USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Merrimac > Town Annual Report of the Officers of the Town of Merrimac 1911 > Part 4
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Teachers
During the year we have had several changes in our teaching force, and one, Miss Blanch Cunningham after a service of eleven years as first grade teacher has taken a position in a neighboring city.
It seems no more than just to her that we make pub- lic in this report our deep regret at losing one who was so eminently fitted to instruct the young and whose de- votion to her work and enthusiasm in it was a great source of strength to our teaching staff.
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Repairs
We have laid a new floor in the 7th grade room at an expense of about $100.00, a change greatly needed. We have also remodelled the room at the High School de- voted to business training so that it is now capable of being heated even in severe weather.
Books
We have spent a large amount for books this last year and yet there are shortages in some classes. We hope parents will join with us in impressing their chil- dren with the need of as great care in the use of their, school books as they would in using books from the home or public library.
We cannot ask the town burdened as it is for larger appropriations, yet the demands are increasing every year. We have felt obliged for reasons of economy to give up the mild form of manual training which we had for a few months and there are many things we would like and ought to do but cannot. Merrimac's position is peculiar in this respect in that, while the attendance at High School of the towns in Essex county is less than 9 percent of the school population in Merrimac it is about 25 percent, and of course it goes without saying that it costs much more for a year in the High School than for one in the grades, yet the average cost per pupil in Mer- rimac is about the average for the State, this would seem to indicate that, although we have a slight shortage, we have not been extravagant.
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FINANCIAL STATEMENT
Receipts
Appropriations :
General,
$ 8,150 00
Transportation,
500 00
Superintendent, .
375 00
Account of Supt. (from State,)
500 00
State Wards,
207 00
Dog tax,
201 21
Sale of materials,
1 20
Mass. School Fund,
780 73
Overdraft on order 710,
11 80
Tuition from Amesbury,
10 00
Balance on State School fund from last
year,
149 63
Overdraft,
114 41
$11,000 98
Expenditures
Teachers' salaries,
$ 6,977 03
Janitors' salaries,
709 42
Fuel,
558 54
Supt's salary,
650 00
Repairs,
334 90
Transportation,
648 00
Books,
341. 19
Incidentals,
520 53
Supplies,
261 37
$11,000 98
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NOTE
The following items for which there was no appropriation, and which consequently had to be paid for from the general school fund, have contributed to the overdraft for the year :
Manual arts, $175 00
New floor seventh grade room, 102 50
Noon custodians, 100 00
Increase in salary for conveyance of school child-
ren to Birch Meadow, $100 00
$477 50
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TOWN REPORT
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT
To the School Committee of Merrimac :
The annual report of the Superintendent of Schools is herewith submitted. Your attention is called to the, usual statistics required to be filed with the State Board of Education and to the enrollment of pupils in the sev- eral grades for the term just closed. In cities and towns of this commonwealth, school committees act under the statutes not as the agents of the cities and towns which elect them but as the public officials of the State.
The public statutes are in good part mandatory and therefore school committees must, through their execu- tive officers, carry out these provisions regardless of per- sonal opinions or local feeling or prejudice. In some im- portant particulars the statutes are permissive and allow school committees to exercise discretion. It is under such circumstances that school committees feel keenly the re- sponsibility of their office. While endeavoring to keep in touch with the plans of the State Board of Education and to continue progressive in spirit, they desire at the same time that their acts shall reflect intelligent local sentiment.
When the tax rate in any community is so high as to menace business prosperity, it becomes the duty of the school committee, under whose direction a large part of the tax levy is expended, to study carefully local needs and apply scientific tests to all expenditures.
It will be conceded that children between the ages of seven and fourteen years whose attendance upon tlie
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public schools is compulsory have the first claim upon all assets of the department. Therefore a school board acts wisely when it organizes these children into a minimum number of grades or groups and raises the age of ad- mission to the first grade as near to seven years as thoughtful people of the town will approve.
Under conditions stated above the kindergarten can- not be afforded and certainly no part of the school funds can be used for a day nursery.
Parents should assume cheerfully the care of their children until they are at least six years old.
A year at school in an advanced grade is more valuable to a child whose attendance is by necessity lim- ited than the year between five and six while the cost to the town is about the same.
