USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Ipswich > Town annual report of Ipswich 1944 > Part 11
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Metered sales to Private Consumers
Municipal revenues
19,686.64
$ 158,506.22
Operating Expenses (Itemized list willbe found in the Report of the Town Accountant)
129,250.87
Gross income for the year $ 29,255.35
Interest paid on notes
32.08
Net income transferred to profit & loss
$29,223.27
ELECTRIC LIGHT DEPARTMENT
EXHIBIT C
PROFIT AND LOSS STATEMENT
Dr.
Cr.
Notes paid Paid to Town Treasure in Lieu of Taxes
$ 2.000.00
Credit Balance Jan. 1, 1944
29,000.00
$230,895.17 Credit for Year 1944 as Profit (Exhibt B) 29,223.27
Balance from Exhibit A as Profit in the Liability and Surplus Account 229,118.44
$260,118.44
$260,118.44
18
ELECTRIC LIGHT DEPARTMENT
ELECTRIC LIGHT STATEMENT
George E. Hodgkins. Acting Treasurer & Collector 1944
Amounts Received :
Amounts paid :
Domestic Light $ 54,183.66
Orders $ 111,089.32
Domestic Light- Little Neck 2,695.86
Commercial Light 85,103.56
Town Buildings 1,884.65
Water Pumping 2,400.00
Miscellaneous 1,315.50
Town of Rowley 9.892.00
$157,475.23
Street Lighting
Appropriation 5,400.00
Transferred to Depreciation Fund 25,375.54
Transfers authorized by vote of Town Meeting : Maturing Debt
11,000.00
Post War Rehabili-
tation Fund
18,000.00
Balance January 1,
1944 32,103.08
$194,978.31
Dalance December
30. 1944 25,917.20
$194.978.31
Notes 2,000.00
Interest 35.00
Refunds
1,561.25
$
114,685.57
19
ELECTRIC LIGHT DEPARTMENT
The Collector has the following bills for collections :
Domestic Light
$3,024.16
Domestic Light-
Litte Neck
388.99
Town Buildings
121.40
Commercial Light
1,581.37
Miscellaneous
137.71
$ 5,253.63
Commitment December 30, 1944
12,902.49
$18,156.12
DEPRECIATION FUND
1944
Amount of fund January 1, 1944
$52,670.72
Transferred from Operating Cash Account 1944 25,375.54
$78,046.26
SPECIAL ACCOUNT Electric Light Meter Deposit Account 1944
Amount deposited in Ipswich Savings Bank
January 1, 1944
$4,910.17
Meters
328.57
Income
123.28
$5,362.02
Refunds
242.58
$5,119.44
20
ELECTRIC LIGHT DEPARTMENT
Year
Total K. W.H.
K.W.H. used for Street lights
Town paid for Street
Cost per K. W.H.
output
lights
to average Domestic Consumer
1924
584568
97445
$10,834.00
.12
1925
662012
103855
11,014.00
.12
1926
716949
115760
11,172.00
.11
1927
833290
115265
10,990.00
.10
1928
949064
156623
11,096.00
.09
1929
1093897
231550
9,700.00
.09
1930
1417658
239820
12,100.00
.071/2
1931
1634098
219140
10,000.00
.071/2
1932
1593265
222650
10,340.00
.071/2
1933
1718691
227300
10,000.00
.051/2
1934
1898632
225810
10,000.00
.051/2
1935
2091934
226350
8,700.00
.051/2
1936
274467
232400
8,000.00
051/2
1937
3034658
225520
7,300.00
.04
1938
3038192
238760
6,000.00
.04
1939
3247741
244390
6,200.00
.04
1940
3436689
245000
5,600.00
.04
1941
3920157
283169
6,400.00
.04
1942
4908329
211970
5,800.00
.04
1943
6176095
231390
5,200.00
03/4
1944
7979105
281720
5.400.00
.0334
21
ELECTRIC LIGHT DEPARTMENT
Returned to Town to Reduce Taxes $
Outstand-
Total cost of
ing
Debt
Plant
Value of Plant after Depreciation
$45,000.00
$125,276.38
$107,695.59
39,150.00
133,349.10
112,010.31
33,300.00
140,657.19
113,984.44
67,450.00
195,197.57
175,581.82
58,600.00
203,922.1.0
179,591.43
50,750.00
215,639.52
192,304.29
78,900.00
277,451.34
269,998.22
78,550.00
282,868.58
269,805.93
66,700.00
297,997.87
278,859.17
3,000.00
54,850.00
301,529.83
272,980.19
68,000.00
301,208.27
266,375.84
55,500.00
316,605.60
273,250.96
38,000.00
332,321.40
278,620.63
8,800.00
56.500.00
404,881.65
340,363.28
10,000.00
45,000.00
409,547.26
332,882.44
11,000.00
33,500.00
418,265.14
329,313.90
11,000.00
23,000.00
428,583.67
329,355.94
11,000.00
16,000.00
485,351.82
376,990.39
8,161.68
9,000.00
505,053.48
380,034.06
13,838.32
2,000.00
505,053.48
357,350.54
29,000.00
513,473.81
338,752.89
22
ELECTRIC LIGHT DEPARTMENT
ELECTRIC LIGHT DEPARTMENT
There was generated nearly 8 million K. W. hours of electricity at the Power Plant during the year 1944, an increase of 21 per cent over the previous year. This was done with the same machinery and labor as we had in 1942 when the out- put of K. W. hours was 51/2 million and represents an increase in the three year period of 32 per cent. The Town was for- tunate in having installed in 1941 a new generating unit with- out which we would not have been able to supply the demands for electric power called for by the Sylvania Plant and Robinson Shipyard.
