USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Plymouth > Town annual report of Plymouth, MA 1946 > Part 17
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enlightening. Their pupils will now share in the benefits of this larger orientation in world affairs. We also bear in mind with much appreciation the very conscientious and able services rendered our schools by the military substitutes. In a very critical period for public educa- tion, they served our schools faithfully and enabled us to maintain the school program without interruption. The continued scarcity of teachers will doubless make it necessary for us to retain many of our war-time substi- tutes for a longer period of time than was at first con- templated.
Mrs. Leella F. Leonard, teacher of grade three at the Hedge School, retired at the close of the school year. Her most conscientious and faithful service totals 31 years in the Plymouth schools. The vacancy was filled by the transfer of Dorothy Morton from grade one. Miss Morton's position was filled in turn by Mrs. Edith Mat- thews, a graduate of the class of 1946 at Bridgewater.
Miss Mary Ryan, teacher of grade three at the Hedge School, resigned to be married after nine years of serv- ice. Her position was filled by Mrs. Dolores Cappannari as war-time substitute. Mrs. Cappannari was graduated from the three-year course in Bridgewater in 1934. Later she taught for eleven years in Plymouth schools and more recently completed an additional year of training at Bridgewater receiving the Bachelor's Degree.
Mrs. Viola Figueiredo, teacher of household arts at the High School for seven years, resigned to be married. To this position was appointed Mrs. Virginia Kingman, a graduate of Framingham Teacher's College, household arts course. Mrs. Kingman has had several years of ex- perience as domestic science teacher in Hanover and Norwell High Schools.
Among those who left the services of our schools in 1946 were Mrs. Louise Bearse, formerly a regular teacher of English in the High School and more recently a war- time substitute in the same field. Roland W. Holmes, a graduate of Bowdoin College in 1942, was appointed to
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this position. Others who taught in Plymouth for a short time and who terminated their services in 1946 were Mrs. Helena Girard, teacher of science in Junior High School, Mrs. Lucy Rae, teacher of grades three and four at Manomet, and Mrs. Marion Haggerty, teacher of grade four at the Hedge School. Mrs. Girard's work was taken over by Capt. Louis Cappannari and Mrs. Rae's by Mrs. Selma Arruda of this town, a teacher of four- teen years experience. Mrs. Marion Haggerty was fol- lowed by Mrs. Mary Guidoboni and Mrs. Sara Doten, both former teachers.
At the beginning of the fall term Miss Mary Kennedy of this town was appointed teacher of the fourth grade at the Hedge School. Miss Kennedy is a graduate of Bridgewater, class of 1946.
STANDARDIZED TEST RESULTS IN THREE R'S
Evidences of the success of pupils in school are to be found in the results of standardized examinations. It has been. our practice to give these examinations toward the end of each school year. In May 1946, pupils in grades one and two were given the Metropolitan Tests and pupils in grades three to six inclusive were given the Stanford Tests. The average scores of Plymouth pupils in all elementary grades was above standard. In grade one, pupils on the average were two months above standard in reading and five months above in number work; in grade two the average achievement was five months above in reading, at exact standard in number work and spelling; in grade three, the average was two months above in reading, four months above in arithme- tic, and three months above in spelling; in grade four the average was one month above in reading, at exact grade in arithmetic and seven months above in language; in grade five, the average was at standard in reading, two months above in arithmetic, six months above in lan- guage, and two months below in spelling; in grade six, the average was four months above in reading, eight
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months above in arithmetic, one year and one month above in language, and four months above in spelling. These results indicate very conscientious and worthy efforts on the part both of teachers and pupils.
REGIONAL CENTER FOR VETERAN'S EDUCATION
Last March under the auspices of the State Depart- ment of Education and with the cooperation of the Plymouth School Department, there was established in the High School a regional center for veteran's educa- tion, with Principal Edgar J. Mongan as Director. The general purpose of this training center is to help veterans complete the requirements for a High School diploma and for admission to higher institutions of learning. After several conferences with veterans of this town and neighboring towns, it was decided to offer instruction in the following subjects: algebra, geometry, U. S. history, English, electricity, and machines.
