USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Lincoln > Town Report on Lincoln 1951-1955 > Part 41
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Special events in the Playground's program included several cook- outs, a trip to Whalom Park and a field day.
There was widespread participation in the annual fall tennis tournament held under the direction of the Tennis Sub-Committee.
The Committee wishes to express its appreciation to the School Committee for extending the use of the gymnasium, shop and toilet facilities to the playground.
A winter recreation program consisting of badminton and basketball is now in progress under the direction of Mr. Roland Robbins.
Respectfully submitted,
John Carman David Todd Roland Robbins
Astrid Donaldson Sadie Sherman Edward Rooney
Ethan Murphy, Chairman
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DeCORDOVA AND DANA MUSEUM AND PARK
Report of the Executive Director for the year 1954
The past year was devoted to intensifying the program of the pre- vious years and exploration into new fields to fulfill our promise of becoming an art center which would encompass all the arts.
The 25 exhibitions held during the year attracted many visitors and an increase in attendance was noted. The annual attendance was esti- mated at 20,000. Visitors from twenty-two states and twenty-two countries signed the guest register.
The size of the attendance is reported because it indicates the widespread notice that the Museum has had in the press and the public response to the exhibition program. As usual, the presentations in the galleries were varied to cover the diverse activities of our crea- tive artists in painting, handcrafts, printmaking and photography.
Each month the galleries take on a new look. One month, a New England watercolor exhibition - another, a look at the canvases of younger New England artists whose work has not had widespread notice. In the closing weeks of the year, the impressive collection of modern American masters from the William H. Lane Foundation brought to our audiences many artists whose work is all too rarely seen in greater Boston. Sheeler, Davis, O'Keefe, Dove and Spencer are a few of the artists in this collection which promises to become one of the most prominent in America. The twelve one-man exhibitions of important New England artists gave further evidence of the leading position this region is assuming in our national art life.
Photography had a share in our exhibition program. In the two photography shows, seven Greater Boston photographers were shown. There was great interest shown in the nature studies by Henry B. Kane and the Vermont landscapes of Donald Robinson, Jr., both of Lincoln.
Craft shows, which are universally popular, included the first Annual deCordova Craftsmen exhibition and a loan exhibition of American Craftsmen, which was assembled by the University of Illinois in Urbana and shown in many museums across the country.
SCHOOL
Student enrollment - adults, children and Concord Academy students - is approximately 700 per week.
Classes for adults are held three afternoons and four days a week with 26 classes in art, music and drama offered during this period.
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EDUCATION AND RECREATION
Adult enrollment has leveled off at about 300 persons a week, averaging just over eleven per class. Enrollment increase in the future will be less spectacular than in the past because there is neither space nor time for many additional classes. We have also reached capacity in work load for the existing office staff so that, in the future, fewer new classes will be offered and our effort will be spent to improve the present program.
Children's classes are as popular as ever. The 18 art classes, which are held to supplement the art courses given in public school rather than to compete with them, provide special opportunities for children whose interests are not satisfied during their school week. Parents are urged to visit the final class at the end of each term to see the pro- gram in action and talk with the instructors about the progress of their children.
Ruth Wheeler returned after a year's absence to take up her classes in dance. The response to these classes necessitated the formation of a third section. Over thirty girls from second grade through fifth grade are learning not only dance, but body control and rhythm. After they acquire discipline of movement they are rewarded by the opportunity of improvising dances. Their imagination and creativeness are wonder- ful to see.
The music classes under Mrs. Anne Gombosi are an extraordinary suc- cess. Parents who fail to provide their musical children with the opportunity to participate in these classes deprive them of one of the most enriching experiences available anywhere in Massachusetts. En- semble playing under the guidance of an experienced and inspiring teacher brings a love and understanding of music to those children who have developed some competence on an instrument, whether it is a recorder, a trumpet, a violin or a flute. In March, an open class will be held in the auditorium. Parents and friends are urged to visit, ask questions, and see the results of this group's activity.
