USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Ipswich > Town annual report of Ipswich 1947 > Part 9
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113,984.44
67,450.00
195,197.57
175,581.82
58,600.00
203,922.10
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
None
513,473.81
338,752.89
11,000.00
None
516,148.59
326,023.46
39,338.91
None
527,897.69
321,527.59
11,000.00
None
533,597.35
307,264.08
$158,338.61 Total
24
WATER AND LIGHT DEPARTMENT
ELECTRIC LIGHT DEPARTMENT
The peak K.W. load demand for the past year was on December 23 and reached 1800 K.W. At the time this occurred neither of the two large industries in the Town were operating. If the demand had come two hours earlier when they were operating the Plant would have not been able to supply the electricity. On the same basis if any one of the four generating units were out of operation the remain- ing three units would be unable to supply the demand. This situation must be corrected at once, and we are now planning to install additional generating capacity in part of the present building, thus eliminating any costly new building construction. This project will be financed by the money now in the Depreciation Account, and when installed should care for future growth until the year 1954.
Increased costs of production and maintaining the system still plague us and our only hope of continuing the present schedule of rates is by selling more electricity. Domestic consumption of electricity is increasing steadily by the connecting of power appliances such as ranges, water heaters, deep freezers and etc., but money must be spent by the department to buy materials to make the new con- nections, enlarge the transformers, meters, wires and etc.
We recommend that the surplus of $6,737.11 in the operating account as of December 31, 1947 be transferred to the Construction Account of the Electric Light Depart- ment for new construction purposes.
ALEXANDER B. C. MULHOLLAND CHESTER A. BOLLES GEORGE E. HODGKINS
Water and Light Commissioners.
Charles A. Mallard, Manager.
25
WATER AND LIGHT DEPARTMENT
RATES IN EFFECT JANUARY 1, 1948
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 all over 150 KWH per month
Minimum charge 50c per month.
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.
Commercial Service
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
3
THE BIRTHPLACE OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE 1687
FOR THE YEAR
1947
Stanley A. Hull & Son
3
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
Term Expires
JAMES R. MARSH 1950
HENRY S. PRISBY
1950
ALBERT J. BARBATI
1949
GEORGE H. BOUCHARD
1949
PAUL R. RAUPACH
1948
DAVID C. WILLIAMS
1948
PAUL R. RAUPACH, Chairman
Sub-Committees of School Committee
Playground Mr. Bouchard
Athletics Mr. Prisby and Mr. Williams
Buildings and Grounds Mr. Barbati and Mr. Marsh
Finance Mr. Prisby and Mr. Williams
Insurance Mr. Barbati and Mr. Bouchard
Supplies Mr. Prisby and Mr. Barbati
Textbooks and Teachers Mr. Marsh and Mr. Bouchard
Transportation Mr. Marsh and Mr. Williams
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
FRANK L. COLLINS, M.D. School Physician
BEATRICE E. COLLINS, R.N. School Nurse FREDERICK C. WILDER, D.M.D. School Dentist
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 Decem- ber 31, 1947:
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT
To the School Committee of the Town of Ipswich:
Gentlemen:
As Superintendent of the Public Schools of Ipswich, I have the honor to present the annual report of some of the activities engaged in by the School Department during the year 1947. The usual tabulated data is appended to the report for inclu- sion in the permanent records.
Changes in Personnel
Since the last annual report was written, there have been the following changes in teaching personnel:
In the High School:
Kendall M. Tilton, who for the past year had been teacher of science, resigned in June to accept the principalship of the consolidated elementary and high school at Mill River, Massa- chusetts.
Robert W. Moore, graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, class of 1943, was engaged to fill the vacancy.
Bertram H. Bennett, who had served as teacher of mechani- cal drawing and graphic arts and more latterly as faculty manager of athletics, resigned in June to accept a position in the field of industrial arts in the public schools of the City of Medford, Massachusetts.
5
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
Joseph V. Riley, resident of Lawrence, graduate of Fitch- burg State Teachers College in 1946, teacher of industrial arts in Narragansett, Rhode Island, in 1946-1947, was engaged to fill the vacancy in industrial arts.
Anne W. Drury, who had taught English during the school year 1946-1947, was not re-engaged for the current school year.
The vacancy was not filled.
Frederick P. Pickard's resignation, effective March 1, 1948, has just now been received. Mr. Pickard has been elected principal of the Richmond Junior High School at Danvers, Massachusetts. He had been a teacher in the Ipswich schools since 1939. Since his return from active service in the Army Air Forces in 1946, he had served as assistant to the High School Principal in charge of the junior high school grades. He was also faculty manager of athletics.
The void caused by his departure has not yet been filled.
