USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Braintree > Town annual report of Braintree, Massachusetts for the year 1897 > Part 9
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My impressions as a new member will be very briefly em- bodied in what may be said upon, first the sanitary condition of our school buildings.
It has seemed to me that, until recent years, this exceed- ingly important subject had been neglected or cast aside as of secondary importance. To obtain the highest results in school work we must have the necessary tools to work with and the right condition under which to work. Neither teach- ers or pupils can do their best work when hampered and re- strained by unfit or unhealthy surroundings. That the peo- ple of Braintree carnestly desire that their children should have the best there is in school life and training I have no question, and what may seem to the contrary is no doubt often due to apathy, lack of observation or examination touching school conditions. I have taken occasion to somewhat carefully inspect the sanitary condition of the Union school, and have also had an interesting interview with the state-inspector of
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school buildings for this district, Mr. Moore. There had come to me from parents somewhat unfavorable reports upon the sanitary condition of the Union building, which led me to investigate.
Impressions at my first, and thus far, only examination, were favorable. The Union school building is not modern and there are conditions there which could probably be im- proved. And here I would like to emphasize the absolute and pressing importance of careful and frequent attention by the janitor to the sanitary apparatus and arrangements in our school building. If the janitor is careless and neglects his work, then the best of sanitary furnishings will not overcome bad and unhealthy conditions. This point Mr. Moore carefully emphasized. I asked especially about our school buildings in Braintree ; whether from his examination he thought them in good sanitary condi- tion. I asked him especially and particularly about the Union school. His replies were complimentary and en- couraging. He told me that our school buildings were in good condition and that they compared very favorably with those in other towns where the schools were of the best. He spoke of the Union school as being old, but said that if the janitors were faithful there ought not to be any sanitary trouble. I asked him how often the water closets and uri- Dals should be cleaned. He said as often as once in two weeks where the schools were crowded as ours are. Fresh air is of vital importance not only to the health of teachers and pupils, but is essential to good school work. I have no doubt that the listlessness, irritability and poor work of teach- ers and scholars in an unventilated schoolroom are in large part due directly to impure and vitiated air. How import- ant then that the schoolroom atmosphere be pure and of the right temperature. It is the duty of both janitor and super- intendent to watch carefully the conditions necessary to good work, and the teachers, who are directly in position to know the requirements of their rooms, should be alert to secure such conditions.
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The air of a school-room may be pure, but the temperature much too high or much too low. It may be amply heated, but the air exceedingly foul. Temperatures may be at per- fectly normal and comfortable rates, but poisonous vapors may still exist. Impure air and dangerous gases are not necessarily noticeable ; cold air is not necessarily fresh air, nor warm air necessarily impure. I think that all school houses should at stated intervals, when schools are not in session, be thrown wide open to admit ouside air through doors and windows. Careful and intelligent housekeepers know the importance of this in their homes; why should not school-houses be cleansed in like manner ?
In section No. 40 of an act approved June 22, 1894, we find the following :
SANITARY CONDITION OF SCHOOL-HOUSES. Chapter 149 of the Acts of 1888 provides :- 1. Every public building and every school-house shall be kept in a cleanly state and free from effluvia arising from any drain, privy or other nuisance, and shall be provided with a sufficient number of proper water closets, earth closets or privies for the reasonable use of the persons admitted to such public building or of the pu- pils attending such school-house.
2. Every public building and every school-house shall be ventilated in such a proper manner that the air shall not be- come so exhausted as to be injurious to the health of the persons present therein. The provisions of this section and the preceding section shall be enforced by the inspection de- partment of the district police force.
Some of our schools are overcrowded and require relief. This is the case in numerous other towns and cities and the problem has become so serious that all good citizens should become interested. The Union school is in this respect working under some difficulty, and the situation requires and should be given the serious and thoughtful consideration
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which its importance demands. A teacher having fifty pupils under her immediate charge cannot successfully accomplish what she might had she only half the number ; and the schol- ars cannot do their best work when crowded in their rooms. So far as I am able to learn there are no laws bearing specif- ically upon this subject, the matter seeming to be left to the good judgment of those having the matter in the charge.
