USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Braintree > Town annual report of Braintree, Massachusetts for the year 1930 > Part 9
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In conclusion I would call your attention to the reports and tables following for details regarding the various activities of the Department.
Respectfullly submitted,
C. EDWARD FISHER
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REPORT OF THE HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL
January 1, 1931.
Mr. C. Edward Fisher,
Superintendent of Schools, Braintree, Massachusetts.,
Dear Sir :
Herewith is submitted the report of the High School for the year 1930.
MEMBERSHIP AND ATTENDANCE
The figures on membership and attendance for the school year 1929-30 were as follows:
Total Membership .
629
Average Membership
578
Percentage of attendance
94.74
These figures show an increase in total member- ship of 30 over the previous year; in average member- ship of 45; and about 11/2% increase in percentage of attendance.
The graduation of 104 seniors last June-the largest number in the history of the school, and the first of 100 or more-was more than offset by the entrance of our largest first year class in September. The school has reached a new figure in registration for the present school year, the number to date being 690, divided as follows:
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Boys
Girls
Total
Post graduates
6
3
9
Seniors
59
67
126
Juniors
71
72
143
Sophomores
93
95
188
Freshmen
126
98
224
Totals
.355
335
690
Our present enrollment, with an eighth grade membership of 270, would indicate that there should be enrolled next September, allowing for withdrawals, transfers and graduation, approximately 750 pupils.
With a corridor locker capacity of 681 for both pupils and teachers, and one other available home room, the situation has many serious problems with which to contend. The time is at hand for the enlarge- ment of the present high school building, or the erec- tion of junior high schools.
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TEACHING FORCE
Only one vacancy occurred in our force at the close of the school year in June. This was due to the resignation of Miss Helen Donovan, who accepted a similar position in Connecticut. Three more teachers were added to the force, making a total of four new this year. They were as follows: Miss Elisabeth B. Gross, English; Mr. Henry L. Farr, History, Civics, English ; Mr. Paul V. Toolin, Science; and Mr. Dudley F. Hallock, Commercial subjects. Even with the addi- tional teachers, no changes in the program of studies have been made, the work of the three additional ones
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being needed to take care of the increase in the size of the classes, some of which are still over-large. Two more will be required in September, 1931, with the possibility of three, if the increase from unexpected sources, such as transfers from other schools, is as large as the one in September, 1930.
TRANSPORTATION
During the present school year, five overcrowded busses of pupils living two miles or more from the school are being transported from East Braintree. At least six busses will be required in September, 1931. There are also thirty-two pupils who are being trans- ported by trolley from Braintree Highlands. I would again recommend, as of last year, that each bus be manned by two men instead of one. This means of transportation carries with it very serious problems of disorder as evidenced in a nearby town where it be- came necessary for the Selectmen to place a policeman in charge of each high school bus. Conditions have not reached that stage in Braintree, but there is really danger, to the pupils riding, of the driver's attention being distracted by disorder in the bus and possible accidents occurring.
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PROBLEMS
The most serious problem from now on will be that of finding accommodations in class rooms, home rooms and lockers for the ever-increasing numbers.
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For the school year 1931-32, by using the auditorium for a study hall for a major portion of the time, classes can be cared for with some crowding. But unless an addition is put on the building or the first year class removed to Junior high schools, the following year will see a very serious overcrowding or a two-session plan with all pupils on less than full-time schedule.
Another serious problem, as a result of the in- crease in class numbers, is that of the work in the gymnasium. At the present time, some classes are already too large for our rather small floor space, and next year will see the same situation in all classes, particularly in the case of the boys. The lack of wis- dom on the part of the Town in building a building with one small gymnasium instead of one large one, which could be divided on occasion into two, is very apparent. With 80 or more boys and nearly as many girls who are interested in class basketball, 40 more in varsity basketball, a large number in a gymnasium team and so on, three gymnasium floors could be used each day from November until April. As matters now are, the big majority of pupils, both boys and girls, who are interested in basketball but are not experi- enced enough to play on the varsity teams, have little chance to receive time and attention after the first of December, when the varsity practice begins.
