USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Plymouth > Town annual report of Plymouth, MA 1926-1927 > Part 31
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Owing to the increased number of pupils two addi- tional teachers were found necessary at the Junior High School.
Mr. George C. Marsden, principal of the Senior High School for five years, resigned at the end of the last school year to accept the principalship of the Milton High School.
Mr. Wayne M. Shipman, principal of the Walpole High School, was unanimously chosen to succeed Mr. Marsden. Mr. Shipman has had some twenty years' experience as teacher and principal.
Mr. George A. Burgess resigned as janitor of the Lincoln Street and South Street schools, and was suc- ceeded by Mr. Fred J. Smith, who also is assistant jani- tor at the Senior High School.
New electric lights have been installed at the Alden Street, Cold Spring and the Knapp schools. Several of these rooms were very much below the standard, and on
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days school work was carried on with difficulty. At Russell Mills six large windows replace three small ones, doubling the amount of light received. New lights have also been installed in the assembly room and corridor of the Senior High School, and additional current has been provided at both High Schools and the Hedge School.
A telephone has been installed at the South Street School.
Chemical toilets have been placed in two schools. At the Alden Street, Cliff Street and Russell Mills these chemical toilets have replaced the old, unsanitary, out- door toilets. No child in these schools has to go out-of- doors to a toilet. The moral and health menace of the old fashioned toilet has been eliminated. A similar toilet should be installed at Cedarville, although it will mean a small addition to the building, which was not necessary in these other schools.
Extensive painting was carried on at the Senior and Junior High Schools, at Manomet, Mt. Pleasant and Ced- arville schools.
A new heater of the jacketed type has been installed in the Cedarville School, contributing much to the heating and ventilating.
Sheet metal working tools have been purchased for the use of the Junior High School.
A substantial, five foot wire fence of the "Anchor Post" type has been erected at the Lincoln Street and Cornish and Burton play grounds, and on the northwest- erly side of the Hedge School lot, total length 833 feet.
FIRE PROTECTION
An item of $3,000.00 in the 1927 budget was intended for the installation of a sprinkler system in the Junior High School basement, but in the judgment of the State Inspector of Buildings fire escapes, on other buildings were more essential, and the appropriation was there- fore used for the latter purpose as specified below.
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Fire escapes have been added to the Cornish and Knapp schools which permit ready exit from the second floor on either side of these buildings. Another was add- ed to the Senior High School, which leads from the chemistry laboratory on the third floor and meets escapes from the second floor. At the Mt. Pleasant School a fire partition was placed in the two halls. In all the larger grade schools the fire-doors leading to the base- ments were provided with glass re-enforced with wire netting. Thus all the school buildings are now reason- ably protected from danger of fires in so far as the safety of pupils is concerned.
Increased water supply at the Hedge School. A large 6" main has been brought into the building and larger pipes leading to the toilets and drinking fountains per- mit a steady supply of water at all times. Formerly at recess when the toilets were being flushed the drinking fountains on the upper floors received no water.
The fire escapes were erected by J. B. Holt & Company of Brockton and have been approved by the State Inspector of Buildings.
The cost plus the expense of additional water supply at the Hedge School and a few small items was $4,721.85.
In view of the radical change in the heating of the two High Schools, as contemplated in the proposed building plan, no item for fire protection is put in the 1928 bud- get.