Not withstanding the added costs of both labor and fuel the increased consumption of electricity has made increased revenues and in keeping with the policies of the Department an adjustment has been made in the rates charged to the commercial consumers, the reduction ranging from 12 to 15 per cent.
More than ever we have been restricted by the War Production Board as to the purchase of supplies such as trans- formers, wire and meters and also in reference to extensions to the system. The W.P.B. prohibited the installation and light- ing of outdoor decorations for the Christmas holidays and have now prohibited all sign or window lighting in order to save fuel. It is rather difficult for us to have to refuse an applicant who desires to connect an electric range or to make an extension or wants a new street light installed, or to notify a merchant that he cannot use his window or sign lighting but if it helps the war effort, we all want to do our best.
GEORGE E. HODGKINS ALEXANDER B. C. MULHOLLAND
CHESTER A. BOLLES Water & Light Commissioners.
CHARLES A. MALLARD, Manager.
23
ELECTRIC LIGHT DEPARTMENT
RATES IN EFFECT JANUARY 1, 1945
Domestic Service
5 c per KWH for the first 25 KWH per month
4 c per KWH for the next
25 KWH per month
3 c per KWH for the next 100 KWH per month
2 c per KWH for allover 150 KWH per month
Minimum charge 50c per month.
10 per cent discount, except on minimum bills, if payment is received on or before the 20th day of the month. No discount allowed when arrears are due.
Commercial Service
5 c per KWH for the first 30 KWH per month
4 c per KWH for the next 70 KWH per month
3 c per KWH for the next 500. KWH per month
2 c per KWH for all over 600 KWH per month
Minimum charge $1.00 per month for the first H.P. or fraction thereof of connected load and 50c per month for each additional H.P.
10 per cent discount, except on minimum bills, if pay- ment is received on or before the 20th day of the month.
No discount allowed when arrears are due.
.
TOWN OF IPSWICH
Annual Report of the
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
MA
SS
ES
THE BIRTHPLACE OT AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE
FOR THE YEAR 1944
Stanley A. Hull Printing Co.
3
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
Term Expires
HERMAN W. KYES 1947 JAMES R. MARSH 1947
WILLIAM F. HAYES 1946
GEORGE H. BOUCHARD 1946
PAUL R. RAUPACH 1945
DR. FREDERICK C. WILDER 1945
WILLIAM F. HAYES Chairman
FRANK L. COLLINS, M.D. School Physician
MURIEL E. MEYER, R.N. . School Nurse
SUB-COMMITTEES OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE
Playground Mr. Bouchard
Athletics
Mr. Bouchard and Mr. Raupach
Finance
Mr. Marsh and Mr. Kyes
Textbooks and Teachers Mr. Raupach and Dr. Wilder
Supplies . Dr. Wilder and Mr. Kyes
Dr. Wilder and Mr. Kyes
Transportation
Building and Grounds Mr. Raupach and Mr. Marsh
Insurance
Mr. Marsh and Mr. Bouchard
The Chairman of the School Committee is ex-officio a member of all sub-committees.
HARRY S. MERSON. . Superintendent and Purchasing Agent ELIZABETH WITHAM . Secretary OFFICE Ipswich High School
OFFICE HOURS
School Days from 3:30 to 5:00
and by appointment
4
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
To the Citizens of the Town of Ipswich :
The following statement of the Superintendent of Schools, together with the appended data, constitutes the report of the School Committee of Ipswich for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1944.