Courses given in this veteran's center are conducted on a correspondence school-tutorial basis, thus enabling each veteran to begin any subject at the point of his advancement in it and to progress as rapidly as circum- stances permit.
Two evening sessions a week are held, the present director being Mario Romano and other instructors being Arthur Pyle and Carlo Guidoboni. At the outset, six- teen veterans enrolled for these courses, and the inter- est has increased until we now have a membership of forty pupils.
With a view to making this center more effective, it was decided to establish a summer school offering twenty-five hours of scholastic work a week. The sum- mer school was conducted from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., five days a week for the ten week period, June 17 to August 23. The curriculum offering included bookkeeping, type- writing, stenography, English, American history, algebra, geometry, electricity, and auto mechanics. The summer school began with an enrollment of twenty-three pupils
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and closed with nineteen pupils completing the work which they had undertaken.
Both evening courses and the summer courses were conducted by members of the High School faculty, the salaries being paid by the state and the School Depart- ment providing necessary textbooks, materials, and place of meeting.
DRIVER EDUCATION
For several years past, the Registrar of Motor Vehicles has been calling to the attention of school officials the fact that teen-age drivers are responsible for a far larger proportion of auto accidents than their numbers bear to the total number of drivers. An increasing number of high schools are introducing such instruction in the be- lief that, since the use of the auto is becoming so general, the training of our youth in the control of the car so as to minimize the dangers to themselves and others is a responsibility that our high schools may well assume as part of the general program of helping our youth to make the needed adjustments to everyday living. Various methods of providing driver education in the Plymouth High School are now under consideration. It is our hope that such a course may be offered in the near future as a part of a broad program of training in accident pre- vention including instruction in first-aid.
IN AID OF OTHERS
Junior Red Cross
Though the fighting is over, our school children are not forgetting the many who still suffer. During 1946, the Junior Red Cross continued to function as one of the most valuable service organizations in the schools. Under the general direction of the chairman, Mary B. Cingolani of the Junior High School Staff, the Junior Red Cross planned its program with emphasis on the needs of hospitalized veterans and of children in foreign countries.
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After the closing of Camp Edwards, the Junior Red Cross offered to serve the West Roxbury General Hos- pital. During the past year, forty pounds of candy and sixteen hundred articles including decorated napkins, nutcups, and favors for each holiday were sent to the hospitalized veterans at Edwards and West Roxbury General. These holiday favors were made in the art classes under the supervision of Mrs. Brown and Miss Bates in the Junior High School and Mrs. Avanzini in the Cornish School.
One hundred gift boxes and other articles were sent to European children by pupils in the Mount Pleasant, Cornish-Burton, Hedge, Junior High, and Senior High Schools.
During the enrollment drive held in November, the total amount collected was $182.91. From the Junior Red Cross account, a total of $115 was donated to the National Children's Fund.
Clothing Collection
The clothing contribution for needy children in var- ious parts of the world was held by the Plymouth school children in October, as has been the custom during the past several years. Altogether 1700 pounds of clothing was collected and forwarded to "Save The Children Federation," New York City. During the past several years beginning in 1944, the Plymouth schools have made a total contribution of approximately three tons of clothing to this cause.
Thanksgiving Observance
In cooperation with the Plymouth Colony Association, the School Department assisted in the celebration of Thanksgiving Day, which this year was featured by a pilgrimage to Plymouth by the National Council of Social Studies. This organization was holding its annual meeting in Boston on Thanksgiving week-end. A special
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train brought to Plymouth about 300 of these educators from all parts of this country and from other countries, arriving at 1:30 p.m. High School pupils, under the direction of Arthur Pyle, served as guides to historic points of interest including the Rock, Cole's Hill, Burial Hill, Faith Monument, Pilgrim Hall. Later in the after- noon, a Thanksgiving service under the Council of Churches was held at the First Church preceded by a Pilgrims Progress. A catered Thanksgiving dinner was held by the National Council in the High School gym- nasium, decorations being under the direction of Mrs. Margaret Brown of the High School faculty. The high spot of the program was the evening occasion in the Memorial Building where the well-known radio broad- cast "Town Meeting of the Air" was held with an attend- ance of about 1600. The topic of the evening was "How Should Food Relief Be Handled After UNNRA Ex- pires?", the speakers being, Fiorello LaGuardia, Charles Gratke, Col. Tyler Wood, and William Yandell Elliott. The school pupils furnished a large corps of ushers for this occasion working under the direction of Hector Patenaude of the Junior High School faculty. The dis- tribution of tickets was in charge of the School Depart- ment Office.
