6.52
56.34
Auxiliary Agencies
Health
75.00
2,883.10
Transportation
1,183.25
7,772.40
Miscellaneous
Tuition
600.00
Graduations
152.65
185.15
Sundries
48.30
235.21
Express
1.97
25.91
Insurance
...
675.20
2,938.70
$10,434.86
$75,549.15 $230,026.49 $316,010.50
Evening School
Teachers' salaries
$2,555.75
Books and supplies ..
92.37
Janitors
293.00
Lights
149.97
Sundries
80.62
3,171.71
Vacation School
Teachers
.
492.00
Supplies
156.76
Equipment
100.00
748.76
Continuation School
Salaries
8,433.59
Maintenance
1,138.95
9,572.54
Total expenditures
$329,503.51
Balance
$355.98
GENERAL STATEMENT
Gross cost of schools. Received from State
$329,503.51
Reimbursement Teachers Salaries
$27,646.30
Reimbursement Americanization
660.98
Reimbursement Tuition and Transportation of State Wards
174.08
Reimbursement Continuation School
4,272.27
Received tuition Continuation School. 142.08
Received tuition
2,615.00
.
...
144
ANNUAL REPORT
Received Smith-Hughes Fund.
619.17
Received cash
716.18
Net receipts $36,846.06
$292,657.45
Net cost of schools to city
SUMMARY OF EXPENDITURES
General Control
School Committee
. $4,434.34
Superintendence
6,696.53
Instruction
241,195.51
Operating School Plant.
36,157.02
Maintaining School Plant
10,750.26
Auxiliary Agencies
11,913.75
Miscellaneous
4,863.09
Evening School
3,171.71
Vacation School
748.76
Continuation School
9,572.54
Balance
$355.98
SPECIAL APPROPRIATIONS LINCOLN SCHOOL Receipts
Balance of appropriation from 1925.
$60,624.32
April 29-Appropriation 7,500.00
June 1-Appropriation for grading.
3,000.00
$71,124.32
Expenditures
Mclaughlin & Burr, architects. $1,654.90
A. F. Smiley Co., contractors.
54,590.85
American LaFrance Engine Co., fire extinguishers
50.00
M. F. Ashley Co., lunch room tables, etc. 84.70
Atherton Furniture Co., furniture
3,389.95
Attleboro Steam & Electric Co.
37.60
A. L. Bemis, domestic science tables
180.00
Brownell Hardware Co. 96.92
Chandler & Barber, Manual Training equipment ...
400.00
Eastern Coal
84.12
Wm. F. Flynn & Son, Manual Training equipment ..
622.80
Heywood-Wakefield Co., furniture.
465.92
Bryon Jackson, furniture
1,654.85
Herbert Mackinnon
136.98
Massachusetts Reformatory furniture.
991.75
E. C. Newman & Co., cartage
63,43
Frank P. Toner, grading
3,000,00
Water Department
33.24
Caretaker
240.00
.
.
ยท
.
.
.
$329,503.51
145
ANNUAL REPORT
Insurance
315.00
Sundries
257.25
$68,350.26
Balance
2,774.06
$71,124.32
RICHARDSON SCHOOL ADDITION
Receipts
Balance from 1925
$976.00
1925 refund on insurance
2.33
$978.33
Expenditures
Sundries
$937.78
Balance
40.55
$978.33
HEBRONVILLE SCHOOL LOT
Appropriation
.
$1,600.00
Expenditures
1,600.00
Report of the Superintendent of Schools
To the School Committee of Attleboro:
I present herewith my twenty-second annual report, it being the forty-second in the series of superintendents' reports. Attendance stat- istics are for the school year from September, 1925, to June, 1926. The financial report is for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1926.
STATISTICS I-Population
Population, census 1920. .19,731
Population, estimate 1925 .. 20,625
11-School Census, October 1926
Number of children between the ages of 5 and 7 728
Number of children between the ages of 7 and 14 ... 2,810
Number of children between the ages of 14 and 16 667
Il1-Attendance September 1925 to June 1926
Total number of different pupils enrolled. 4,042
Average daily membership 3,791
Average daily attendance 3,557
Percent of attendance 94
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ANNUAL REPORT
TABLE showing the average membership and percent of attendance for the last ten years:
Average Member-
Gain over previous
Percent of At- tendance
1916-1917
2770
28
94
1917-1918
2882
112
94
1918-1919
2962
80
93
1919-1920
3234
272
92
1920-1921
3499
265
94
1921-1922
3623
124
94
1922-1923
3544
loss-79
95
1923-1924
3692
148
94
1924-1925
.