If children spent the years between six and fourteen in preparation for the High School instead of the years between five and thirteen, there would be fewer failures in the High School and fewer repeaters in the grades.
Children compelled to leave school at fourteen would be better drilled in fundamental subjects and possess more valuable attainments because the added maturity of one year would give increased ability to profit by in- struction and to grasp the details of the work prescribed. A larger part of the school appropriation therefore, ought to be expended upon grade work. Salaries should be raised that we may have a well trained and reason- ably permanent corps of teachers. It is important also that the teaching force have broad scholarship and a just conception of the meaning and scope of grade work. Grade work does not mean lock-step work. Its object is not to turn out an average product based on any mark- ing system. The child is of greater importance than any system. His individual aptitude should be studiously ob- served and his natural tastes if high cultivated. Every
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opportunity should be given each child to show his best work along chosen lines and the co-operation of the home sought to further such inclinations. If possible correlate work which seems hard or distasteful with something which the child likes.
The High School in the small town can offer few if any electives. The pupils of the small town represent as many different types perhaps as the pupils of the big city, but the small town has only one High School and the burden of its support is often great therefore the · course of study should be narrow, intensive and based on the needs of the large majority who will probably go to no higher institutions. Such a course of study would. naturally include in its first two years much of the work done in college preparation. It is better for the town to pay the tuition of one or two students who may be go- ing to college elsewhere during the last two years of the course than to modify the work in the local school to the detriment of the great majority in attendance.
I know very well how such a statement hurts the pride of an occasional alumnus who measures the worth of the High School by the number of students which it sends to higher institutions. But is this measure fair ? Why not measure its worth by the number who graduate and who then stand, diploma in hand, with a sort of dazed look wondering not what to do next but what is coming next while parents who have worked hard and sacrificed much ask, "Does it pay ?" It is very true that other influences than those of the class room are potent with young people and very true that environment in the home and in the social circle tells much for success or failure but the school and those responsible for its man- agement are not thereby freed from responsibility for maintaining high standards of efficiency.
The reports of the special teachers are herewith sub-
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mitted and approved. It is a cause of regret that means are not available for furnishing instruction in manual and household arts. These subjects vitalize the whole course of training in the schools and aid greatly many pupils in their life work.
My thanks are due to you. gentlemen of the School Committee, for 'appreciative co-operation and an earnest desire to further in every possible way suggestions for improvement of the schools.
It is fitting that I should acknowledge the hearty and intelligent co-operation of the teachers whose unselfish work has made effective all plans for improvement.
Respectfully submitted,
CHARLES E. FISH,
Superintendent of Schools.
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TOWN REPORT
REPORT OF PRINCIPAL OF THE HIGH SCHOOL
To the Superintendent of Schools :
I herewith submit my annual report on the condi- tion of the High School.
The registration during the past year has been un- usually large, due partly to the abnormal condition of classes resulting from the change in the number of grades below the High School. This will, of course, ad- just itself to a normal condition in two years more.
The daily attendance has also been good. Irregular- ity in attendance seriously interferes with the work of the school as a whole, but works by far the greater harm upon the pupil who is not regular in attendance or in his work. I would, therefore, suggest that parents consider carefully the effect upon their children of allowing rela- tively unimportant matters to interfere with regular and punctual attendance upon school. Most of our homes are very careful in this particular. The tardiness which is the most regrettable feature of our attendance record is to be attributed to relatively few pupils. There has been a decided improvement in this matter over the record past years.
The feeling prevails that our pupils would achieve better results from their course in the High School if they should attain a little more maturity before they en- tered. As it does not seem advisable to restore the ninth grade in order to accomplish this, I would suggest the ad-
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visability of raising the age-limit at which children may enter the First grade from five years to six years. The work of the grades could then be more easily and more thoroughly done, and the pupil would reach a more sat- isfactory state of development when he is ready to enter the High School. This would, in some measure, per- haps, lessen the number of failures in the first two years of the High School.
The exchange of the old typewriters for new ones. equips the typewriting department with first-class ma- chines of the latest type. The school is now doing good commercial work, but the efficiency of this department would be greatly increased if a properly equipped room could be devoted to that work. At present the work is being done under considerable disadvantage.
