USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Plymouth > Town annual report of Plymouth, MA 1946 > Part 16
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 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19
Summer School 475.00
Janitors, Buildings Supervisor
21,902.17
School Physicians, School Nurse, Asst. to Nurse, Dental Hygienist 7,979.82
Pension for retired School Physician 920.83
School Census 161.43
Total
$250,571.82
Balance to Excess and Deficiency
$5,899.18
RECEIPTS
GENERAL APPROPRIATION, March 1946
$54,700.00
Trust Fund Income 7.33
Total
$54,707.33
PAYMENTS
General Expenses
Stationery, Postage, Printing
$364.61
Telephone
159.14
Travel expense in state
64.30
Automobile expense
400.00
Office supplies
14.00
1,002.05
Text Books and Supplies
Text and reference books
$4,868.26
Paper, blank books, etc.
5,480.68
Manual training supplies
1,331.60
Domestic science supplies
908.80
-6-
Athletic supplies
676.23
Typewriters and supplies
450.20
Visual education supplies
404.90
14,120.67
Transportation
Pupils
$17,449.12
Supervisors, Principals
251.51
17,700.63
Tuition-Out-of-town Schools
Elementary and High
$911.32
Vocational
488.24
1,399.56
Fuel
Coal, wood, oil
7,126.79
Maintenance
Repairs and improvements
$5,633.93
Janitors' supplies
1,530.72
Gas and electricity
2,880.94
Telephones
548.44
Ashes, etc. removed
213.00
10,807.03
Furniture and Furnishings
Desks and chairs
$74.06
Windows shades
107.75
Filing equipment
69.95
Comptometer
340.00
Victrola
40.00
Lunch-room equipment
301.21
Medical Inspection
Dental health
$612.53
Medical supplies
176.80
932.97
-7- 1
Nurse's car expense 384.19
1,173.52
Diplomas and Graduation Rent of Memorial Hall
175.00
Total
$54,699.59
Balance to Excess and Deficiency $7.74
REIMBURSEMENTS AND RECEIPTS
From the State for:
Teachers' Salaries
$17,612.50
Americanization Salaries
363.50
Vocational Tuition
142.00
Vocational Pottery School
17.00
State Wards
1,635.58
City of Boston Wards
112.00
Tuition Out-of-town Pupils:
Carver (Town of)
5,158.52
Plympton (Town of)
4,809.33
Kingston (Residents of)
258.00
Miscellaneous Receipts
548.03
Total
$30,656.46
FINANCIAL SUMMARY
Balance to Excess and
Appropriation March, 1946 $256,471.00
Expenditures
Deficiency
Salaries
$250,571.82
$5,899.18
General
54,707.33*
54,699.59
7.74
Totals
$311,178.33
$305,271.41
5,906.92
Reimbursement and Receipts
Account of Schools
$30,656.46
Net expenditures for schools
$274,614.95
from appropriations to School
261.37
-8-
Dept. for salaries and general *Including Trust Fund Income
VOCATIONAL EDUCATION TRUST FUND FEDERAL GRANT-GEORGE-DEEN
Teaching Pottery Classes
Receipts:
Balance from 1945
$248.00
Cash from State
918.00
$1,166.00
Payments:
Salary of Pottery Instructor 918.00
Unexpended Balance $248.00
VOCATIONAL EDUCATION TRUST FUND FEDERAL GRANT-GEORGE-DEEN
Teaching Handicraft Classes
Receipts:
Balance from 1945
$168.00
Cash from State 180.00
Payments:
$348.00
Salary of Handicraft Instructors
300.00
Unexpended Balance $48.00
RETIREMENT FUND APPROPRIATION
Receipts: Appropriation for Teachers on Military Leave, March 1946 $3,200.00
Payments: Massachusetts Teachers' Retirement Board 2,975.20
Balance to Excess and Deficiency $224.80
-9-
CORNISH SCHOOL LUNCH Receipts CORNISH SCHOOL LUNCH APPROPRIATION
Salaries, March 1946
$3,225.00
Payments
Labor
3,098.25
Balance to Excess and Deficiency
$126.75
Receipts
CORNISH SCHOOL LUNCH APPROPRIATION
General
$5,150.00
Payments
Provisions
$4,452.36
Ice
23,58
Gas
167.39
Equipment:
Utensils and supplies
29.53
Gas Stove
209.25
Refrigerator
198.18
$5,080.29
Balance to Excess and Deficiency $69.71
CORNISH SCHOOL LUNCH ACCOUNT SCHOOL LUNCH RECEIPTS-To Town Treasurer
Sale of Lunches $5,200.80
From Federal Grants
3,145.26
Total $8,346.06
SCHOOL LUNCH PAYMENTS
Salaries
$3,098.25
General
5,080.29
Total
$8,178.54
-10-
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE
To the Citizens of the Town of Plymouth:
Although World War II is declared over so far as armed conflict is concerned, certain conditions brought about by the war are seriously handicapping the pro- gress of public education and will continue to do so for some time to come. One such condition is the depart- ure into more lucrative employments of a great many teachers in public schools throughout the country. This coupled with a sharp decline in the number of young men and women who are preparing for teaching in our colleges has served to arouse thinking people generally to the serious plight of the schools in respect to teaching service.