3782
90
95
1925-1926
.
3791
9
94
Gain in 10 years-1049
Attendance Fall Term, 1926
Av. Membership
September
. . 3,903
October
3,908
November
. 3,924
December
3,879
ship
year
The schools still continue to grow. There are nearly one hundred more pupils in school this December than in December, 1925. The in- crease in the last ten years has been 1049 pupils, a gain of 37%. Few people realize what such an increase means, in new school buildings, additional teachers and increased costs for educational purposes. This gain is larger than the entire school membership of such a town as Orange, Mass., and is 85% of the membership in North Attleboro for 1924-1925. Such comparisons may help to visualize the growth that has taken place and to explain why thirty school rooms and forty-five new teachers have been necessary in recent years.
I reported last year on the crowded conditions at the High School. The enrollment in September, 1926, was 726, although this number has been reduced to 705 at this time, December, 1926. Next year the en- rollment is estimated to be about 740. By using a semi-platoon system making use of the drawing and the manual training rooms, the labora- tory, the cooking room, the typewriting room and the library, possibly more than this number may be accommodated. I do not expect an en- rollment of more than 750 pupils for the next two or three years, unless the city grows very rapidly in that time, but when 750 pupils are placed in a building made to house 600, the building is crowded, to say the least. There is still need for the lockers mentioned in last year's report.
The Washington School continues to increase in numbers. Since September the number of pupils has increased 19, and the number is still growing. One of the two portable school houses closed in June when the seventh and eighth grades were transferred to the Lincoln School has been opened to relieve the third and fourth grades, and it may be necessary to open the other portable before the end of the school year, if new pupils keep coming into the school. The development of a large tract of land for building sites near this school, and the houses already erected, indicate another building problem in this section in the near future.
147
ANNUAL REPORT
The opening of the Lincoln School added a fine ten-room building to Attleboro's school system. The building has a large assembly hall seating 550 people and rooms for teaching cooking and manual training to pupils of the seventh and eighth grades. This gives the girls in the seventh grade in this school an advantage which is enjoyed by no other seventh grade in the city-an opportunity to have lessons in cooking for half a year. The girls in all the eighth grades have cooking and sewing for half a year, but no other seventh grade girls in the city have cooking. I hope it will be possible, very soon, to give all the seventh grade girls the same training for efficient home making that the girls in the Lincoln School now have.
SCHOOL BUILDINGS
Number of school buildings .. 26
Number of classrooms (High 25, grades 103) . 128
Number of rooms in use. 124
TEACHERS
Number of teachers and supervisors 151
Number of teachers in High School. ... .
33
Number of teachers in grades I-VIII.
103
Number of teachers in kindergartens. . .
4
Number of teachers for individual instruction
3
Number of special teachers.
.. . . . . . .
COST OF INSTRUCTION
Valuation of Attleboro, 1926 $23,775,595.00
Expended for support of schools excluding evening, vacation and continuation schools $316,010.50
Average membership of day schools, September 1925 to
September 1926
3,791
Expended per pupil based on average membership. $83.36
Cost of books and supplies per pupil
$2.61
HIGH SCHOOL
Total amount expended for High School, including High
School. share of general expenses.
$77,406.56
Average membership of High School, 1925-1926.
676
Cost per pupil
$114.50
Cost of books and supplies per pupil.
$4.89
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
Expended for elementary schools.
$238,603.94
Average membership of elementary schools 1925-1926
3,115
Cost per pupil
$76.60
Cost of books and supplies per pupil.
$2.12
.
. . . .
8
State Wide Arithmetic Contest
A State Wide Arithmetic Contest for Grades V, VI and VII partici- pated in by ninety-eight cities and towns was held December 10, 1925
148
ANNUAL REPORT
under the auspices of the educational department of Boston University. The test covered the four fundamental processes, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, fractions and business situations. The final report was received the last part of May. The report gave the percent. of accuracy by grades in each subject of the city having the highest score, the lowest score, the median score, the score of the first quartile and of the third quartile. Attleboro schools stood just above the third quartile. This rank was attained without any special preparation for the test so that it shows just what the schools are doing every day. While we aim at 100% accuracy in the tool processes, it is pretty hard to get such results from every pupil. Another test has just been given this year, and we are hoping for better results.
