USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Chelmsford > Town annual report of Chelmsford 1899 > Part 3
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12 IO
association fund
70 41
$487 51
Since the first of May the library has been open Wednesday evenings in addition to the usual sessions of Wednesday afternoon and Saturday evening, the whole number of sessions being 103. The number of borrower's cards issued is 310 and the circulation has been 5,424.
The number of volumes added is 254 ; 41 by donation and 213 by purchase, 3 of which were to replace volumes discarded. There are now in the library 3,506 volumes, 9 of which are duplicates.
During the year books have been sent, bi-weekly, to West Chelmsford, and special thanks are due to Miss L. A. Allen for her labor in receiving and distributing the volumes.
All books on the shelves have been renumbered and rear- ranged, and a printed list has been prepared without expense to the library other than for the printing. This, in connection with the card catalogue, will soon be ready for use.
ZIBA GAY, President.
OTIS P. WHEELER, Secretary.
.
48
AGGREGATE OF APPROPRIATIONS, RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES.
ACCOUNTS.
Appropria- tions.
Expendi- tures.
Surplus.
Deficit.
Schools, Appropriations.
$8,000 00
School fund.
244 43
Dog tax.
470 25
Teaching.
$7.061 45
Care of houses
486 89
Fuel .
419 83
$746 51
Apparatus
135 45
$ 35 45
Incidental.
250 00
813 12
563 12
School text books and supplies.
Receipts
34 07
825 74
41 67
Superintendent of Schools
450 00
Receipts
750 00
900 00
300 00
Support of poor.
2,000 00
Receipts
955 43
4,268 92
1.313 49
Highways
5,000 00
Receipts
227 02
5,369 66
142 64
State aid, receipts.
1,002 00
1,045 00
43 00
Receipts .
92 75
160 00
32 75
· Repairs of public buildings ..
650 00
473 81
176 19
75 55
Town officers and committees Cattle inspection Receipts
212 50
51 50
261 00
Collection and abatement of taxes.
700 00
650 13
49 87
Care of village clock.
30 00
30 00
Care and improvement of cemeteries. Receipts
89 50
118 50
121 00
Adams library
800 00
800 00
Receipts
347 40
1,173 49
426 09
Completion of soldiers' record.
30 00
3 50
26 50
Memorial day.
100 00
67 96
32 04
Street lighting.
1,000,00
848 52
151 48
Note, schoolhouse loan.
1,200 00
1,200 00
Note, schoolhouse interest ..
432 00
432 00
North Chelmsford Library Association.
400 00
400 00
......
Grading Adams library grounds.
500 00
497 75
2 25
Town seal.
60 00
36 50
23 50
Transportation of pupils.
500 00
568 80
68 80
Water supply at town farm ..
600 00
677 21
77 21
State road land damage, received from county, paid H. K. Ferrin
100 00
100 00
$30.327 35
$31,091 28
$2,023 09 763 93
$2,787 02
763 93
$31,091 28
$31,091 28
$2,787 02
$2,787 02
Appropriations .$25,802 00
Amount of bills paid .
.$31,091 28
Receipts ..
4,525 35
Deficit.
763 93
$30,327 35
$30.327 35
JOSEPH E. WARREN, ARTHUR H. SHELDON. JOSEPH A. PARKHURST, WILLIAM H. SHEDD, WALTER R. WINNING,
Selectmen.
. . .
Indigent soldiers and sailors.
100 00
1,500 00
1,575 55
100 00
150 00
Miscellaneous expenses
400 00
...
100 00
750 00
CATTLE INSPECTORS' REPORT.
Number cows examined · . 240 quarantined
· 5 examined at time of slaughter . 54 And other cattle examined physically to June 1, 1898.
E. C. PERHAM, Inspector.
Walter R. Winning Inspector from Aug. 27 to Mar. 1, 1899. But little has been done since June Ist, fifteen cattle have been re· leased in different parts of the town, and some examined physically. Respectfully submitted,
WALTER R. WINNING, Inspector.