In the sixty-first report of the State Board of Education, presented to the legislature January 19, 1898, and covering substantially the school year of 1896-'7, we find the follow- ing facts :
For the state as a whole, the average pay per month of men was $144.80, a gain of $8.47; of women $52.20, a gain of $1.90. There are thirty-seven towns and cities that pay more than these averages, and two hundred and twenty-six that pay less. There are fifty-nine towns in which the pay of women ranges from only $20 to $30 per month. The av- erage monthly pay of women for Norfolk county is now . $49.27, and as the average monthly salary paid women teach- ers in Braintree is now $45.20, we are at present paying $4.07 less than the average for our own county and $7 less than the average for the state. Hampden county in the Connecticut valley pays to its women teachers an average of $50.35 per month, so that our average for the town is $5.15 less than Hampden county, while our county average is $1.08 behind that county.
Among some characteristic features of the present school movement in our State we find "an improvement in teachers' salaries, noticeable in the general averages for the State, but not in all cases where improvement is needed." Also, "A growing interest in school matters on the part of boards of trades, citizens associations, women's clubs, and non-pro- fessional educational societies."
Some of our most intelligent and progressive towns have found organizations intended to stimulate and fortify interest
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in their public schools. Such associations, it seems to me, ought to become much more general, and I would suggest that in our own community an organization of this nature would be of permanent and lasting benefit. Many of our citizens are deeply interested in the welfare of the public schools ; others who are now more or less apathetic, would, by such a movement, be stimulated and interested, and the good results of such a nucleus would, it seems to me, be- come a blessing to ourselves and to posterity if a sincere and hearty effort were made by us all. We honestly differ as to what is best for our children, and if we could come together in the right spirit and with an earnest desire to get at the truest and best method of school work, we should all, I feel sure, see clearly the benefits of such an organization. I would suggest that an effort be made to this end, and that, if possible, the prime movers in it be those among us who hold no public office. I wish that it were in the power of every one to give his children a thorough collegiate education. Every true parent desires to do all possible to give his chil- dren at least a thorough fundamental school training. This can only be accomplished for the great majority of us through the medium of the public schools. How desirable and important then that these schools be of the very best. We owe it to ourselves, to our children, and to those who will come after us that all that can be done should be done. We must all, as good citizens, take an interest in the mate- rial welfare and growth of our town. Nothing, it seems to me, will so stimulate and help this growth as first-class public schools. Braintree is so fortunately situated that there is certain to be a very large increase in her population as the years go on. How important then that this increase should be of the very best character, and nothing, in my judgment, will so surely determine this as our careful atten- tion to the character of our public schools.
WILLIAM C. HARDING.
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Public Schools as Compared with Private Schools-Practical Stud- ies-Proposed State School Tax.
The chief distinction and value of the American public schools consists in the fact that they are "common schools.' They must be the schools of the poor man if his children are to be educated and in a country like ours where common in- terests and obligations bind all classes together and where each individual possesses his proportionate share of political power, they should be good enough for the children of people of wealth. Patriotic considerations should lead all classes of people to send their children to the "common schools." If they are not good enough for anyone he should take the most active interest in improving them until they are good enough:
If the public schools are poor and the private schools are good, the latter will be prosperous. At the present time about seventy thousand of the school children of this state, or about one-seventh of all the school children, are in private schools. Every such pupil represents some real or fancied defect in the public schools. Every patriotic citizen should take the greatest pride in making the public schools so good that no one can afford to send a pupil to a private school. The average annual cost per pupil in our schools is about twenty dollars, probably not more than one-half of the tui- tion in the cheapest private kindergarten, to say nothing of the schools that charge a tuition of two and three hundred dollars a year ; and these schools are no better than the pub- lic schools and in many cases not so good. Edward Everett Hale has said that his success has depended upon his attend- ing the public schools where he came into sympathetic re- lation with school mates representing all classes of society ; that he always felt that he was just a little better than any of those fellows that wore pantlets and attended a private school.