In the Elementary Schools :
Barbara A. Mackenzie, who had been for one year teacher of Grade V at the Burley School, resigned at the close of the school year to be married.
The vacancy was not filled.
Mary L. Bamford, who completed the school year, 1946-1947, as teacher in Grade I at the Shatswell School following the resignation of Alice L. Bennett, was elected a regular teacher to fill the position beginning September, 1947.
Winifred W. Atherley, teacher of Grade VII at the Win- throp School, resigned at the close of the school year.
The vacancy was not filled.
Blanche M. Doron, teacher of Grade II at the Winthrop School since September, 1945, resigned at the close of school in June to accept employment in a field other than teaching.
6
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
Josephine T. Moyer, graduate of Mansfield State Teachers College in Pennsylvania, who had had three years of teaching experience in that state, was engaged and assigned to fill the vacancy in Grade II.
Violet H. Kelley, teacher of Grade I at the Winthrop School, resigned to accept a position in the schools of Peabody.
Bette G. Chittick, who had taught for two years in the town of Uniontown after graduating from California State Teachers College, Pennsylvania, was engaged and assigned to Grade I at the Winthrop School.
Besides the Above Changes in Teaching Personnel :
Beatrice E. Collins, School Nurse during the school year 1946-1947, resigned in November, 1947.
Rose E. Naves, resident of Gloucester, graduate of Beverly Hospital, and during the past year teacher of student nurses at Beverly, was engaged as School Nurse. She will assume her new duties February 1, 1948.
Teacher's Salary Schedule
Despite the general adjustments made by the School Com- mittee in salaries of teaching personnel in Ipswich, the most recent bulletins coming to our attention from the Massachusetts Teachers' Federation Research Department indicate that among the 90 towns of over 5,000 population in Massachusetts, Ipswich ranks in the lower 20th percentile in average salaries paid to the teaching staff; in the lower third, in median salaries paid to elementary women; in the lower fifth, in median salaries paid to high school men; in the lower third, in median salaries paid to high school women; in the lower fifth, in maximum salary obtainable under all classifications in the schedule.
7
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
The present salary level thus depressed and the potential salary to which a teacher may aspire being relatively so low, it is difficult to secure and maintain a teaching staff with an adequate level of preparation, and impossible to assure the com- munity of a continuing in-service training within the staff.
That is obviously a serious weakness in the school system, for one of the primary purposes of a salary schedule, at least from the point of view of the community, is to provide the incentive for continuing growth as measured by other means than the fact of longevity. Concerned though we are with the immediate necessity for providing minimal compensation that the schools may remain open at all, we should be no less con- cerned with assessing the problem of maintaining more than minimal standards.
With teachers' salaries rising throughout the country, a community which does not face this problem realistically is going to find itself paying continually increasing salaries (though always a whit below the average) to a staff continually de. creasing in competence and potentialities for professional growth. Our system of tenure and the inertia of institutions makes this result inevitable. It is hardly justifiable to argue that pressures for general increases in salary are not reasonable in the face of the inflationary rise in the cost of living index; but it is no less justifiable for the community to define the principles upon which increases shall be based.
In that belief, the School Committee has approved a com- plete rewriting of the salary schedule in consideration of the following principles:
1. That some distinction should be made as between teachers of long and successful teaching experience and those who have entered the system more recently, but that longevity should not be the sole basis for determin- ing compensation.
8
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
2. That recognition be given to those teachers who have continued their in-service training in the past as evi- denced, among other things, by the fact that they have carried on organized study under supervision.
3. That positive stimulus be provided throughout the oper- ation of the salary schedule for continuing study and professional refreshment - now and for a considerable period in the future.
4. That a considerable period of time (probably not less than 15 years) should elapse for beginning teachers before the attainment of maximum in any classification.
The results of the study are appended to this report under the title: "Salary Schedule for Teachers in the Ipswich Public Schools."
The whole effort is an attempt to define principles by which compensation of teachers may be adjusted; to define what the community may expect of a teacher by way of competence; to encourage and control continued professional study of our problems; and to measure the effectiveness of that study by professional standards. It is intended, finally, to forestall poli- tical pressures to raise salaries by general increase without regard to competence or value to the school organization.
What the schedule says in effect is that those teachers who conform with the professional requirements therein defined shall be considered for advancement steadily to a maximum com- parable with those paid in other communities of our general category. Those who do not conform will be advanced not at all.
9
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
Cost of Introducing Salary Schedule
If we assume that every teacher in the system will partici- pate in the broadest program of study recognized under this schedule, the maximum cost this year of applying this schedule in September, 1948, will be $3,000.00 in excess of the amount necessary to appropriate this year under our present system of compensation. Over a period of five years the application of the schedule could conceivably increase the school budget about 15% in excess of our current school appropriation. It is my belief that the results accruing to the benefit of the town would be worth it.