AUDITORS' REPORT.
We have examined the accounts of the Treasurer for the year ending February 28, 1899, and find his receipts and payments properly entered and vouched for, and a balance of four hundred twenty-three and eighty-nine one-hundredths dollars ($423.89) in his hands.
We have also examined the vouchers in the hands of the Select- men and find in their hands receipts amounting to thirty-one thou- sand ninety-one and twenty-eight one-hundredths dollars ($31,091.28) vouching for orders for same amount drawn by them on the Treas- urer and paid by him.
We find assets :
Cash in treasury
.
$ 423 89
Tax of 1896 uncollected
S 19 00
Interest accrued on same
I 33
Tax of 1897 uncollected
3 788 20
Interest accrued on same
265 17
Tax of 1898 uncollected
8,161 70
Interest accrued on same Due from State :
238 05 12,473 45
State aid to January, 1899 S71 00
State aid for January and February, 1899 174 00
Military aid to January, 1899 39 00
6 00
Military aid for January and February, 1899 State aid for school superintendent and teachers
435 50
State aid for cattle inspector .
25 75
Balance corporation tax
631 94
On account of State paupers Due from other sources :
90 50
2,264 69
Matthias Hutchins, hospital bills . · 169 48
Deposits in Lowell savings banks, cemetery trust funds . 1,706 69 1,876 17
.
.
.
$17,038 20
51
Liabilities :
Notes (temporary loan)
$14 000 00
Notes (schoolhouse loan)
9,600 00 $23,600 00 .
Emerson cemetery improvement fund
144 00
Kimball fund and interest
124 07
Silver fund and interest
170 90
Day fund and interest
101 02
Emerson fund and interest
232 83
Carlton fund and interest
154 31
Marshall fund and interest
101 02
Edwards fund and interest
211 36
Wood fund and interest
309 08
Shed fund and interest
101 08
Coburn fund and interest
100 OI
Wheeler fund and interest
IOI OI
1,706 69
Unpaid bills (estimated)
150 00
Tax abatements (estimated) .
150 00
300 00
Balance, deficit
$25,750 69 8,712 49 GEO. F. SNOW, MARTIN ROBBINS, Auditors.
CHELMSFORD, March 6, 1899.
List of Jurors as Prepared by the Selectmen, March 15, 1899.
Byam, Frank C.
Blaisdell, Irvin A.
Draper, Wm. L.
Daw, Walter
Day, Geo. W.
Dutton, Charles H.
Dix, R. Wilson
Davis, Albert H.
Garland, Samuel J.
Emerson. Harry B.
Howland, Edgar G.
Hodge, Geo. Y.
Lee, Wın. M.
Naylor, Samuel
Parker, Newell E.
Parkhurst, Alfred G.
Perham, Walter
Read, Albert S.
Reed, Arthur E.
Sheehan, Thomas P.
Stetson, Geo. G.
Snow, Geo. F.
Swett, Geo. W.
Sampson, James A.
Smith, Geo. H. (N. C.)
Sweetser, Ervin W.
Sweetser, Herbert C.
Worthen, Frank W.
Warley, John S.
JOSEPH E. WARREN,
Chairman.
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.
MIDDLESEX, SS.
To either of the Constables of the Town of Chelmsford, in said County, GREETING :
In the name of the Commonwealth aforesaid, you are hereby re- quired to notify the legal voters of said Chelmsford to meet at the Town Hall, at Chelmsford Centre, on Monday, the twenty-seventh day of March current, being the fourth Monday in said month, at nine o'clock in the forenoon, then and there to act on the following articles, viz. :
ARTICLE I. To choose a Moderator.
ARTICLE 2. To hear reports of town officers and committees, and act thereon.
ARTICLE 3. To determine the manner of collecting the taxes.
ARTICLE 4. To determine the manner of repairing the highways, townways and bridges.
ARTICLE 5. To choose all necessary town officers.