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT
To the School Committee of the Town of Ipswich
Gentlemen :
During the past year the School Department has engaged in a multitude of activities, many of which have been called to the attention of the School Board and through the Board to the notice of the public from time to time. All of these diverse activities cannot be mentioned within the space of this report. Since, however, the report is in a sense an ac- counting to the citizens of Ipswich who support the edu- cational program, it should contain mention of changes that have occurred in the school program during the year; discussion, rather more than cursory, of the actions of the School Department which seem to have implications for the future; and reference to projects that seem to exem- plify the philosophy we work under. If less reference than usual is here made to basic matters like the philosophy which underlies our public schools, the courses of study on the vari- ous levels of learning, our concept of discipline, or the specific adaptations which are being made in the several schools to instructional problems, it is because much has already been said about them in recent annual reports. There is no occa- sion to gainsay it; we have not space here to repeat it.
5
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
RESIGNATIONS, APPOINTMENTS, AND
NEW ASSIGNMENTS
Since the last annual report was submitted a number of important changes have been made in the teaching staff :
Miss Katharine Sullivan, at her retirement on pension at the close of schools in June, completed a remarkable career of fifty-one years of continuous service in the Public Schools of Ipswich. A powerful advocate of the public schools, she believed thoroughly that their opportunity lies in making meaningful the tenet of democracy that each individual, re- gardless of race or economic status, should have a chance to grow to his full stature as a human being. Miss Sullivan, in her personal relationship with her pupils, exemplified this belief; for she succeeded, through the exercise of a broad human sympathy, in promoting the process of self-searching for hidden talents, evidences of which she seemed to find in all her pupils. And she was persuasive about the opportuni- ties which this land offers to those who would subject them- selves to the disciplines necessary to the development of those talents.
As teacher and more latterly as principal of the junior high school, she succeeded in thus impressing herself upon great numbers of people who have passed through the public schools the past half century. That is no mean contribution for one individual to make to the life of a town.
To have received so many expressions of appreciation for her service from so many of her former students, co- workers, and friends, must be a source of satisfaction to her in her retirement. It is certainly a source of pride for those who work in the schools to know of the esteem in which she is held.
6
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
Josephine Connor, who had taught one year in the High School English Department, resigned in June to accept a position in the Newburyport High School.
John M. Heiden, director of physical education at the High School, resigned to accept a position at Kent's Hill School in Maine.
Rosa Lee Hajinlian, teacher of commercial subjects in the High School, resigned in December, 1944, to accept a position in the Bridgewater, Massachusetts, High School.
Sophie G. Pszenny, teacher in the junior high school, resigned in June to make her home in Salem. .
Frances (Ross) Norcross, teacher of Grade II at the Win- throp School, resigned in November to be married. She was retained in her position for the remainder of the year as a war-time substitute.
Helen Fitzgerald Burgess, teacher of domestic arts at the High School, resigned in December to be married. She was retained for the remainder of the year as a war-time substi- tute.
NEW ASSIGNMENTS
Lena J. Atherley, who had been a teacher in the Ipswich Public Schools for twenty-three years, was appointed in Sep- tember as principal of the Winthrop School.
Blanche L. Oxner, who had taught Grade VII at the Winthrop School, was assigned in September to Grade VII at the Shatswell School.
Lucy A. Hill, who had taught Grade VIII at the Manning School, was assigned in September to Grade VIII at the High School.
Rosamond Reilly, teacher of English in the Junior High School, was assigned in September to the English Depart- ment at the High School.
7
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
NEW APPOINTMENTS
Thelma Damon, native of Ipswich and graduate of Salem Normal School, who had been a teacher for 23 years at Revere, Massachusetts, was engaged and assigned in September to Grade VIII at the High School.
Margaret I. Chisholm, who had been a teacher in the Danvers public schools, was engaged as war-time substitute and assigned to Grade VII at the Burley School.
Corinne H. Laffie, who had taught at the Moodus, Con- necticut, High School and at Hamilton High School before her marriage, was engaged as a substitute and assigned to the Commercial Department at the High School.
Since 1940 there have been thirty replacements of teach- ers, an average yearly turn-over of 13% of the staff. Though considerably in excess of the pre-war average, that percentage of change, were it spread evenly over the whole school pro- gram, would not be alarming. However, the focal points of the majority of these changes have been five areas of the school program; high school science, the shop, the commer- cial department, boys' physical education, and one primary grade. Though competent replacements have been found, after some trial and error, the effectiveness of the work in these departments has undoubtedly suffered from lack of continuity. Certainly had there been as many changes in other areas as in these, we should be in a sorry plight today. That there have not been, is partly luck, and partly, I sus- pect, the reaction of the teachers who have been in the schools for sometime to the operation of the salary schedule supplemented by the war-time salary bonus.