Two important phases of education are at present engaging the earnest thought of all concerned in teaching. The first is how to adapt the curriculum to the needs of the times; and the second. how best to meet the needs of the individual pupil. National, state, and city committees are at work all over the country attempting to revise the subject matter taught in schools to conform to the changes that have rapidly taken place in our ways of living, and to make a curriculum that will best prepare boys and girls for the life of today. At the same time these changes are going on, attempts are being made to get away from the mass instruction on which the modern school systemi is built and to give each individual pupil an opportunity to progress as fast as his ability will permit. This idea has been developed in a number of places, and the plan used has been named from the place in which it was originally used. The most common of these are known as the Winnetka (Ill.) Plan, and the Dalton (Mass.) Plan. An adaptation of the Dalton Plan has been used the past year in the Hebronville School by Miss Roberts, principal. She made a report on her work at a recent principals' meeting, where it was received with great enthusiasm. I am glad to present that report here, together with a sample contract. Certainly no city has any more progressive school than exists at the present time in Hebronville. Miss Roberts' report is as follows:
The Dalton, the Winnetka and other plans similar to these are at- tempts to take care of individual differences in children-the individual differences which in the ordinary classroom recitations must be ignored.
Up to the early part of the 19th century, individual instruction was the rule rather than the exception in this country with a suburban pop- ulation and district schools. Then the Lancaster system swept the country and the present class recitation has been in force, excepting in fine private schools where it has been possible to have from eight to twelve pupils to each instructor.
About twenty-five years ago, a dissatisfied feeling that something was wrong began to creep in among educators, mostly a dissatisfaction with the dull, the sub-normal pupil, and the social misfit who retarded the progress of the class. In response to this feeling, we find the dis- ciplinary rooms which were introduced into the Providence schools at about that time, also the Batavia Plan so called, by which John Kennedy of Batavia, N. Y., developed a system of "coaching the laggards," an adaptation of which was introduced into our schools about twenty years ago and is still in use in the larger schools. Our Junior High Schools with departmental work are also an effort in this direction. Then came the State law by which we have special rooms for the retarded pupils with a low I.Q. but which provided no special rooms for the gifted child. After all to most of us this segregation by I.Q.'s seems at least un-
149
ANNUAL REPORT
democratic if not even dangerous with the present imperfect stage or state of the science of measuring and grading intelligence. The Dalton and other plans similar to it allow for these differences yet do not seg- gregate the pupils of differentiating abilities.
The Dalton, the Winnetka and the Burke Individual System as de- veloped in the San Francisco State Teachers' College, and of which the Winnetka School System is an outgrowth, are the outstanding examples of an effort to take care of individual differences without upsetting or greatly increasing the cost per capita of public school education.
"The Dalton Plan originated with Miss Helen Parkhurst in a school for cripples at Dalton, Mass. Miss Parkhurst now conducts a private school in New York City called "The Children's University School." It is said that in England alone there are over 1800 Dalton Plan Schools. There are Dalton Plan Schools in Norway, Germany, Poland, Austria, Spain, 450 in Japan, 250 in China, 50 in India and between two and three hundred in the United States, and her book the Dalton Plan has been translated into twelve languages. I quote from the Year Book of the National Society for the Study of Education, "The fact that the plan does not call for any changes in the curriculum or texts yet does much to free the child and individualize his work probably accounts for its rapid spread." And this is really the outstanding advantage of the plan, -it can be used with any curriculum, can have embodied in it, project and problem, and can be made to fit into any part of a school system that is not using it as a whole.
At Hebronville, we are using an adaptation of the Dalton and Win- netka plans. Any system of individual instruction necessarily includes two factors, first, individual assignments with the aid of which the pupil may work at his own rate of speed, secondly, a system by which the individual progress of each pupil in each study may be kept and be instantly avail- able.
Our day is divided into two parts, the morning is given over to work on the individual assignments. From 9 to 9:05 we have opening ex- ercises, from 9:05 to 9:30 the organization for the day is taking place, conferences are being held in the different subjects which come under the individual plan, namely English, geography, history and arithmetic. A conference in English may include general explanations on assign- ments, or in arithmetic and English may consist of short drills to fix facts already learned which should become automatic. In history and geography they may include pronounciation of new words, instructions as to map making, or keeping of note books, etc.
From 9:30 to 11:45 five days a week the pupil works on the individual assignments of which he has four, one each in arithmetic, English, geog- raphy and history. The work of the year is divided into eight assign- ments in each subject, each assignment is divided into twenty units or as we call it sometimes twenty days work which equals one school month. For instance if a pupil takes English, arithmetic, history and geography, he has four times twenty or eighty units of the work to com- plete in one school month. If he takes geography, arithmetic and English he has three times twenty or sixty units of work to complete in one school month.