ARTICLE 6. To act in relation to the list of jurors prepared by the Selectmen.
ARTICLE 7 .. To raise and appropriate such sums of money as may be required to defray town charges for the current year.
ARTICLE 8. To see if the town will authorize the Treasurer to borrow such sums of money as may be required for the demands upon him, in anticipation of the taxes of the current year, and payable therefrom.
ARTICLE 9. To see if the town will vote to grant licenses for the sale of intoxicating liquors for the current year.
ARTICLE IO. To see if the town will authorize the Selectmen to act as its agent in any suit or suits which may arise during the current year ; also in such other matters which may arise requiring in their judgment the action of such agent, and to employ counsel there- for.
54
ARTICLE II. To see if the town will vote to accept the gift of one hundred and fifty dollars, in trust, from Eliza- beth B. K. Jaquith and Edgar G. Howland, ad- ministrators of the estate of Joseph P. Winn, the income of the same to be expended in forever keeping in repair the double burial lot of Elizabeth B. K. Jaquith and Joseph P. Winn in West Chelmsford Cemetery.
ARTICLE 12. To see if the town will vote to accept the gift of one hundred dollars, in trust, from Maria Fletcher Clement, the income of the same to be expended in forever keeping in repair the Gardner Fletcher burial lot in Chelmsford Centre Cemetery.
ARTICLE 13.
To see it the town will vote to accept the gift of two hundred dollars, in trust, from Jerusha J. Shed, the income of the same to be expended in forever keeping in repair the burial lots of John S. Shed and John Shed in Chelmsford Centre Cemetery.
ARTICLE 14.
To see if the town will vote to accept the gift of one hundred dollars, in trust from Elbridge G. Smith, the income of the same to be expended in forever keeping in repair his burial lot, No. 16, in Chelmsford Centre Cemetery.
ARTICLE 15. To see if the town will vote to purchase land for a new cemetery in the Centre village ; lay out and grade the same ; raise and appropriate money for the purpose, or act in relation thereto.
ARTICLE 16. To see if the town will raise and appropriate the sum of one thousand dollars for the purpose of lighting the streets in the several villages of the town, or act in relation thereto.
ARTICLE 17. To see if the town will make an appropriation to the North Chelmsford Library Association, on condition that the books of said library shall be free to all inhabitants of the town, or act in re- lation thereto.
55
ARTICLE 18. To see if the town will vote to appropriate a sum of money to purchase land with buildings thereon adjoining present schoolhouse lot situated at the corner of Silver and School Streets, North village, now owned by C. A. Vinal, or act in relation thereto.
ARTICLE 19.
To see if the town will vote to appropriate a sum of money sufficient to defray the expense of erect- ing a school building on site mentioned in Article 18, according to plans presented by the com- mittee, and choose a building committee to ex- pend said sum, or act in relation thereto.
ARTICLE 20. To see if the town will vote to incur a debt for the sums appropriated in Articles 18 and 19, or any part thereof, or act in relation thereto.
ARTICLE 21. At the request of the Chelmsford Veterans Associa- tion, to see if the town will appropriate the sum of one hundred dollars for the observance of Memorial Day, or act in relation thereto.
ARTICLE 22. At the request of George F. Dyar and others, to see if the 'town will vote to appropriate a sum of money sufficient to purchase land and erect a new school building in District No. 6-East Chelms- ford, or act in relation thereto.
ARTICLE 23. At the request of the School Committee, to see if the town will vote to raise and appropriate a sum of money for the transportation of pupils to and from school in the Town of Chelmsford, the money to be expended at the discretion of the School Committee, or act in relation thereto.
ARTICLE 24. To see what action the town will take in relation to retaining its title to the school-house lot in that part of the town formerly known as School Dis- trict No. 5.
ARTICLE 25. To see if the town will authorize the Selectmen to sell the schoolhouse lot, with building thereon, located in former District No. 7, or act in re- lation thereto.
