USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Saugus > Town annual report of Saugus 1908 > Part 16
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By request of your committee our superintendent has at some schools surprised the scholars and teachers, by giving the fire drill signal, and in one building in which this was done, every scholar was out in less than forty seconds.
Medical Inspection.
By State law, cities and towns are now obliged to have a doc- tor examine each child in school at least once a year.
The Board has appointed one doctor from each precinct. A copy of the State law on the subject is given herewith.
MEDICAL INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS.
Chapter 502, Acts of 1906, provides as follows :-
APPOINTMENT OF SCHOOL PHYSICIANS, ETC.
SECTION I. The school committee of every city and town in the Commonwealth shall appoint one or more school physicians, shall assign one to each public school within its city or town, and shall provide them with all proper facilities for the perform- ance of their duties as prescribed in this act : provided, how- ever, that in cities wherein the Board of Health is already maintaining or shall hereafter maintain substantially such medi- cal inspection as this act requires, the Board of Health shall appoint and assign the school physician.
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REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
EXAMINATION AND DIAGNOSIS TO BE MADE.
SECTION 2. Every school physician shall make a prompt ex- amination and diagnosis of all children referred to him as here- inafter provided, and such further examination of teachers, janitors and school buildings as in his opinion the protection of the health of the pupils may require.
SECTION 3. The school committee shall cause to be referred to a school physician for examination and diagnosis every child returning to school without a certificate from the Board of Health after absence on account of illness or from unknown cause ; and every child in the schools under its jurisdiction who shows signs of being in ill health or of suffering from infectious or contagious disease, unless he is at once excluded from school by the teacher ; except that in the case of schools in remote and isolated situations the school committee may make such other arrangements as may best carry out the purpose of this act.
NOTICE TO BE SENT TO PARENT OR GUARDIAN.
SECTION 4. The school committee shall cause notice of the disease or defects, if any, from which any child is found to be suffering to be sent to his parent or guardian. Whenever a child shows symptoms of smallpox, scarlet fever, measles, chicken- pox, tuberculosis, diphtheria or influenza, tonsilitis, whooping cough, mumps, scabies or trachoma, he shall be sent home imme- diately, or as soon as safe and proper conveyance can be found, and the Board of Health shall at once be notified.
TESTS OF SIGHT AND HEARING, AND EXAMINATION FOR DISABILITY OR DEFECTS.
SECTION 5. The school committee of every city and town shall cause every child in the public schools to be separately and carefully tested and examined at least once in every school year to ascertain whether he is suffering from defective sight or hear- ing or from any other disability or defect tending to prevent his receiving the full benefit of his school work, or requiring a mod-
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REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
ification of the school work in order to prevent injury to the child or to secure the best educational results. The tests of sight and hearing shall be made by teachers. The committee shall cause notice of any defect or disability requiring treatment to be sent to the parent or guardian of the child, and shall require a physical record of each child to be kept in such form as the State Board of Education shall prescribe.
SECTION 6. The State Board of Health shall prescribe the directions for tests of sight and hearing and the State Board of Education shall, after consultation with the State Board of Health, prescribe and furnish to school committees suitable rules of instruction, test-cards, blanks, record books and other useful appliances for carrying out the purposes of this act, and shall provide for pupils in the normal schools instruction and practice in the best methods of testing the sight and hearing of children. The State Board of Education may expend during the year nineteen hundred and six a sum not greater than fifteen hundred dollars, and annually thereafter a sum not greater than five hun- dred dollars for the purpose of supplying the material required by this act.
Old Lincoln Avenue School.
For some time people have complained about sending their children to the old Lincoln Avenue School in Cliftondale, even though they lived nearer to this than to any other school building. They have even obtained certificates from reliable doctors, that the sanitary conditions at the old Lincoln Avenue School were so bad "that they advised sending the child to some other building."
In view of these complaints, and in view of the fact that all our school buildings should have modern sanitary arrangements, your committee decided, from funds it had saved during the year, to install closets and a urinal in the basement of the build- ing.