I would repeat my recommendation of last year that the building be wired for electric lighting for the reasons: that I then gave. I would also suggest again the advisa- bility of heating the corridors and the room used for drawing and commercial work by means of a supplemen- tary heater. Until this is done, there will always be an unsatisfactory condition in the building in cold weather, and more or less frequent interruptions of work. In the end, I believe it would prove to be in the interest of econ- - omy.
The spirit of the school is excellent, the work being done by the school as a whole is good, that done by many is superior. We have never had, during my connection with the school, more earnest. or more faithful teachers; hence the present condition of the work is highly satis- factory, and the prospect for the remaining months of the year most encouraging.
In conclusion, I wish to thank you for all helpful
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suggestions and assistance, also the School Committee for their co-operation.
Respectfully submitted, CHARLES W. CUTTS, Principal.
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REPORT OF THE SUPERVISOR OF MUSIC
To the Superintendent of Schools and School Board of Merrimac :
Your supervisor submits herewith a brief report of the year's progress in the study of music in the Merrimac schools, without attempting to go into detail as to the specific work of each grade, as was done in my last year's communication. At the outset I will say that there is not a school in the whole town which is not thoroughly in- terested in the subject of music, and not one which is not doing excellent work.
The schedule outlined for the pupils calls for in- dividual effort in every direction where it is possible to exact it, and thus is known each pupil's real standing in musical study. This has been found of great value in many ways, particularly in the increased attention paid by the pupils, for they are interested in a subject just in proportion to their understanding of that subject.
In certain grades much personal attention is given to teaching all rhythmic forms by aid of the French time language, so that no pupil can be ignorant of this im- portant branch of musical training.
That the pupils may become better acquainted with the higher forms of classical music, thereby greatly in- creasing interest in that most-beautiful and instructive branch of the art, work is progressing at the present time in the study of the different modes of the minor scale, and time given up to this can not fail to be instructive to all pupils, particularly to those who are studying or are
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to study instrumental music.
Just now are due a few words in regard to the su- perior work that has been accomplished by the High School during the past 12 months. Each succeeding year shows improvement over the previous one, until, at the present time, there are but few difficulties met with in the high grade of songs they take up which are not easily overcome. I am satisfied that the Merrimac public has not heard as yet the best work, musically, of which their High School is capable, gratifying as the past achieve- ments have been.
Thanks are due to a very excellent corps of teachers in all grades; to the pupils for their thoughtful courtesy ; and to the Superintendent of Schools and the School Bcard for all needed supplies.
Respectfully submitted,
W. E. HARTWELL,
Supervisor of Music.
Haverhill, Mass., Jan. 24, 1912.
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REPORT OF THE SUPERVISOR OF DRAWING
Mr. Charles E. Fish, Superintendent of Schools :
Dear Sir :- The quality and nature of the work be- ing done in the subject of drawing in our schools can best be judged by those who visited the exhibition held last June. The exhibition covered the work accomplish- ed through the grades and the High School.
The work in drawing is being carried on much the same as outlined in last year's report,-color and plant drawing in the fall, constructive design and structural drawing in December, object drawing in the winter term and decorative design and painting spring flowers in the spring.
In the High School the work in drawing is arranged in five divisions, two classes of boys taking mechanical drawing, and three classes of girls taking free-hand drawing. The subject is elective. Only those interested have elected it and all are doing serious work.
Under the present arrangement all rooms from the first through the fifth grade are visited once in two weeks with the exception of Merrimacport which is visit- ed once a month. The sixth and seventh grades are visit- ed three times a month and the eighth grade in the High School building has a lesson each week from the super- visor.
Aspiring boys and girls who appear to have special ability should complete a good English High School ·course and graduate with honor before thinking of spec- ial training, and then spend two years at least in an art
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school affording training in both free-hand and me- chanical drawing, modeling and design, before deciding what special line of work they will follow.
A boy with a whim for illustration may discover in an art school that he has real ability in design, and a girl who adores Gibson drawings may find after all that her place is in an architect's office.
In closing I wish to thank you, Principal Cutts, and all the teachers for your suggestions and help, as the suc- cess of drawing is due in a large measure to your hearty co-operation.
Respectfully submitted,
MAZIE HENDERSON MURRAY,
Supervisor of Drawing.
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TOWN REPORT
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL PHYSICIAN
To the School Board of the Town of Merrimac :
Gentlemen :- During the past year we have had no serious epidemics of the two more dreaded diseases- diphtheria and scarlet fever.