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ARTICLE 26. At the request of Wilson Waters and others, to see if the town will vote to finish the work of grading, and putting in proper condition the grounds about the Adams Library, raise and appropriate a sum of money therefor, or act in relation thereto.
ARTICLE 27. To see if the town will vote to raise and appropri- ate the sum of three hundred dollars for the en- forcement of the liquor law.
ARTICLE 28. To see if the town will vote to raise and appropri- ate the sum of six hundred dollars to widen and straighten the road leading from the old turnpike at North Chelmsford, to the Westford road near the premises formerly of George F. Penniman ; as ordered by the County Commissioners.
And you are directed to serve this Warrant, by posting up attested copies thereof at the Post Offices in the centre of the town, South Chelmsford, North Chelmsford, West Chelmsford, and at the Schoolhouse at East Chelmsford, ten days at least before the time appointed for holding said meeting.
Hereof fail not, and make return of this Warrant with your doings thereon, to the Town Clerk at the time and place of hold- ing the meeting aforesaid.
Given under our hands this fifteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and ninety-nine.
JOSEPH E. WARREN, ARTHUR H. SHELDON, JOSEPH A. PARKHURST, WILLIAM H. SHEDD, WALTER R. WINNING, Selectmen of Chelmsford.
ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
AND
SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS
OF THE
TOWN OF CHELMSFORD
FOR THE
YEAR 1898=9.
LOWELL, MASS .: COURIER-CITIZEN COMPANY, PRINTERS. I899.
REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
To the Citizens of Chelmsford :-
Your School Committee respectfully submits the following report : For the year ending February 28, 1899, the School Com- mittee charges itself with cash placed at its disposal as follows :- Schools (teaching, fuel, care of buildings) . $8,000 00
Text books and supplies
750 00 Incidentals
Apparatus
100 00
Superintendent
450 00
Transportation
500 00
Cash from sale of old books and supplies
34 07
Dog tax.
470 25
Income of school fund. 244 43
On account of district superintendent.
750 00
Total cash from all sources $11,548 75
And credits itself with expenditures as follows :-
Teaching . $7,061 45
Fuel .
419 83
Care of buildings. 486 89 $7,968 17
Text books and supplies 825 74
Incidentals 813 12
Apparatus
135 00
Superintendent. 900 00
Transportation 568 80 3,241 66
Total expenditures
$11,209 83
Balance unexpended 338 92
$11,548 75
250 00
4
The average expenditure per pupil, computed on the average membership of the schools (excluding transportation), is $17.60.
During the year, all the schools on all occasions have been visited by not more than 125 different adult citizens of Chelmsford, outside of those directly connected with school management. Of this number seven are legal male voters. The criticisms have been numerous and various. But before the citizens of Chelmsford can offer any intelligent criticism of our public schools, either just or valuable to the School Committee or Superintendent, they must become far better informed than the above facts indicate that they are, (1) as to the methods of instruction used in the public schools ; (2) as to the reasons for using these methods ; (3) as to the results obtained by these methods.
While transportation has not been satisfactory in some respects, the advantages of better instruction are so apparent that the School Committee unanimously considers transportation the permanent policy of the town, and recommends, an increased appropriation. Your committee unanimously approves the report of District Superintendent. Geo. H. Knowlton, and suggests a careful con- sideration of its recommendations.
It will be seen from the following school calendar that the high school year will be extended to 40 weeks, as required by law. The earlier dates of beginning and later dates of closing terms are for the high schools. The possibility of a new school building at North Chelmsford and some repairs in progress at Chelmsford Centre will disarrange this calendar somewhat for the spring term.
1899.
March 13-20 .- Spring term begins.
April 19 .- Patriots' Day, holiday.
May 30 -Memorial Day, holiday.
June 16 .- Spring term closes.
Aug. 28-Sept. 11 .- Winter term begins.
November 30 .- Thanksgiving Day, holiday.
December 22 .- Christmas recess begins.
1900.