An architect was engaged to draw plans for our inspection, and State Building Inspector Cheney was good enough to spend an evening at the Committee Room with us on the matter.
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REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
After careful inspection and blue prints had been prepared, we asked for bids on the work, and Mr. W. George Greenlay, be- ing the lowest bidder, the work was awarded him, under a con- tract prepared by the Town Counsel.
The work was commenced without delay, carried on through the Christmas vacation, and completed according to the terms of the contract. We now have an up-to-date sanitary condition at the old Lincoln Avenue school. Unfortunately the money at our disposal was not sufficient to provide a satisfactory way for getting the scholars from the second story to the basement. At present they must either go out of doors, and re-enter the build- ing by the side door, or must pass through the front school room on the lower floor, to the great inconvenience of the teacher and pupils of that room.
A stair-case should at once be built from the second story to the center hall of the first floor. This would land the scholars at the head of the present basement stairs.
We have already had an estimate of the cost of the proposed work, and ask for an appropriation of $700 for doing this work, some time during the summer vacation. We are confident that parents who live in the school district around this building will soon prefer to send their children to this school rather than have them go farther away from home.
We most cordially invite any parent to inspect the conditions at the old Lincoln Avenue school. Any member of the com- mittee will gladly point out the work which has been done, and explain just what we intend to do toward bettering existing conditions.
High School Entertainments.
With no desire to interfere unduly with school social matters, the committee took up the question of High School entertain- ments last fall. The feeling was rather general that the students of the High School were having more society affairs than were good for their studies or their own health. The committee tried to act in no autocratic spirit. Representatives of various High School societies were asked to meet the committee for a com-
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REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
mon-sense discussion of the questions at issue. As a result of that meeting, the following agreement was entered into :
" That, there shall be but one evening social event in any school week, and, except for the senior dance and the operetta rehearsals-which shall be regarded as social events-this shall be held always on a Friday evening.
"That the operetta rehearsals may, with the consent of the principal of the High School, be held twice in the same week during the month preceding the operetta.
" That, the committee request the junior class to do away with the junior dance and the athletic association reduce its evening entertainments to two whist parties.
" That, the military drills be postponed until the first Monday in March.
" That, debating society meetings be held on Friday evenings."
The agreement on the above suggestions was mutual, and both parties have lived up to it in a most fair spirit. The junior class promptly and courteously voted not to hold its annual dance. We feel that the general results have been beneficial.
Crowded Rooms.
Conditions at the new Lincoln Avenue and East Saugus Schools should have the serious attention of the whole body of citizens. The new Lincoln Avenue School was located near the line that divides Cliftondale from East Saugus in order that it might furnish accommodations for the increase in school popu- lation in both of these precincts. Today every room in the building except that of grades three and four, has quite as many scholars as ought ever to be under a single teacher, and both Miss Sherman, with grades one and two, and Miss McFadden, with grades five and six, have more pupils than any teacher who has more than one grade should be called upon to instruct. Almost every pupil comes from East Saugus precinct.
Moreover, so rapid has been the growth of that precinct that the old East Saugus school, too, is uncomfortably crowded and in at least two of the rooms a crying necessity for relief exists. Miss Asker actually has more scholars under her charge than
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REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
the state law intends to permit. If an assistant working in the same room with her were not likely to prove of about as much annoyance as of positive aid, the committee would feel com- pelled, because of the demand of the statute, to furnish one. Miss Taylor, in grade one, is struggling along with forty-seven, and Miss Purvis, with forty-five, has too many for the two grades, five and six.
The policy of the Committee has been to permit all pupils, so nearly as possible, to attend the building nearest their homes. To relieve the East Saugus building, however, pupils living hardly a stone's throw away from it have had to go down to the new Lincoln Avenue school. Over a year ago, to make room for the smaller pupils, who should not be required to walk any farther to school than is absolutely necessary, the seventh and eighth grades were crowded out of the East Saugus school and were forced to attend the new Lincoln Avenue school, no matter how far from it they might live. No room nearer the centre of East Saugus precinct was available.