In the upper grades of our schools we should make the
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instruction as practical as possible, and it should, as far as possible have reference to each individual pupil and his pe- culiar needs. It ought to adjust the pupil more perfectly to the mechanical and industrial side of life, and the most practical courses should be put down as low as possible in the grades. The earning power of labor is being constantly reduced and the great majority of homes need the aid of the children at the earliest possible moment. Many children cannot remain in school after they are fourteen years old. The needs of such children should receive the most thought- ful consideration while they are in school.
In times like the present when all profits and revenues are being cut down to the lowest point possible, it does seem that public expenditures ought to be reduced in some way. It is impossible to do this in maintaining the public schools and have good schools. The community that has any sens- ible regard for its future welfare and reputation, must main- tain excellent schools. A poor teacher is worth nothing ; a first class teacher isn't any too good.
Our people ought to take a more active interest in the bill for a state school tax which was passed by the legislature last year and vetoed by the governor, and is before the leg- islature again this year. The present system of taxation permits people of great wealth to congregate in one town to avoid taxation. Of course, they cannot be blamed for doing . this while the law permits it. Children are more plentiful in the poorer communities. This congregated capital shirks an important duty. All wealth should help equally to edu- cite the children both of the poor and of the rich. This principle has been fully established. No imaginary line, determined by public statute, should locate the children on one side of it in a poor school and those on the other in the best schools. This would be a different matter if the state left the question of education for each community to settle for itself. Our schools are determined wholly by state law.
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I will give one illustration : Some years ago our town passed a vote which requires it to appropriate twelve hun- dred dollars annually for the support of the Thayer Academy. If the state did not require us to maintain a complete High School, we could without doubt make satisfactory arrange- ments with the governing board of the Academy whereby it would do all the work of the higher classes of our High School ; while the work of the lower classes could be done in the grammar schools, thereby saving a large expenditure to the town. The state refuses absolutely to permit us to do this.
Through a large concentration of business capital, Boston is able to pay its teachers more than double the salary that we can pay ours, and to provide complete systems of manual and industrial training for the pupils of the elementary schools, baths even, medical inspection, etc., and a magnifi- cent manual training school with the most expensive equip- ment for its high school pupils ; while its rate of taxation for the support of its schools is not half so great as ours. The homes, and, therefore, the children that represent a . large part of this wealth, are located in many of the subur- ban towns, like Braintree, that are struggling to maintain respectable schools. It must be evident to any thinking per- son that the fair thing to do is to tax the wealth of the whole state at a uniform rate, and distribute this assessment on the basis of membership in the public schools for a part of their support.
A. C. DRINKWATER.
Need of a New School House.
The most important question that is pressing for solution is that of a new school house. It is a complicated question and will require broad and careful study to decide it right.
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We recommend that a committee be appointed at the annua town meeting to consider and report on the matter in all its bearings. In anticipation of the appointment of such a committee and for its benefit, we have had " aps prepared, without expense to the town, showing the location of the home of each pupil now attending the Monatiquot, Pond and Union schools.
The problem is to relieve the Monatiquot school of about 60 scholars, the Union of about 30 and the Pond of about 18, distributed somewhat irregularly through the different grades, besides taking care of the usual increase at the be- ginning of the school year next September.
The future growth of the town must, of course, be taken into consideration, and some plan should be adopted that will do more than merely relieve the present needs of the schools, as the next few years will undoubtedly see a large increase in our school population that must be provided for.
Whatever is decided on in the way of a building should be adapted to the best modern educational ideas, and should be arranged to help and not hinder progress.