It is hardly to be expected that our more capable young men and women will spend four or more years beyond high school in preparing for a teaching career unless the compensation compares favorably not only with that of skilled workmen but also with that of workers in other professions requiring as much preparation.
The war economy with the steadily increasing wage scale in industry has brought about a situation where weekly earnings in Massachusetts factories are more than double pre-war wages. The average salary of teachers in Plymouth increased 37% during the same period. Though Plymouth has done considerably better by its teachers than the state and the country as a whole, it is clear that such increases fall far short of those received by many other groups of workers and that they have fallen considerably short of matching the 48% increase in the cost of living since January 1941.
We are, therefore, in a period where a country-wide effort is being made to improve teachers' salaries not only to help teachers meet the present requirements of higher living costs but also to help remove the financial barrier that has caused so many capable young men and women to look askance at teaching as a life work.
-11 --
Our Plymouth teachers, being alert to this country- wide movement, appointed a salary committee to study the situation and confer with the School Committee. As a result the teachers made a request for an increase of not less than $500. This proved to be the average amount being requested by teachers' groups in Massa- chusetts communities. The Plymouth teachers also asked for a "single salary schedule" that would treat alike all teachers of the same training and experience, regardless of sex and grade station.
Accompanying the requests of teachers' associations throughout the state for substantial increases in salary, there is a concerted movement to increase the amount of state-aid to the local communities for education in order that the local real estate holder may not be called on to bear the higher costs due to the contemplated increase in teachers' salaries. As there is considerable doubt whether such legislation can be passed in time to provide additional state-aid prior to fixing the tax rate for 1947, the School Committee did not feel. warranted in asking that the town grant the entire amount of the teachers' request at this time.
« .. Another circumstance that made the Committee's de- cision difficult is the fact that at the coming town elec- tion in March the voters will be required to pass upon the "equal-pay law," which if accepted by the town will require that women teachers shall be paid at the same rate as men teachers in all cases where the preparation, training, and work are similar. The law also provides that the equalization shall not be made by reducing the salaries of men. As the difference between the maximum salaries now paid men and women in junior and senior high school approximates $700, an affirmative vote on this matter by the Plymouth voters would cost approxi- mately $17,000 from April 1 to December 31, or approxi- mately $23,000 for a full year. On the basis of the new salary schedule, approved by the Committee and de- scribed below, the additional annual cost would be
-12-
approximately $13,000. On either basis it is clear that a vote for equal pay would cost the town a very substan- tial sum in addition to the amount being asked for the purpose of making a general increase in salaries.
In view of all the circumstances, the Committee de- cided in favor of a "preparation-type" salary schedule that retains, at least for the present, a differential of $400 between salaries of men and women in the junior and senior high schools. If the town grants the money to put this schedule into effect, all women teachers with equal training will be placed on the same salary sched- ule regardless of grade station or subject field. Certain credits will be allowed also for teaching experience. The schedule provides for minimum salaries for women as follows: 2 years training, $1,700; 3 years training, $1,800; 4 years training, $1,900; and 5 years training, $2,000. Twelve steps of $100 for each year of satisfactory service are provided above the minimum salaries. Each three- year period the teacher is required to secure some addi- tional training approved by the School Committee be- fore advancing to the next salary bracket.
The new schedule for men is set at $400 higher than that for women, pending the vote of the town on the equal-pay law. In continuing to set higher salaries for men in the new schedule, the Committee is maintaining a practice followed for many years past. The custom of paying men teachers higher wages has become estab- lished because of the relative supply of men and women teachers. Schools have been obliged to pay more for men because other vocations have paid more. There appears to be general agreement that some men are needed in schools where there are children of junior and senior high school age.