Requests for additional classes, such as pottery, continue to be made, but, unfortunately, space is not available for these desirable classes. More space is needed to take care of the present classes.
Concord Academy classes are in their second year and provide for their students an opportunity unique in secondary school education.
We are proud of our faculty - many of whom you know from personal experience in the adult classes. No program is better than its teach- ing staff. The results and the steady enrollment indicate that the sixteen teachers on our staff have done a fine job and have won many friends for the Museum classes.
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N .
DeCORDOVA AND DANA MUSEUM AND PARK
SPECIAL EVENTS
The special events held last year - concerts and lectures - were self- sustaining. The Spring Festival - the theme of which was Robin Hood and Sherwood Forest - was a glorious success. It began at 10 A. M. rith a picturesque parade, full of pageantry and color - mounted knights In armor, ladies of the court, Robin Hood's band in forest green, and the merry characters of the time in a line of march, led by the spirited music of bagpipes. Beginning in Lincoln Center, it paraded majestically down Sandy Pond Road to the Museum grounds, which were gaily decorated rith flags and banners, shields, and colorfully-bedecked tents and booths. Three thousand people came and stayed. The weather was perfect, the events were memorable and we thank all those literally hundreds of people Tho manned the booths, participated in the events, and in every way con- tributed to one of the most successful events staged by this Museum. The whole Festival made 1100, and Mrs. James Jagger, Chairman, and the Festival Committee have our admiration and sincere thanks for presenting a celebration which will be remembered as a high point in Museum history and an event which won many friends for the Museum.
ASSOCIATES
The addition of 120 new Associates is heartwarming. We welcome all of you who have shown a desire to assist in our program.
This increase is due in no small measure to the splendid effort of a Committee of Mrs. Harry Healey, Mrs. Elliott Hedge, Mrs. William Swift, Mrs. Howard Snelling and Mrs. Alexander Vance, who organized afternoon and evening teas in homes in Lincoln and surrounding communities to in- form people of the Museum program. In turn, these meetings gave people the opportunity of asking questions which would clarify the aims of the Museum. The information gained in these meetings has been helpful in planning our future course and in guiding our publicity releases to achieve the most effective results.
The totals of the Associate membership are:
527 27 354 Family Associates TOTAL
Sustaining Associates
63 Professional Associates
83 deCordova Craftsmen
Museum membership is open to all: we need and welcome your support.
The deCordova Craftsmen - an affiliation of craft guilds first formed in 1953 through the Museum - has been growing and very active. Numerous
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EDUCATION AND RECREATION
meetings and demonstrations have been held this year by the various guilds, while the Craftsmen's Corner exhibition in the Museum has been very successful in promoting the sale of the Craftsmen's work.
Respectfully submitted,
Frederick P. Walkey, Executive Director
REPORT OF THE DIRECTORS FOR THE YEAR 1954
The deCordova Museum has again enjoyed an active year with further growth. Both visitor attendance and class enrollment, as the Executive Director notes in his report have increased. We must again emphasize, as we did last year, the increasingly urgent need for additional space, especially for class work.
The continued increase in the number of Associates augurs well for the future even though it does not yet solve all our financial problems.
Many persons have contributed in many ways to the success we have en- joyed this past year. Mr. Walkey expresses appreciation for some of these services in his report. With these expressions we heartily asso- ciate ourselves. Particularly, we thank the staff of the Museum for their devoted work carried forward so well under increasing pressure.
Finally, our thanks go to the Trustees of the estate of Julian deCordova for a generous grant for certain special purposes.