The High School
With an enrollment of 389 pupils in Grades VIII through XII (eight fewer than were enrolled in these grades last year ), the High School is operating with one teacher less than last year. Under the new teacher assignments the ratio of pupils to teachers is 25.5 to 1. In the proposed standards for Class A high schools in the Commonwealth, the State Department of Education recommends that in high schools with an enrollment under 500, a ratio between pupils and teachers be maintained at not higher than 25 to 1. We feel that with a goodly nucleus of experienced teachers on the staff, an adequate job can be done under the present arrangement.
Grade VIII
During the past three years, we have tried to make the eighth grade a real transitional year between the elementary school and the high school. Pupils come to this grade in the High School from each of the several elementary schools in the town. They are given an opportunity to participate with the High School in their many group activities. They have
10
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
access to the shop, the domestic science and science laboratories, and the gymnasium. They eat with the High School in the school cafeteria. They do, however, have their own social affairs, their class meetings, their inter-mural teams, their chorus. While they are developing their own esprit-de-corps, they are acquiring a familiarity with the opportunities which the High School has to offer, and conversely the teachers in the High School begin to become familiar with these younger pupils.
Though every pupil in this grade is required to be exposed to a variety of art, music, and handicraft experiences, the main emphasis is upon the securing of basic skills and the disciplines of independent study, the acquisition of which is essential to further education.
Reading is obviously the most important of these, be- cause success in all higher education is at present largely dependent on one's ability to read critically, with speed and comprehension. If we accept the publicized figures that one-third of all high school students throughout the country not only have not learned to read, but are inherently unable to do so, then we must use methods of teaching which do not require reading. However, until the contention is incontro- vertibly proven, we shall continue to evaluate and stress the teaching of reading to all pupils.
High School Courses
To cater as far as possible to individual differences in our pupils, it is necessary that the High School offer a variety of educational experiences that will appeal not only to those with a high order of verbal ability but also to those whose talents are not word skills.
11
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
The following tabulation showing the courses offered and the number of pupils taking these courses gives an idea of the study experiences available to our high school students.
Name of
Course
Total Number of Pupils
Name of Course
Total Number of Pupils
English I
112
Band
25
English II
72
Orchestra
15
English III
68
Freehand Drawing and
English IV
72
Art Appreciation
86
General Science
55
Foods I
22
Biology
90
Foods II
38
Chemistry (College Prep.)
38
Foods III
10
Physics (College Prep.)
17
Clothing I
22
Ancient History
18
Clothing II
38
Modern History
32
Clothing III
19
United States History
Home Management
18
and Civics
80
General Business and
Economics
19
Bookkeeping
31
Algebra I
110
Typewriting I 59
Algebra II
23
Typewriting II
18
Plane Geometry
66
Typewriting III
14
Solid Geometry
10
Stenography I
19
Trigonometry
10
Stenography II
9
Latin I
35
Office Practice
11
Latin II
18
Commercial Arithmetic
39
French I
54
World Geography
25
French II
21
Mechanical Drawing
127
French III
8 Woodworking
82
Physical Education
320
Printing
58
Choral Music
112
History and Appreciation
of Music
22
.
12
IPSWICH. SCHOOL REPORT
Though the high school is definitely terminal education for more than half its pupils, it is significant to note that of the 78 members of the graduating class of 1947, thirty-three are presently in attendance at schools for further learning. Of these, 14 are attending four-year colleges; 5 have entered nurse's training; and 14 are enrolled in other schools: trade schools, agricultural schools, and secretarial colleges. The four-year colleges in which pupils from this class are enrolled include: Bates College, Boston University, Jackson College, Northeastern University, Radcliffe College, Salem State Teachers College, Syracuse University, Temple University, and the University of Massachusetts. As far as we are aware, no pupil of the college preparatory group in this class who had made definite plans to enter an institution of higher learning was denied admission.
High School Parents' Night
One of the most productive and incidentally one of the most pleasant experiences of the school year was the Parents' Night held at the High School on the evening of January 9. Despite the roads being blocked as a result of a recent blizzard, some 200 parents of high school boys and girls turned out at the High School at the invitation of the principal to meet in- formally with the teachers in the classrooms, to discuss their children's problems, and to observe the conditions in which their children spend a major portion of their days. Following these classroom visits the entire group, teachers and parents, met in the auditorium for an open forum discussion of school problems.
The group has planned to meet again, and it is hoped that it will continue to meet at periodic intervals in the future. It is only as the home learns of what the school is trying to do and as the school learns of the hopes and prayers of the parents that we can - home and school together - even begin to approach the mark of perfection.