Not Getting a Fair Chance.
The only evil result of this crowding is not the discomfort of the pupils and teachers. It is actually depriving scholars of the instruction that they need and are entitled to receive. In grade one at the New Lincoln avenue school last June, for example, were thirty-four pupils. Just ,seventeen, or 50 per cent, were promoted. In most schools having thirty-four pupils, all but two or three ordinarily are promoted. One reason why so un- happy a record was made in this instance was, of course, that many who were not promoted had come to the school unable to speak English or otherwise insufficiently prepared for first grade work. Much of the energy that the teacher might have given to the regular work had to be used in the effort to teach the English language to pupils who, for all the other hours of the twenty-four except the few that they spent in school, constantly spoke some other tongue.
A more potent reason was that the teacher in question has to have a second grade in her room in addition to a first grade as
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REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
large as any teacher can well handle. In such a room no pupil gets a fair chance. Those who do know English are held back by those who don't. All are impeded by the inability of any in- structor to do good work under such conditions.
Next Fall's Perplexities.
The Committee admits that it is badly perplexed over the problem of housing all the pupils who will apply for admission to the East Saugus school next fall. Two new rooms certainly ought to be ready at that time. Six grades are now put in four rooms in the Chestnut street building. In September each grade will need a room by itself. Where are the two grades going that are almost certain to be crowded out? Two plans occur to mind. One is to transport them to the Centre. Room can hardly be found in any other part of the town. Such a scheme is very costly. To carry at town expense from forty to fifty pupils to and from school twice a day for two hundred days is pretty likely to cost five hundred dollars a year at least. This is equal to the interest at four per cent on ten thousand dollars, a substantial part of the cost of a new building at East Saugus. The other plan would be to hire two rooms at East Saugus, but where two are to be found, ventilated and heated as the law de- mands that school rooms shall be, we have no idea.
New Building Needed.
If left to their own devices the committee will endeavor to handle this problem to the best advantage, but believe the wisest solution would be the erection of a new school building of four rooms in the neighborhood of the present East Saugus School. At least two of the rooms would be filled at once, with pupils from the East Saugus building and others who now attend the New Lincoln Avenue building but live much nearer the East Saugus School. To the new building the seventh and eighth grades now at the New Lincoln Avenue School would also be transferred, for it is unfair to East Saugus to ask all its pupils, and some who live as far away as Hesper street, to go nearly to Cliftondale for
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REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
seventh and eighth grade work. One fact that leads us more strongly to the conviction that a new building is needed at East Saugus is that, by drawing pupils back to East Saugus from the New Lincoln Avenne School, such a building would make a room or two available in the last-named building for Clifton- dale's growth. At present there is not a vacant room in Clifton- dale, and a new room somewhere will presently be required. Where better may it be found than in the building originally in- tended to afford just such a relief ?
Saugus Not Extravagant.
A very large proportion of the Town's revenue is used in sup- porting the public schools, and the tax payers have a right to know, not only where this money goes to, but how the cost of education in Saugus compares with that in other municipalities of the State. Data taken from the last annual report of the State Board of Education, indicates that in the matter of the amount spent on its public schools, Saugus is most economical. The following table shows the per capita cost of education, the amount spent annually on each child in some of the larger cities and towns of Massachusetts.
Brookline
$53.93
Nahant
.
51.43
Swampscott
44.84
Lynnfield
·
41.23
Newton
39.89
Boston
36.98
Beverly
33.38
Cambridge
32.28
Malden
30.77
Reading
30.04
Medford
29.62
Salem
28.62
Winthrop
27.71
Lynn .
27.60
Revere
26.79
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REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
Melrose
·
.
