USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Lincoln > Town Report on Lincoln 1946-1950 > Part 52
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53
In the Center School, the heating unit voted for at the last town meeting has been installed. A study is being made to improve the artificial lighting in the building and so make dark rooms more attractive and useful. More new desks and chairs have been purchased. We are sorry to report that the last of the money available from the DeCordova Fund, set aside for the purchase of equipment, has now been spent.
At this time, the Committee would like to acknowledge with thanks the very complete Science table given to the school by a group of interested Lincoln women. It fills a long standing need and is proving extremely helpful in providing adequate instruction in that field.
The new parent organization, The Lincoln School Associa- tion is giving the School Committee real assistance in the study
171
REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE
of several school problems, some of them too time-consuming for the committee to handle alone. For this assistance we are very grateful.
At the request of the Committee, The League of Woman Voters made a detailed study of the town last fall to determine the number and location of pre-school children. Their report will be valuable in forecasting school requirements and in mapping out bus routes. We wish to express our appreciation for the time and effort put forth in this undertaking.
During the past year, Lincoln was represented at several of the Massachusetts Area II meetings for School Committees and Superintendents. Here, problems common to all were discussed by the "experts." Exchange of ideas was helpful and stimulating.
Looking forward into 1951, the new budget shows an increase of 14.9% or approximately $15,600 over that of 1950. Of this increase, 85% can be attributed directly to increased enroll- ment. Two new teachers will be needed. More text books and supplies must be purchased. More space in the Center School must be renovated and equipped to give the necessary classrooms. A new bus is being purchased to take over part of the transportation burden and relieve the present buses, which already carry more than the State law allows, on many trips.
During these years of growth in our school system, there is necessarily much strain and stress, financial and otherwise. Real progress is being made, however, toward the establish- ment of good schools in Lincoln.
Respectfully submitted,
MALCOLM L. DONALDSON, Chairman, MRS. HELEN P. WILEY, DR. KENNETH S. FARNSWORTH, Lincoln School Committee.
172
TOWN OF LINCOLN
REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS
It is an honor to present my third annual report for the Lincoln Public Schools, it being the sixtieth in the series of superintendents' reports.
School in Lincoln was "of age", having attained its majority - twenty-one years - at the time that Paul Revere was halted by the British guard on that memorial day in April, 1775. Today, less than three miles from that spot, stands the initial structure of a project that has the potentialities of becoming the "outstanding school plant of the Common- wealth" in the words of Mr. John Marshall, Administrator of the State School Building Assistance Commission.
True, from 1754 until 1810, the status of public schools was rather insecure but in that year the Town acquired the Reverend Stearns' school and "the inception of public schools in Lincoln became a fact." Thus, for over one hundred-forty years, the Lincoln Schools have grown. But how may this growth be characterized? Perusal of the school reports throughout the years discloses a fairly constant philosophy among those responsible for providing educational opportuni- ties during those years. However the emphasis on subject areas and individuals appears cyclic in the part it plays from time to time. To go from almost purely academic to manual arts subject matter; from rooms with from two to four or more grades each to rooms of one grade or less and from grade teachers to special subject teachers and remedial instructors and back again makes one wonder whether the growth is after the fashion of the butterfly's complete cycle, emerging as a new creature or like the grasshopper which, through meta- morphic molt, is but more of the same. If, according to the School Committee's report of 1936, the necessity for a school "seems to be predicated on the fundamental theory that true Democracy is founded on a supposition that the combined judgment of a people is sufficiently sound to direct a nation's destiny" then it must be time, after nearly two hundred years of schools in Lincoln, that we heed "the combined judgment of a people" in their pronouncement in the General Laws that
173
REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE
every town establish and maintain public schools "for the in- struction of its children in orthography, reading, writing, the English language and grammar, geography, arithmetic, draw- ing, the history and constitution of the United States, the duties of citizenship, physiology and hygiene, good behavior, indoor and outdoor games and athletic exercise."
The superintendent's report to the Town for 1900 states "There was a time when all that was expected of the public school was that it should teach the pupils to read, write and cipher, and keep them in reasonable subjection during school hours. The training of the child was regarded as the parent's duty. The changing conditions of life have transferred this responsibility, little by little, from the home to the school until at the present time the chief function of the public school is no longer that of instruction but training. While we are still expected to teach the three R's, with fidelity, we are also expected to train the pupils in habits of industry, promptness, courtesy, truthfulness, kindness, honesty and all the virtues that enter into the making of character and good citizenship."
