USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Plymouth > Town annual report of Plymouth, MA 1909-1911 > Part 9
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School plants are expensive, and industrial equipments will not prove less so. Any unnecessary duplication is to be avoided. The High School has shown its ability and willingness to adapt itself, though often very slowly and grudgingly, to changing conditions, and to respond to well defined needs. Gradually it has adopted commercial courses of study and made them effec- tive, and many schools have found a place for manual training. The pupils who enter these courses no longer suffer scholastic ostracism as mental weaklings; but these courses and those who pursue them are regarded as equal in worth and dignity and
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ability with the classical courses and students. The principle is now clearly recognized that it is as honorable "to pound an anvil as to pound a pulpit," and he who builds a good house is quite as useful a citizen as he who writes a book. This is a good gain, and lends assurance that the present High School can be broadened and made successfully to reflect the changing spirit of the times. Surely the change and changing industrial conditions are most evident and the need of meeting them is urgently felt. And the school that, while retaining its interest in good scholarship and making ample provision for academic requirements, shall yet appreciate and endeavor to meet the needs and problems of the large majority of its pupils who must face industrial competition, will soonest and best serve the inter- ests of the community which supports it.
The sentiment in favor of industrial training is as keen and intelligent in Plymouth as elsewhere. The matter has been well considered, and all experiments made in other communities along this line and under conditions similar to ours are being closely watched. Any plan yet formulated involves a very con- siderable expenditure of money, and is without a reasonable assurance of success. We are yet waiting for the formulation of a successful method of securing industrial training at an expense which this community can meet.
The graduating exercises of the High School were held Tues- day evening, June 22, with the following program :
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GRADUATION EXERCISES
PLYMOUTH HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 1909
Tuesday, June Twenty-Second
EIGHT O'CLOCK P. M.
Graduation Programme
1. Processional Marches. Wagner
2. "Union and Liberty,"
"Flag of the heroes who left us their glory,
Borne thro' their battlefields' thunder and flame, Blazoned in song and illumined in story,
Wave o'er us all who inherit their fame !"
3. The Work of the Weather Bureau,
Ellis W. Brewster.
4. A Plea for Peace,
(An original poem suggested by an incident in the siege of Troy)
Manona Kennedy.
5. (a) "Santa Lucia," Italian Melody Bonheur
(b) "The Red Scarf,"
6. The Lady of Skibo Castle, Annie H. Sampson.
7. The Land Where the Lost Things Go, Ethel W. Harrison.
8. "When the Roses Bloom Again," Adams
9. China's Opium Question, Sidney H. Diman.
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10. Some National Emblems, Ruth H. Thomas.
11. "He, Watching Over Israel," Mendelssohn
12. Presentation of Diplomas, By Mr. Francis J. Heavens.
13. "America."
*Honor pupils
CLASS MOTTO : Labor omnia vincit
CLASS FLOWER : Red Rose.
MUSICAL DIRECTOR : Charles B. Stevens. PIANIST : Mary Beatrice Forstmeyer.
List of Graduates.
Helen Cushman Bartlett Carolyn LeBaron Gilbert Harris Bass *Ethel Warren Harrison Maude May Batting Nathan Clarence Jordan Geneva Mabel Blanchard *Manona Kennedy
*Ellis Wethrell Brewster Hughaulena McDonald
Nettie Elenora Browne Elsie May Paty
Ralph Bradford Clarke Elmer Cornelius Petit
Sidney Homer Diman Loring Dyer
Jennie Copeland Powers Frank Thomas Roane
Percy Harvey Fisher
Helen Elizabeth Fisher
Minnie Frances Gifford
* Annie Harriet Sampson Beulah Sherwood Skillman
*Ruth Helen Thomas
Martha Seaver Washburn
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UNGRADED SCHOOLS.
There are three ungraded schools in session at present, one each at Ship Pond, at Cedarville and at Long Pond. There are no children at Ellisville for whom school facilities must be provided, and the school at South Pond is closed, the five chil- dren from that locality being provided for at Chiltonville.
At present there are thirty-three pupils enrolled in the three schools, with an average membership of twenty-nine, and the present cost of supporting them is about $1,800, or something over sixty dollars for each pupil in the average membership.
The number of pupils enrolled in these outside schools de- creases steadily year by year; there are about one half as many children now as ten years ago.
EVENING SCHOOLS.