The problem of extra-curricula activities is how to finance them. Particularly, athletics and school magazine would seem to be the two most important of such activities, at least from the standpoint of the money needs involved. Of all the team games, basket- ball is the only one which pays its own way. Baseball and football both are money losers, and track, cross
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country and field hockey in a lesser degree. Football, which in most high schools is the big money maker and carries the other sports, is in Braintree almost a complete loss, due to an unenclosed field.
Of all the sports, track is the least expensive. In this, we have been rather successful, particularly in view of the fact that the boys have not even a track laid out and practically no equipment with which to work. A comparatively few dollars wisely spent would give us a useable track around the football field and would seem to be a good investment for the Town. Ex-President Coolidge, in one of his newspaper arti- cles, recently stated that "Plenty of playgrounds and games is the best cure for youthful delinquency. Plenty of outside sports is a wise investment in citizenship."
The Wampatuck is each year faced with the prob- lem of financing its four issues and has, in recent years, been forced to resort to giving a play in order to raise funds to make up the difference between the receipts for the magazine and the cost of printing. This year its production of "In the Next Room" was especially successful from every viewpoint. The re- sult of the attempts of the business managers to secure advertisements from local merchants this year, would seem to indicate that the response would be more generous than in recent years, in spite of the per- sistence of the Chamber of Commerce in classing the finest high school magazine in Southeastern Massachu- setts as a "program or similar form of advertising."
One problem mentioned in last year's report is of such importance as to justify repetition. That problem is the one of unnecessary absence, particu- larly on the part of the older pupils, who should realize the need of taking advantage of all the time
192
possible for their school work. Special notices and appeals to parents produce little result as replies in most cases are received to not more than fifty per cent of the notices sent out, even when stamped and ad- dressed envelopes are enclosed. Only prompt and regular attendance can secure the results desired. Generally speaking, the only legitimate excuse for absence is that of illness on the part of the pupil or in his immediate family.
Respectfully submitted,
JAMES L. JORDAN.
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193
REPORT OF THE ART SUPERVISOR
January 1, 1931.
Mr. C. Edward Fisher,
Superintendent of Schools, Braintree, Massachusetts,
Dear Sir:
I herewith submit my report upon the drawing in the grade schools of Braintree for the year 1930.
The course of study in drawing is prepared to cover the requirements in drawing published by the State Department of Education. In the grades it includes Design, Color, Representation and Handwork. The principles of design are studied in all the grades, but the subject matter and presentation of it is adapted to the grade in which it is to be used. For example, a first grade may be having lessons in design based on repetition in a row, while the eighth grade also has design based on the same principles. Naturally the results are widely different, but the principles in- volved are the same. All grades should know that design is an orderly plan-the fundamental laws of which are repetition, progression and balance. The understanding of these laws of design in nature and art; by exercises in creating simple design based on these laws; and, whenever possible, the application of design to objects used in the children's everyday lives.
In representation, familiar objects such as people, buildings, vehicles, animals, birds, trees, plants, etc., are drawn. Emphasis is placed on the habit of free
194
expression strengthened by truthful drawing. Repre- sentation can be correlated with almost every subject in school work. The subjects for representation can be drawn from literature, music, history and geog- raphy. A child's mental picture of a subject is some- times surprising when expressed on paper. The child who colored the Red Sea red could perhaps never have revealed that misunderstanding to his teacher ex- cept by drawing. We should have more of the kind of drawing that reveals the child's mental pictures. Teachers are sometimes timid about giving lessons of that nature because the results are not always good for exhibition; but as a revelation of the child's men- tal processes they are invaluable.
I am looking forward to the time when we will be able to add to the programs of the upper grades courses in Art Appreciation, closely allied with an elementary history of Art. Such a course is needed to give proper background and an appreciation of our own day and its art.