S
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
SALARY SCHEDULE
In 1940 the School Department adopted a salary schedule which fixes maxima and minima and defines the terms under which increments should be awarded. Except for adjust- ments in maxima for men in certain specialized positions the structure of the schedule has not been broken. Thus, though maxima have not been increased, the combined average salary of teachers and principals has increased according to plan from $1338 in 1940 to $1543 in 1945.
This commitment in salaries for 1945 is very nearly what was planned in 1940. Had the war not affected our economy, it would doubtless be reasonably acceptable with some relatively minor revisions.
THE WAR "BONUS"
The war, however, has brought with it inflation, con- trolled though it may be called. The extent of this inflation is debatable. A Federal Cost of Living Survey points to a 26% decrease in the value of the dollar. The American Fed- eration of Labor challenges certain statistical assumptions in the Government Survey and provided evidence of a reduc- tion greater than 40%. The true reduction in the value of most people's dollars is probably represented by a percentage figure between these two extremes.
To cover this increase in cost of living, employees of the School Department, together with employees of certain other town departments, have been paid a war-time bonus, so- called, of $200 a year. This represents an increase in the combined yearly average compensation of teachers and prin- cipals of 13.3% over that considered adequate before the war.
9
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
NEED FOR SALARY ADJUSTMENTS
Thus during the past year two salary factors have been simultaneously at work. The operation of the salary sched- ule has tended to minimize the unfair differences between salaries of teachers of equal preparation and experience in the organization; the salary "bonus" has helped to adjust the schedule to the increases in living costs. Because the "bonus," so-called, is quite inadequate, our competitive posi- tion with relation to other towns in our population group is weak. This is indicated in the Tabulation of School Returns of the State Department of Education for the year ending June 30, 1944, in which Ipswich ranks only 68th today among the 85 towns of its population group in average salaries paid to teachers, principals, and supervisors. We have, therefore, lost teachers to communities, no more able to pay than Ips- wich. We shall doubtless continue to do so.
To improve this position and insure the schools' being able to engage trained teachers who will remain in the schools a reasonable period after their apprenticeship, consideration of an adjustment upward in compensation - call it "bonus," salary, or what you will - is imperative.
REDUCTIONS IN STAFF, 1939-1940
Salary adjustments for teachers and janitors (increased costs of coal, supplies, maintenance services aside) account in large measure for the increases in the school budget. For- tunately, however, a declining school enrollment has provided some opportunity to adjust downward the number of the employed personnel and the size of the school plant. Though the location of the buildings which we have inherited, and the organization of classes in each of the schools according to age and mental maturity of the pupils, eliminates the pos-
10
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
sibility of dividing pupils among teachers on a purely sta- tistical basis, adjustments have been made when they could be without injury to the school program. The cumulative total of reductions since 1939 are as follows :
Jan. 1, 1939 Jan. 1, 1945
Pupils
1240
930
Full-time Teachers
46
39
Janitors
6.4
5
Clerks
1.6
1
Total
60
51
On the other hand, all the adjustments resulting from declining enrollment have not been toward retrenchment. For example, full-time instructors in physical education for both boys and girls have been added to the High School staff. The proportion of pupils to teachers has been reduced from 27 to 1 in 1939, to 24 to 1 in 1945. A new Lunch Room has been established in one of the elementary schools. Larger opportunities have been made available to pupils in music and the fine and practical arts. The field of activity of the school nurse has been enlarged. And not overmuch skimping has been practiced in the providing of books and instructional tools.
CONSOLIDATION OF SCHOOL PLANT
Attention has also been given to the problem of making the most efficient use of the school plant. An important step in this direction was taken two years ago when the Payne School buildings were closed and a primary department opened at the Winthrop School. The closing of the Manning build- ing last summer was even more significant. Since this action resulted from more than temporary considerations of mere expediency, it deserves to be recorded here in some detail.
11
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
THE MANNING BUILDING
The Manning building, which encloses a floor area of nearly 20,000 square feet, is the oldest and most dilapidated of our school buildings and the least efficient to operate as a school. Its ceilings are inordinately high, its heating sys- tem and plumbing, inefficient and irregular. It is costly to maintain in that the cubic space which it contains is vastly out of proportion to the number of school services it can accommodate. Had there been accommodation elsewhere in the schools to take care of the pupils in the intermediate grades, it should have been abandoned when the Ipswich High School was occupied in 1937.