During the past year the Evening Schools have been in ses- sion at the Knapp and Cornish buildings for twenty weeks, three evenings each week.
The law governing evening school attendance has been con- strued to apply only to those illiterates under eighteen years of age-that the time of minority, so far as evening school attend- ance is concerned, ends at that age. This interpretation became effective the past year with the result that the number of illiter- ates applying for admission to the schools, when they began their sessions, was much less than ever before. The very large major- ity of illiterates employed here and up to this time required to attend evening school, are between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one years. The present number of illiterates now in school is less than sixty-a number much smaller than that be- tween the ages of sixteen and eighteen years in attendance a year ago. As the law compelling the attendance at school of
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all illiterate minors is fairly well enforced here, the reduction in the number at school is a fair indication of a similar reduc- tion of the number of illiterate minors at work here, and is a matter for congratulation. The record for the year is as follows :
Number of boys enrolled, 98
Number of girls enrolled, 52
Average number belonging,
122
Average evening attendance, 97
Percentage of attendance, 79.5
The current expense of the evening schools, exclusive of light and heat, was $528.50, an expenditure of $4.25, for each pupil in the average number belonging to the school for sixty sessions
EYE AND EAR TEST.
'The table given below shows the result of the annual test, made by the teachers, of the eye sight and hearing of the pupils in school. The State Board of Education furnishes the neces- sary appliances with directions for their use for these tests; and the teachers have received valuable help and suggestion from the School Physician in difficult or uncertain cases.
Number of pupils tested, 2,010
Number found defective in sight, 211
Percentage found defective in sight,
10.5
Number found defective in hearing, 28
Percentage found defective in hearing, 1.7
Number of parents or guardians notified, 158
School children who are handicapped by reason of some physi- cal disability are today receiving attention and consideration which was unknown until medical inspection became a factor in schools. But under the present form of the Medical Inspection Law, sympathy and consideration is about all many of these
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physical ills receive. There is no mandatory provision for active help. If only some one were given by law the authority to sup- ply, or cause to be supplied, at private or public cost, the proper remedies for these physical defects in school children as soon as the defects are discovered, the Medical Inspection Law would be invaluable. But in its present form it is unsatisfactory and weak.
TEACHERS.
There are at present in service in the day schools sixty-one teachers which number includes three teachers of special sub- jects. This is one less than was in service last year, the school at South Pond having been closed. We have lost during the year covered by this report fourteen teachers by resignation, but only six of that number left to accept positions paying more salary elsewhere. Some of these resignations were especially to be regretted because of the loss coming to the schools thereby ; but no inducement which this department could reasonably offer would have been sufficient to save this loss to the schools. To find suitable teachers to fill vacancies is an exacting and some- times discouraging duty.
In spite of the increased maximum salary given to teachers in the elementary schools, it is still difficult to find good teachers who will come or remain here for the amount we can offer. More money has become available for school purposes in all com- munities ; salaries for teachers have been increased everywhere; and the amount we now can offer here means no more in the markets of today than two-thirds that amount meant fifteen or twenty years ago. And so there appears a present need of further raising teachers' salaries. Every community that de- sires the best schools must pay the market price for them; and that price will continue to rise so long as there are so many
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places ready to pay the price for good teachers that the demand is ever greater than the supply. And the demand for the best teachers is to be greater rather than less, to meet the need of changed school requirements.
Schools are to grow better and broader in their work and scope. They are to meet the demands of new industrial, commercial and social conditions. They will have fewer pupils to a teacher. Classes of forty-eight or fifty pu- pils will be reduced to thirty or less ; mass instruction will be re- placed by individual teaching; the backward and abnormal child will receive greater attention, and needs of vocational training will be provded for.
All these things will call for an increased expenditure of money. It may be thought unreasonable to expect that a larger proportional part of the public funds should be given to schools. So it was thought thirty, twenty and ten years ago. But each decade brings a clearer understanding of educational possibilities, and a keener realization of the value of the public schools, rightly managed, to promote the prosperity and civic welfare of the State. The present decade is no exception. A very clear understanding of the educational and social needs of the present and the coming generation is already at hand, and with it a strong belief in the capacity of the public schools, properly man- ned and equipped, to meet those needs.