In conclusion, I wish to take this opportunity to thank the Superintendent, principals and teachers for their continual co-operation with me in my efforts toward bringing to every child in the Braintree schools a sense of appreciation of all the design, color and - beauty that is to be found in the lives and experiences of all of us.
Respectfully submitted, RUTH H. JOHNSON.
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REPORT OF VOCAL MUSIC SUPERVISOR
January 1, 1931.
Mr. C. Edward Fisher,
Superintendent of Schools, Braintree, Massachusetts,
Dear Sir :
I herewith submit my annual report of vocal music in the Braintree schools.
Fourteen more classes have been added to my schedule this past year by the opening of the High- lands School, the addition to the Abraham Lincoln School, the portable building erected at the Thomas A. Watson School, and a third and fifth grade class in the assembly hall in the Penniman School. The two buildings, Noah Torrey Grammar and Noah Torrey Primary, are combined into one day's work, and the eight classes in the Highlands School are all visited in a morning.
Although I cannot devote as much time as I need for the various phases of our music study in all these classes, the work is progressing and much interest and enthusiasm is manifested in the work.
Much special effort has been made to develop a finer tone quality in our singing, to secure a tone that has the virility of youth, which does not strive for the ruggedness of maturity, but retains the purity and charm of the young voice.
More than fifty per cent of the music period is devoted to song singing. A rough computation dis- closes the fact that at the end of the sixth year four hundred songs have been studied. Through the song comes the sense of beauty, enjoyment, culture, and musical discrimination. All these can be expressed when the pupil brings to the song singing their knowl-
196
edge that is gained in sight reading, which is carried on extensively, systematically, individually, and daily.
In the seventh and eighth grades we have full- fledged chorus singing in three and four parts of well arranged part songs and choruses, a most watchful care and guidance of the young voices, the most care- ful classification and frequent re-classification of the voices with judicious selections of music, and sincere efforts toward artistic interpretation.
In three of our buildings the work in music appre- ciation is supplemented with the school broadcast by Walter Damrosch, on Friday mornings. A marvelous opportunity that the radio gives to educate the ears to a proper understanding of music as an art. We want to be not only a singing nation but an intelligent listening one as well. We want to keep alive in song, in chorus, in orchestra, the great contributions of music which have for centuries stirred patriotism, sus- tained our love for the beautiful, and satisfied our souls.
The radiating center of all art is rhythm. If we intend that our children shall appreciate art and be- come sharers in the result achieved by some of the best minds of the ages, then we must give them their opportunity to develop their capacity for rhythm. The best way to begin this development of the rhythmic sense is by the use of small percussion instruments such as cymbals, tambourines, triangles, bells and drums. I regret that only three of our schools have the advantage of these instruments.
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In the High School an increase of fifty students are taking vocal music this year. Over three hundred pupils, a surprisingly large number, when the students have to make up the regular class work they lose on account of taking singing.
As we have only forty minutes a week I divide the group into four choruses so as to give them as much as possible in this allotment of time. Not until this chorus singing is supplemented with courses in harmony, music appreciation, and regular glee chorus practice can we get the desired results. It is necessary that we offer these courses to students who plan to go to Normal School that our boys and girls can compete favorably with students from High Schools where these courses are offered. And again they are essential for students who intend to make music their life work.
The High School gave two most creditable public demonstrations of their vocal music during the past year-the operetta, "Swords and Scissors," and a half- hour broadcast from Station WEEI. It is essential to encourage the talented boys and girls to give expres- sion to their musical ability. This is the age of self- expression. And it is through music the feelings find their rich expression. The joy of singing in chorus, solo, duet, quartet, is the most genuine, the most natural, the freest way of expressing the musical emo- tions.
Calvin Coolidge, former President of the United States, says: "It is through art that people find the expressions of their better, truer selves. Sometimes
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in painting, sometimes in sculpture, and architecture, but of all the fine arts there is none that makes such a universal and compelling appeal as music."