Some or even all of these facets of character training may be developed through the fundamental activities of the classroom. In that closeted setting, however, there is limited opportunity for the growth of personal responsibility and consideration for others which is often demanded of one while he is in a state of extreme emotion : a dramatic climax; a musical achievement; the ecstasy of personal success; satisfaction in being a lesser satellite; withal being human (above the animals) under the stress of these varied emotions. It is for this reason that we persist in our emphasis of the importance of adequate facilities for dramatic and other physical expression.
Already we are thinking and planning wars in terms of push button control. The mass of trained personnel will be at home. "Home" will be the front lines; for our modern war- fare has changed the geographical location of the "front" very radically. With this struggle for existence comes the extinc- tion of second-guess generals. With it also comes the impera- tive need for achieving a high level of mental training since such a conflict resolves itself into a race for preservation based on the mental stamina required to cope with the pressures and tensions concomitant with fears emerging from uncertainties.
174
TOWN OF LINCOLN
Such mentalities require strong, healthy bodies, resistant to disease, and capable of furnishing some of the avenues neces- sary to rejuvenation and the escape from boredom.
Such facilities undeniably add to existing financial burdens. Quoting from the Report of the School Committee of fifty years ago is this pronouncement, "Something for nothing, is as impossible in the world of economics, as the successful growth of plant life without sunshine or rain. The ostrich with head buried in the sand for safety, is suffering no more of a delusion than the financier who expects a profitable return without the risk of an investment. It is simply a question of judicious expenditure. If the education of our youth is of less impor- tance than the hoarding of a few bits of coin, then supervisors, teachers and schoolhouses, are an extravagance and should be reduced to a minimum. If otherwise, we are justified in equipping our schools in the best possible way and discounting the requirements of the future."
The following, Table I, shows the actual enrollment figures, by grade, for the past six years. The totals will point the trend of growth in both elementary and high school enrollments. Figure 1 is a graphic picture of Table I.
TABLE I. Enrollment by Grade: 1944-1950
Grade
1944
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
Kindergarten
27
23
35
29
49
50
42
I
33
32
31
38
41
55
60
II
36
38
28
36
39
40
50
III
31
35
34
28
38
46
40
IV
27
28
33
32
31
42
48
V
21
30
27
35
32
28
40
VI
24
21
28
24
34
33
31
VII
26
26
21
26
17
33
29
VIII
19
23
25
17
21
20
31
Total
244
256
262
265
302
347
371
High School
84
68
77
79
79
85
89
Totals
328
324
339
344
381
432
460
175
REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE
1940
1944
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
480
480
460
460
440
440
420
420
400
400
380
380
360
360
340
340
320
320
300
300
280
280
260
LEGEND:
260
- Elementary
240
240
--
- Elem & H.S.
220
220
In passing it may be noted that in 1900, for equivalent grades, the enrollment was 133. It had just doubled in 1930, with a figure of 266. In 1940, this figure had grown to 289 while in the last ten years the enrollment has risen to 460. This represents an increase of 63% in the last ten years and an increase of 43% in the last three years.
TABLE II. Enrollment: Current - Projected. Classroom needs are shown in parentheses under respective totals. Addi- tional Classroom needs are indicated as A- and B- Needs. Using all adequate rooms, fourteen classrooms are currently available: Eight at Center and six in the new building.
Grade
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
Kindergarten
41
48
61
50
53
39
. .
I
59
41
48
61
50
53
39
II
51
59
41
48
61
50
53
III
39
51
59
41
48
61
50
IV
48
39
51
59
41
48
61
V
39
48
39
51
59
59
48
VI
31
39
48
39
51
51
59
VII
29
31
39
48
39
39
51
VIII
31
29
31
39
48
48
39
Totals
327
337
356
386
397
409
400
(14)
(14)
(15)
(17)
(18)
(18)
(18)
A-Need
0
0
2
2
4
4
5
B-Need
0
1
3
3
5
5
5
-
-
176
TOWN OF LINCOLN
The data forming the basis for Table II were taken from actually recorded births per year, actual enrollments in the respective grades since 1943 and adjusted accordingly on the basis of the data collected in the census made by the League of Women Voters' Committee. This Table begins with the 1950 enrollment and is projected from that point. To say that the prediction is extremely conservative is putting it mildly when one notes that only 25 births were recorded in 1944, the potential make-up of the 1950 enrollment of 59 in Grade I. In like manner it may be pointed out that this variation exists to the extent of the recorded births equaling or being less than half of the corresponding later school enrollment.