Following this occasion, numerous letters from officers and members of the National Council of Social Studies were received expressing the appreciation of the efforts made by the school officials, teachers, and pupils of Plymouth to make this day a memorable occasion for our visiting group.
COST OF PLYMOUTH SCHOOLS
Whether or not it is to our credit, the fact stands that our per pupil expenditures for support of public schools in Plymouth during the past five years have been lower on the whole than the average per-pupil expenditures in the state for all divisions of the school organization: elementary, junior, and senior high. The differences
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between the Plymouth costs and the state averages are shown in the table below.
The second part of the following table gives a com- parison also of Plymouth's valuation and school expen- ditures of the twelve next largest towns and the twelve next smallest towns having an elementary, junior-high, and senior-high type of school organization. Plymouth's valuation per pupil and valuation per capita were high- er than those of the twenty-five towns, whereas Plym- outh's school tax rate and expenditure per pupil were lower. In following through the analysis of school costs in Plymouth as compared with those of the state as a whole and of the twenty-five towns, we find that the chief reason why Plymouth costs are lower lies in the fact that our pupil-teacher ratio is relatively high both in the elementary schools and junior high school. Our teachers in these schools are instructing a larger num- ber of pupils than is true of teachers in the state as a whole and in the twenty-five towns. Our remedy for over-sized classes in so far as the elementary schools are concerned appears to lie in the adoption of a school building program such as that suggested earlier in this report. Such a program, when fulfilled, should enable us both to eliminate the over-sized classes and to pro- vide for the increased enrollments anticipated in the next few years. It is also safe to assume that the pro- posed vocational school program, when adopted, will afford some relief to the over-sized classes in the Junior High School.
Cost Per Pupil in Average Membership for Education In Plymouth and in the State-1942-1946 PART I
Grades I-VI
Grades VII-IX
Grades X-XII
State Plymouth
State Plymouth
State Plymouth
1941-42
$96.75 $91.06
$114.79 $107.18
$144.61 $114.79
1942-43
101.93 99.73
124.76
128.84
164.33
149.47
1943-44
108.77 99.08
135.28
112.37
176.21
151.47
1944-45
112.85 105.08
140.99
122.86
184.53
175.00
1945-46
119.70 106.72
153.96
137.78
190.29
181.58
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PART II Per Pupil Costs for State and for 25 Massachusetts Towns* Including Plymouth-1945-46
(From Latest Available Tabulation of State School Returns, 1945-46)
*Towns include Plymouth and 12 next largest towns and 12 next smallest towns (State Census, 1945) having an elementary, junior high, and senior high type of school organization.
State
25 Towns* (average) $10,434.00
Plymouth
Valuation per pupil
$11,268.00
$10,579.00
Valuation per capita
1,386.00
1,408.00
1,608.00
SCHOOL TAX RATE
11.48
12.95
11.27
EXPENDITURE PER
PUPIL
141.70
143.77
134.01
*Towns included:
1. Belmont
9. Natick
17. Reading
2. Framingham
10. Winchester
18. Stoneham
3. Milton
11. Needham
19. Andover
4. West Springfield
12. Lexington
20. Swampscott
5. Winthrop
13. Plymouth
21. Athol
6. Wellesley
14. Webster
22. Northbridge
7 Greenfield
15. Adams
23. Shrewsbury
8 Norwood
16. Marblehead
24. Bridgewater
25. Rockland
CONCLUSION
Now that war-time restrictions are being lifted and war-time shortages are to be relieved-at least to a con- siderable degree, we are approaching the time when our schoolbuilding program can and should be resumed. The enlargement of our elementary school facilities and re- placement of obsolescent buildings is clearly a major need of our school system. Another is the expansion of our secondary school facilities to include vocational training.