Realizing the influence of beauty in life has caused us to stress in the schools the development of the arts, the cultivation of those finer things in life which lead to a higher and truer understanding of life in this world which we inhabit, and of the Power that rules over it.
Respectfully submitted,
INGRID E. EKMAN.
REPORT OF THE INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC INSTRUCTOR
January 1, 1931.
Mr. C. Edward Fisher,
Superintendent of Schools, Braintree, Massachusetts,
Dear Sir:
I herewith submit my annual report of the In- strumental Music Department of the Braintree schools.
The aim of music in the public schools is to equip the boy and girl with some means which will enable him to attain or make for happiness in daily living.
Real happiness, however, comes in being of use, not only to one's self but in contributing in service to the pleasure of others.
Instrumental music offers the best known medium of supplying this contribution to the community, pri- marily because it teaches the boy or girl to think, act and do for himself, which is fundamentally and essen- tially educational. The result of his efforts when wisely directed and guided are recreational, inspira- tional and can be made profitable.
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Much has been written and said about music concerning the hearts of men, suffice it to be said again that instrumental music has long since become an established and vital part of every function, school, social or otherwise, and the number of present day children who are interested in school music is satis- factory evidence to sustain its further encouragement and development.
The problem today in school music administration is not any more one of oragnizing or correlating the desires of these children who elect or choose instru- mental music, but to find sufficient time to give their needs proper attention which today has reached pro- portions of actual demand.
Being interested in the culture and progress of matters musical in Braintree it is a well known and widely accepted fact that the schools are more than doing their part in looking ahead, anticipating and preparing this consciousness in the present generation.
The list of school-owned equipment is as fol- lows :
7 string basses
7 bass drums
7 pairs of cymbals
1 violin
1 bugle
1 B flat cornet
1 B flat trombone
3 B flat altos
3 B flat baritones
2 E flat upright basses
1 BB flat Helicon Sousaphone.
200
I wish to express my appreciation to the principals and teachers, and to extend sincere thanks for their helpful co-operation.
Respectfully submitted,
FREDERICK W. J. LEWIS.
REPORT OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION INSTRUCTOR
January 1, 1931. .
Mr. C. Edward Fisher,
Superintendent of Schools, Braintree, Massachusetts,
Dear Sir:
Physical Education as a part of the school and community life of pupils, teachers and parents is of vital importance. It is my pleasant duty to present this work in such a way that the results will prove its importance.
During the two years I have been in the Braintree school system, a vast difference in physical education trends has been noticed and results are gratifying. The grade school work is progressing much more smoothly and with the co-operation of the teachers and principals, the pupils seemingly look forward to the day assigned the physical director. In addition to the regular calisthenic lessons which are carried on daily and changed every other week, the upper grades have chosen teams and captains to play the organized games taught by the director. The fact that these games are played during recess and as an after school activity proves that physical education is accomplishing one good objective in our schools. Crea- tive activity in the first and second grades is meeting
201
with success. For this work, poems which they have learned, and new ones also, are used, in which the child fits the action of the poem into play form, e.g., Little Miss Muffet, Jack and Jill, Humpty-Dumpty.
As an important part of physical education, all desks and seats were properly adjusted in the grades, and in addition every child from the fifth through the eighth grades was given a Posture Test and graded accordingly. Pupils were examined for Scoliosis (low shoulder) and corrective exercises for his or her par- ticular need were prescribed. Of the 672 cases ex- amined, the results were as follows: 177 good, 447 fair, 48 poor. Of the total number, 195 pupils were found to have one shoulder lower than the other. This postural defect may be remedied in most cases by corrective exercises. The test given to the high school boys resulted in a weekly corrective class in which personal attention is given. A follow-up of these cases is greatly needed if desirable results are to be ob- tained.
This year the high school gym classes average 55 to 60 pupils with all indications of an increase for another year. The size of the gymnasium merely war- rants "taking care" of the students during their physi- cal education period and until additional gym space is available such will be the case. Up to this writing, the gymnasium classes have been conducted out-of-doors with the boys participating in Tag Football. Each gym class is divided into six teams (red and gray) so that every Monday and Wednesday there are 36 teams competing. The groups are classified according to height and weight which makes competition fair to every boy. The enthusiasm for this game is very keen and all are anxious to get out-of-doors to play.