Respectfully submitted,
John Quincy Adams, President Charles H. Blake, Vice-President Arthur E. Thiessen, Treasurer Elizabeth J. Snelling, Clerk Richard S. Meriam Jane K. Vance Helen Wiley
100
School Committee
Report
to the
Town of Lincoln
FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR 1953-1954
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
SCHOOL CALENDAR 1955-1956
September 5 - Monday Labor Day
7-9 - Wednesday - Friday
Staff Organization and Workshop
12 - Monday
School Opens
October 12 - Wednesday
Columbus Day Recess
November 7-10 - Monday - Thursday
Education Week
11 - Friday
Veterans Day Recess
24-25- Thursday - Friday
Thanksgiving Recess
December 21 - Wednesday
Christmas Vacation, Closing School Resumes
January
3 - Tuesday
February 17
- Friday
Winter Vacation, Closing School Resumes
27 - Monday
March
23 - Friday
Teachers' Visiting Day
April 13 - Friday
Spring Vacation, Closing School Resumes
23 - Monday
May
30 - Wednesday
Memorial Day
June
15 - Friday
Summer Vacation, Closing Commencement
15 - Friday
18-22 - Monday - Friday
Staff Organization & Workshop
Additional Calendar Data
It is planned to continue the policy of no school on Wednesdays for the first grade until the Christmas Vacation with the exception of November 9, November 23, and December 21.
Kindergarten morning and afternoon sessions will reverse on January 30, 1956.
Staff Meeting Half-Days will be the second Wednesday of each month except September, December and June.
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EDUCATION AND RECREATION
ORGANIZATION
Term Expires
John W. Carman, Chairman
1956
(Mrs.) Elizabeth Donaldson
1957
Ernest P. Neumann
1955
MEETINGS: Regular: First Tuesday of each month: 7:30 P.M. at the Superintendent's office. LI 6-0333
Called: Third Tuesday of each month usually and other meetings as stated; time and place designated.
SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS
Douglass B. Roberts, Concord Road, LI 6-0360-J Office at Smith School, LI 6-0333
SECRETARY TO SUPERINTENDENT
Solvay G. Valentine
BUILDING PRINCIPALS
Robert B. Patch Smith School, LI 6-0333
Louis J. Sapienza Center School, LI 6-0462
CLERKS (Mrs.) Clara E. Powers, Smith School (Mrs.) Edith W. Harvey, Center School
CUSTODIANS
Harold V. Sheridan, Smith School Lewis Bardsley, Smith School Robert J. Hartel, Center School
OFFICE HOURS
School Days - 8:30 A.M. to 4 P.M. School Vacation - 9 A.M. to 4 P.M.
102
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
No-School Signals
Local signals will be given on our fire alarm system:
7:10 A.M. 7:15 A.M.
3 - 3 - 3 repeated at 3 -3 - 3
Radio station announcements will be read between the period of 6:30 and 7:30 A.M. On stormy mornings, if convenient, tune in on two or more stations since it is not always possible to get messages through to several stations in the brief time allotted us. Please refrain, too, from tying up local phone lines to school officials and bus operators during the morning hour, 6:30 - 7:30. We try to contact all of the following when it is necessary to announce "No School" :
WBZ
1030K
WHDH
850K
WEEI
590K
WNAC
680K
If an announcement is read "No School - All Schools" it will mean that no buses will operate and high school pupils will govern themselves accordingly. Announcements referring to Lincoln and merely stating "No School" will apply to elementary pupils only.
During extremely stormy or cold weather, parents are urged to exercise their own judgment in sending the younger children.
1
103
EDUCATION AND RECREATION
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE
To the Town of Lincoln:
The past year has been a quiet period during which your committee feels substantial progress has been made.
The community at Town Meeting and at the polls voted overwhelmingly in favor of the Lincoln-Sudbury High School Region, thus taking a major step in rounding out Lincoln's public school system. The com- munity also supported the construction of additional classrooms at the Charles Sumner Smith School for the increasing enrollment.
The School Committee is now considering how to, and where to pro- vide best for added school rooms which we know the future will require.
In 1954, staff turnover was substantially lower than that experi- enced in the past and every effort is being extended to maintain good morale and to attract additional well qualified teachers.
In preparing the 1955 School Budget recommendation a new salary plan for teachers was adopted to be effective September 1955. This plan provides a minimum, for teachers with a degree, of $3,200 and contains other desirable provisions aimed at developing a top quality teaching staff.