The predicted need for classrooms is shown. In A-Need, the continued use of eight and six classrooms at the Center and New Schools respectively is assumed.
B-Need indicates the classrooms required if one room is retained at Center School for inside play purposes.
These are minimum estimates based on conservative predic- tions. A gymnasium will relieve this pressure until 1954 when four additional classrooms are needed. It is conceivable, but highly improbable, that such a facility will be sufficient, even with expert scheduling, to offset the need for either five or six classrooms however. The wave of a rising birth rate is already threatening us, since our military action in Korea; yet, we have not cleared the crest of the wave of World War II babies which engulfs us.
Such needs should not be determined by figures of enroll- ment. They should be determined by the policies of the School Committee, the obvious unfortunate circumstances to which the Lincoln children, by and large, are committed through the curtailment of essential features of the educational program as pointed out by the staff and by the will of the people to provide the best that they can for the entire society in which their children develop and mature.
Personnel
The past year bore its share of staff replacements. While it is good to have new faces, ideas and techniques at not too in- frequent intervals, it cannot be denied that high turnover, year after year, is not conducive to the esprit de corps and
177
REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE
achievement which come with greater stability. The reasons for this turnover are numerous; some less obvious than others. Beliefs in the values of employing itinerant teachers vary as widely as do the interpretations of discipline and the proper measures applicable thereto.
Nearly every staff member has a baccalaureate degree; several have advanced degrees also. While there are several in their first year in the profession, seven to be exact, there is a good balance of experience and recent, advanced, professional training represented in the remainder of the staff. Many are taking courses toward degrees or for professional advance- ment. This implies a turnover of personnel consistent with the high rate of recent years. Under these circumstances, it appears prudent that proper steps be taken to insure ade- quately trained personnel, working under expert supervision, assuring the system of good teaching by a staff whose steady growth may be measured through the channels of a satisfac- tory training program guided largely by a recognized teacher training school.
The staff is organized into an association affiliated with state and national professional groups. It has its own officers, col- lects dues and provides for its social needs through parties planned each month or two. Suggestions for improving the the school program, pupil or teacher welfare problems and the like are brought to the attention of the administration through a Staff Advisory Committee to the Superintendent.
School Organization
Some progress has been made in already existing phases of the program. For example, a specially trained physical educa- tion teacher is administering that phase of the program from the eighth down through the fourth grade (at the new building) and assisting with this training throughout the other grades, except Kindergarten.
In this connection it may be pointed out that a very active interest has been taken towards other sports in addition to baseball. Under considerable handicaps basketball is a de- veloping sport - developing some of the facets of character so essential to maturity and so difficult to fabricate through ex- periences in arithmetic, language arts and all of the other
178
TOWN OF LINCOLN
academic subjects. Likewise the shop classes have been ex- tended to include at least one period per week for grades IV and V.
Special teachers of Music and Art lose five periods per week teaching departmental language arts and social studies re- spectively. True, the primary grades suffer the loss of this assigned time but only to the extent that the special teachers do not conduct every music and art period. In practice, they conduct about half of the primary program and give super- visory planning and assistance for the remaining time allotted to special subjects.
The Safety Patrol has extended its service to Center School. Comparing these junior wardens of our safety and security with their own age and grade groups rather than professional officers they are performing a commendable service. Granted, "stop", "slow" and "no-parking" signs are a nuisance to some folks; the nuisance factor is almost directly proportional to the need. Time and again we have stressed the hazard taken upon one's self by drivers who pass school buses in the loading zones. Caution, stress, exhort, post with Safety Patrol - in spite of these precautions youngsters, in playful mood at the close of a school day, will tag a playmate and dart between the buses using the latter as obstacles to be put between the pursued and his pursuer. At most, the buses wait about five minutes. Why must we have a child injured by running into the side of a passing car or one disfigured by playful dog or one drown while skating on treacherous pond before common concern resolves into action? Can prudence never precede catastrophe!