FREDERICK D. BARTLETT, EDWARD R. BELCHER, A. PERRY RICHARDS, ALBERT L. MELLOR, FANNIE P. ROWELL,
School Committee
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FINANCIAL REPORT
RECEIPTS
Appropriation March, $250,950 00
Income from Trust Fund,
20 34
$250,970 34
PAYMENTS
General Expenses,
$8,781 47
Teachers' Salaries,
153,941 44
Text Books and Supplies,
13,390 57
Transportation,
15,990 47
Janitor Service,
11,525 35
Fuel,
10,367 14
Repairs and Maintenance,
21,629 32
Equipment,
4,428 31
Medical Inspection,
7,571 18
Tuition,
1,285 60
Total,
$248,910 85
Unexpended Balance,
$2,059 49
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT BUDGET FOR 1928
General Expenses-
Superintendent's Salary,
$4,200 00
Secretary,
1,500 00
Truant Officer,
300 00
Stationery and Postage,
500 00
Telephone,
150 00
Traveling Expense,
400 00
Automobile Expense,
500 00
Freight and Express,
250 00
School Census,
200 00
All Other,
300 00
8,300 00
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Teachers' Salaries-
Day,
$154,050 00
Substitutes,
1,000 00
Evening,
1,000 00
Americanization,
1,800 00
Summer,
450 00
158,300 00
Text Books and Supplies-
Text and Reference Books,
$6,000 00
Paper, Blank Books, Etc., 4,000 00
Manual Training Supplies,
1,000 00
Domestic Science Supplies,
1,000 00
All Other (including Athletic Supplies)
950 00
Tuition and Transportation,
2,000 00
Transportation-
Automobile (pupils),
$12,500 00
Car Fares,
4,000 00
16,500 00
Janitors' Service-
Day,
$12,700 00
Evening,
300 00
13,000 00
Fuel and Light-
Coal and Wood,
$11,500 00
Gas and Electricity,
1,300 00
Maintenance-
Salary of Building Supervisor, $2,600 00
General Repairs, 10,000 00
Flags and Flagstaffs,
100 00
Janitors' Supplies,
650 00
Telephones,
350 00
Ashes, etc., removed,
500 00
All Other,
500 00
12,950 00
12,800 00
14,700 00
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Furniture and Furnishings-
Manual Training,
800 00
Typewriters, All Other,
600 00
1,000 00
2,400 00
Rent,
400 00
Medical Inspection-
Physician,
$1,500 00
Nurse and Assistant,
2,500 00
Dental Hygienist,
1,700 00
Dental Clinic,
900 00
All Other,
900 00
7,500 00
Diplomas and Graduation,
150 00
Total Payments, $249,000 00
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SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT
To the School Committee :
I herewith submit my second annual report as Super- intendent of Schools.
In my report of last year I called your attention to the serious conditions at the Junior and Senior high schools and that they needed special study before a recommenda- tion was made. This has been done with the assistance of Professor Jesse B. Davis, a man of wide experience and training and a specialist in secondary education. His report is given in full and should be read by every citizen together with the reports of the School Committee, the Principal of the Senior High School, the Principal of the Junior High School, and the special report of the Super- intendent.
IMPROVEMENTS
Many improvements in the buildings have been made, the more important being the following: making the buildings safer from possible fire, increasing the lighting facilities, painting exteriors, replacing out-of-door toilet facilities with chemical toilets, installing uniform clock systems. These are described fully in the report of the committee :
The more important changes in other lines of school work are the following :-
1. The adoption of the Self-Help English Lessons from third grade to the sixth inclusive. This book, which replaces an old series, has proved very successful in many of the best educational centers.
2. New Supplementary Readers have been adopted. Pupils are reading more books than ever. Frequently first grade pupils read from twelve to eighteen books.
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The newer books are not only interesting in their content but are attractively illustrated. The pupils and teachers have appreciated this new material.
3. New maps have been purchased for all the schools. With one exception no school had had new maps of Europe since the World War. Other maps had been in use for at least thirty years and some longer. Some bore the mark "Edition of 1875." One map still being used had the following :
"North America-published under the direction of the Committee of General Literature and Ed- ucation appointed by the Society for Promoted Christian Knowledge and of the National So- ciety."
No evidence of when this map was published can be obtained from two of the present companies making maps.
Better Classification of Pupils.
By using the results of intelligence tests and standard subject tests, together with the teachers' estimate of a child's ability, the pupils were carefully graded in June. Instead of retaining in the sixth grade the over age pupils who had not obtained the usual stand- ard, they were advanced to a special group at the Junior High School where they are receiving a type of education fitted to their needs. Socially they are with those of their own approximate chronological age.
In October another standard intelligence tests was given. The results checked very closely with other results in about seventy-five per cent of the cases. In cases of radical difference the principals and teachers have made a careful study of the individual. As pupils have shown their ability they have been ad- vanced, or if failing to do their work, have been de- moted.
4.
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5. A special opportunity class formed at the Junior High School.
This group is composed of many of the boys and girls who had not accomplished all of the regular sixth grade academic work, but are from fourteen to six- teen years of age. At the Junior High School they are receiving special instruction, in the fundamentals of arithmetic, reading, writing, language and the social studies. Besides this they are spending two periods a day in special forms of hand work, in which they are showing excellent results. Some pupils, as they have showed ability have been advanced to regu- lar seventh grade classes.