Since the General Court has not yet granted the pro- posed increase in state-aid, the Committee voted adher- ence to this new salary schedule only in so far as the year 1947 is concerned and with the provision that the increase granted to any teacher for 1947 shall not exceed
-13-
$350 and shall not be less than $150. It is believed that this new schedule, if carried out in subsequent years, will not only help to offset the depreciation of the dollar in the teachers' income but also will help teachers and prospective teachers in Plymouth to feel that the finan- cial return for teaching is more in accord with that re- ceived in other vocations requiring special training.
A second post-war scarcity that retards school progress is the scarcity and consequent high cost of building materials. In this connection it should be said that archi- tects are working on the plans for the proposed voca- tional school passed upon favorably at the last annual town meeting, the action being contingent on our re- ceiving assistance from the Federal or State Govern- ment. Though bills looking toward assistance of local communities in their schoolhousing programs were intro- duced into the Congress last year and the idea received the endorsement of the President, these efforts seem to be sidetracked for the present. However, if Plymouth had received the contemplated grant from the Federal or State Government toward the cost of a trade school, the cost of construction and repairs is so high as to be well nigh prohibitive at this time. Architects conversant with present costs state that school buildings formerly costing thirty-five to forty cents a cubic foot to build would now cost over a dollar a cubic foot.
Another schoolhousing need that bears indirectly on our vocational school project is seen in the over-crowd- ed condition that has been developing of late in the Cornish-Burton Elementary School District and this fall obliged us to transfer more than 50 puplis to Hedge and other schools. During the next few years the indications are that the elementary school population will increase to the point where additional accommodations will be required. This condition would seem to call for the early replacement of the Cornish-Burton School with a new and more adequate plant. The cost of a building of twelve to fifteen classrooms with supplementary
-14-
rooms would be large. The imminence of the need, how- ever is apparent. If a choice must be made as to which of the two construction projects should receive the prior- ity, it would seem that a new elementary school should . be given the precedence. The Committee has already secured an architect to do the advance planning neces- sary to bring this matter before the town for considera- tion as soon as a lower trend of building costs becomes more evident and schoolhouse construction can be re- sumed.
One major item of repair is pressing for attention, namely, the heating system at the Hedge School. Over a considerable period of years these boilers have given us trouble in that we have found it necessary to replace many sections. The condition has become so much worse in recent years that it seems to be short-sighted economy to continue making the repairs required; to keep the present plant in operation. In so doing there is always the danger that we shall be unable to replace defective sections without considerable loss of school time. We are, therefore, asking the town in a special article for an appropriation sufficient to install an up-to-date heat- ing plant in the Hedge School during the next summer vacation.
For a forecast of the growth of elementary school pop- ulation and suggested methods of housing this prospec- tive growth, citizens are referred to the following report of the Superintendent of Schools.
Respectfully submitted,
E. HAROLD DONOVAN, Chairman FANNIE T. ROWELL, Secretary DAVID A. CAPPANNARI WILLIAM E. CURTIN WILLIAM H. ARMSTRONG RALPH WEAVER
Plymouth School Committee
-15-
REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS
To the School Committee:
It is a pleasure to submit herewith my sixth annual report. This deals largely with a consideration of the need for new and additional elementary school accom- modations-a need that has existed for some time but that could not be met during the war years. It is also a need that promises soon to become so accentuated as to require early remedy. Though building costs at the moment seem prohibitive, architects predict some de- crease in the cost of materials later in 1947. They express the belief that labor costs may remain for some time at present levels. Be this as it may, the situation calls for advance planning at this time as has already been indicated in the report of the School Committee. The factual data on which the need for new and addi- tional elementary school accommodations is based are set forth below.
HOUSING NEEDS FOR ELEMENTARY PUPILS
The Cornish-Burton and Cold Spring buildings are both antiquated and over-crowded. Although the town on recommendation of the School Committe has im- proved these buildings from time to time and made them more livable for school children, nevertheless we can- not glimpse the fact that they remain old wooden build- ings and lack many features considered to be necessary in modern school accommodations.
The Cornish-Burton School, though housing the larg- est number of pupils of any elementary building, has no adequate assembly room or play room. Until this fall it has been the sole center for transported children but can provide only an improvised basement room for a lunch room. Many classrooms are improperly lighted. The , heating and sanitaries were modernized several years ago but the sanitaries are located in the basement. In modern buildings, sanitaries are found on the first
-16-
floor or on both first and second floors where they are accessable and more easily supervised.
