USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Ipswich > Town annual report of Ipswich 1945 > Part 11
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12
5
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
-The following phases of school organization which have bearing on decisions with reference to the school plant will be discussed in this report:
1. Our present school organization.
2. Estimating future enrollment.
3. Evaluation of the plant in terms of present and future needs.
4. Suggested development of school plant.
5. Problems of school financing.
a. Current operations.
b. Bonded indebtedness.
c .. Effect of school expenditure on valuation.
OUR PRESENT SCHOOL ORGANIZATION
There are at the present time 943 pupils in our schools. These pupils are distributed by virtue of chronological age and by achievement through twelve grades in our school organ- ization. Grades I through VII are conducted in each of three elementary schools situated in three sections of the town. Each is separated from the other by a distance of from half a mile to a mile.
The school which a pupil attends is determined by the geographical area in which he lives. The lines separating these geographical areas, though fairly definite, are not arbitrary. It is essential to have a reasonably equal division of all the pupils between the several schools. Twenty-five percent of all pupils in these schools are transported to school by bus.
The High School, constructed originally to take care of grades IX through XII, now also houses grade VIII. It was constructed to provide room for 450 pupils in a four year high school, and even with increased spread occasioned by the in- troduction of a part of the junior high school it is adequate for the 385 pupils which are now enrolled there.
6
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
The following table shows the present distribution of pupils in our schools:
DISTRIBUTION OF PUPILS BY SCHOOL AND GRADE
October 1, 1945
Grade
Winthrop
Shatswell
Burley
High
I
35
36
31
....
II
31
22
29
....
III
20
22
26
....
IV
26
28
23
....
V
24
26
28
....
VI
18
34
22
....
VII
28
23
28
....
VIII
88
IX
100 .
X
62
XI
79
XII
53
P.G.
1
Total
182
191
187
383
7
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
FUTURE ENROLLMENT
The following table shows the number of children born to residents of Ipswich in certain given years and the number enrolled in the public schools grades I, six years later:
Children Born in Ipswich of Ipswich Residents
Public School Enrollment Six Years Later, Gr. I
Year
1
Number
Number
Year
1944
105
1943
123
111
1949
1942
111
100
1948
1941
103
93
1947
1940
100
90
1946
1939
95
102
1945
1938
67
85
1944
1937
87
77
1943
1936
90
86
1942
1935
90
86
1941
1934
90
82
1940
1933
91
79
1939
1932
93
78
1938
1931
106
105
1937
1930
91
95
1936
1929
93
115
1935
1928
122
111
1934
1927
124
$75
1933
* Entrance age changed from 5 to 6, hence 33 children who would normally enter school were excluded.
Estimated.
Assuming that the overall population of the town remained static this table suggests that there will be but slight increase in the total enrollment in our public schools for the next six
8
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
years. However, there is a disturbing hidden factor which suggests that too much credence must not be given to the evi- dence of this table. It has been estimated that in the average suburban non-industrial community the enrollment in grades I through VI is ten percent of the total population. In highly industrialized communities the percentage may run as high as twelve.
In Ipswich, however, the percentage-even when we include the pupils enrolled in the parochial school -is only eight. For some reason our birth rate for the past ten years has fallen even below the national trend. This would indicate the pos- sibility of a considerable and sudden increase. The report of the increase in births for this year would appear to give cre- dence to this possibility.
There is further strong evidence that the overall popula- tion - which has remained relatively static for years - is increasing. For example, the enrollment in grade I in Septem- ber was found, to our surprise, to be twenty percent in excess of our highest estimate. In order to discover the reason for this differential, an analysis of the enrollment was made. This disclosed that the families of over twenty-five percent of the children enrolled had not been residents of Ipswich at the time the children were born. On the other hand, only five per- cent of the families which had been accounted for as residents six years before had moved.
That this trend toward increase in population will continue beyond our present imaginings is predicted by local attorneys and real estate agents, who are constantly in touch with such
things.