What cases we have had have been isolated with no deaths.
We have at the present time a large number of cases of whooping cough, most of it mild but some of the se- vere type. While this is not considered a very fatal dis- ease, when we have an epidemic in midwinter, it is not unlikely that we may have some cases of pneumonia fol- low this disease which is one of the most serious and fatal types of pneumonia. Therefore much more care has to be taken now than if it were summer and it is to be re- membered that even after the child is better, it can com- municate the disease as long as it coughs.
The child should not be sent to school until the cough is well and it is to be remembered that there can be no control of the disease if the child is allowed to play with children who do go to school after school hours. Many of these cases physicians do not see at all, or only once, and the prevalence of the epidemic shows what value there is in absolute isolation, and control in con- tageous diseases as that is assumed over a case of diph- theria or scarlet fever.
According to the State law the throats and mouths of the eight grades have been examined. The most strik-
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ing result of this examination has been that fully fifty percent of the children's teeth of the children of the town are neglected. Many of them most shamefully so. This is evidently due, in a community like ours, where real pov- erty is almost unknown, made up at it is of the families of high grade mechanics, not to willful neglect but to a lack of knowledge of the importance of the care of children's teeth.
By this is meant not only the care of the permanent or second teeth, but to the first teeth which should be cared for and filled if need be so that they may last until the second teeth come.
We cannot have a good digestion without proper mastication of the food. We cannot have proper masti- cation without good teeth. We have in our schools many children from ten to fourteen years of age with large cavities in their six-year-old molars which belong to the permanent teeth. Of course this is hardly fair to the child to have these neglected so that they have to be ex- tracted is it ?
It is not conducive to good digestion, to have a stream of fluid swallowed into the stomach at all times, mixed with bacteria and puss from a foul mouth due to lack of a dentist's care.
There is quite a percentage of cases of diseased ton- sils and adenoids both of which are today receiving very much more attention at the hands of physicians than a few years ago.
Large and diseased tonsils are the avenues of inlet in- to the body, of a large percentage of our cases of tuber- culosis and rheumatism with the long train of troubles that can be traced to them.
Adenoids and diseased tonsils are the initial causes of so large a percentage of deafness in children, and
1
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adults, through infection of the middle ear, with abscess and discharging ears.
While it is claimed that most children have more or less of adenoid growth, when it has caused nasal obstruc- tion, with mouth breathing or discharging ears, these come under the head of neglected children, if not oper- ated on and removed.
Probably very few of the townspeople know of the advances that have been made in the State of Massa- chusetts and in many of the more progressive states as regards the medical inspection of school children.
In this State in the larger cities, school physicians are employed with adequate salaries, so that children are inspected regularly.
On each child's promotion cards with the rank he has had in his studies, deportment and attendance at school, is also a record of the school physician of the child's physical defects, which is kept from the first grade to the high school. In many cases the boy who is mentally dull and behind in his school work, the cause can be traced to defective vision or hearing or adenoids or some physical defect.
The attention of the parents are called to this and if the child is not attended to in a reasonable time the cause is ascertained. If it is because of financial reasons to neglect either through prejudice or ignorance, and the child is not attended to, the matter is taken up in court, and the judge orders the parent or guardian not to neg- lect treatment longer.
While we have to be educated up to these things, those of judicial minds can readily see that it is all for the good of the children and for the race. When these children become the parents, it will be no new thing to them, simply a matter of course, the proper thing to do.
While Merrimac cannot afford to pay a physician
1
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for much time to be spent in her schools, if parents are taught to give more attention and thought to common hygiene and preventative medicine, the benefits of fresh air and proper exercise, very much can be done by way of the prevention of disease.
Since time began there has been no cure for any trouble that equals the prevention of it altogether.
F. E. SWEETSIR, M. D.
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TOWN REPORT
TRUANT OFFICER'S REPORT
Mr. Charles E. Fish, Superintendent of Schools, Merri- mac, Mass. :
Your Truant Officer begs leave to report 33 cases in- vestigated, not any of them proving to be actual cases of truancy.
H. C. MANNING,
Truant Officer.