The educational plans are fully outlined in the Report of the Super- intendent. In the committee's opinion, these plans provide a sound framework for improving our schools.
In conjunction with the School Building Committee provision for a safe foot path between Center School and the Charles Sumner Smith School is being considered. It is hoped that a definite recommenda- tion can be placed before the town at Town Meeting.
Your committee was seriously concerned with providing a good educa- tional solution for the classes involved in the transition between tuition high school and the regional high school. The planned ex- change of Lincoln's ninth grade in September 1955 for the Sudbury eighth grade provides a far better solution than had been anticipated.
Respectfully submitted,
John W. Carman, Chairman Elizabeth Donaldson Ernest P. Neumann Lincoln School Committee
10L
SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS
REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS
During 1954 much time was spent on the problem of meeting the in- dividual needs of pupils. Some modifications have been made in the school program as a result of this planning and there are other modi- fications planned for the future. With only three of last year's staff leaving at the end of the school year, a continuity of planning and program has been possible which has not been so in the past. The addition of four staff members to the system because of the expanding number of pupils and the reinstitution of the remedial reading program has brought fresh ideas and new stimulation to the teaching staff.
One modification which was made during 1953 deserves mention again, and that is the system of reporting. Since, in order to meet the needs of the pupils, it is necessary to know them more fully, the con- ference type of reporting has been continued during 1954. Written reports were improved and printed after embodying the criticisms and suggestions of teachers and parents. In the kindergarten, written reports have been eliminated entirely and in their stead has been sub- stituted two conferences at school between the teacher and parent and a home visit on the part of the teacher during the year.
The testing program in Lincoln is basic to this problem of meeting the needs of the children since it is designed for the purpose of dis- covering what those needs are. By making information available to the teacher about each child's abilities it is possible for the teach- er to understand each child better and to modify her approach so that he will best be served. We are fast reaching the point where every student will have had at least one individual ability test to supple- ment the group tests. The Stanford-Binet test is used almost exclu- sively in our schools. Children who enter the school system for the first time are given a test of mental maturity such as that mentioned above and an achievement test in order to place them properly from the start. Every attempt is made to do this before the child enters the school so that the disturbances resulting from later shifting from one grade or one class to another are minimized. Achievement tests are given annually to check progress.
Growing directly out of teacher planning sessions which were held during the year and the results of the testing program, two major changes were made during the year. In June the staff met for a four day period during which they considered individually each child which they had had during the year and placed the child in a group for the coming year where he would be stimulated, challenged and could experi- ence success. The bases used for grouping the children into class sections were past achievement, present development and future poten- tial. This is by no means an "ability grouping", but obviously ability enters into it. It is rather a grouping based on all factors of the child's personality and development and is done in order to
105
EDUCATION AND RECREATION
reduce the range of differences of the individuals in a single class section. Thus the teacher can more often concentrate on meeting individual needs rather than spreading her efforts over a wide area.
A second change which has developed from this planning is in the organization of instruction on the sixth, seventh and eighth grade level. For some time until this past year the instruction has been completely departmentalized, which simply means that for each particu- lar subject the child was taught by a different teacher. £ This year a single teacher has been assigned the Language Arts and Social Studies in each grade. This combination has not been a mixing of the two so that their identities have been lost, but it is a plan which makes it possible for the teacher to co-ordinate the work and see that the knowledges gained in the Language Arts are applied to the other work. It also makes it possible for the work in Social Studies to be used as material in the Language Arts studies, making that more meaningful. This has had the effect of reducing the total number of different students that each teacher meets during the day and has made it possi- ble for each of these three teachers to become responsible for the guidance and the home-school liason in respect to that particular grade. The pupils are gaining from this in another way. It has given them a feeling of security that they lacked prior to this change, since they now have a single teacher to whom they can look as a counselor. This has also served to create a more solid tie to the school for the parents of the children since there is now one person who is much better acquainted with the child and to whom the parents can turn. In addition, it is now possible to extend the conference type of reporting by scheduling one conference with the parents of each child in the sixth, seventh and eighth grade during the school year.