6. The Chiltonville Primary School Closed.
Owing to the special conditions that would have ex- isted at the Chiltonville School had it been opened in September, and after having discussed the situation with the parents, it was decided best to transport these children to the Mt. Pleasant and Cornish schools for the present year. These children undoubtedly receive better training in these schools than if they were in a single school consisting of six grades, under the direction of an inexperienced teacher, or even a teacher with some experience. After further trial of this change the parents will again be asked what they think is for the best interests of these children.
SCHOOL COSTS IN PLYMOUTH
There are 355 towns and cities in the state of Massa- chusetts. Among these Plymouth ranks as one of the towns that can afford to do more than the average town for its boys and girls because it is wealthier. If the valu- ation of the town be divided by the average membership of the schools, Plymouth ranks 75th in the state. That is 74 towns have a greater valuation per pupil and 280 towns have a lower valuation. Among the 78 towns of 5,000 or more inhabitants Plymouth ranks eleventh in
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valuation per pupil. In each case it ranks in the upper fifth of the group.
In the amount raised per $1,000 valuation from local taxation for support of the schools, Plymouth ranks 252nd in the state as a whole, that is 251 towns raise more and 103 raise less. In the 78 towns of 5,000 or more inhabitants, Plymouth ranks 63rd, that is, 62 towns raise more and 15 towns raise less per $1,000.
In the group of 78 towns and cities Plymouth ranks 12th in expenditure per pupil from all sources. In other words in 11 towns the cost per pupil is more and in 66 towns it is less. The item of cost which is larger than in any town of this group except Barnstable is that of trans- portation. Last year it amounted to $15,648. which is from $5,000 to $13,000 more than in any of the towns of this group except Weymouth, Middleborough, Dart- mouth, Montague, Walpole, Wareham, and Barnstable.
Naturally with its wide area Plymouth's cost of trans- portation would be higher than most of the towns.
The average cost per pupil in Plymouth was $96.73, the average for the state was $94.15. Thus Plymouth spends a little more than the average.
It may also be interested to compare the budgets for the year 1918 with the proposed budget for 1928.
BUDGET COMPARISONS
1918
1928
(Proposed)
Salaries :-
Teachers, Supt.
Health Dept.
Truant Officer
$84,480 00 $184,000 00
Building Supervisor Janitors
-
General office expense,
1,700 00
2,000 00
Text Books and Supplies,
Including graduation,
10,140 00
12,500 00
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Transportation,
3,000 0€
16,000 00
Fuel and Light,
12,000 00
15,000 00
Maintenance and Care,
5,200 00
13,000 00
Furniture,
350 00
2,500 00
Health Department,
(Other than Salaries),
500 00
2,000 00
Vocational Courses,
2,750 00
...
Support of Truants,
225 00
· . . . . .
Tuition and Transportation to other towns,
310 00
2,000 00
Total, $120,125 00* $249,000 00
Note: * Special appropriations amounting to $3,800 were added during the year or early in January to pay up bills. War time conditions made an accurate budget im- possible.
Total Increase,
$128,875 00
(1) Salaries,
$99,520 00
or
77.2%
General Office Expense,
830 00
or
.7%
Text Bks. & Supplies,
2,360 00
or 1.8%
(2) Transportation, Fuel and Light,
3,000 00
or
2.3%
(3) Maintenance,
7,800 00
or
6.0%
Furniture & Fshgs.,
2,150 00
or
1.7%
Health Dept.,
1,500 00
or
1.2%
other towns,
1,690 00
or
1.3%
102.2%
Decrease :
Vocational Courses & Support of Truants,
2,975 00 or
2.3%
99.9%
School Report 2
13,000
or
10.0%
Tuition & Trans. to
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The largest item of increased cost is salaries.
In 1918 the maximum salary for a grade teacher was $700. and for a high school teacher was $1,200. Today the maximum for a grade teacher is $1,500, and for a college graduate in the junior high school $1,700, in the senior high $1,800, with the men teachers receiving some- what higher salaries. Our salary schedule is no more than average. The schools certainly could not keep up a high standard with any less efficient teachers.
The maximum salary paid to a janitor on full time is $1,500. a year. He is on duty frequently eleven and twelve hours a day during the winter and nearly full time during the summer months.
The second large item of increased cost is that of trans- portation. A part of this increase is due to consolidating some schools or grades. For example, all the 7th and 8th grade pupils are brought together at an expense of about $3,000 for trolley fares. This has meant a saving of several thousands in the way of an increased number of teachers and duplication of equipment. At least two rural schools have been closed and the pupils given the advantages of the better graded schools.