·
26.44
Stoneham
26.42
Everett
25.96
Wakefield
. 25.65
Danvers
23.91
Saugus
22.89
Ipswich
22.44
Marblehead
22.00
It will be seen from the above figures that of the twenty-three towns in the vicinity of Boston only two spend less each year than Saugus. The situation throughout the state is similar. Extremely few towns of the size and consequence of Saugus have a lower per capita cost.
Respectfully submitted,
FRANK P. BENNETT, JR., HENRY T. CLAUS, ALVAH J. SHEPHERD.
Report of the Superintendent.
To the School Committee of Saugus :
GENTLEMEN,-In compliance with your direction I present my first annual report. It is the fifteenth report since the town first employed a superintendent of schools. While such reports are directed to the School Committee and are largely made up of facts concerning the administration of schools, I understand that they are also intended to express to citizens generally the views of the superintendent upon important questions of pro- cedure and policy, but in so expressing myself I shall realize that the proper official relation of a superintendent to the School Committee is that of a special agent and executive officer.
My year began July 1, 1908. Previous to that date I spent two days in calling at schools with my predecessor and in learn- ing some details of the system. A part of vacation time was used in collecting and shipping books to be rebound, in purchas- ing and distributing supplies and in correspondence and confer- ences with candidates for the vacancies in the teaching force.
The first problem as schools opened, that of determining the grades for each room and the boundary lines between schools, was rendered much easier by your personal assistance and by the fact that the school census for East Saugus had already been taken so that we knew just how many seats must be provided for that section. The plan followed in determining the location of classes was to place lower grades in every building as far as pos- sible so that small children might be near home, but to unite the upper grade pupils in single grade rooms so as to simplify the work of teachers and supervisors, lessen the cost of equip- ment and give pupils the stimulus of association with a consider- able number of children of about their own age and attainments.
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REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
Most of my time when schools are in session is spent in school visits. Clerical work has been done at my home or at the office during the hours which precede and follow each school session. With your approval I have several times visited other places to investigate school work. Wednesday afternoons after the school session have been reserved for teachers' meetings. Fourteen of these have been held besides two conducted by the supervisor of drawing. At one meeting Mr. A. W. Clark gave us a very instructive and helpful address upon Penmanship. My purpose in these visits has been to enforce the regulations, observe the work and study the situation with a view to possible improve- ments. Later in the year I intend to test systematically the results we are getting in essential things. This keeping the work in hand is very much aided by the complete system of teachers' reports which I found in operation. At the weekly conferences the teachers have given me their interpretation of the course of study in use and I have circulated some papers explaining the amount and character of the work I have been accustomed to require. Together we have outlined for most of the grades a general plan of what is to be attempted in each grade, month by month, so that children of a given grade in all parts of the town will be doing practically the same thing at the same time. This uniformity is important for pupils who move from one part of the town to another during the year and when, for example, pupils from several seventh or eighth grades are to come together in a single eighth or ninth grade in September it is particularly essential that all should have a similar drill.
We have aimed at conformity in a broad sense only without stipulating details so specifically as to deprive teachers of all initiative and independence.
The Saugus Teachers' Association has been formed for the purpose of promoting social intercourse and mutual acquaint. ance. There is an important and profitable field for good work in matters that pertain chiefly to their personal and private affairs, but I hope to see the aims of this organization broadened until it will not only band teachers together socially but also as a body of workers having many common interests and one com-
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REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
mon purpose and thus serve to aid in the solution of educational problems and the shaping of school policy by expressing the teachers' independent point of view.
Medical Inspection.
The school physicians appointed for each section are attending to their duties and have reported the results of their examinations of pupils. These are tabulated and appended to this report, to- gether with the record of the eye and ear tests made by teachers.
In all, the physicians reported 184 cases as needing attention, or more than 12 per cent. of the number examined. To these might be added a considerable number of cases of defective teeth not enumerated by every physician. There are 14 such cases among the 33 not specifically named in the table, and one physi- cian says, " A good many cases among lower grades." Some parents may not realize the fact that sound teeth are an impor- tant factor in complete digestion, and that good digestion is es- sential to physicial efficiency.