Though these tendencies bear careful watching, we may judge from our present school enrollment that a school plant designed to house from 1000 to 1100 children will not be seri- ously crowded in a decade. Any long term plan should, how- ever, take cognizance of the possible need for expansion.
9
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
EVALUATION OF THE PRESENT SCHOOL PLANT
THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS:
To the beginning of the nineteenth century the elementary schools were conducted in numerous one and two room schools, scattered in various populated centers in the town. Beginning in 1897, when the original four rooms of the Winthrop School were built, the trend toward consolidation began. In 1908 the central section of four rooms of the Burley School was constructed. Six classrooms were added to the Winthrop School in 1915 to make room for the drastic conditions of overcrowd- ing, which were described in agonizing words by the Commit- tee of that time; forty-five to sixty-five children, they said, were crowded into single classrooms. This was followed by the con- struction of a four classroom addition to the Burley School in 1921. In 1926 a new elementary building of eight classrooms, designated the Shatswell School, was erected.
From this brief recital, it can be gathered that the average age of the buildings now in use as elementary schools is thirty years. It appears further that no major alteration in either the buildings or their furnishings has been made during that period. Thus, the lighting is substantially that which was in- stalled on the average of thirty years ago; so also are the toilet and sanitation facilities, the heating and ventilation systems, the general appointments.
These mechanical features can always be improved, but there is always the liability of age and inevitable deterioration. In buildings the age of our oldest elementary schools the cost of maintenance and repair on both the structures themselves and on these mechanical features can reach a point where complete replacement is the most economical answer. In the case of the Winthrop School, and to a lesser degree of the Burley School, that point is rapidly being reached.
10
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
Furthermore, of the three elementary school buildings now in use, only the Shatswell School is fire resistive. The danger from this condition, however, is lessened in the case of the Winthrop School, a wood frame building, by its being equipped throughout with automatic sprinklers. The present lack of crowding in all these buildings further reduces the hazard by allowing organization resulting in a speedy egress from the buildings.
There is another feature of our elementary school plant which should be stressed. When the buildings were erected the crying need was to provide classrooms for pupils who were crowded beyond reason into small wooden school houses dis- tributed over the town. The natural solution to the problem, the benefits of consolidation being granted, was to build not a large school but a number of contiguous replicas of the smaller school. This was done at periodic intervals; and the relief which each addition gave to the congestion throughout the schools must have been sufficient justification for the pro- cedure. 1
Today, however, in gauging our elementary school plant as a tool for implementing a modern elementary school pro- gram we find them lacking in a number of important respects. In the realm of subject matter, for example, it should be assumed that there will be taught, besides those subjects re- ferred to as fundamental, art, music, hand crafts and science. Though some of our teachers are doing excellent work in some of these fields, they are doing it without the valuable aid which modern building facilities can render. Each of these subjects requires specialized space for related and diversified activities. For the most part this is lacking in all our elementary schools. What is provided is ingenious makeshift.
Kindergartens cannot be reasonably said to be essential to a good elementary school program. The movement is spread-
11
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
ing so rapidly throughout the country, however, that we may assume a majority of parents and educators see great merit in them. It is our belief that there is such merit. There are no provisions for kindergartens in our schools.
Health through physical education is possible for a large majority of our children. It can be achieved through organ- ization and administration of courses and activities in this field. To attempt to practice physical education in the setting pro- vided by our elementary schools is in large measure to violate the very rules of health we are desirous of teaching. Except for the playgrounds there is no place in which to conduct a phy- sical education program in our elementary schools.
Even the playgrounds are inadequate. At least five acres are needed for an elementary school site on which can be de- veloped an adequate well developed playground. The Burley School site contains about an acre. The Winthrop School site, on which the Manning School also rests, contains a little over two acres. The Shatswell School site, considered in conjunction with the adjacent High School fields, is adequate.
One would be in aquandary to suggest a means for making a really adequate elementary school and site out of each of our present buildings and grounds. Each would require ex- tensive reconditioning and modernization. The acquisition of land around two of them to a total of perhaps seven acres would be necessary. Each building would require expensive addi- tions to provide facilities for health education, libraries, and a number of special rooms. The resulting triplication of facili- ties and of personnel to operate the facilities would be fantas- tically expensive.