January 1 .- Christmas recess closes.
February 22 .- Washington's Birthday, holiday.
5
February 23-March 2. - Winter term closes. March 12 .- Spring term begins. April 19 .- Patriots' Day, holiday. May 30 .- Memorial Day, holiday. June 8-15 .- Spring term closes.
D. P. BYAM, H. R. HODSON, STEWART MACKAY, E. H. CHAMBERLIN, School Committee.
SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
For the Year ending Feb. 28, 1899.
To the School Committee of the Town of Chelmsford, and through you to the Inhabitants of the Town, I make my third annual report.
STATISTICS.
Population of the town (1895), 3,215.
Valuation of the town (1898), $2,263,310.00.
Number of children between 5 and 15, 562.
Number of public schools maintained for the whole or a part of the year, 21.
Number of schools open at any one time, 19.
Number of buildings now in use, 8.
Number of pupils enrolled, 770.
Number over 15, 58.
Average number belonging, 602.52.
Average daily attendance, 541,51.
Per cent. of attendance, 899.
Two small schools were closed in September, and one opened at the Centre. In December one more was opened at the North in a new store.
BUILDINGS.
As the matter of additional room at the North is now in the hands of a committee, that is to report upon plans for the same, it is believed that the town will make the needed provision at some time during the next year.
7
The present enrollment at the East school is about 50. The number now transported from there, other than those attending the high school, is 10. It will be seen that there are now pupils enough for two rooms and two teachers. The number of pupils in this locality is rapidly increasing. so the town must be looking either towards a considerable increase in the transportation plan, or to the erection of another four-room building in that section.
The rooms in the Centre building are now all occupied, one of them being used for a physical laboratory.
There are two school buildings, fairly good, and one poor one unoccupied.
TRANSPORTATION.
The system of transportation has now been tried for two terms, and people with children have a chance to speak intelli- gently of its desirability.
Some pupils at the North that walked last year, both from up river and fiom down river, have been transported this year.
At the Centre pupils have been received from the East and from the two closed schools, Byam's and North Row.
An examination of the ages of pupils shows that those com- ing in from the small schools average younger in their grades than those at the Centre : this would speak well for small schools, but, on the other hand, the work, particularly in language, history, writ- ten work and geography, is decidedly inferior, and they do not show equal power and facility in work. This is true to the extent that the question is seriously raised whether or not they should be put back one grade when they first come in.
There can be no question but that transportation means im- proved scholarship and improved training
The following statement shows the pupils transported to the Centre other than the high school pupils :
From the East, 10 Grade IX, 2 ; Grade VIII, S.
From Byam's, 14. Grade IX, 2 ; Grade VI, I ; Grade V, I ; Grade IV, 4 ; Grade III, 1 ; Grade II, 3 ; Grade I, 2.
From North Row, 11. Grade VII, 4; Grade VI, 1 ; Grade IV, 2 ; Grade III, 3 ; Grade II, I.
Total number transported, 35.
Concerning transportation Secretary Hill of the State Board of Education has this to say :
8
" The law authorizing towns to pay for the transportation of pupils was enacted in 1869. The object of the law was to favor the establishment of better equipped, better supported and better taught schools, without, however, increasing necessarily their cost. This could be done by the consolidation of scattered and feeble schools, the maintenance of fewer but better buildings, and the hiring of a smaller number of higher grade teachers. But the difficulty to be overcome was the disposition of children remote from the central schools. This was met by the transportation law. The growth of the transportation expenditure is largely the measure of the extent to which consolidation is carried. To a slight extent it is due to a possible increasing indulgence to pupils who can walk the required distance to school, but whose parents are averse to their doing so.
" While vexatious questions not unfrequently arise about the necessity, the kind, the extent, the distance and the cost of trans- portation, the general policy of transportation as a factor in the solution of the question as to what can be done for small ungraded schools in sparsely settled regions of the State is proving to be very helpful.
