USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Saugus > Town annual report of Saugus 1909 > Part 17
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
Lawrence
51 20
Somerville
51 30
Salem
.
48 15
Malden
48 10
Everett
46 80
Melrose
46 50
Stoneham
46 40
Woburn
44 00
Medford .
44 00
Wakefield
43 05
Saugus
42 40
Amesbury
37 20
Danvers
36 90
.
Ninth Grade.
The plan of having all the ninth grades of the Town in the same building with the High School has now had a full trial, and the Committee stands ready to pronounce it an unqualified success. It puts the children under the supervision of a highly trained Principal, it surrounds them with that vastly desirable High School atmosphere, it gets them in the habit of going to the High School building, all of which has a strong influence in inspiring them to continue their education after the ninth grade has been passed.
Coaching Teachers.
The educational problems arising in the East Saugus and Emerson School districts were partially met last spring in a rather unique way. The Committee was face to face with the fact that a very large number of Grade One pupils in those schools failed annually of promotion, and were required to do the same work a second year. And the very children who remained behind were as a rule the pupils who, regardless of grade standing, would eave school when they reached the legal age. In other words,
II
REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
keeping them back a class was depriving them of a years' educa- tion. To remedy this condition two " coaching teachers " were employed to give their time exclusively to the backward pupils in an attempt to fit them for the class ahead. The results of this plan exceeded all expectations. The number of failures took a inordinate drop and so successful was the idea in general that the Committee has asked enough funds to apply it to all the schools in Town. Its adoption should make for a much larger educational efficiency.
Old Lincoln Avenue School.
Many improvements have been made in the past year at the old Lincoln avenue school.
In the last annual report of your Committee, mention was made of the improvements which has been completed up to that time, and suggestions set forth of other improvements which could be made at reasonably small expense.
In order to make these improvements, your Committee asked the Town at its last annual Town Meeting, March 6, 1909, to appropriate the sum of $700 for further inside improvements on this building.
The Town having voted to appropriate this sum, blue prints and plans having already been prepared, we asked for bids on the work, and Mr. George W. Greenlay being the lowest bidder, the work was awardad to him under a contract prepared by the Town Council.
The work was commenced without delay and carried on through the summer vacation and completed according to the terms of the contract.
We now have two stairways from the basement to the first floor and a stairway in the rear hall leading from the first floor to the room above. Fortunately we had not used the whole amount appropriated, so that we set about improving the school rooms, and for a very small cost have had the desks scraped and revarnished, and the walls painted and the ceilings white- washed. So that the rooms of this building are now as attractive as those of any building in Town. During the summer vacation
I2
REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
the Selectmen had the outside of the building painted. This greatly improved its appearance.
We most cordially invite public inspection of this building, and feel confident that any one will say that we have certainly expended the Town money in the right way.
Essex Street School.
Last fall your Committee went to the Essex Street School to ascertain the condition of this building. We learned that the heating apparatus was inefficient and that the rooms could not be heated properly by the stoves which are now in use. We went to the basement and found that there was ample room without much trouble to place a sufficient number of furnaces by which the building could be properly heated and your Committee recommends that a new heating plant be purchased and set up at an early date.
We also investigated the sanitary conditions at this building and found that a condition, similar to the former condition at the old Lincoln Avenue School existed, and we advise the adop- tion of an arrangement similar to the one now in the Old Lincoln Avenue School as there is ample room in basement for such a. system.
Cliftondale Brick School.
We had many complaints during the past year on account of the stench which arises from the crematory system connected with the toilets at the Brick School.
Sometime in the near future, the system now in use at this building will have to be removed and an up-to-date system placed therein. Since this building is already connected with the Town water supply, this work could be done at a very small cost.
A New Building Needed.
Attention of the voters is called to the report of the Commit- tee on School Accommodations which will be found in this volume, and with which the School Committee is in hearty
I3
REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
accord. As that report correctly states, your School Committee has for at least three years now been struggling with the prob- lem of housing more pupils at East Saugus than it has had seats for. The Emerson School, as soon as it was ready, provided gratifying relief, but the additional room it afforded soon proved inadequate and this committee found itself obliged to hire two rooms in the Masonic Building. Had it not done so, a consider- able number of pupils would be today absolutely without school- ing facilities or would be daily transported to rooms in other parts of the town at a heavy cost for such transportation.