The Cold Spring School was undoubtedly well located when first constructed. Now that the flow of auto traffic past its door has increased so greatly in the last forty years, the location is a hazardous one and requires much protection from the police department. Its toilet facili- ties and playgrounds are poor. Its two classrooms are poorly proportioned and improperly lighted. If thi. building and the Cornish-Burton were scored on any schoolhouse rating sheet, undoubtedly they would be found well toward the bottom of the scale.
A second and important reason why new schoolhouse accommodations are needed in the Cornish-Burton and Cold Spring areas is to be found in the facts that the buildings are now crowded with pupils and the pros- pects are that the numbers will increase during the next several years. According to good practice, an elemen- tary teacher should not be required to teach more than 35 pupils and would do much better work with 25. An average of 30 pupils per teacher is perhaps reasonable. In 1945, there were seven classes in the Cornish-Burton School with from 40 to 44 pupils, and there would have been four classes with 45 to 47 pupils in 1946 had not about 50 pupils been transferred to other schools where the classes were considerably smaller in the middle grades. The parents of these transferred children when advised of the over-crowded conditions at the Cornish- Burton gave excellent cooperation.
At the Cold Spring School, where for some years we have housed pupils of grades one to four, we found it necessary this fall to transfer the fourth-grade pupils to the Cornish and Hedge because of the unusually large group of beginners.
In consideration of the facts that the Cornish-Burton and Cold Spring buildings are antiquated and that the growth of population served by these schools is already overtaxing these buildings, the need for a new school-
-17-
house or for new schoolhouses in these localities is clear. This conclusion is further justified by the probable growth in the elementary school population set forth below.
OVER-ALL FORECAST OF GROWTH OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL POPULATION
A forecast of the trends in the elementary school pop- ulation for the next six years may be derived from two sources, namely, the trend of elementary school enroll- ment in the last six years and the trend in the birth rate during the same period.
Table I Membership of Elementary Schools 1941-1946 (As of December 1)
School
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
Hedge
356
372
372
365
361
383
(3)
Cornish-Burton
417
369
392
384
411
414
(4)
Cold Spring
55
56
60
61
69
60
(5)
Oak Street
32
70 (1) 65
61
65
62
Mt. Pleasant®
216
199
212
209
197
198
Manomet
70
74
75
67
76
87
South Street
28
(2)
(2)
(2) ......
(2)
...... (2)
Totals
1174 1140 1176 1147
1179 1204
(1) Second room opened for Cornish overflow.
(2) Older pupils transferred to Junior High School; younger pupils to Cornish and Hedge.
(3) Not including 37 transported pupils.
(4) Including 37 transported pupils temporarily trans- ferred to Hedge.
(5) Pupils of grade 4 transferred to Cornish and Hedge.
Three inferences may be drawn from the above table: (1) that the tendency toward increase has been consist- ent since 1944; (2) that the rate of this increase has been gradual; and (3) that the only schools showing a con- 'sistent increase since 1944 are Cornish-Burton, Cold Spring, and Manomet.
....
......
-18-
Table II. Births in Plymouth 1936-1946
1936
202
1941
202
1937
185
1942
226
1938
190
1943
252
1939
176
1944
221
1940
201
1945
176
1946
266
Table III. Approximate Relation of Births to Grade Enrollments
(Plymouth experience over a period of years shows the following relationship between grade enrollment in any year and the number of births from 6 to 11 years earlier).
Grade I
119% of births 6 years earlier
Grade II
105% of births 7 years earlier
Grade III
101% of births 8 years earlier
Grade IV
98% of births 9 years earlier
Grade V
96% of births 10 years earlier
Grade VI
92% of births 11 years earlier
Table IV. Forecast of Elementary Enrollment 1947-1952 (Application of ratios in Table III to births in Table II)
1947 1196
1950 1308
1948
1208
1951
1297
1949
1281
1952
1375
Table V. Present Classroom Accommodations and Enrollment (As of December 1946)
School
No. of Classrooms
Enrollment
Hedge
13 (1)
383 (2)
Cornish-Burton
11 (1)
414 (2)
Cold Spring
2
60
Oak Street
2
62
Mt. Pleasant
6
198
Manomet
3
87
Totals
37
1204
-19-
(1) Includes one practical arts classroom.
(2) Pupils transferred to Hedge this year are included in Cornish-Burton enrollment.