13
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
The Elementary Schools
In the operation of the elementary schools this year, it was necessary to absorb into the system three new teachers in the primary grades: two at the Winthrop School, and one at the Shatswell. In order to stay within the appropriation provided by the Annual Town Meeting, it was necessary also to drop two other teachers in the middle grades and to request the principals in the Burley and Shatswell Schools to assume addi- tional teaching duties. This was a large order in one year, and whatever success may be claimed for the procedure is attribu- table only to the determination, engendered by years of loyalty to the school organization, of those assigned additional duties that the children in their charge would not be neglected. That many of the more intimate details of organization and super- vision especially of new teachers had to be treated more cur- sorily than formerly is self-evident.
Elementary School - Age for Admission
During the hectic years of the war, the minimum age for admission into Grade I was reduced from five years and eight months in September to five years and five months. This change was made with some reluctance, in the knowledge that the average child is not prepared until he is mentally six years of age to make the physcal and emotional adjustments to the problems involved in formal reading. To attempt to force him beyond his capacities at that stage might well be to do him harm. However, the reduced size of the first grade classes at that time made possible a wide latitude in the teacher's adapta- tion to individual differences and made possible also the pro- longation of the reading readiness program for the children who needed it. This, together with the pressure (which seemed compulsive at that time) to free mothers for a wider participa- tion in the war effort, made the reduction in the entrance age appear expedient.
14
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
Today with our first grade enrollment increasing to the maximum number that can be effectively taught in our three first grade classes, and with the problems of working mothers no longer a factor, a review of our policy regarding age for admission to school is in order.
Elementary Schools - The Curriculum
In the treating of some of our problems we were fortunate to receive this year "A Curriculum Guide for Primary Grade Teachers," published by the Massachusetts Department of Edu- cation after three years of rather intensive study. These are in the hands of all the teachers and are being studied and dis- cussed with the relation to the educational philosophy which the "Guide" elucidates and the techniques which it suggests using. Our study indicates that it is in fact a guide, flexible enough to be used in connection with materials developed locally in the solution of our specific problems. While it sug- gests no revolution in procedures in our elementary schools, it develops, with a wealth of illustration, the basic principles against which to measure the comprehensiveness of the entire elementary school curriculum. It emphasizes the major purpose of elementary education as the insuring of opportunities for all children to develop the basic skills, habits, and attitudes neces- sary for living in a democratic society. Through its definition of the curriculum as the sum of all the school-directed experi- ences of children, it suggests the need for integration and for purposeful planning of all school activities. It reiterates that which cannot be said too often, that every minute in the school- room, every lesson in arithmetic and science and language, properly conceived and properly taught, can help to shape ideas and ideals around and beyond the subject matter itself.
15
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
Summer Playground Recreation Program
The Summer Playground Recreation Program, inaugurated by the School Department four years ago, was continued in 1947 under the direction of John J. Bochynski, teacher of phy- sical education at the High School. The program was designed to provide creative group recreational experiences during the summer months for all children and youths.
Since participation in such a program was on a purely voluntary basis, the program developed by the instructors had to be elastic enough to conform with variable weather condi- tions, and to provide for the interests of groups that changed constantly from day to day and from period to period within the day. That 415 different children and youths were reached through this project in one way or another during the summer is an indication of the successful handling of this difficulty. A constant always in the attendance was a large number of chil- dren of pre-school and primary age. To these an instructor was always assigned to develop group games, craftwork adapted to the age and experience of the children, story-telling and the like.
For the older children a variety of opportunities for in- formal group play and sedentary activities was always provided. Tournaments and leagues for more formally organized groups, developing naturally out of the informal play groupings, were projected in outdoor basketball, hard ball and soft ball base- ball, quoit throwing, volley ball, badminton, etc. These, of course, required formal scheduling.
Playground all-star teams played games at home and away with similar teams from playgrounds in nearby communities. Weekly features of the program were the supervised bicycling trips to nearby places of interest and the nature hikes through the adjacent woodlands. The grand finale was a playground picnic at Ipswich Beach.
16
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT
A very real contribution to the success of the recreation program was the program of swimming instruction provided for the third successive year by the local chapter of the Ameri- can Red Cross. For this program the Red Cross engaged three certified water safety instructors to teach beginners, inter- mediate, and advanced swimming classes five mornings a week at Ipswich Beach. The School Department contracted with one of its school bus operators to transport children from the Playground to the Beach to benefit from this instruction. One hundred and thirty-five different children were enrolled in these swimming classes, and thus not only profited from the instruc- tion offered but also had the opportunity to become familiar with and to learn to enjoy the beach, our community's unique recreational asset.
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