A solution to our problem lies perhaps in the direction of further consolidation. It is fairly generally accepted among educators and school business officials that both from the view- point of educational efficiency and. economy of operation, the
12
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
enrollment of the ideal elementary school should lie somewhere between 300 and 600. This will permit efficient and eco- nomical use of teachers, while at the same time there will be sufficient children to develop the larger group activities in music, drama, and organized play, so necessary in elementary education.
It is noteworthy that the total number of pupils enrolled in our elementary grades I through VI would altogether make up an elementary school of ideal size. This is suggestive that in any plan for our future school plant development the pos- sibility of consolidating the entire elementary school program into one center be studied.
THE HIGH SCHOOL:
The High School, with its adjacent shop, is a first rate building beautifully thought out to serve as a setting for a secondary school program. It was planned to house 450 to 500 pupils of a four year program. Since it was built in 1935, the enrollment in these four upper high school grades has dropped under 300. It does not appear likely that it will ex- ceed that in any foreseeable time in the future.
Fortunately, however, it is adaptable to use as a junior- senior high school. Many school authorities believe this to be the ideal secondary school organization and the most economical both educationally and financially. To accommodate the 450 pupils which would be enrolled in the school if the seventh grade were also added to the grades now enrolled there, it would be necessary to make the gymnasium a gymnasium in fact as well as in name. It is now an all purpose room, serving as a gym, a theatre, a music room, a dance floor.
An auditorium with sloping seats - stage equipment and special music room could be attached to the opposite end of the building. This would sufficiently relieve the pressure on the present auditorium for school purposes so that they could
13
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
be, as they should be, opened for community use. The audi- torium with adjacent community rooms could be the meeting place of community groups - orchestras, choral societies, dis- cussion groups, meetings. The gymnasium would be for recrea- tion for people of all ages.
POSSIBLE COURSE OF DEVELOPMENT:
Though there are several methods by which these effects could be realized, the following is suggested as a starting point for discussion. The order in which the projects are listed has grown out of a presumed urgency of their need.
1. Choosing, let us say, the Shatswell School site for the development of a consolidated elementary school - grades Kindergarten through VI. This site is indicated partly because the school facilities (High School and elementary) would thus be concentrated in a fairly large plot (about 16 acres) wherein an elaborate development of the playground facilities could be commonly used. It is suggested also because the town has a larger equity in the Shatswell building than in any other ($55,000). The eight rooms in the Shatswell School could quite easily be built into the new construction.
2. Providing means for the absorption into the school site all the land from the river to Green Street.
3. Construction of a twelve room addition to the Shatswell School equipped with specialized areas designed both for school and community use.
4. Grading this area to the river and ledges and planning a community play area with stadium, playing fields, tennis courts and other facilities for recreation for people of all ages.
14
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
5. Building an auditorium and public rooms connected with the High School, let us say at the Green Street end. This would be accessible for use by the school, but would be fun- damentally a civic auditorium for the promotion and develop- ment of matters of civic good.
6. At the time of this addition, to convert what is now the common purpose room in the High School into a gymnasium, pure and simple, sufficiently large so that two groups could carry on a large scale recreational activity simultaneously. The pressure, being thus released from the school program, this could be made available under supervision to community groups of all ages.
7. Against the contingency that the population might sud- denly grow far beyond our present estimates, to plan for some indefinite time in the future a second consolidated elementary school center, adjacent to what is now the public playground at Linebrook.
The possibility of realizing ends such as these in the im- mediate future is perhaps remote. That they may be realized one by one within a measurable period of time is not so remote as to inhibit consideration of the possibility.
As a matter of fact, if the town could plan to continue to devote to the amortization of school buildings the same proportion of its income which it has expended for the same purpose during the past ten years - the entire program could be well nigh completed in the next ten years - though the amortization of costs would continue. If Federal aid were forth- coming the job could be completed much sooner, and at less expense.