It must be remembered that nothing attracts to a town the most desirable 'class of residents more than first-class schools, and an important essential of a good school system is carefully planned buildings of ample size for future growth.
Principal of High School.
There can be no question of the success of the plan of combining the offices of Superintendent of Schools and Prin- cipal of High school, which has been in operation nineteen months. The duties of the Superintendent have not been neglected in any way and the High school is doing more and better work than at any time since this committee has been in office.
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Any of our citizens doubting the possibility of one man doing the work of both these offices should take into consid- eration the fact that there is no town in the state of the size of Braintree that does not either join with another town in hiring a Superintendent of Schools or unite the two offices, as we have done.
If anything was being neglected in connection with the work of either office, no one could be more anxious to correct it than the school committee.
We at present see no reason for making any change in this arrangement, but shall not hesitate to do so if any new cir- cumstances arise, such as a rapid growth in the school popu- lation, that convince us that the best interests of the schools require it.
The expenditures for the support of schools during the past year have been as follows :
Teachers
$13,718 00
Superintendent
1,200 00
Janitors
1,584 08
Text books and supplies
1,608 29
Incidentals for schools .
620 80
Incidentals for schoolhouses.
1,304 51
Fuel
1,211 72
Conveyance of pupils
723 00
$21,970 40
The amount $475 appropriated to repair, furnish and oper- the South-west school is included in the above.
Appropriations for 1897 .
$20,478 00
Dog tax and school fund estimated
1,150 00
$21,628 00
Overrun
342 40
$21,970 40
.
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Comparative Cost Per Scholar.
This is a cost for each scholar in our schools, of $21.65, based on the average membership for the year, and not in- cluding the amount spent for repairs of school house (about $600.) It is exactly the same as in 1896, and 1 per cent., less than six years ago, notwithstanding the additional fac- ilities provided since that time.
The average cost per scholar throughout the State for 1897, reckoned on the same basis, was $25.10, 16 per cent., greater than in Braintree.
Although, in the aggregate, the amount spent for the sup- port of schools is large, it must be remembered that the total cost to the town of our schools, including salaries of teachers, Superintendent and janitors, heating and ventilat- ing the buildings, keeping them in repair, furnishing text books, apparatus, paper, pencils, pens and ink, and trans- portation from outlying districts is but fifty-two and three- fourths cents per week for each child attending them.
No one can justly accuse the present administration of extravagance when these facts are taken into consideration.
The first thought that is likely to enter the mind on real- izing the smallness of this sum, is : Can anything so cheap be good ? As far as our schools go we are confident that their methods and results are equal to those of the best schools in the state, but they have that serious defect of almost all schools, the lack of training of the hand and eye, without which there can be no complete mental development in any person.
We have partially remedied this defect in one school, but there is much more to be done. There should be sewing and cooking classes established at the Monatiquot and Jonas Perkins schools, and the well known wood-working system called "Sloyd" at the Monatiquot. The Jonas Perkins is al- ready fitted with the Sloyd system at private cost. This can be done at moderate expense. But what is most needed, is the establishment in connection with the regular high school stud-
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ies, of a manual training department, that will give a full three years course of instruction in wood working and lathe turning, metal working, both by machine shop and black- smithing processes, pattern making and moulding, wood carv- ing, sheet metal work and mechanical drawing, etc. Such a system as is now in operation in Boston, Cambridge, Brook- line and many other cities and which our state laws now re- quire must be maintained by every city of twenty thousand inhabitants or more. To do this however will require the erection of a suitable building and the purchase of the requi- site machinery.
When public sentiment in our town is strong enough in favor of this great advance in education, to make the necessary appropriations, the school committee is prepared to put into operation, a manual training system that will place our schools in the front rank of the country.
Estimates for 1898.
Teachers in addition to dog tax and school fund . $14,145 00
Superintendent 1,200 00
Janitors, including cleaning and care of build- ings during summer vacation . 1,808 00
Text books and supplies
1,600 00
Incidentals for schools .
