USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Ipswich > Town annual report of Ipswich 1928 > Part 7
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175
II.
117
121
144
159
201
199
184
165
154
163
182
159
163
III.
133
110
117
127
140
144
174
195
199
189
149
179
172
IV.
87
114
120
83
130
136
147
130
155
142
195
155
168
V.
81
80
104
133
107
166
134
127
140
177
141
173
145
VI.
65
93
75
94
134
111
148
127
125
129
166
163
180
VII.
77
60
63
82
90
117
131
110
124
135
127
139
133
VIII.
66
68
49
53
55
59
87
104
99
102
104
93
119
IX.
80
80
75
64
52
69
71
76
113
105
108
117
95
X.
58
43
37
39
47
37
52
60
57
69
69
76
81
XI.
37
36
27
32
25
33
32
33
57
60
60
65
60
· XII.
34
27
28
26
25
21
32
28
27
40
46
47
50
Post Graduate
3
3
3
2
3
3
Totals
975
996
1000
1072
1219
1307
1390
1378
1465
1501
1521
1570
1544
Annual Ine
21
4
72
147
88
83
*12
87
36
20
49
*26
*Decrease.
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
.
6
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
COMMITTEE'S REPORT
To the Citizens of Ipswich :
We respectfully submit to you a brief outline of the activities and conditions of your schools during the year 1928.
In accordance with the general plan of economy practised by the various departments of the town, your committee presented to the Finance Committee for their approval, a budget which was hardly large enough to carry on the ordinary expenditures of the schools. In consequence our supply of textbooks has suffered from lack of replacement as well as of new books. This con- dition, must necessarily be taken care of during the com- ing year. Although the physical up-keep of the buildings has not suffered, nevertheless there are various improve- ments which must be made this year.
Your committee feels that a start, at least, should be made on the grading and beautification of the grounds at the Shatswell School.
We have two basement rooms which never should exist at the Burley School. However, they were made necessary by the large number of pupils in this section of the town and in consequence must be made livable. During the past two years, the teachers as well as some of the pupils have at frequent intervals been absent be- cause of illness due to the dampness and cold drafts in these rooms. The Committee has already made arrange-
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IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
ments for certain repairs which, when completed, will probably take care of this condition.
During the past year, the State Fire Inspector ordered a fire escape erected on the Manning Building, otherwise the use of the hall would be forbidden. This would eliminate Chapel exercises, which foremost edu- cators consider one of the most valuable parts of the school curriculum. Also various classes are held here due to the overcrowded condition of this school. And this brings the thought which every citizen must consider soon, namely, a new high school. It is not a question as to whether or not we wish a new building, it must be erected soon in order to modernize our laboratories, etc., thus giving our pupils a fair chance with those of other schools.
Entrance to the various colleges today has become so keen and selective that only those pupils fortified by the instructions of a good corps of teachers together with modern school equipment, are going to make the grade. We have teachers second to none, who are certainly doing wonderful work, considering the hardship under which they work.
In the elementary schools, everything is running smoothly and efficiently as in the past. There were a great many absentees during January due to the epidemic of colds but so far this year there has been no serious outbreak of disease.
A great many citizens thought that with the closing of the Ipswich Mills there would be a serious falling off in the attendance at the schools, but such has not been the case, the difference being only about twenty pupils less.
The accompanying table will show that Ipswich has certainly been fortunate in keeping down the cost of
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IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
school maintenance. Almost without exception every community reports an increase in the cost per pupil dur- ing the last five years, but instead there is shown a reduc- tion for Ipswich.
In closing we would like to say as we have in the past that this is your committee acting as your agents, and we welcome any just criticism which may contribute to the betterment of our schools.
Respectfully submitted,
ERNEST J. SMITH, Chairman.
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT
To the School Committee of Ipswich, Mass.,
Gentlemen :
Agreeably to custom and to the requirements of law, the twenty-seventh annual report coming from the office of the Superintendent of Schools is hereby submitted for your consideration.
A summary of the work of the different schools- their achievements and failures, their outstanding needs, and their suggestions for improvements-will be fur- nished by their respective principals. These I shall not revise nor duplicate, but shall confine myself to specific needs and to matters of general policy for the schools as a whole.
Owing to the anticipated closing of "The Mill" and the expected falling off in the school enrollment, every
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IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
item of the school budget was pared right to the bone. The total appropriation asked for was reduced from that of the preceding year by nearly $6,000. This amount, it was estimated, would be sufficient to carry us through the year, barring emergencies, without appreciable lack of supplies of any kind.
But the enrollment did not fall off as expected. On December 31st we had 1,544 pupils as against 1,570 for the preceding year. This placed us in very straightened circumstances. Stocks of supplies of all kinds ran very low and some of our shelves were bare before the closing of the year.