TABLE OF ATTENDANCE AND OTHER DATA FOR FOUR MONTHS ENDING DEC. 15, 1911
Teachers
Where Educated
School
Grade
Salary
Per Month
Total
Membership
Average
Membership
Average
Attendance
Attendance
Cases of
Tardiness
Cases of
Dismissal
HIGH
1
Charles W. Cutts, Prin.
Bates College
$120.00
94
92.62
1 89.08
96.16 |135|
72
Susanna I. Sayre
Boston University
50.00
Mildred P. Neal
Wellesley College 42.50
-
8
C. Irene Barteau
Salem Normal
45.00
31
29.34
28.6
97.5
24
11
Center
7
Mary H. Head
Merrimac High
47.50
40
39.23
37.35
95.2
65
17
Center
6
Myra E. Worster
Gorham Normal
45.00
40
39.42
37.99
96.37
45
33
Prospect St.
4
May M. Smilie
Portsmouth Training
40.00
33
31.06
30.05
96.74
38
15
Prospect
5
Kathleen H. O'Brien
Salem Normal
40.00
25
23.56
22.5
95.4
23
3
Center
3
Nora T. Gilman
Lowell Normal
40.00
25
23.04
21.9
95.
16
2
Center
2
Mary A. Hughes
Merrimac High
40.00
31
29.57
27.19
91.9
53
8
Center
1
S. Blanche Cunningham
Salem Normal
47.50
31
29.66
26.72
90.08
40
4
Port
12345
Marguerite Merrill
Miss Fisher's Training ¥0.00
School
Annie M Sargent
Merrimac High
£0.00
W. E. Hartwell
Holt's Normal School
20.00
18
16.88
16.18
95.84
28
4
Mazie Murray 1
-
Boston Normal Art
20.00
Deborah L. Brown
Salem Commercial
40.00
St.
Percent
INDEX
Appropriations,
5
Auditor's Report,
Collector's Report,
75-76-77-78 50-51-52-53-54 57-58-59
Cemtery Trust Funds,
Cemtery Trustees' Report,
42-43
Church St. and Lower Corner,
44
Locust Grove,
42-43
Perpetual care of lots,
45-46-47-48-49
Kimball Park Trustees' Report,
66-67
Merrimac Public Library,
63
Massachusetts School Fund,
62
Public Library Trustees' Report,
70-71-72
Police Report,
68
Public Library Trust Funds,
58
Public Park Fund, 72
13
Board of Health,
16
Bonding Town Officers,
22
Cemetery Account,
32
Essex County Training School,
33
Forest Warden,
29
Financial Statement,
37
Repairs in Town Hall,
32-34
Fire Department,
23-24-25
Gypsy and Brown Tail Moths,
30-31
Interest,
29
Highways and Bridges,
20-21
Insurance,
25
Notes,
35
Selectmen's Report,
National Bank Tax,
34
Memorial Day,
16
Miscellaneous Department,
17-18-19
Oil Lamps,
31
Poor Department,
15
Permanent Road Work,
26
Straightening East Main St.
27
Town Landings,
28-73
Reimbursements,
29
Street Lights,
31
Water Extension,
28
Public Library,
28
Railing,
35
Recapitulation,
39-40-41
Sidewalks and Crossings,
36
Sealer of Weights and Measures,
33
Snow and Washouts,
21
Soldiers' Relief,
14
State Tax,
33
State and Military Aid,
34
State Highway Tax,
34
Statistics from Valuation Book,
36
Tree Warden,
19
Town Officers,
2-3-4
Sargent Hall,
68
Sealer's Report,
69
Town Clerk's Report,
64-65
Town Officers,
2-3-4
Town Warrant,
8-9-10-11-12
Treasurer's Report,
55-63
Uncollected Taxes,
51-52
Report of Board of Water Commissioners,
81
Balance Sheet,
87
Construction,
82
Maintenance,
84
Water Analysis,
80
Report of Municipal Light Board,
88
Construction,
89-90
Maintenance,
90-91
Assets,
93-94
Liabilities,
94
Balance Sheet,
93
Report of School Committee,
99-100
Present Force Teachers,
98
Financial Statement,
101-102
Superintendent's Report,
103-106
High School Principal's Report,
107-109
Supervisor of Music Report,
110-111
Supervisor of Drawing Report
112-113
School Physician Report,
114-117
Attendance Table,
119
Truant Officer's Report,
118
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