USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Saugus > Town annual report of Saugus 1894 > Part 9
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9
REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT.
Emma L. Pearson, music teacher. W. F. Gillette, High School. 1
ELECTIONS.
Estella J. Clark, North Saugus.
Elizabeth Hoar, Oaklandvale.
Grace R. Neeley, East Saugus. Edith Sandsbury, Cliftondale. Jean Belsher, music teacher. Gertrude W. Groce, Centre.
F. E. Emrich, Jr., High School.
TRANSFERS. Clara Trowbridge, Centre to Cliftondale.
High School. - A good High School can only exist when the Grammar Schools are well graded, well disciplined and well taught. It is equally true that no town can long have good schools of the lower grades unless its High School is in a prosperous condition. Its reputation should be such that Grammar School pupils will look forward with pleasure to the enjoyment of its privileges.
At the present time our High School pupils are offered noth- ing more than a three years' course. This makes it necessary for all pupils who desire to enter higher institutions of learn- ing to spend a year at least in some other High School. Can we not afford to put in a four years' course and make our school the equal of any in towns of our size ? I would strongly urge a revision of and addition to the High School course of study. I may add that we intend to gradually raise the standard of admission to our High School and to extend the work of our Grammar Schools.
Mr. F. E. Emrich, Jr., the newly elected principal, comes to us well recommended. He is a college graduate of three years' experience in High School work.
Textbooks. - By an inventory taken in June it was ascer- tained that there were in the different schools 6,002 books. Of these 3,379 were in good condition and 1,304 were in fair con- dition and 1,319 were unfit for further use. Many of these last named have been collected and exchanged. In the inter- est of health and good habits we should not allow our children to use much-soiled and badly-worn books.
·
IO
REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT.
It was found that there was not a requisite amount of read- ing matter and quite an additional supply has been purchased. Our music charts have been in use a long time. These have been exchanged for new ones. A few additional histories and reference books have been procured.
Reading. - The use of the regular third, fourth and fifth readers has been largely discontinued. It is believed to be much more desirable for children to read books of real merit than those made up of uninteresting or worthless scraps. The best books in the English language are none too good for our pupils to read.
And there should be a generous supply. A good book hav- ing once been carefully and thoughtfully read should be laid aside and another taken up. Children will read. It is our duty to give them wholesome reading matter in abundance, for only in this way may we hope to protect them from the pernicious influence of vicious reading. If pupils before leav- ing school acquire a taste for good reading we may call them educated.
The new books for reading which we have thus far pur- chased are as follows : Longfellow's "Evangeline" and " Courtship of Miles Standish "; Scott's " Lady of the Lake "; Whittier's "Snow Bound "; Hawthorne's "Wonder Book " and " True Stories of New England"; Kingsley's " Water Babies "; Andersen's Fairy Tales ; Scudder's Fables and Folk Stories ; Grimm's Fairy Tales.
History. - The opinion seems to be quite generally held that history in the form of stories should be presented to chil- dren at an early age. An interest in the lives of eminent men, the manners and customs of different people and stories of ad- venture is very easily cultivated. To postpone the commence- ment of this subject until the Grammar School, is to deprive many children who leave school early of much valuable knowl- edge, of excellent training in patriotism, and of a love for his- torical reading. Children who have had a pleasant introduc- tion to history in the lower grades will take up the formal study in the grammar grades with much greater interest and profit.
Our plan is to have, in the Primary Schools, stories selected and told by the teacher. This furnishes excellent material for
II
REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT.
conversation lessons and affords valuable language training. In Grade Four a book of historical stories is to be read, and in Grade Five, Eggleston's small history of the United States is read and its contents are thoughtfully considered. In Grade Six, Montgomery's small history is used as the historical reader.
This reading is followed, in Grades Seven, Eight and Nine, by the more formal study of the larger textbooks. In the last year some study of civics is taken up. In these three years the topical method of study and recitation is used. In the preparation of their lessons pupils are expected to consult several books instead of memorizing one. History studied in this way is of great value. Pupils are led to seek causes and effects, to consider motives and to discover relations.
We have not now sufficient reference books for the best work, but the public library, by reason of special privileges given the teachers, in part supplies this need.