In many communities this broader work of the schools is judged not only possible or desirable, but altogether necessary ; and generous provision is being made to secure it. And the most vital part of this provision is in successfully attracting to the service of the schools the best and most effective teachers the market affords. These teachers are being secured and re- tained by a largely increased expenditure for teachers' salaries. Only by this larger expenditure of money can the broader ex- tension of public school work required by the needs of today be met. The salaries of teachers have by no means reached their limit. Further increase is necessary if even the present. standard of instruction is to be maintained.
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It is possible and reasonable to believe that a community can increase its expenditure for the instruction of its children by an amount equal to the increased cost for the construction of school buildings for those same children. During the past twenty years the increased cost of construction has been about one hundred per cent .; the increased cost of instruction for the same period has been about thirty per cent.
With due recognition of the active support and co-operation of the committee, and with high appreciation of the ability, fi- delity and devotion of the teachers to the best interests of the school, this report is,
Respectfully submitted, FRANCIS J. HEAVENS, Superintendent of Schools.
LIST OF TEACHERS
IN THE SCHOOLS OF PLYMOUTH, MASS. 1909-1910.
High School.
Leicester A. Williams, Principal, History.
Robert Bennett, Mathematics.
Elizabeth Mackenzie, Commercial Studies.
Helen N. Parsons, Latin and English.
Edith L. Flewelling, Science.
Margaret C. Tupper, French and German.
Victoria M. Zeller, German.
Augusta M. Morton, ninth grade.
Helen L. Barnes, ninth grade.
Spooner Street School.
Grade.
1. M. Agnes Safford.
Hedge School.
Grade. 1. Cora W. Gray. 2. Lucy L. Hildreth.
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Allerton Street School.
Grade.
1. Lula C. Vaille.
Frederick N. Knapp School.
Grade.
7-8. Edward E. Weeks, principal.
6. . Lydia E. Holmes.
5. Zelma B. Lucas.
4. Maude H. Lermond.
3. Kate G. Zahn.
3. Bessie Barker.
3. Grace M. Ward.
2. Annie W. Burgess.
1. Elizabeth H. Sampson.
Cold Spring School.
Grade.
2. Gertrude C. Bennett.
3. Mabel F. Douglas. · 5. Susan C. Thomas.
Oak Street School.
Grade.
1. Marion T. Wholley. 2-3. Clara W. Mayhew.
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Burton School.
Grade.
8. Katherine A. O'Brien.
7. Mabel C. Ray.
4. Teresa A. Rogan.
4. Nettie E. Knight.
Cornish School.
Grade.
Addie L. Bartlett, principal.
8. Frances I. Bagnell.
6. Annie D. Dunham.
6. Laura M. Whitney.
ɔ̃. Clara E. Campbell.
6. Harriet J. Johnson.
3. Margaret Longfellow.
2. Alice B. Smith.
1. Elizabeth H. Felker.
Mount Pleasant School.
Grade.
7. Samuel A. Cragin, principal.
6. Martha Wilkins.
5. Grace L. Knight.
4. Leella F. Barnes.
3. Annie M. Frost.
1-2. Lizzie E. Mitchell.
Mount Pleasant Primary.
Grade.
1. Grace N. Bramhall.
2. Grace R. Moore.
1-5. Hazel E. McLean.
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Chiltonville.
Grade.
6-9. Maud R. Robinson.
1-5. Elizabeth, Ashlin.
1-5. Kate W. Sampson.
1-5. Mary A. Morton.
Manomet.
Grade.
6-9. Bertha M. McNaught. 1-5. Grace L. Farrington.
Ungraded. Vallerville.
Rebecca Robbins.
.
Cedarville.
. Ungraded.
Sarah H. Paty.
Long Pond.
Ungraded.
Jennie C. Powers.
Music.
Alice C. Persons.
Drawing.
Marion F. Holmes.
Sloyd.
Della M. Carlen.
REPORT OF SCHOOL PHYSICIAN
FOR THE YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 1909.
The following table of statistics will serve to give some idea of what has been done by the Medical Inspector in the public schools during the past year.
For convenience in comparison, the totals for the year, 1908, have been added.
.
| Visits
Personal
Examina
tions
Permits
issued by
School
Physician
Permits
issued by
other
Physicians
Notices
sent to.
Parents
Pupils
Excluded
No. of dis-
eases and
conditions
Jan.
13
144
38
or
50
20
96
Feb.
12
118
44
1
40
9
72
March
15
182
63
7
75
13
121
April
11
134
28
5
57
14
94
May
13
121
22
5
58
9
88
June
16
147
23
6
73
3
102
Sept.