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Again may I express my sincere pleasure in working with the School Committee, principals, and teaching staff to the end that our school facilities in Plymouth may worthily serve the educational needs of the boys and girls of this community. .
Respectfully yours,
BURR F. JONES, Superintendent of Schools.
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REPORT OF SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
With a whole school year of "peace" behind us we find that the readjustments begun so imperceptibly in September, 1945, have been quickened and intensified with the passing months. The return of some former members of the staff from the armed services has con- tributed to this, as has the relaxed pressure of the draft laws. But none of this implies that the school is return- ing to the program or policies in effect before 1941. In fact the Pre-Induction Training courses instituted here to help the Army and Navy assimilate recruits more quickly and efficiently, while introduced primarily be- cause the military needs were so acute, were rceognized as being so outstandingly sound from any sensible and realistic point of view that the decision was long ago made to continue them in force with only such modifi- cations as would remove purely military aims from the instructions.
Furthermore, the change in the program of social sciences now in process will see us beginning school next September with U. S. History as compulsory for Juniors instead of for Seniors as heretofore. So far in this year of transition with both Seniors and Juniors obliged to carry American History nothing has arisen to call our plans for change into question. The Juniors are able to do well in the subject, to carry such other subjects as their educational needs require, and to plan for more work in this field for their Senior year.
One problem that still confronts the administration is that of determining whether after this year the course in Problems of Democracy should be made compulsory. That, however, can best be answered after we have had a year in which to test out the present change.
The guidance program which since 1942 has rested almost entirely on the shoulders of the Dean of Girls
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and the Principal, now with the return of men trained in Guidance from their duties in the Navy should be expanded to a degree consonant with that already estab- lished in Junior High School. This will entail a re- arrangement of schedules and classroom assignments so that these men may have periods for conferences and counselling. But the guidance function becomes increas- ingly important and can no longer be left to the efforts of such a small segment of the staff if an adequate job. is to be done. That it has functioned so well these past years is due to a combination of circumstances the chief factor in which is the testing program now carried on under the Boston University Testing Service.
This service besides being of prime importance to the individual pupil throws some interesting sidelights on the results the school achieves as an educational institu- tion. In Reading Comprehension our tenth and eleventh grades have median scores equal to the New England norms for those grades while the present Senior Class shows a comprehension level well above the norm. Per- haps it can be argued that our instruction becomes in- creasingly effective in this respect the longer a pupil stays in school.
In Mechanical Aptitude both our Seniors and Juniors (Sophomores were not given this test), were well above the norms. This provokes some interesting speculations since the test is based upon the power of visual imagi- nation or a sense of space relations.
This year in the battery of tests given to the Sopho- mores and Juniors there was included for the first time a test on Problem Solving. This is not a test in mathe- matics but rather one designed to determine how suc- cessfully a pupil can apply the knowledge he has already acquired to the situations which naturally arise in his own experience. The results showed that the Sopho- mores did equally as well as the Juniors-and both groups scored above the New England norms established
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by 12th grade pupils.
In command of English Fundamentals the tests in the last three years have shown that our tenth grade pupils enter from Junior High School with scores that vary from slightly below to slightly above the New England norms. This variation appears to be related to the median I. Q. for a given class.
In Mathematics Fundamentals the charts which we have show that our pupils perform at the same level as their comparable school groups through New England.
The foregoing paragraphs may contain the explanation of what the school was able to do for its pupils last spring, namely, place in some college (not necessarily the one of first choice), everyone of our graduates who applied. In view of the great number of college candi- dates and of men returning to college from the services, such authorities as the Commissioner of Education and the Dean of the Graduate School of Massachusetts Insti- tute of Technology predicted that a mere 10 to 15 per cent of the high school graduates would be admitted to college this year. In the face of such statements as the above, what our high school did is noteworthy.