Arithmetic. - It is now commonly accepted by eminent educators that the course of study should be arranged in circles instead of sections. It seems to be unwise to confine multi- plication and division to one grade, percentage to another, and weights and measures to a third. It has been found that chil- dren can deal with the elements of different subjects much earlier than was formerly supposed. The work from year to year should differ in degree of difficulty and not necessarily in subjects taken up. Thus fractions may be begun in the sim- plest way in the first year at school and the drill in their use is not wholly dropped during the school course. And so per- centage may be begun orally in the third year of school and continued for several years before taking up the most difficult work.
With these considerations in view we have revised our course of study in arithmetic. We expect that in a few years the benefit of the change will be clearly apparent.
Music. - The work in this department is in charge of Miss Jean Belsher. Under her direction good work is being done. The regular teachers heartily cooperate with her in all her efforts, making it possible to secure the best results. We have recently exchanged our old music charts for new ones,
I2
REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT.
and it will be necessary soon to do the same with our old music books. Good material is necessary for good work.
In regard to her department Miss Belsher says :-
" We are endeavoring to so present the work that children may learn to read music as intelligently and as independently as they read English, at the same time giving much attention to the æsthetic side of the subject. To secure independence in reading we are discouraging the prevalent idea of relying upon leaders, and, believing considerable individual work should be done, we are insisting upon as much as the limited amount of time given the subject allows. We are discarding the use of scale syllables, believing their use to be a crutch on which pupils rely too much, while their conception of the intervals is weakened. A soft, light, smooth tone is insisted upon in all singing, and we can report a decided improvement in this di- rection. We are glad to say that the work on the new charts is taken up with a zest which argues well for the year's prog- ress."
Schoolhouses. - With the completion of the very excellent building at Cliftondale provision is made for all the school children of this ward. At the opening of the fall term the Primary School was divided, making two large schools, and, owing to the large increase of school population, another school was opened. And so three of the rooms in the new building are now occupied, and probably it may be necessary to use the fourth before the close of another year.
The Primary School in the East Saugus building is larger than ever before, there being over sixty pupils. Fortunately, there is an unoccupied room there, should it seem best to open another school.
At the centre of the town our pupils are not as well housed. The High School rooms are not as commodious as are neces- sary. The other schools occupy two two-room buildings, both poorly lighted, heated and ventilated, and a small second- story room temporarily hired for school use. In these five rooms we now have children enough for six schools. It is, therefore, very desirable that a building large enough to ac- commodate all the schools of the village, with a fair allowance for probable increase, should be erected at once.
13
REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT.
It seems as though parents do not fully realize the impor- tance of having our schoolrooms supplied with pure air prop- erly heated. I fear that it does not occur to them with suf- ficient force that the health of their children will be seriously injured by breathing the vile air of poorly ventilated school- rooms. I wonder if it has ever occurred to them that no small part of the sickness among children is traceable directly to the pernicious influence of impure air. I wonder if the parents in this town are aware that we have but two school buildings which are supplied with pure air. It is not only impossible to provide proper ventilation by means of doors and windows, but it is dangerous to health to attempt it. But this is the only way in nearly all our buildings.
If stoves are used for heating it is impossible to produce equality of temperature in all parts of the room. Those near the stove are too warm and those farthest away too cold. But stoves are used almost exclusively in our schools. The health of the children of Saugus is endangered. It is suicidal for them to breathe day by day the terribly vitiated schoolroom air. I trust that parents will not be satisfied until every school- house in town is provided with suitable heating apparatus, adequate means of ventilation and wholesome sanitary arrange- ments.
Allow me, in closing, to thank the pupils for their courtesy, the parents for their encouraging words, the teachers for their loyal support, and you members of the School Committee for the liberty granted me in my very pleasant though sometimes. arduous duties.
C. E. STEVENS, Superintendent.
-
14
TEACHERS, SALARIES, ETC.
TABLE No. 1. Giving Grades of Schools, Names of Teachers, Year of Election, and Salaries.
WRD.
GRADE.
TEACHERS.
Year of Elect.
SALARIES.
High School .
F. E. Emrich, Jr.
1894
$1, 100 00 per year
Edith O. Rowe
1889
650 00
I
Mixed
Estella J. Clark
1894
9 50 per week
2
Centre.
viii, ix . .
E. W. Boardman
1865
II 00
66
vi, vii
Esther A. Parker
1863
II 00
66
iv, v .
Gertrude W. Groce . .
1894
10 00
ii, iii .