Table VI. Classroom Needs by 1952-Forecasted
I. Enrollment forecasted in 1952 (Table IV) 1375 Pupils II. Classroom needs:
Capacity
(a) Regular Classrooms 45-Ave. 30 pupils 1350
(b) Practical Arts Classrooms 2-Ave. 15 pupils 30
Totals 47 1380
Table VII. Suggested Methods of Meeting Classroom Needs
Classrooms
School
I. New Cornish-Burton School 13*
II. Mt. Pleasant School enlarged by 4 rooms 10
III. New Cold Spring School 6
IV. Hedge, Oak St., and Manomet, as is 18
Total 47
* The proposed Cornish-Burton may well include also two kindergarten rooms that would be used by the two first grades pending use as kindergartens. The new building would then include 15 classrooms and supple- mentary rooms.
It is, of course, problematical at this time whether the additional accommodations to house the prospective growth in membership will be located just as now sug- gested in the table above. A spot map locating the street residences of all children born in 1944 and 1945 shows a fairly even distribution of such children in the villages of Plymouth and North Plymouth. If new housing de- velopments are begun in the near future many of the younger families will undoubtedly move into these de- velopments. Among the areas that may see such devel- opments are the Cold Spring area, Carver Road. Off
-20-
Sandwich Road, and Chiltonville. The children involved would for the most part attend the Cold Spring, Cornish- Burton, and Mount Pleasant Schools.
The above forecast of schoolhouse needs is projected only to 1952. Judging from the experience following World War I, the elementary school population is likely to continue to increase for some time after 1952.
In reviewing the data given above, it seems clear that a new Cornish-Burton School should be the first building project undertaken in view of the fact that it would benefit the largest number of children. If a new Cornish- Burton building of fifteen rooms can be completed for use within the next year or two, it may be found possible and desirable to house also the Cold Spring pupils in this new building pending the erection of a new school in the Cold Spring area.
With reference to the possible enlargement of the Mt. Pleasant School as one phase of the program, it should be borne in mind that this building is nearly a half- century old and, although a substantial one, a question may be raised as to the feasibility of adding to the pres- ent building as compared with the construction of an entirely new elementary school unit so planned as to be readily enlarged when the present Mount Pleasant School has outlived its usefulness.
Our Hedge School is an adequate elementary school plant and should serve well the school population in the North Plymouth area for some years. The grounds have been enlarged so that an addition to this building extending toward the north can readily be made if need- ed in future years.
The Manomet and Oak Street buildings also are serv- ing present enrollments reasonably well.
CHANGES IN PERSONNEL OF TEACHING STAFF DURING 1946
During 1946, five members of the staff who have been on leave of absence with the armed forces have resumed their work in our schools. Lieut. Carlo Guidoboni re-
-21-
turned in January and is carrying on the courses con- ducted during the war period by Theodore Packard, who is now a member of the faculty at the Massachusetts State College at Devens. These courses offer elementary training in radio, electricity, and machines. Lieut. John Walker returned in February to the position of physical education instructor and athletic coach of boys in Junior and Senior High Schools, a position held during the war years by Louis Rudolph, now teaching in Melrose. In February also Tech. Sgt. John Pacheco, assistant direc- tor of the West Point Band, resumed his position in Plymouth schools as instructor in instrumental music, a position held during the war years by Vincent DeBen- edictis, Mrs. Amelia Vincent, and Mrs. Bernice Kelly. Capt. Louis Cappannari returned in March to the Junior High School staff as teacher of science in grades seven and eight, a position filled recently by Mrs. Helena Gir- ard. At the opening of the fall term, Lieut. Phyllis M. Johnson resumed her position in the Junior High School as instructor of social studies.
In addition to the five members of the staff returning in 1946, two had earlier resumed their teaching positions in 1945, namely Lieut. Com. Arthur Pyle and Master Sgt. Hector Patenaude. Lieut. Com. John Packard is return- ing to his position in February of 1947. Eight of the nine members of our staff who were on leave in the armed forces will have returned by the second semester of this school year. Lieut. Com. Charles Bagnall, former in- structor in social studies and director of athletics in the High School, has accepted another position, that of pro- bation officer. Alba Martinelli, who resigned in July, 1942 to join the WAAC, has been recalled to serve in the forces of occupation in the Asiatic area. We have fol- lowed the service careers of our teachers with much interest and have taken no little pride in their achieve- ments. We are fortunate to be able to welcome back into the service of our schools so large a proportion of those who went. Their experiences have been broadening and
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.