Nearly fifty children from grades two through eight are receiving special help in reading during the school day. The teacher meets the children in very small groups in order to give individual help. As soon as each child has achieved the level of reading which enables him to maintain his position in his regular class, he no longer at- tends these remedial classes but is returned to his regular work. This special help may cover a period from five months to two years depending upon the severity of the handicap.
The special subjects, too, have been directed toward meeting in- dividual needs. The art program is primarily directed toward provid- ing many opportunities for self expression in an attempt to develop the imagination and observation which is essential in enlarging the child's educational horizons. Emphasis has been on developing the ability to create and to appreciate line, form, and color, rather than on the production of "finished works of art". As the child progresses through the grades more individual assistance becomes important al- though group work still occupies the major part of the art program. Different media are used to keep alive the child's imagination and
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SUPER INTENDENT OF SCHOOLS
desire for creation since as he grows older he becomes more conscious- ly aware of his inability to create realistically. The use of the art room has been curtailed by the necessity of using it for homeroom purposes and some other instruction, but its value is indicated by the fact that there are many boys and girls who have taken the opportunity to go to the art room to do extra work during lunch periods.
The music program, too, is aimed at meeting the needs of the indi- vidual children. The major effort has been to develop a progressing program in which the children will realize an improvement in musical ability, performance, and enjoyment from one grade level to another. As a result, the child grows with music as the music fits his mental, physical and emotional needs through the years of his growth to matur- ity and beyond. By keeping the musical program diversified these needs are met and the child has the opportunity of selecting or being selected for specific activity which more closely suits his particular needs and talents. This is done through the singing of music, writing it, reading it, listening to it, performing it, and participating in various vocal and instrumental groups. The study of theory and tech- nical aspects of music are introduced at the upper grade level. The
instrumental program has been modified somewhat to better fit the community. Through an arrangement with private instructors there are now in existence groups of youngsters studying various instruments as well as those taking private lessons. There is a string group, a brass group, and a woodwind group in addition to a mixed group that meets once a week. Because the strings are the backbone of instru- mental organizations, emphasis has been placed on them.
Although the physical education program is almost entirely one of group activities, it nevertheless is based on the individual needs of the children. It is aimed primarily toward giving the child a chance to discover his own physical ability and develop confidence in the functioning of his body. A varied series of large muscle activities and individual and group games leading to this kind of development is used at all grade levels. Growing directly out of the physical edu- cation program in class work is a carefully graded series of competi- tive activities. The intra-mural program; which involves only the children in our school system, gives all the children in grades four to eight a chance to exhibit and develop their skills during recess or after school programs. There is opportunity at the present time for all children in these grades to participate in this program at least two afternoons a week. Further competition for those who need and desire it is given through a very carefully controlled inter- scholastic program in which a team of physically advanced youngsters in our own school is matched with a similar team from schools in sur- rounding towns.
It has long been a valuable practice in the lower grades to carry out instruction with "in the class" groups in order to meet individual needs. To improve and extend our efforts in such practice, the
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EDUCATION AND RECREATION
teachers met with people from Lexington and Newton during the year to pool and share ideas and methods. Our teachers followed these meet- ings by using their "visiting day" in direct observation of many such activities. The new insights thus gained were incorporated in the modifications of program described above.
One of the knottiest problems to be solved in developing our 1955 educational plan was that presented by the transition of our high school pupils from tuition status to regional status. When the Regional High School district was formed it was agreed that for one year prior to the opening of that school our ninth grade pupils would not be entered in Weston High School. Since approval of the Regional bond issue has been voted by both towns, the opening of that school can reasonably be expected by September, 1956, which means that the ninth grade of the school year 1955-56 will not be sent to Weston on tuition. Recently the possibility was presented of sending this grade to Sudbury High School in exchange for their eighth grade. After full consideration of the problem it has been decided to make this exchange for one year beginning September, 1955, since through its study the committee is convinced that it is educationally more desirable and would cost no more than educating them in Lincoln.
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