"Schooling is made convenient by locating the schoolhouse near the child or transporting the child to the schoolhouse What is a reasonable walking distance the committee must decide for itself. The secretary, when asked his opinion about reasonable distances, inclines to the view of his predecessor, that little children should not be made to walk much over a mile, although older children of grammar school age may walk a mile and a half or even more. But numerous conditions may serve to modify this opinion. If for little children the mile lies through lonely, unfre- quented, wooded or difficult roads, it would be too great or too dangerous a distance for them to walk. If, on the other hand, the way lies over a well-traveled thoroughfare, with good sidewalks, and houses all along the road, it would not be a hardship for the children to walk a considerably greater distance than one mile. Transportation should not be used to reduce sturdiness, self-reliance and reasonable self-denial in boys and girls. It cannot be made equally convenient for all families. It often has to be partial for some while complete for others. In cases of genuine doubt, the leaning should be towards the convenience of the child.
" The first returns of expenditures under the law were not made until 1888-89. For twenty years they were not large enough to attract special notice as indicating a growing movement to con- solidate widely scattered, thinly attended and decadent schools. This movement has gathered surprising momentum during the past few years, as the table shows, since the sums expended for transportation may be taken as fair, though not a perfect measure of the extent of the consolidation that has been effected."
9
The expense as reported in 1888-89 Was $22,118.38; in 1896-97 it was $105,317.13 ; in 1897-98, $123,032.41.
SCHOOL LEGISLATION.
The year 1898 was prolific in important school legislation. Among the new laws are the following :
I. Towns whose valuation is above $2,500,000 may unite with towns whose valuation is below in employing a superintendent of schools, with proportionate State help to the latter.
2. Towns may authorize their school committees to arrange such unions for the employment of a superintendent of schools as may seem to them advantageous.
3. No child under fourteen shall be employed in a factory or workshop.
4. All schools must be kept at least eight months in the year.
5. The distinction between first-grade and second-grade high schools is abolished. The standard for high school instruction everywhere involves one or more courses of study at least four years long, forty weeks of schooling in the year, and work that shall prepare both for general culture and for higher institutions. A town may meet the standard wholly in its own high school, or partly in its own high school, and partly in an outside high school, or, if not required to maintain a high school of its own, wholly in in outside high school.
6. Provision is made for the payment to towns of the tuition and transportation of certain children placed or kept in these towns an a charitable way and sent to their schools.
7. The compulsory age limits are changed from eight and fourteen to seven and fourteen, and the period of attendance becomes the entire time the public day schools are in session.
8. The time of taking the school census is changed to Sep- tember I.
9. The truancy laws are simplified and strengthene.J.
IO The system of truancy by-laws is abolished.
10
II. In keeping the school registers teachers are required :-
a. To keep the registers of attendance daily.
b. To properly fill up, complete, and return the registers before receiving payment for the two weeks preceding the close of any single term.
c. To keep all registers at the schools and open to inspection at all times during the school hours.
d. To omit no pupil's name in counting the number of per- sons belonging to the school, and the number of absences of such pupil until it is known that the pupil has withdrawn from school without intention of returning, or in the absence of such knowl- edge, until ten consecutive days of absence have been recorded.
HIGH SCHOOL.
It will be seen that some action must be taken in this town to fulfill the requirements for a high school.
At present our highest endeavor in this direction, with per- haps the exception of one or two pupils, is confined to doing the required work of the first two years.
At least two years more schooling must be given to all those who desire it. Shall it be done at home, or shall we pay Lowell sixty dollars a year per pupil for such schooling ? This is a ques- tion that I believe should be decided by a vote of the town.
My own opinion agrees with that of those who have tried the matter under similar circumstances, and of others competent to judge of whom I have made inquiries, and is that two teachers can- not properly do the work of a four-years high school, fitting pupils for college ; and that any attempt to do so means the subverting of the best interests of the many who are and ought to be in a high school, to the interests of the few who are making special prepara- tion for college and professional life.
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