14
107
16
1
59
4
99
Oct.
15
124
21
-2
51
12
79
Nov.
17
205
49
9
92
10
143
Dec.
11
177
50
12
77
9
129
Total, 1909
137
1459
354
62
632
· ஐ
1023
Total, 1908
140
1285
469
79
313
125
616
diseased
It will be noted that while the number of visits is three less than last year, many more examinations of pupils have been made, and more than twice as many notices sent to parents, although thirty-two less pupils were excluded from school.
It should be understood that the statement that 1,459 personal examinations were made, does not mean that that number of in-
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dividuals were examined, for the same child was often repeatedly examined. For example a child is examined and excluded from school for contagious skin disease. He returns, is re- examined and refused admission, and later, perhaps, after sev- eral such examinations, is admitted, or the same child may be referred to the school physician and examined many times in the course of the year for different reasons.
The system of school inspection employed in Plymouth in- cludes a visit to each of our larger schools each week ; the Cornish and Burton schools on Mondays at 9 a. m .; the Mount Pleasant school at about 10.30 a. m. on the same day, and the Knapp school at 9 a. m. on Wednesdays, thus reaching the larger part of our school population in these three visits. Pupils are sent into these larger schools from the smaller ones in the vicinity, thus saving the expense of special visits to them. The school physician makes such other visits as circumstances seem to require with the intention to visit all the schools except the most remote every term.
In the larger schools which are regularly visited the physician does not as a rule enter the class rooms, only doing so as time permits. His headquarters are in the socalled teacher's room which is furnished with a table a few chairs and a couch. Here he sees the pupils who are sent to him, one at a time, makes a brief examination, takes such action as the case requires and records the transaction. For the proper performance of these duties the following equipment has been found necessary :
A note book in which the date, the name of the pupil, his or her grade, the name of the school, the conditions found and the action taken, are recorded.
Blank permits giving teachers authority to admit pupils who have been absent on account of illness or for unknown cause, either without restriction or with the admonition to keep them under observation.
Blank notices to parents advising them of diseases or defects
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in their children which make it advisable for them to consult their physician.
Exclusion blanks, notifying parents of diseases which make it necessary for a child to be kept out of school, advising them to consult their physician and stating that the child will not be admitted until furnished with a properly signed certificate of health.
A card giving advice about the teeth.
A card giving instructions for the extermination of head-lice and the removal of nits.
Sanitary Wooden Tongue Depressors, one being used for each child and thrown away.
Transparent Celluloid Clinical Thermometer Cases, one be- ing used each time a child's temperature is taken and thrown away afterwards, thus avoiding all possibility of con- tagion.
Authorities differ as to the competence of the teacher to say whether children need examination by the school physician or not. Superintendent E. C. Moore of Los Angeles, Cal., says :
"The best health officer is one who is present all the time and ever watchful for the welfare of the child. That ever-pres- ent health officer is the teacher."
At all events it is impracticable for the physician to personally see all the children at each visit. The teachers are instructed to send all who have been absent for illness or for unknown cause and all who in their judgment have any sort of physical disability or defect to the school physician for his examination. Often twenty-five or thirty or more children are waiting to see the inspector at the Cornish school on a Monday morning dur- ing the winter months. Usually a teacher is in attendance at the Cornish and Knapp schools to assist but it is an hour and often an hour and a half before the last pupil has been seen.
Some sort of bench should be furnished for those who are obliged to wait as it is a very real hardship to a child, one who perhaps is not well, to cause him or her to stand for an hour
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or more while waiting his or her turn. Of course the attempt is made to select those who are best able to stand first, but ample seating space could easily be provided so that none would be obliged to stand.
Pupils who have been out of school with contagious diseases and have been admitted on certificates from physicians other than the school physician are referred to him in order that he may have a record of their return to school, and such cer- tificates are dated and endorsed by him.
All records made at the schools are subsequently entered in a large book and made a permanent part of the school records. Such records have been kept continuously since April 1907, when medical school inspection was introduced here. A sup- lementary index book gives ready access to the complete physi- cal record of any child.
The following example shows the form of the record :
DATE
NAME
SCHOOL
GRADE
DISEASE
ACTION TAKEN
May 3
Henry H-
Cornish
6th
Mouth breather. Adenoids ; discharge
Notice
from right ear. Watch R.E. 2 in .; L.E. 14 in.