The following are the chief items of cost of transpor- tation.
(1) Transportation to the Cedarville School from a widely scattered area.
(2) Transportation to Manomet School from
(a) Ship Pond and the children in grades one and two from the vicinity of Raymond's Corner
(b) From Warren Avenue - Shore Road - to a distance of over three miles
(3) Transportation to the Junior High School
(a) From Long Pond
(b) From vicinity of Darby
(c) From the Knapp and Hedge school districts
(d) From Manomet
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(e) From · Russell Mills
(f) From South Pond
Transportation to Cornish & Mt. Pleasant Schools
(4)
(a) Grades V and VI from Russell Mills and Chil- tonville
(b) Chiltonville primary grades
(c) Two pupils from Ellisville by special arrange- ment
(d) From Darby
(5) Transportation to Bourne
(a) Junior and Senior High School pupils from Cedarville
(6) Transportation to Carver
(a) Children very near Carver line
(7) Smaller items
(a) One pupil from Gurnet Light to Duxbury
(b) One pupil to Fresh Air School from vicinity of Obery Road
The third main item of increase is maintenance.
During the war all items of cost were reduced as low as possible. As a result the buildings suffered. Many build- ings have been thoroughly renovated inside and out. In some cases extensive repairs have been necessary. Dur- ing the past year chemical toilets in two one-room schools have replaced the old filthy out-of-door toilets. It is better to spend enough money to keep the buildings in excellent shape than to let them deteriorate.
The other items comprise less than 7% of the budget and are beyond our control as far as cost is concerned.
Every teacher has tried to be as reasonable in the use of books and paper as possible, and every janitor in the use of coal. Careful check is being kept upon these items.
PROFESSIONAL SPIRIT OF TEACHERS
The professional interest of the teachers has been un- usually fine. Last spring over twenty of the Junior and
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Senior High School teachers enrolled in an extension course, given under the direction of Harvard and Boston University Extension Department. The title of the course was "Principles of Reorganization of Secondary Education." It has brought the teachers of these two schools into a close and sympathetic understanding of one another's problems and will pave the way for the re- organization of the work in these two schools.
In the Fall and Winter forty of the grade teachers have taken a course on "Methods of Elementary Education" under the same auspices. This course should give the teachers many new points of view.
Other teachers have taken work at the following schools during the summer :- Hyannis Normal School, Harvard Summer School, Boston University, Simmons College, Columbia, and at the American Institute of Nor- mal Methods. Others took a State Extension Course at Plymouth.
CHANGES IN IEACHERS
There was an unusually large turn over of teachers during the year. Four teachers, including Mr. George Marsden, Principal of the High School, went to Milton, two retired after teaching over twenty years in Plym- outh and approximately forty years in all, seven stopped teaching because of home conditions, two went to Indi- anna, two returned to Florida, one went to New York, and four to other towns in Massachusetts.
After careful consideration and investigation of many candidates for the position as principal of the High School, Mr. Wayne M. Shipman, Principal of the Walpole High School, was elected. Mr. Shipman has had experi- ence as an instructor in some of the best private schools, also as a teacher at the Milton and Brookline High Schools, and later as an assistant principal at Haverhill High School. For four years he had been principal at Walpole. Mr. Shipman has recently obtained the degree
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of Master of Education from Harvard College, thus by experience and training he is well qualified to guide the reorganization of the high school work.
Of the other new teachers, all are graduates of normal schools or colleges, thirteen have had experience and eight have had none but were especially well prepared for their work and had a high scholastic standing.
SUPPLY OF TEACHERS
There are more normal school graduates in Massa- chusetts than there are calls for teachers. This, how- ever, does not mean that there is a surplus of excellent teachers. Many of these teachers stand in the lowest quarter of their class. Others may have had a good rec- ord but are not of a type whose personality and influence are of the best. Only a limited number of inexperienced teachers can be used without impairing the efficiency of the work. These teachers should not only stand high in their normal school or college, but give excellent promise of being better than an average teacher. There is still a scarcity of capable efficient teachers in whom the schools may feel not only that the class room work will be well done but that their influence both in school and in the community will be of the finest. The teacher must reflect in her community life the high ideals which the school strives to inculcate in its pupils.
TO THE PARENTS
The schools appreciated very much your attendance at the evening sessions of the schools held during Educa- tion Week in November. An approximate record was kept of the visits to the rooms. In some schools seventy- five per cent of the parents saw their children at work.