The teachers are very careful in making assignments to give only as much work per unit in each subject as the pupil will be able to com- plete in the time allotted in the course of study to the recitation period plus the study period for that subject. If we fail to be careful in this the
150
ANNUAL REPORT
pupil will have more than he can possibly do in twenty days. At first we did make the assignments too long but we are doing much better each month.
The pupil budgets his own time with the exception that he must com- plete the first twenty days' assignment in every subject that he takes before he may receive the second assignment in any subject.
The pupil may work the whole morning on geography if he chooses to, or he may work in turn on all three subjects; if he meets a difficulty he goes to the teacher in charge for instruction or help, she tries to en- courage him to work out the difficulty for himself, or if he can't she gives him just enough help so that he may go on independently. The more self-reliant and brighter pupil comes but seldom, the duller pupil receives more help. When a unit or more of work is completed the teacher checks it on her graph, the pupil checks his to correspond.
All arithmetic is done in a note book and the pupil cannot do the second unit until all the corrections on the first have been made and placed in the note book just following the first draft and marked cor- rections, thus no example is ever passed over by the pupil without cor- rection.
The English, geography and history are also placed in notebooks and checked by the teacher, in geography and history the help consists mostly in aiding the pupils to interpret the problem, to find the correct reference books, to use the index, to use the tables, graphs, statistics to be found in the textbooks, in fact instead of hearing lessons the teacher directs supervised study.
In order to allow for loss of time due to holidays and other reasons, also to allow the slowest pupil to complete the year's work, we make only eight assignments instead of ten for the year.
In preparing the arithmetic assignments we divide the arithmetic Standards into eight parts and then put as much more into the assign- ment as we think the pupil can do, the assignment must also provide for a review about every five or six units. The test at the end of the assignment of twenty units consists of such problems or examples as are emphasized in the standards and the pupil must receive 100% before the assignment is marked approved.
The assignments in English are based on the textbook, one chapter for each assignment, although it also includes silent reading in the fol- lowing of directions, and current events, which are substituted for some of the work in the practical use of English. Here too the "test", I use the word "test" for want of a better name, consists of those eight or ten points in the assignment which we want to empsasize.
The assignments in the social studies, history and geography, con- sist of problems with work in research and maps that lead up to or follow the problems. The tests consist of facts that we wish to empha- size and 100% must be received before the assignment is closed.
The problems and map work are so planned that there is a constant overhauling and reorganization of the material in the text and reference books that we wish to cover. In this way we plan to have the pupil be- come familiar with the text without the use of rote learning.
We find that the superior and more alert students carry the assign- ments in a broader way, that their solutions have more content, yet the poorer student who used to shirk a great part of his work and just slide
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ANNUAL REPORT
by, does the full amount of work in each assignment, and even if it is in- ferior he does not feel the inferiority as he would in recitation periods.
The pupil absolutely budgets his own time within the limits set by a month's work, if he is able to cover the arithmetic assignments easily and finds English more difficult he may use the time saved from his arithmetic on his English.
The period is broken at 10:30 for physical exercises and a ten minute period of supervised play, football, basketball and other ball games.
The afternoon is given over to socialized activities or activities in which the whole class take part and we find that the individual teaching frees the class for a much larger portion of time for such activities.
The socialized activities take the form of dramatics, and princi- pally of projects in connection with history, geography and health.
The project includes the creative and self expressive activities in which each child has the opportunity to express his own ideas in a con- crete form. We are trying in this work to carry out the ideas of Pro- gressive Education as formulated by the progressive Education Society of America. The three leading principles of this association expressed briefly are, first, freedom to develop naturally, second, interest the mo- tive of all work, third, the teacher a guide not a taskmaster. For this period we provide large tables 7 x 3 ft., on which to build projects, ham- mers, saws, nails, glue, paint, etc., egg boxes, orange boxes and any other materials that the children may bring in; the teacher has been setting the project as a whole, the pupils contributing whatever they see fit, with suggestion and help from the teacher. We try not to help the worker unless he asks for it. We hope that as the pupils become more ex- perienced in this work that they will be able to set their own projects.
At present the sixth grade is engaged in a project called "The Port of Boston." They are building docks and warehouses, and such things as would be found in or around the harbor. They have constructed two large ships, one coming into port laden with merchandise collected on a world trip. The second ship is leaving the harbor laden with exports of the port of Boston. We feel that after this project is completed no child in that group will ever forget either the exports or imports of the city of Boston. The project involved considerable research to determine the exports sent out by each New England State through the port of Boston.
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