This year our graduates will be confronted by a simi- lar situation and already our plans are made to meet it. It is probably too optimsitic to hope to equal last year's achievement, but that is the goal of the school.
EDGAR J. MONGAN,
Principal.
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REPORT OF THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
The enrollment in a Junior High School is constantly changing because pupils are eligible for home permits, working certificates, and admission to trade schools. Since the opening of school in September, 603 have been enrolled. Of these 1 has received a home permit, 9 have gone to work, 9 have transferred to other schools, 1 has gone to High School, and 1 to a trade school, leaving an enrollment of 582.
Classes vary in number because of the difference in the sizes of rooms. The new rooms, designed for classes of 30, are crowded with six or seven extra desks while the old rooms, designed originally for 36 pupils, now accommodate 42. The room planned as a library is now closed to study groups when reference work should be done, because it is now a full-time classroom.
In the seventh and eighth grades, science classes are held twice a week. Most schools devote five periods to this subject. Such an arrangement would require one more science classroom, another teacher, and a longer school day.
The eighth-grade curriculum includes the study of General Languages for three classes. The result is an experimental course for all who would be likely to elect Latin or French later. Many pupils, too, are included who have little interest in the subject. These pupils might be assigned to science or shop work were it not that crowded conditions prevent such arrangement.
The gymnasium, too, is inadequate, the desire to use it being so great by students of both schools. During the war, physical education in grade seven was reduced from two periods to one, and the program remains curtailed. A good intra-mural program has been developed and the gymnasium is in use every afternoon. There is
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enough interest for a program twice as great, were facil- ities available.
The gymnasium is in urgent need of soundproofing. The space is so large and walls so hard that it is difficult for pupils whose hearing is normal to hear their direc- tors; and the effort to make themselves heard is one constant strain on the directors' vocal chords. The caco- phony of sound at a school dance is most unpleasant and a loudness akin to disorder unavoidable if children are to converse. The astounding improvement made by soundproofing the cafeteria is evidence of the advisa- bility of treating the gymnasium in similar manner.
During Education Week the regular Parents' Night was observed while another day was devoted to Open House. Parents visited classrooms during the morning, enjoyed a movie, listened to the orchestra, and were served tea in the afternoon. Informal consultations were held throughout the day. To date, five bulletins have been sent to the homes to inform parents of school activ- ities, requirements, and ambitions as well as to empha- size to parents the fact that they are welcome to come at any time.
During this school year four dances have been held. The earnings from this and other projects finance the purchase of equipment not usually included in the School Department budget. Since September, a new public address system with phonograph and radio has been partially installed to replace the antiquated one which was also financed by school earnings. Batons for the drum majors, monogrammed sweaters for the band, records for the victrola, and trophies for the winning teams have been purchased.
The moving picture and strip film projectors previously purchased from school earnings are in constant use in the development of the visual education program.
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The school has been organized as a unit this year with officers elected by and for the entire school, and in con- junction with this, a student council established. As the program develops the number of pupils assuming re- sponsibility will constantly increase.
During the last two years, Mr. Howard F. Pierce, county probation officer, has worked effectviely with pupils who have been placed in his care for out-of-school misdemeanors. His kind understanding and good advice has helped many a child adjust himself. At the time of writing, arrangements are being made for Mr. Pierce to discuss his work with those in the community who are interested in the handling of juvenile problems.
In closing this report tribute should be paid to our loyal and capable teachers who are so very faithful to the children entrusted to their care. One hears so fre- quently. the phrase, "the five-hour" day. That is the length of the day for pupil classes but not for teachers. A teacher is required to be in the classroom fifteen min- utes before and after each session. Many come earlier and all stay later. Each teacher is also required to be in the classroom one afternoon each week for each sub- ject taught to make it possible for any child who wishes to benefit from special help to obtain it. Without being required, most teachers are, in addition, ready to help pupils every afternoon. Free periods, so called, are de- voted to helping children who return from long absences and those who live so far away that they cannot benefit from afternoon sessions.
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