Teachers have been instructed rigorously to exclude all chil- dren suffering from contagious diseases including pediculosis. School physicians are not allowed to prescribe treatment, but children with this trouble have been given a slip describing a suitable remedy. According to law such children must receive proper treatment and be returned to school. " No person is to be blamed for having lice,-only for keeping them."
Besides this enumeration of defects and diseases, the school physicians have reported that the school houses are, in general, in good condition, but some recommendations have been made.
Dr. Gale suggests that janitors before sweeping sprinkle floors with sawdust wet with a solution of sulpho-naphthol, that some windows at the East Saugus building be equipped with curtain rods, so that the shades may be lowered and only the lower half of the window darkened, and that provision be made whereby the janitor may fumigate books by the use of potassium per- manganate and formalin.
Dr. Penney recommends a better heating apparatus for the
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REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
Essex Street school, better ventilation for the urinal at the Felton School, a hygienic drinking fountain at each school in place of drinking cups, and that soap and towels be provided.
Provision has been made for these at some of the buildings where they are most needed.
When we come to realize the importance of this medical care and the amount of work and responsibility demanded by the law, I think we shall agree that $150, or ten cents per child, is a small compensation. I feel that as citizens we are indebted to the public spirited physicians who have undertaken the task and demonstrated its importance.
Among the pupils recorded as defective in hearing are several cases that are probably only temporary. A comparison of the record of teachers' tests for the three years in which they have been made shows a marked increase in the percentage of pupils wearing glasses and a decrease in that of others defective in eye- sight. This and the observation of teachers show that the notices are producing results.
Statistics.
The following table shows the changes made in the teaching force during 1907. Only one of these changes has occurred since the fall term began, but Miss Rebecca D. Moore has re- signed her position in the High School and her place will be taken Jan. 11 by Miss Nancy C. Spencer.
WITHDRAWN
BUILDING
APPOINTED
Edith M. Ellsbree
High
Elsie E. Hatch
Myrtie E. Nute
High
Ruth W. Waters
High
Sarah S. Cummings
Mary W. Hall
Roby
Edith Ginns Ida M. Tibbetts
Lena Schenk
Roby
Florence L. Black
Roby
Minnie E. Ross Elsie M. Taber
Florence M. Brooks
Lincoln Avenue
Georgetta Campbell
Georgetta Campbell
Lincoln Avenue Florence L. Little
Elizabeth W. Crowell East Saugus
Ethel E. Asker
Nellie M. Peabody Felton
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REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
WITHDRAWN BUILDING
APPOINTED
Lucy A. Walsh East Saugus
Edna L. Taylor
Ella F. Robinson
New School
Pauline R. Peckham
Florence L. Little
North Saugus
Marion R. Richardson
C. Edward Newell Drawing
Frederick W. Ried.
If the ninth grade pupils from Cliftondale are counted for that section, the figures for September enrollment in 1907 and 1908 show little change except a decrease at Saugus Center and an increase of 42 pupils at East Saugus. The average attend- ance for the fall term has been 45 more than it was a year ago and there has been one more school. The percentage of tardi- ness has decreased and favorable weather conditions have helped to secure a better percentage of attendance.
The truant officers have had more than the usual number of cases to investigate. We cannot fully enforce the compulsory attendance law until the teachers have some means of reporting absentees and having them returned to school before the close of the session which the pupils intend to skip.
High School.
Principal Ross reports that the largest enrollment and average membership in the history of the school and the highest percent- age of attendance since 1900.
He also calls attention to important matters wherein there is need of better cooperation between home and school.
" A common result of the single session is the lack of prepa- ration at home. Each scholar has an average of four recitations per day. Since there are only six recitation periods, that leaves only two periods, or about one and one-half hours for study at school. It is evident then that most of the work must be done at home, and parents should see that their children spend at least two hours in faithful study at home each day. Pupils in ad- vanced classes need even more time.
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