The crux of this matter is the business of school financing and its relation to community financing.
15
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
FINANCING
We have stressed certain needs in the school plant and we have indicated roughly a plan of development of the school plant. The possibilities of realizing these ends can be meas- ured only by balancing them against all the needs which the community is required to provide. This requires the integra- tion of the school plant program with an overall community plan for community beautification and public service improve- ment. The program for community financing is the common ground upon which the several parts of the plan must meet.
There are two general classes of expenditures chargeable to the operation of schools. One is represented in the annual school appropriation, which covers costs of currently operating and maintaining the existing school facilities. These expenses are paid annually from current revenue. Presently, the amount necessary to raise annually to cover these operating costs is about $125,000.
The other charge attributable to the school department is the refunding of the debt incurred in the construction or major alteration of the school plant. It has been the practice to plan the amortization of these large construction costs through the issuing of bonds, expiring serially over a period up to twenty years. Thus the community is enabled to have the use of non-expendible facilities while making an annual payment of a proportion of the value probably consumed in that year. In a sense, these annual charges for the amortiza- tion of long term loans might be considered as rental charges for the use of buildings.
It is not the practice in Massachusetts to report these long term charges for outlay as a part of the cost of operation. They appear usually in the Town Reports hidden in the tabu- lation of the Treasurer, entitled "Bonded Indebtedness."
16
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
Since, however, they are an integral factor in tying in the school department program with an overall community plan, it is desirable to review something of the history of these long term loans.
According to our interpretation (and some interpolation of the figures has been necessary) the last installment on the Winthrop School center loan negotiated in 1897 was paid in 1917. The loan of twenty thousand dollars, which enabled the town to build the Burley School central section was paid off in 1919. In 1915 the town negotiated a loan of $20,000 to build an addition to the Winthrop School. This was paid up in 1935. The final installment of the loan of 1921 to build the Burley School addition was paid in 1942. The amortiza- tion of the Shatswell School loan of 1925 of $80,000 was com- pleted this year, 1945. The payment of bonds amortizing the High School loan of $120,000 will continue until 1955. The following tabulation indicates the annual cost to the town on account of providing school buildings. The figures are also projected into the year 1955:
,
17
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
Winthrop
School
Year
Addition
Burley School Addition
Shatswell
High School
Total
1935
1000
2000
4000
6000
13000
1936
2000
4000
6000
12000
1937
2000
4000
6000
12000
1938
2000
4000
6000
12000
1940
2000
4000
6000
12000
1941
2000
4000
6000
12000
1942
2000
4000
6000
12000
1943
4000
6000
10000
1944
4000
6000
10000
1945
4000
6000
10000
1946
6000
6000
1947
6000
6000
1948
6000
6000
1949
6000
6000
1950
6000
6000
1951
6000
6000
1952
6000
6000
1953
6000
6000
1954
6000
6000
1955
6000
6000
School
To each of these figures should be added about 30% to cover accumulated interest charges.
A study of the table reveals that from 1935 to the present it has cost the community annually for its school plant about $15,500, or - on the average during that period - a sum equal to 15% of the cost of current operation. From this point until
18
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
1955, the annual cost of amortizing the debt on the school plant would appear to be $7,800.00 or about six percent of the cost of current operation.
If we could assume that the existing school plant would meet our needs for the next ten years with but incidental main- tenance, we could say that from this point until 1955 the annual cost of amortization on the school plant would be $7,800.00 or about six percent of the cost of current operation.
However, we cannot proceed on that assumption. A pro- gram of modernization and repair in compensation for the inevitable deterioration and obsolescence in our older buildings will require a substantial capital investment of several thou- sand dollars a year.
If it were possible for the town to continue to expend as it has in the past, fifteen percent of its annual "school operating costs," for the extension and improvement of school buildings, the ends of a substantial long term plan might be realized. Under such a plan, the expenditure of $100,000 to $150,000 could be contemplated in the very near future. In 1955 the High School bonds having been amortized and the problem having been reassessed against the conditions then existing, it would be possible to complete the job. VALUATION :
The consideration of the financing of any public project would be incomplete, which did not assess the effect of the project on valuation.