It was planned that every department should bear its proportional share of the reduction, but even on this basis, it was found that some items of our inventory de- preciated faster than others. This is especially true of our school buildings which, in addition to the ordinary hard usage, have to withstand the wear and tear of the elements. It is to the needs of this department-that of Buildings and Grounds-that I wish first to call your at- tention in order that larger future outlay may not be necessary and that further deterioration and loss may be prevented.
If we take each of the school buildings in order the Manning and Winthrop group claims first consideration.
BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS
After more than fifty years of continuous wear, it is to be expected that the roof of the Manning Building should show unmistakable signs of needed repair. The surface of the metal work of the ventilating shafts should be thoroughly repaired and given two or more coats of weather-resisting paint. The gutters that collect the
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IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
water from the several roof surfaces have rotted out and in some cases are completely gone. The conductors which take the water from the gutters are in most in- stances disconnected or rotted away. All these items should have immediate attention and prompt action if the ceiling and walls of the upper hall are to be pro- tected from further damage. With the replacement of a few slates, this building-roof would be in good service- able condition for years to come. As a measure of safety, window guards should be installed in the classroom back of the stage.
The Winthrop Building needs new steps at the east- ern entrance. Some device to enclose the entrance to the Manual Training room that will effectually prevent the packing of snow and ice in the vestibule during every storm is also needed. The school yard at the back of this building is very springy ground and does not dry off sufficiently until very late in the season. The basement windows in this section of the building have been bricked up half-way preparatory to raising the grade and thus turning the water away from the building. Several loads of good gravel will be needed to complete the work. When this is done much of the mud and dirt that goes into the building on the children's feet will be avoided and the playground area much increased.
At the Burley School, storm porches should be pro- vided to prevent the destruction of the four basement doors which open to the playground in the rear of the building. The situation is much exposed to the strong northerly winds and the opening and closing of these doors at such times is far beyond the strength of a child or even a man. As a consequence we are frequently obliged to replace broken glass or a broken door. I think one of these doors has been replaced two or three times.
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IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
Broken glass or boarded-up windows present an untidy appearance and cause no little discomfort and incon- venience. Four good storm porches would prevent this destruction and pay for themselves in a very few years. The fire escape connected with the building has had nothing done to it since it was established. It should have two coats of the very best paint. The roof of the · vestibule needs to be repaired and the cornice above the front doors needs to be repaired and painted. The floor- ing in the corridors of this building also needs attention. With slight repairs they may do for another year.
Some few repairs have been made recently at the Payne School. It was voted by the Committee to replace the old doors by new ones and to provide door locks that would not endanger the lives of the children in case of fire. It was found upon examination that such a pro- cedure would be quite expensive. The doors were of odd size, and in addition to the excessive cost would require more time than the vacation period would allow. The doors have been repaired ; new locks have been provided and beyond the repainting of the wainscoating and a few loads of gravel about the front steps, little will need to be done for the coming year.
Of all our school buildings the Shatswell School is the only one that is actually disgraced by its environment. The crumbling wall, the scraggly trees, unfinished drive -. way, and the mounds of earth covered with burdocks and weeds should not make the setting for a new building whose architectural beauty is admitted by all. For the sake of the neighborhood in which it stands, as well as for the sake of the children who are becoming accus- tomed to such unsightly surroundings, some sincere effort should be made at once to remedy the situation. This
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IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
will be a very simple matter, as the situation lends itself most favorably to a gratifying improvement. A variety of trees and shrubs has already been promised and will be available as soon as the grounds are made ready for planting. The wainscoting in the upper corridor and a strip of the basement walls should have a coat of paint.
A few loads of gravel about the steps and along the southerly side of the building are all that are needed at the Linebrook School.
SUPPLIES
As has already been stated our supplies of every description during the last month of the year now closed were practically exhausted. All requisitions for such articles as paper, pencils, pens, etc., that are in daily use, we were obliged persistently to refuse. This has resulted in inconvenience, discouragement, and actual loss of an enthusiastic teaching force; but the burden of loss has fallen upon the children themselves.
There was no attempt nor disposition to be arbitrary in the distribution of supplies, neither was any favorit- ism shown. No attempt was made to teach a lesson in economy; neither did we charge the teachers generally with wastefulness, though there is a great difference in individual teachers in this respect. We could not deliver the goods. We didn't have them and we couldn't buy more without exceeding our appropriation, which could not lawfully be done. This explanation is made in re- sponse to some of the sharp criticisms that have been made, and to allay somewhat the hard feelings engen- dered between some of the teachers themselves and the supply department. Such feelings are perfectly natural and were to be expected, especially by those teachers
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IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
who are most ambitious to do good, efficient work and to reach first the desired goal.