500 00
Incidentals for school-houses ·
1,000 00
Fuel
1,250 00
Conveyance of pupils
.
725 00
.
$22,228 00
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Explanation of Increases Asked For.
Two new teachers for the crowded upper grades of the Monatiquot and Jonas Per- kins grammar schools $800
Usual increases and adjustments in salaries 100 Teacher of Southwest school for six months more in 1898 than in 1897 240
In order to obtain a satisfactory teacher for the English and commercial studies in the High School we were obliged to pay $75 per month beginning December 1, an in- crease for 1898 of .
225
Readjustments of salaries for the last four months of 1897 (nine increased and five decreased) for the complete year, 1898 Assistant for the crowded lower grade of the Union School , 60
112
The expenditures for teachers in 1897 were diminished $40 received for fines imposed by the Quincy court on parents for not sending children to school, which we can- not expect next year
40
Total for teachers .
$1,577
The janitors of the Monatiquot and Jonas Per- kins schools are now paid $41.67 per month. There is no doubt in our minds that the amount and variety of their work, the skill required, the long hours needed to properly care for such buildings and the importance and responsibility of the position fully warrant an increase of this sum to $50 per month, which for 1898
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would be an increase of . $200 00
Janitor of the Southwest school for six months more in 1898 than in 1897 24 00
Total for janitors $224 00
The other items in our estimate either remain the same or are less than the expenditures- of 1897.
In conclusion we wish to express to the citizens of the town and especially to those having children in our schools, our desire that they visit the schools more often and confer with us more freely regarding school matters. Point out what you consider defects, suggest remedies if any occur to you and come and talk matters over either at our homes, at the school committee meetings or at the teachers' meetings. You are always welcome. We fully realize, and want you to realize, that the best schools are those only, "where the teacher, the parent, and the child, all keep school together."
THOMAS A. WATSON, East Braintree, ANN M. BROOKS, South Braintree, ALBION C. DRINKWATER, Braintree, WILLIAM C. HARDING, Braintree, CARRIE F. LORING, East Braintree, GEORGE W. STEVENS, South Braintree.
School Committee.
REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
Ladies and Gentlemen of the School, Committee :-
This is my sixth annual report, for the year ending Jan. 1, 1898, and the thirteenth of the series of annual reports of the superintendents.
The administrative organization of the schools is presented at the beginning of this report.
Ten regular and two special meetings of the committee have been held during the past year.
STATISTICS AND ACCOUNTS.
Population of town, 1897, estimated 5,500
Number of children between 4 and 5 years of
age in town, May 1, 1897 98
Number of children between 5 and 15 years of age in town, May 1, 1897 938
Number of children between 8 and 14 years of age in town, May 1, 1897 548
Number of children between 14 and 15 years of age in town, May 1, 1897 88
Whole number of pupils enrolled for the year ending June 24, 1897 1178
Whole number of pupils enrolled for the 4 months ending December 24, 1897 . . 1126
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Whole number of pupils enrolled for the 4
months ending December 25, 1896 . .
1107
Average membership for 1897 987
Average membership for 4 months ending De- cember 24, 1897 1038
Percentage of average attendance for 1897
92
Number of schools keeping separate registers 27
Number of female teachers
30
Number of male teachers · .
2
Number of special teachers . 2
Monthly pay roll of teachers for December, 1897 $1,439 50
Monthly pay roll of teachers for December, 1896
1,275 25
Monthly pay roll of janitors for December, 1897 139 34
Average monthly wages of female teachers for 1897 45 62
Average monthly wages of female teachers of the state in 1896-7, as per official returns (14.4 per cent. greater than in Braintree ) 52 20 Average monthly wages of male teachers for 1897 114 00
Average monthly wages of male teachers of the state in 1896-97, as per official returns (27 per cent. greater than in Braintree) Number of school-houses in use (26 class rooms and 1 room in Town House) 6
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