At the regular meeting of the Committee held on the first Tuesday of each month the school physician submits a report of the work of the previous month, of which the following is an example :
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL PHYSICIAN FOR THE MONTH OF 1909.
Number of visits made,
12
Number of personal examinations, 118
Permits signed by school physician,
44
Permits signed by other physicians,
1
Notices sent to parents,
40
Pupils sent home,
9
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Diseases found-
Pediculosis capitis,
Impetigo,
4 8
Scabies,
1
Defective hearing,
1
Enlarged and diseased tonsils,
Adenoids,
4
Decayed teeth,
28
Conjuctivitis,
2
Furuncle,
1
Chronic purulent catarrh of middle ear,
1
Tonsilitis,
1
Flat-foot,
1
Blempharitis marginalis,
1
Erythema,
2
Wounds, abrasions, etc.,
2
Nasal polypi,
1 2
Tinea circinata,
2
Strabismus,
2
Hordeolum,
1
Exactly 33 1-3 per cent. or one-third of all diseased conditions found this year were decayed teeth, and if every child was recorded who had at least one badly decayed tooth the per centage would be nearer 75.
The evil effects of this condition are insidious and far reach- ing, affecting not only the physical development of the pupils, but their mental efficiency also, as has been pointed out in a previous report. There are at present indications that an et- fort will soon be made to awaken the public to the benefits to be derived from a clean mouth filled with sound teeth.
At Rye Seminary, N. Y., a certain number of pupils were se- lected. The teeth of one half of this number were given as per- fect care and attention as could be provided by modern dentistry, while the teeth of the other half received the good, bad or indif- ferent care which they had been getting before the test was begun. After several weeks it was found that those whose teeth were
1
Diseased cervical glands,
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properly cared for were noticeably improved physically, and were doing better work than their companions.
A book on "Medical Inspection of Schools," published by the New York Charities Publication Committee, contains this para- graph :
"There is one branch of medical inspection which has been giv- en decided attention abroad, but until very lately has received very scant notice in this country. This is the care of the teeth of children. In Germany not less than thirty cities support free dental clinics, where work is done on the teeth of school children. The records show that this has resulted in a great improvement in the health of the children, and a decided diminution of ab- sences."
In order to call the attention of parents to defective teeth when they exist, and suggest some of the evils which arise from their presence, the following card is used. It is very similar in effect to a leaflet given the pupils in the New Bedford schools, and en- dorsed by the Medical Academy of Dental Science, the Dental school of Tufts College, and the Dental School of Harvard Un- iversity.
Town of Plymouth-School Department.
The condition of the teeth has much to do with the general health. A bad condition of the throat, the nose and the ears is made worse by decayed teeth. They add to the chances of catching infectious diseases and hinder the natural healthy growth of the child. Well cared-for teeth and a clean mouth help prevent tuberculosis.
Children should be taken to a dentist at once when the teeth are found to be unsound as it may save much future trouble.
In the work of Medical School Inspection there are many op- portunities for a word of timely advice, or a helpful suggestion. In one instance the effect of an interview with the school physi-
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cian had an immediate and salutary effect hardly to be expected.
One morning Mary -, first grade, a pretty little girl with rosy cheeks, was brought to the physician by her teacher who said that for the past three days she could get her interested in noth- ing, and that at frequent intervals she wept profusely, which had a demoralizing effect upon the other pupils. She didn't think Mary was sick, but brought her to the school physician in despair because she did not know what else to do. The only statement which she had been able to get from the child was that she was afraid she was going to die. To all appeals as to why she thought so, she had given no response,and now sat perfectly still, looking straight before her, with an expression of tragic melan- choly on her baby face, while the teacher spoke about her.
Mary was carefully examined, and positively assured that she was perfectly well, and would live to grow up and become a wo- inan, like her teacher. She gave no sign then, but went back to her room and her work, and has been as happy as any little child should be since that time.
It is impossible to determine just how much good is being done by medical inspection in our schools, but while no figures can be presented, because they would necessarily be incomplete and mis- leading, many children are known to have received treatment as a result of the six hundred and thirty-two notices and ninety- three exclusion cards sent to parents. One of the most strik- ing instances was that of a boy who presented himself to the school physician about one week after the opening of school in September. He complained of a stiff wrist, and on being ques- tioned said he had fallen out of a tree about two weeks before. On examination it was found that his wrist was broken. A no- tice was sent to his parents who took him to a surgeon, and he now has a useful wrist.
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