With the opening of the new year all this will have passed to the realm of ancient history, whose recurrence, I trust will not be noted for a long time to come. The ugly facts are these :
That this item in last year's budget was inadequate for present conditions, and that estimates made on per- centage basis of enrollment are not always dependable. Let us hope that this year's budget will be amply suffi- cient to furnish our schools with a reasonable supply of all necessary materials.
TEACHERS' SALARIES
This is one of the most exasperating and baffling subjects with which the superintendent has to deal. What kind of salary schedule shall he recommend to his Board ? He doesn't know of any that are permanently desirable and workable. He does know, however, that every one of those recommended and in operation is far from satisfactory to all the parties concerned; that the disadvantages in too many instances far outweigh the advantages claimed ; that no system, formula, or method yet devised, but must be modified and revised to meet individual and community attitudes and requirements. The fact that the human element is so largely the domi- nating factor in the consideration, renders the whole matter one of exceeding difficulty.
Then, too, the attitude of enlightened communities has changed somewhat in the last ten years. The teacher is no longer looked upon as a commodity or a piece of machinery to be secured by sharp commercial bargain- ing at the lowest possible price. No school board,
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IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
worthy of the name, entertains such notions now. No community of ordinary intelligence will tolerate any such sordid conceptions of a teacher's real worth. For the converse of this is equally true. No better or truer standard by which the status or genuine advancement of a community may be judged, can be found or desired, than that evidenced by the degree of sincere regard in which it holds its teachers.
Let me refer you again to Henry VanDyke's splendid tribute to the Unknown Teacher. I used it in last year's report and so do not wish to repeat it here.
Upon what qualifications should the employment and advancement of teachers in service be made ? First of all comes clean, upright Christian character. Without this no person should be allowed to teach. The silent influence emanating from such a source pervades the lives of children far beyond our power to value or appre- ciate. A mother said to me a short time since, "Your teachers have made a little gentleman of my boy in less than two years' time." And this is what I mean; it comes unconsciously, without noise or tumult, and by its own superabounding power reshapes a life to higher and better things. And then we want personality, a full prep- aration, fidelity, loyalty, and the right attitude toward school associates and the community. Add to these a broad generous spirit and a disposition to co-operate, tact, a sense of humor and vision. Enclose all these, with a thousand other good attributes, in a strong body and you have the beginnings of a good teacher. The rest will come with the wisdom born of experience and ma- turity. Some of our teachers have these qualifications in an unusual degree and they should be recognized.
Fortunately the annual turnover among our teachers has been unusually small. The Misses Meehan and Pea-
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IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
body married, Miss Marion Charles passed away after a week's illness, and the Misses Stone and Marr of the High School went to Clifton, New Jersey at an advance in salary of $500 each with a prospective increase of $100 per year for the next seven years. These last inform us that their living expenses are much less than they were in Ipswich. The loss incurred by this overturn of teach- ers can hardly be overestimated. Where the difference in salary is so wide as in the cases just cited, we cannot expect to meet the competition. But we can and should make provision to retain those whose character and loyalty and uncomplaining service of many years stand- ing have justly entitled them to some pecuniary consid- eration.
Fortunately many of our teachers are as keenly alive to their responsibilities as are the natural mothers of these children themselves. After putting on and taking off the outer garments of forty or more children two, three and four times a day, pulling on last year's rubbers over this year's shoes, drying cold, wet feet, warning against the dangers of the street, we should realize that after she has said "good night" and turned to prepare the next day's work, she is fully entitled to whatever compensation she receives. Nor does the monotony of such routine work destroy those finer motherly instincts which should be the proud possession of every woman. Here is a case in point. It was the day for making trans- fers of classes promoted to higher grades, and in due course I came to a certain school room to convoy those who had been advanced to their new quarters. The teacher gave me the list, marshaled the children into the yard, and after a word of counsel started them on their way. As she stood in the doorway and saw them march- ing down the street she turned to me and said, "I hate
16
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
to see them go." She may have long since forgotten the incident, but it remains with me as a pleasant memory and as an enduring inspiration.
Here is another case that should not pass unnoticed, and here I must by reason of circumstances be more ex- plicit : The principal and teachers thought it would be a good thing for the Shatswell School to have a piano of its very own. So the teachers and the parents of the children attending that school went to work and by means of sandwich sales and field day exhibitions, se- cured the sum of three hundred dollars with which they made the first purchase payment on a piano costing net four hundred and fifty dollars. The principal informs me that through a generous contribution by Mrs. Robert S. Kimball she expects soon to make another one hun- dred dollar payment. The remaining fifty dollars will be pledged by the principal and teachers of that school. And so it is through all our schools, principals and most teachers are making personal sacrifices for the sake of the children and their schools. These have assisted very appreciably in raising and maintaining the high standing of our schools, and by every principle of right and justice they are deserving of some financial encouragement. One of the teachers in the high school is receiving less than the maximum salary though she has given several long years of untiring and uncomplaining effort to the best interests of the school. You, Committee, are cognizant of the fact that all increases in salaries have been recom- mended on the impersonal basis of merit and from a sense of justice in each individual case. You are also aware that the average salary of our elementary teach- ers is something like $240 below the average of the cor- responding groups for the States as a whole. I wish to call your attention to this important phase of your duties
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IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
and trust that you may be successful in securing an ap- propriation that will enable you to deal equitably with this situation. The workman is worthy of his living.