Report on the Testing Program
After careful consideration of many batteries of nationally recognized tests the California battery, devised by Ernest W. Tiegs and Willis W. Clark, was selected for use in Lincoln. Two types of tests were given in the Spring of 1950, to all students in both the Center and New Elementary Schools, in order to discover, among other things, whether the achieve- ment of the pupils was compatible with ability. These tests were the Progressive Achievement Test for its diagnostic analysis of instruction and the Mental Maturity Test which gives the non-verbal as well as the verbal intelligence quotient.
179
REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE
The following figures show the average ranking of the various classes in the 1949-50 school year; the tests of the 1950 grad- uating class not appearing as their results followed them to their respective high schools. There are no figures for the present first grade as they were at that time in the kinder- garten.
Per
centile
Arith. Reasoning
Arith. Fund' 1s
Reading Compre'n
Vocab- ulary
Lang.
Grade Av.
Total Av.
100
100
90
90
8 th. gr
80
4 th. gr.
6 th. gr.
3 rd. gr.
70
5 th. gr.
70
2 nd. gr.
67
7 th, gr.
60
60
50
50
40
40
30
30
20
20
10
10
0
0
As can be seen from the graph the Lincoln School Achieve- ment fell at the 67 percentile point, which means that it ex- ceeds 67% of the population on whom the tests were stand- ardized. Our schools have an average I.Q. of 112, which means that they should normally be expected to have an average percentile score of 74. We fell below expectations by 7%. It might be well to note here, however, that it was the larger classes (grades 5-8) which achieved less. The average per- centile rank for grades 2-4 is 72, running very close to expecta- tion. Had the scores of the 1950 graduating class been in- cluded, the results would show achievement to have been at the 69 percentile point with an expected percentile score of 69 - right on the nose!
Test results are valuable only in so far as constructive use is made of them in securing improved education adjustment.
80
180
TOWN OF LINCOLN
Instruction is being given to over forty students in small groups where it was found that the achievement in reading and spell- ing of individuals was six months or more below their rec- ognized ability as shown by the Mental Maturity Tests.
Music
A major project for the upper three grades was a performance of H.H.S Pinafore at the Town House on May 28th. Pro- ceeds from the performance were put into a scholarship fund for Lincoln students graduating from High School.
The success of Pinafore brought added interest to the Dramatic Club formed in September and an enthusiastic group laid plans for another operetta to be presented in the spring of 1951.
The first four grades performed some of the folk dances on which they had been working at a Spring Festival at the Center School in June.
School activities at the Town House included a Talent Show in April and United Nations and Thanksgiving programs in the fall.
The Christmas season was observed in special programs at Center School and the New School, the latter including an original play by the Dramatic Club.
The eighth grade class, in connection with its English and Music studies, did Dickens' Christmas Carol at the Town House on December 13th and 14th. Proceeds from this activity were given through the Jr. Red Cross to settlement Houses which in accordance with the Christmas spirit members of the class were able to visit.
Class of 1950 (class gift)
The Class of 1950 donated $50.00 for the purchase of a B-C-Scope. This is an instrument which makes possible the showing of films and slides in the ordinary day-lighted class- room. However, the B-C-Scope proved impracticable without the expenditure of an additional such sum for a special pro- jector lens. A solution to the problem of showing films in day- light seems forthcoming. In this light it is hoped that the class of 1951 may contribute a similar sum so that the two gifts may be combined to purchase a speaker's stand.
181
REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE
Ladies Luncheon Club
As a result of the official action taken at the 1950 Town Meeting, the School Committee became the recipient of $500.00 - a gift from the Ladies Luncheon Club of Lincoln. This sum represented an accumulation of surpluses realized from regular luncheon meetings of a small group of prominent ladies of the Town during a period of more than a quarter century.
Numerous uses for the money were suggested and reviewed. One plan seemed to fulfill a need and at the same time bear the characteristics of permanency: The equipping of a science room. Consequently the eighth grade homeroom was selected for this purpose. In due time a science demonstration table, with running water and bottled gas, was installed. With several electrical receptacles, chalkboard and tackboard nearby the arrangement is nearly ideal.