Ipswich is a corporation in which each citizen is in a sense a shareholder. The ultimate function of the corporation is to provide for the shareholder services which he could not alone provide for himself.
19
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
It is to the interest of each shareholder that the valuation of the corporation be increased, for the income in taxes de-, rived from this increased valuation serves either to reduce the cost of services already rendered or to increase the scope of those services. Either result is profit to the citizen shareholder. Up to a point, each new property (honestly constructed and properly located in consideration of its function) can add in- directly to the value of every other citizen's property. For example, the income in taxes from even seventy-five new homes in Ipswich would pay the entire amortization costs of the rather elaborate program of public service which has been previously described. The improved service would be shared by all the citizens.
Unlike many communities where valuation appears to have reached its zenith, the citizens of Ipswich can actually do some- thing to increase the valuation of their town. The natural resources for civilized living are here. There is land for homes - more of it than in any other community save one in Essex County. There is unspoiled beach and winding river, ponds and bay and wooded hills - vast natural areas for recreation. On its elm shaded streets may be found samples of an indi- genous architecture which bespeaks the historic tradition of the town. Though it is within easy access of centers of commerce and industry, it is still essentially small town New England. That is the genius of the town, and it should be the motif for its development.
To attract householders to the community who would en- joy the kind of living which Ipswich can offer is a desirable method of increasing the valuation. But to do this, more than natural resources must be offered. There must be in evidence in the community also a desire to protect and preserve those resources and to maintain high standards of community health and recreation, of education and of opportunities for stimu-
20
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
lating community living. These are persuasive factors in de- termining where thoughtful people will make their homes.
Sometimes it is possible for a corporation to make fairly heavy capital investment in relative certitude of substantial future returns. For Ipswich the promulgation of a well thought out plan for development, encompassing all phases of com- munity service (education is admittedly but one of these) would be that kind of investment. It is with that conviction that this report is
Respectfully submitted,
HARRY S. MERSON,
Superintendent of Schools
21
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF SCHOOL DEPARTMENT EXPENDITURES Years 1941-1945 Inclusive
1941
General Expense
$ 5,318.87 65,097.62
1942 $ 5,618.01 65,726.89
1943 $ 5,332.69 65,778.37
1944 $ 5,560.34
1945 $ 5,693.23 68,623.62
Americanization
Classes
377.00
267.00
347.00
288.00
367.00
Textbooks and
Supplies
4,902.34
5,158.49
4,075.01
3,305.79
3,895.54
Tuition
645.60
590.60
275.00
348.60
642.06
Transportation
6,842.27
7,136.76
7,623.62
8,192.29
8,674.97
Janitor Service
6,807.60
7,538.34
8,033.80
7,830.78
7,216.64
Fuel, Water, Gas, Light
5,233.52
6,602.55
6,154.45
5,115.99
6,111.99
Maintenance and
Repairs
3,662.37
3,300.61
4,814.72
3,449.41
3,038.81
Outlay
876.98
26.40
2,627.07
10.22
Support of Truants
104.00
64.29
51.71
Diplomas and
Graduation
117.01
143.93
155.58
212.10
116.02
Insurance
959.24
1,879.63
1,367.02
1,421.43
1,324.61
Health
1,864.06
1,708.36
1,786.63
1,865.14
2,406.52
Total Exp'ditures
$102,608.48 $104,761.86 $105,795.60 $106,422.40 $108,121.23
*Transfer from Reserve Fund 1,000.00
*Unexpended Balance
314.12
$106,075.98
Salary Bonus Appropriation
7,946.30
10,423.20
10,200.00
$113,741.90
Special War Service
Retirement Fund
177.25
226.25
Teachers' Salaries
66,205.46
$117,022.85 $118,547.48
*Applicable to payment of stoker for High School.
22
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
RECEIPTS
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
Mass. Inc. Tax
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.