PROFESSIONAL IMPROVEMENT OF TEACHERS IN SERVICE
To some laymen, and to not a few schoolmen, the above caption may seem to be overworked and with them, at least, to have lost some of its former significance. But such is not the real fact. More teachers are taking ad- vantage of the opportunities offered by the various edu- cational agencies of today than ever before. More than this, these agencies have been multiplying by leaps and bounds, not only in this country but in foreign lands as well. England, France, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, and Italy, as well as some of the Mid-European States are vying with each other in offering attractive courses at very attractive rates. This in itself is a most worthwhile effort, and will unquestionably result in a clearer under- standing and a broadening influence of goodwill among all the nations of the world. Nearly all of our educa- tional institutions of every sort and name are helping to forward this great movement. Universities and colleges from the highest to the lowest rank have opened their doors and welcomed with open arms, without respect to social standing, nationality, or age, all those who sincere- ly wish to advance their educational equipment. Summer schools and schools of correspondence are doing a similar work. Any person of suitable mental capacity may by persistent effort secure a college diploma with a minimum of resident studies. More people are attending night schools, and doing work in correspondence schools and
..
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IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
university extension courses than are enrolled in all the colleges and universities combined. It would seem that all America is going to school.
A few excerpts from an investigation made by the New York Times will give some idea of the size and ex- tent of this prodigious educational movement.
"Looking over the statistics of attendance at the Summer Schools in all the States for 1928, one is im- pressed by the number of teachers who gave over a good portion of their long vacation to study. The total esti- mated number of teachers, principals, supervisors, and administrative officers in the United States is but little short of a million-900,700. In Oklahoma, where there are nearly 19,300 teachers, there are 17,191 students in the Summer Schools and 12,171 are taking courses in education. Oklahoma teachers are also to be found in schools outside of the State, even as far away as New York."
"Quite apart from what the Summer Schools are doing for teachers professionally, they are becoming great centers of adult education, and as such are to be hailed as leaders in this newest phase of educational ex- pansion. Moreover, in such places as New York they are bringing together men and women of maturity from all parts of the United States and so promoting an under- standing between East and West, North and South, such as the casual and superficial acquaintance of mere travel cannot give. The Summer School population has grown in the last three years, and the result is a by-product of great value."
Many of our teachers are following out this line of work by taking Saturday morning courses at the colleges, or summer courses at the various colleges and normal
13
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
schools. All this work is of college rank and carries a credit towards a degree. One of our teachers has de- voted nine of her summer vacations to this work and has at last received her diploma.
For many years past our teachers have taken during the winter term a special course along some line of edu- cational work, and the expense, barring the cost of a single textbook, has been borne by the School Depart- ment. This year, after consulting with some of the prin- cipals, it was thought wiser to take some review courses, to be conducted by some member of the faculty. We feel that such a plan possesses considerable merit as it served a four-fold purpose. In the first place there will be no expense to the department. It will help to refresh and fortify our minds about certain phases of subject matter mostly forgotten ; it will serve to keep alive the desire and obligation of educational progress and improvement; and, being conducted by one of our own number, will make for professional solidarity and goodwill.
Never before have I appreciated the value of these review courses so much as at the present time. With more than 300 pupils absent from schools and with 10 teachers on the sick list, the situation called for a diversity of ability such as the isolated teacher of a single grade does not usually possess. It is solely through the ability of some of our primary teachers to carry on the work of the higher grades that we were able to save the situation. Herein lies the justification of these review courses. Ad- vance courses in subjects beyond those of the grades taught would be an unfailing source of strength to every teacher. The primary teacher's view point should ex- tend through all the grades above her own if she is to lay securely a foundation broad enough for the higher grades
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IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
to build upon. Potentially it would become a source of much needed power.
EDUCATION WEEK
Our celebration of this event was postponed one week from the time set by the National Association, as that week included the national election and it would have been impossible for the janitor to prepare the hall for election purposes and then clear it again for the school without losing too much of our time. Moreover, Armistice Day would fall upon the first day of the week selected, and we earnestly desired to combine and co- operate with each and all of our local organizations hav- ing for their objective the promotion of good clean Amer- ican citizenship. I am happy to say that most of our local agencies welcomed the idea of combining forces, and these contributed most effectively in making our week's program a genuinely community affair.
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