G. A. Walton
1873
9 50
i
M. L. Walton
1885
9 50
3
Cliftondale.
viii, ix
Fanny E. Jennison
1891
II 00
66
vii, viii .
C. C. Farnham
1892
II 00
66
vi . .
D. A. Dunn
1892
10 00
66
iv, v .
Eva C. Jenkins
1892
10 00
ii, iii .
Edith Sandsbury
1894
9 50
65
i
Clara Trowbridge
1892
9 50
66
Essex St.
iv, v .
M. E. Smith
1892
10 00
66
i, ii, iii
Laura F. Armitage . .
1885
9 50
66
East Saugus.
vii, viii, ix .
Grace R. Neeley . .
1894
II OO
iv, v, vi .
A. M. Gove
1886
10 00
66
i, ii, iii
E. A. Mansfield
1851
9 50
66
5
Mixed
Elizabeth Hoar
1894
9 50
66
Music
Jean Belsher
1894
300 00 per year
4
TABLE No. 2. Showing Membership, Attendance and Tardiness.
TEACHER.
Enrolment.
Boys.
Girls.
Less than 5.
Over 15.
Between 8
Winter.
Spring.
Fall.
Winter.
Spring.
Fall.
Per cent of
Tardiness.
Visitors.
W. F. Gillette .
49
15
34
-
-
42.7
42.6
50.4
39.4
40.4
48.1
94.3
43
4
E. W. Boardman .
46
14
32
3
34
35.4
29.
41.8
24.7
27.2
39.8
86.3
62
14
Esther A. Parker .
47
21
26
I
46
41.
38.5
44.5
37.8
35.8
41.5
92.7
24
1 5
Clara Trowbridge
46
29
I 7
45
40.4
40.6
36.3
36.8
35.
34.
90.5
131
25
G. A. Walton .
54
26
28
40
46.
46.
53.
42.I
41.2
49.2
91.6
23
18
M. L. Walton
90
37
53
5
50.1
57.
54.6
45.I
52.I
48.6
90.I
74
59
Fanny E. Jennison
42
61
23
20
8
36.5
36.
28.8
33.
30.5
28.
90.
85
20
C. C. Farnham
39
19
20
3
32.4
29.7
37.6
29.5
26.4
34.1
90.2
172
26
D. A. Dunn
48
24
24
36
45.3
32.3
44.
40.I
30.2
90.2
53
55
Eva C. Jenkins
9
2
7
8
-
46.2
41.7
90.
44
30
Edith Sandsbury
80
48
32
35
69.5
65.
46.9
61.
58.
43.3
89.
69
77
Clara Calley
25
14
II
3
1
-
31.4
90.
37
20
M. E. Smith
40
18
22
I
36
32.6
37.4
31.I
32.3
35.2
28.7
230
8
L. F. Arınitage
74
44
30
16
44.3
49.3
44.5
41.
46.3
42.4
96
16
Grace R. Neeley
32
13
19
I
29
34.4
34.
30.
32.2
31.8
27.3
89.
48
1 7
A. M. Gove
43
21
22
I
42
42.
39
37.
37.
36.
36
93.
24
18
E. A. Mansfield
88
46
42
27
54.
53.
53.
48.
47.
50.
93.
16
18
E. J. Clark .
26
II
15
15
23.4
23.5
27.6
22.
22.
26.
94.
123
I4
Elizabeth Hoar
.
25
17
8
I
20
12.
18.3
14.4
IO.2
14.9
15.1
90.
75
6
-
-
.
·
.
·
·
·
·
·
.
·
.
·
.
·
-
-
·
I
-
-
-
-
49.
1
I
and 14.
AVERAGE MEMBERSHIP.
AVERAGE ATTENDANCE.
Attendance.
46
·
·
.
·
34.6
95. 93.8
31
SUMMARY.
Number of children in town, May 1, 1894, from five to fifteen years of age ·
Number in Ward I
·
31
60 Ward 2
Ward 3
315
Ward 4
148
66 Ward 5 · 22
Number between five (5) and eight (8)
eight (8) and fourteen (14)
.
424
Whole number enrolled in all schools . Number of boys .
. 903
. 438
· 465 3
over fifteen (15)
77
66 between eight (8) and fourteen (14)
503
Average membership for the year
· 704.8
66 66 Winter Term .