That being impossible the Manning building has since that time been used to house a portion of the Junior High School. The remainder of the pupils in the Junior High School grades were housed in a part of the Winthrop School across the yard. In the Manning building also were located the central school offices, the school health clinic, the office of the principal of the Manning and Winthrop Schools, and an assembly room used by the pupils of both the Manning and Winthrop Schools.
PLACEMENT OF INTERMEDIATE GRADE PUPILS
Some consideration had been given in the past to the possibility of distributing the pupils of the upper elemen- tary grade in other of our school buildings. However, to send them to an elementary school would be a retrograde step. To absorb them into the High School, thus effecting a five year high school program, though not traditional prac- tice, would be consistent with common sense and with educa- tional theory. The bulk of the pupils entering Grade VIII have but recently entered the so-called teen ages. Through the physical processes of adolescence they are growing rapidly in size, in strength, and in purpose. Restless and craving
12
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
adventure, they know themselves to be dfferent kinds of per- sons from the children in the elementary schools, whom they have previously accepted as their associates. Their place obviously is in an organization like the high school, where the program is designed to appeal, not to children, but to adolescents and youths. Though the formal studies there would not be far different from those offered in the elemen- tary school, their opportunities would be greater for partici- pation in activites with people of their own age group, and their course would be enriched by their having immediate access to facilities and personnel associated with specialized activities, now concentrated in the High School.
DECLINE IN HIGH SCHOOL ENROLLMENT
This theorizing could not be put into practice in the past, however, because of a unique situation with reference to enrollment at the High School. Despite a progressive reduc- tion from year to year in total school enrollment, the High School enrollment either increased or continued relatively static. Only during the past three years has the High School population declined appreciably.
The most obvious reasons for this recent decline is the increased employment opportunities for youth in industry and in the armed services. Though the effects of these in- fluences are not inconsiderable, they are but temporary, and they serve somewhat to obscure the fact that even though they had not been operative, there would still have been today an enrollment in the High School far under that which obtained in 1940. For the high schools are only now being affected, even as the elementary schools be- fore them, by the reduction in birth rate during the years 1930 to the present. A study of birth rates in relation to school enrollment compels the conclusion that the number of pupils in the grades commonly referred to as the high
13
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
school will not exceed 300 during the period that we can reasonably foresee in the future. Since the capacity of the High School is something in excess of 400 pupils, it became possible this year for the School Committee to add a grade to the High School program without incurring the danger of their having to find new accommodations for this grade in the immediate future.
PLANS FOR REORGANIZATION
In the light of these considerations, the School Commit- tee voted, June 2, 1944, to carry out the following recom- mendations :
(1) That the building known as the Manning School be not used for classes during the ensuing school year.
(2) That the pupils in Grade VIII, who would have been in attendance at the Manning School, be assigned teach- ers and rooms at the High School, their program to be inte- grated in so far as possible with that of Grade IX.
(3) That Grade VII classes be added to the program of each of the three elementary schools (Burley, Winthrop, and Shatswell). That the pupils who would normally be sent from these schools to Grade VII at the Winthrop- Manning School be retained in their schools to attend Grade VII.
(4) That the office of the Superintendent be moved to the High School building.
(5) That an office for the principal of the Winthrop School, now in the Manning building, be removed to the Winthrop building.
(6) That the public school health clinic be constructed in an unused classroom in the Winthrop School.
(7) That provisions for the school supply store room be made at the High School.
The following tabulation shows, as a result of these changes, our pupils are now distributed in the four schools now in use :
14
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
DISTRIBUTION OF PUPILS BY SCHOOL AND GRADE
October 1, 1944
Grade
Winthrop
Shatswell
Burley
High
I
30
28
27
II
21
20
27
III
29
29
26
IV
26
25
25
21
30
26
VI
26
28
29
VII
26
29
24
VIII
87
IX
92
x
86
XI
67
XII
45
P.G.
1
Total
179
189
184
378
BUILDING ALTERATIONS
To effect these changes a number of important projects involving outlay became necessary. For the Superintendent's Office, a small conference room at the right of the front entrance of the High School was appropriated, together with a continguous room formerly designated the Women Teach- ers' Room. Through the wall separating the two rooms a door was cut to make a complete apartment.
Space for a new women teachers' room was walled off from one of the classrooms. The classroom was thereby re-
15
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
duced in size from a room 32' x 24' to one 24' x 24'. The new apartment was decorated and provided with adequate elec- tric outlets and a lavatory. The entrance to this room is on the east side of the front hall.
For the new health center a classroom in the Winthrop School was appropriated. From it stationary desks were removed and a room within the main room was walled off as a lavatory. In this, plumbing and electrical outlets were installed. In the main room the dental chair was set up with the proper plumbing and electrical connections.
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