Parents are welcome at all times to visit the schools. Teachers, principals and the superintendent will appreci- ate suggestions given in the right spirit.
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CONCLUSION
I wish to thank the principals, supervisors and teach- ers for their unusually fine cooperative spirit and their faithful conscientious discharge of their many duties, the School Committee for their valuable suggestions and hearty support, the Board of Health for their cooper- ation, and the other town officials who have so freely given of their time and effort to help the school depart- ment. Such a splendid spirit on the part of every one is unusual and augurs well for the continued success of the Plymouth schools.
Respectfully submitted,
ANSON B. HANDY,
Superintendent of Schools.
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THE SUPERINTENDENT'S SPECIAL REPORT ON CONDITIONS IN THE JUNIOR AND SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLS
For several years the conditions at the Senior High School have been very unsatisfactory due to a lack of proper school facilities. This condition has been fre- quently described in the annual reports of the former principals, superintendents and school committees. Each: year the conditions have been more aggravated with the constantly increasing enrollment.
HIGH SCHOOL BUILT 1891
The original high school building was erected in 1891 to accommodate approximately 125 pupils. The enroll- ment increased to 235 pupils in 1913, when several rooms were added. The school increased at once to 312 (1915) and held about that number until shortly after the war.
In September 1921 the enrollment increased to 358 pu- pils. The principal in his annual report states "This large increase (314 to 358) brings to the surface a ser- ious condition - the inadequacy of the present building for accommodating the work of the school. All suitable space is being utilized for recitations and session rooms to the great inconvenience of both pupils and teachers."
CONDITIONS IN THE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
In September 1927 the enrollment had increased to 422, an increase of 64 since the conditions were critical. How has it been possible to accommodate this increase? Briefly, these are the expedients used :
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1. The boys' cloak room has been turned into a class- room. It is lighted by three small windows. At times a teacher has pupils in front of her and in chairs on two sides.
2. Shelves have been used for "home" desks, neces- sitating the pupils standing in. chairs to reach their books.
3. A dark basement corridor opening into the boys' toilet is used for a boys' coat room.
4. Over two hundred girls use one small cloak room.
5. The assembly hall, although poorly lighted, has been turned into a study room. Pupils sit at desks, around tables on the stage, and in assembly seats without any desk or table upon which to write. As an assembly hall it is impossible for all pupils to see the stage when curtains are used.
6. The biology and elementary science rooms have had no adequate facilities to permit pupils to do any individual experiments. The teacher, also, is seriously handicapped by a lack of suitable tables for demonstration.
7. Three rooms are so crowded with chairs or type- writers that it is almost impossible to pass down the aisles.
8. The principal has absolutely no privacy for talk- ing with parents or pupils.
9. There are no facilities for health work.
10. There is no gymnasium for the carrying out of the program of physical education.
11. There is no adequate ventilating system.
12. The lunch room is crowded into the basement and is exceedingly cramped.
The serious handicap of these conditions is more fully discussed in the report of Mr. Wayne M. Shipman, Prin- cipal of the Senior High School.
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CONDITIONS AT THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
The Junior High School was enlarged in 1917. It, however, is not provided with sufficient room for the needs of the present enrollment. It was built to accom- modate 400 pupils. In September, 1927, there were 475 enrolled. Daily four classes of boys go to the South Street School for Manual Training. One group of pupils uses for a home room the room used for sewing and for drawing, which means they have no place for their books. There is no assembly hall, as the state inspector of buildings will not permit the use of corridors for such purposes, as had been done in the past. There is no gym- nasium for the physical development of the boys and girls. Some classes have numbered 43, 44 and 45 pupils which are too many for one teacher to handle effectively. The lunch room facilities are poor. Practically every pu- pil has to stand and eat his lunch either in the corridor, the manual training room, or out-of-doors. These condi- tions are described more fully in the report of Miss Kath- arine A. O'Brien, Principal of the Junior High School.
NEED OF GYMNASIUM AND ASSEMBLY HALL
No modern school is being built without a gymnasium and an assembly hall, either combined or separate. The value of these is explained fully by the principals of these schools, and by the physical director, and need not be re-stated. Such towns as Middleboro, Rockland, Whit- man, Braintree, Duxbury and Sandwich in erecting new buildings within the past two years have provided for both a gymnasium and an assembly hall.
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