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Previous to the close of the football season, the physical director commenced interclass basketball with approximately 80 boys taking part every after- noon the gymnasium was available. There is no doubt that an additional gymnasium would be in use every afternoon throughout the winter by boys who are not fortunate enough to be chosen for the high school team. Every boy expressed his desire to continue and was disappointed because of lack of opportunity.
As I had planned in my last year's report, a gym- nastic team was organized for boys. This team met once a week for instruction and marching, calisthenics, light and heavy apparatus, tumbling and pyramid building. The interest was exceptionally fine, and our efforts terminated with the Gymnastic Exhibition in May, 1930. The girls, directed by Miss Daughraty, and the boys' gym team, gave the entire evening's performance. The first call this year brought out about fifty candidates who are not participating in other school activities. We are planning two dem- onstrations, one in February for the South Shore Schoolmen's Club, and a public affair in the Spring. The new apparatus purchased this year for the gym- nasium is being used daily and will give more variety for our demonstrations. Additional pieces of the same apparatus is needed for individual instruction and is a great aid for the director required to handle large groups.
The needs of the physical education department may be enumerated as follows:
a. Need of playground equipment in all schools.
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b. Need of additional gymnasium space at the high school.
c. Need of additional teaching time for Physical Education in grades.
d. Need of follow-up instruction in corrective work.
In closing, I wish to thank Superintendent Fisher, Mr. Jordan, principal of the High School, the princi- pals and teachers of the grade schools, the Posse- Nissen trainers, and all others who have aided me in any way towards the success of this department.
Respectfully submitted,
ELLSWORTH R. THWING.
REPORT OF THE PHYSICAL EDUCATION INSTRUCTOR
January 1, 1931.
Mr. C. Edward Fisher,
Superintendent of Schools,
Braintree, Massachusetts,
Dear Sir:
It is with pleasure that I submit my second annual report as Physical Education Director of the Braintree schools.
The grade schools are visited once a week by the instructor, and a lesson left to be taught during the week. The High School has two days of the week.
In the grade schools during the winter term the classes are held mostly in the auditoriums. These are not available in all schools, and in these the classes are held in the regular class rooms. Where the audi- torium is used the work is of a higher order, more space being put to use and more freedom for the children.
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In the first and second grades, story plays, sing- ing games and very simple games are given to develop rhythm.
In the third, fourth and fifth grades, the begin- ning of formal gymnastics is introduced, also folk dancing, and more progressive games.
In the sixth, seventh and eighth grades half of the period is given to formal gymnastics and the last half to games, developing team work and sportsman- ship.
Beginning with the first warm days of spring all classes were taken out-of-doors again when a more active schedule was begun.
Starting in September the seventh and eighth grade girls and boys were separated and the separa- tion has been a great success. The writer feels that the girl and boy of the seventh and eighth grade is at the Physiological age that requires special attention and that the separation is a great aid. Each has im- proved, not only in formal exercises but in games as well; the boys now being able to play a harder and faster game and the girls to play in accordance with their ability.
During the fall the girls of the seventh and eighth grades had a kick-ball team, with some schools com- peting with others. The boys had their regular formal exercises as well as regular organized soccer-ball, under the leadership of student trainers from dif- ferent Normal schools; all the schools competed for championship of the town.
Volley-ball is now being organized by the girls and during the winter they will compete with other schools.
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The girls at the High School have gymnastics in the gymnasium during the winter, but go out-of-doors as soon as it is deemed warm enough and in the fall stay out until it is too cold for the health of the ma- jority of girls. The work in the gymnasium consists of
1. Formal gymnastics, to develop correct posture and co-ordination.
2. Folk dancing, to develop rhythm and a grace- ful carriage.
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