Winter Term
. 616. 1
66
Spring Term . 619.9
66 Fall Term . . 695.4
Per cent of attendance . .91.3+
Number of pupils who have moved into town
. I30
Number of teachers employed
.
2I
Increase during the year
I
Number of different schools
Increase during the year
Number of tardinesses .
. 1,429
Decrease from last year
334
Number of visits, not including those of committee and superintendent 460 .
-
685.7
66 Spring Term . 684.2 66 Fall Term · 744.6
Average attendance for the year .
. 643.8
of girls .
under five (5)
. 356
264
780
out of town . 94
19 2
GRADUATING EXERCISES
OF THE
CLASS OF '94, SAUGUS HIGH SCHOOL.
PROGRAMME.
CHORUS, " Spring Invitation "
Veazie
PRAYER
CHORUS, "Nazareth " . Gounod
SALUTATORY WITH ESSAY, " Writers of the Commonplace." MISS NOURSE.
ESSAY, " Round Hill " MISS NOWELL.
DUET, " Come Where the Rosebuds Sleep "
·
White
MISSES GARRA and CROWELL.
CLASS HISTORY
MISS EVANS.
ORATION, " Our Country's Future "
MASTER BROWN.
PIANO DUET, " Reine des Fées "
Smith
MISSES CROWELL and SHIRLEY.
ESSAY, " Wind " .
MISS GARRA.
CLASS PROPHECY
MISS MUGRIDGE.
CHORUS a " Golden Hall of Dawn " Brown b " Sweet the Angelus is Ringing " Whiting
ESSAY WITH VALEDICTORY, "The Elements of Success," MISS NEWHALL.
PRESENTATION OF DIPLOMAS.
CHORUS, " Ave Maria " . . Veazie
BENEDICTION.
IS
HIGH SCHOOL.
1
GRADUATES.
THREE YEARS' COURSE.
Grace Sawyer Newhall, Edna Louise Nourse, Winnifred Evangeline Evans, Mabel Eunice Nowell,
Russell Clucas,
Edna Louisa Mugridge,
Gertrude Louise Garra,
Ernest Clinton Brown.
Two YEARS' COURSE.
Bertie Pearl Pranker, Benjamin Carleton Hitchings.
BOND PRIZE RECITATIONS. Thursday Eve., June 28, 1894.
PROGRAMME.
PIANO SOLO, " Liebeslied "
. Ernst Jones
MRS. KATHARINE FORRISTALL.
" The Unknown Speaker " Anon
ERNEST C. BROWN.
" Kentucky Belle " . C. F. Woolson ADELINE C. ERSKINE.
" Goodbye, Sweet Day " . . Kate Vannah MISS BERTHA CUSHING.
Toussaint L'Ouverture
.
Wendell Phillips
WAYNE W. FLANDERS.
INTERMISSION.
" King Volmer and Elsie " . . J. G. Whittier V. ALICE PORTER.
" The Baron's Last Banquet " . A. G. Greene G. SABIN BRIGGS.
" Eclogue " . Delibés
" Oh ! that we two were Maying " MISS CUSHING.
" Brier Rose " H. H. Boyesen ESTELLE McCOMIC.
AWARD OF PRIZES.
First prizes were awarded to Estella McComic and Ernest C. Brown.
Second prize to Adeline C. Erskine.
Bond prizes for " improvement " were awarded as follows : senior class, Edna L. Mugridge; other classes, Lilla G. Parker.
FINANCIAL REPORT.
Report of money received and expended for the Saugus High School in 1894.
RECEIPTS.
Cash balance Jan. 1, 1894 $7 29
Net proceeds of Bond Prize Exhibition . 34 55
From Committee for chemicals and ap-
paratus
5 00
Rental of piano
5 00
$51 84
EXPENDITURES.
For chemicals and apparatus . 4. 05
" books of elocution and reference
27 75
" graduation expenses . 14 61
" tuning piano . .
2 50
stationery, postage, etc.
188
Cash balance Jan. 1, 1895
05
51 84
W. F. GILLETTE.
CERTIFICATES.
No child under sixteen years of age can lawfully be em- ployed in any factory, workshop or mercantile establishment unless his employer keeps on file his employment ticket and certificate. To obtain the certificate the person intending to employ the child must fill out the prescribed employment ticket. Blanks may be procured of the Superintendent. After obtaining the employment ticket properly filled out, the child, accompanied by his father, if a resident of the town; if not, by his mother or legal guardian, may obtain a certificate from the Superintendent of Schools.