The following articles were purchased, leaving a balance of $17.35:
Science Instructor's Desk $253.28
Bioscope
124.14
Science Equipment
105.23
$482.65
The value of this philanthropy, though tardily appreciated by every pupil who benefits from it, may be appraised only when, after many years, the pupil emerges from his period of formal education and takes his place in society. It is in like manner that the teacher learns to what extent her efforts were attuned to needs and the results worthwhile.
Recommendations
In order to carry out an adequate program several teachers should be relieved of classes they now teach in order to spend full time in areas of their specialties. Boys' and girls' physical education should be carried on by men and women teachers, who should have these assignments in conjunction with their services in science teaching.
182
TOWN OF LINCOLN
The manual arts and handcrafts program that is needed requires a full-time instructor, apart from other class assign- ments.
Music and Art are already well enough established to war- rant full-time instructors whereas, of necessity they are now being used advantageously in the spread of academic subject matter in the departmental grades.
The very complexity of the desires on the part of a goodly percentage of the community, for an educational foundation which will permit transfer of their sons and daughters to special schools of their choice requires additional staff in the upper grades. A larger staff is necessary also if the program is to offer greater variety in activities and subject matter. Foreign language is a case in point in addition to which are the needs for challenging our gifted children.
Other recommendations concern physical plant needs which are being planned on a longer term basis and which require due consideration of the eventualities of further plant construction.
Grateful acknowledgement is hereby tendered the School Committee, the School Nurse, our school secretary and the entire staff for their assistance in the compilation and recording of this report.
Respectfully submitted,
ANDREW J. MANGES, Superintendent.
183
REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE
SUMMARY OF SCHOOL EXPENSES AND PROPOSED BUDGET
Expended 1949
Expended 1950
Recommended 1951
I General Control:
1. Office Clerk and Expenses:
Personal Services (12 mo.)
$1,924 07
$2,036 64
$2,080 00
Supplies, School Committee
157 65
217 15
456 00
2. Salaries - Superintendent : Personal Services
4,700 04
4,899 96
6,000 00
3. Expenses - Superintendent's Office
200 00
286 95
275 00
$6,981 76
$7,440 70
$8,811 00
II Instruction :
1. Elementary Staff
$35,082 50
$43,876 04
$50,940 00
2. Textbooks
1,077 86
1,526 25
2,098 00
3. Supplies
2,536 09
2,161 13
3,290 79
$38,696 45
$47,563 42
$56,328 79
III Operation :
1. Personal service - Custodians. . ..
$2,730 08
$4,500 0)
$4,670 00
2. Fuel: Coal and No. 2 Fuel Oil. . . .
1,569 72
3,164 23
2,971 40
3. Supplies (Custodial)
966 57
590 58
760 76
4 Utilities:
Light and Power.
569 45
1,424 76
1,522 40
Water
106 26
229 52
230 00
Telephone
218 48
253 83
220 00
$6,160 56
$10,162 92
$10,374 56
IV Maintenance :
1. Repairs and Upkeep
$1,211 79
$624 79
$1,382 90
2. New Equipment - Replacements
1,416 45
1,922 35
2,031 02
$2,628 24
$2,547 14
$3,413 92
V Auxiliary Agencies :
1. Health
$710 00
$731 88
$755 00
2. Transportation
11,234 68
10,119 00
13,681 73
3. Tuition
17,146 61
25,594 71
26,170 00
4. Miscellaneous Expenses
97 88
323 18
195 00
$29,187 17
$36,768 77
$40,801 73
VI Vocational:
1. Tuition and Transportation
$492 50
$305 70
$784 00
GRAND TOTAL
$84,148 68 $104,788 65 $120,514 00
184
TOWN OF LINCOLN
Accounts Receivable 1950
Comm. of Mass. Acts 1949, Ch. 560, Military Fund
$77 58
Sale of Used Desks
15 00
Tuition - City Wards - Boston
150 66
Tuition Dept. Public Welfare (State Wards)
582 45
Comm. of Mass. Transportation, Ch. 71, Sec. 7A as amended, 1949 Ch. 754
7,853 05
Tuition - Personal
77 60
Grammar School Fund
30 27
Special School, Tuition
90 00
State Aid, as amended, 1948, Ch. 643
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.