For the benefit of those interested a brief statement of the laws concernin the employment of children is here given.
I. No child under thirteen years of age can be employed in any factory, workshop or mercantile establishment.
2. No child under thirteen years old can be employed for wages, in any indoor work, during public school hours ; nor in any other manner (as without wages or out of doors) dur- ing school hours, unless said child has attended school thirty weeks during the preceding year.
3. No child under fourteen years of age can be employed before 6 o'clock in the morning, nor after 7 o'clock in the evening.
4. No child under fourteen years of age can be employed in any factory, workshop or mercantile establishment except during vacations, unless the employer keeps on file a certificate of age and schooling, and an employment ticket, nor can any child under fourteen years be employed in any indoor work for wages, during school hours, unless he has attended school at least thirty weeks during the year next preceding.
5. The Age and School Certificate belongs to the minor employed, and must be surrendered to him or her when he or she leaves the service of the employer.
CHAPTER 47.
CONCERNING VACCINATION.
SECTION 9. The School Committee shall not allow a child
22
CERTIFICATES.
who has not been duly vaccinated to be admitted to or con- nected with the public schools.
CHAPTER 515, ACTS OF 1894.
SECTION 2. All children who shall present a certificate signed by a regular practising physician that they are unfit subjects for vaccination shall not be subject to the provisions of section nine of chapter forty-seven of the Public Statutes excluding unvaccinated children from public schools, and all children upon such a certificate shall be exempted from the provisions of this act, and the parents and guardians of such children shall not be liable to the penalties imposed by section one of this act.
CHAPTER 198.
AN ACT TO PREVENT THE SPREAD OF CONTAGIOUS DISEASE THROUGH THE PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
The School Committee shall not allow any pupil to attend the public schools while any member of the household to which the pupil belongs is sick of small-pox, diphtheria or scarlet fever, or during a period of two weeks after death, recovery or removal of such sick person ; and any pupil com- ing from such household shall be required to present to the teacher of the school the pupil desires to attend a certificate from the attending physician or board of health, of the facts necessary to entitle him to admission in accordance with the above regulation.
CHAPTER 203.
CONCERNING INJURY TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
Whoever willfully and maliciously or wantonly and without cause, destroys, defaces, mars or injures a schoolhouse, church or other building erected or used for purposes of education or religious instruction, or for the general diffusion of knowledge, or an out-building, fence, well or appurtenance of such school- house, church or other building, or furniture, apparatus or other property belonging to or connected with such schoolhouse, church or other building, shall be punished by fine not ex- ceeding five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment in the jail not exceeding one year.
23
CERTIFICATES.
CHAPTER 498, ACTS OF 1894.
AN ACT RELATIVE TO THE ATTENDANCE OF CHILDREN IN THE SCHOOLS.
SECTION I. Every person having under his control a child between the ages of eight and fourteen years, and in every city and town where opportunity is furnished, in connection with the regular work of the public schools, for gratuitous instruc- tion in the use of tools or in manual training, or for industrial education in any form, a child between the ages of eight and fifteen years, shall annually cause such child to attend some public day school in the city or town in which he resides, and such attendance shall continue for at least thirty weeks of the school year, if the schools are kept open for that length of time, with an allowance of two weeks' time for absences not excused by the superintendent of schools or the school com- mittee. Such period of attendance shall begin within the first month of the fall term of school, and for each five days' ab- sence of any such child thereafter, in excess of the above al- lowance, before the completion of the required annual atten- dance of thirty weeks, the person having such child under his control shall, upon the complaint of the school committee or any truant officer, forfeit to the use of the public schools of such city or town a sum not exceeding twenty dollars, but if such child has attended for a like period of time a private day school approved by the school committee of such city or town, or if such child has been otherwise instructed for a like period of time in the branches of learning required by law to be taught in the public schools, or has already acquired the branches of learning required by law to be taught in the public schools, or if his physical or mental condition is such as to render such attendance inexpedient or impracticable, such penalties shall not be incurred.
SAUGUS PUBLIC LIBRARY
3 1729 00051 3900
SAUGUS PUBLIC LIBRARY 295 Central St. Saugus, MA 01906
1
For Reference
Not to be taken
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