Of course, this plan of hiring rooms can be followed only temporarily. The rooms the Committee is at present hiring are better adapted for school purposes than are most rooms that can be hired for school use, because they were designed by the owners of the building to be used by considerable bodies. They are not, however, ventilated so well as are regular school build- ings; they cannot be so comfortably or conveniently arranged as rooms built especially for a school, and they are expensive. The cost to the Town of each room it owns in its own school buildings for heat, repairs, janitor service, interest on bonds, and depreciation, is less than the cost of hiring rooms, even though the landlord who rents them is most lenient in his charges. The report of the Committee on School Accommoda- tions presents some figures on this problem which will be found helpful in this connection.
The need of a new building at East Saugus in as close proxim- ity as possible to the present Chestnut street building, both because that is about the geographical center of East Saugus precinct, and because nearness of the two buildings to each other may make it possible for one janitor and one principal to care for both, must be apparent to all who have looked into the matter. It is needed to house the two roomsful of scholars now in the Masonic Building, to care for at least one more roomful, which should be drawn out of the Emerson School in order to make room there for Cliftondale scholars, for whose increase in number in September, 1910, no provision has been made, and to afford room for the increase in scholars at East Saugus in
14
REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
September, 1910. This increase is likely to be no less than forty, which is as large a number as should be seated in a single room under the care of one teacher. That is, if the new building could be done this September, four rooms of it would be full at once.
It is interesting in this connection to note that in no other part of the town is the school population increasing so rapidly as in East Saugus. Of a net increase in the first nine grades for the entire town last Fall of eighty-seven, about forty was at East Saugus, about twenty-four at Saugus Center and about sixteen at Cliftondale. The great influx of new settlers in East Saugus is likely to keep up the record there, the addition soon to be built at the plant of the Saugus Mfg. Co. will cause commen- surate increase there, and we confidently look for a much larger increase at Cliftondale this Fall than sixteen. Almost every year heretofore the increase there has been larger than that.
Appropriation for Inside Repairs.
Your Committee believe that a grave mistake will be com- mitted if more than $500.00 is not appropriated for inside repairs of school buildings at this town meeting. For some years now the Committee has been expending more than that and taking the excess over $500.00 of its expenditures from its other appro- priation. This it can no longer do unless that other appropria- tion is considerably increased. Last year that other appropria- tion proved inadequate and on that account this Committee had to incur some bills in excess of its appropriation. Naturally it does not enjoy doing this.
Meantime, there can be no question but that the buildings are suffering for want of repairs. No property owner would feel that he was taking proper care of his buildings if he did not expend upon them annually a larger average proportinate sum than we are expending upon our school buildings. The school buildings of this Town must be worth at a conservative estimate $200,000. A sum to at least one-fortieth of that should be expended upon them each year on an average, the principle
15
REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
being that the average life of our school buildings will be about forty years. As a matter of fact the School Committee has but one-four hundredth to expend upon them each year, and the sum which the Selectmen have to expend upon the exteriors does not bring the total amount up to anywhere near one-fortieth. We feel that many things that should have been done inside the buildings last year had to be neglected for want of money. These things neglected were not conveniences, but necessities, such as varnishing of desks, painting of window-sashes, filling and paint- ing of window seats, neglect of which means real injury to the building. The sum of $1,000 ought to be appropriated this year for inside repairs.
Superintendent of Schools.
Your Committee wishes to put on record in this permanent form its appreciation of the attainments and services of Mr. Fairfield Whitney, the Superintendent of Schools. He has de- voted himself with unusual fidelity to his work, cutting into his vacations and gladly devoting time that really belonged to him- self to our service. As a result of this, we have no hesitation in saying that our schools are a distinct credit to the Town in every way.
We feel very strongly, therefore, that the time has come when the salary of Mr. Whitney should be raised to $1,700. When he came to Saugus he left a post that paid $1,700, and was giving such satisfaction there that he could have stayed in it, indefinitely. There isn't any question, either, that his task with us is harder because of increase of pupils, and because of the policy of this Committee to expect more of the schools than they have been required to accomplish in the past, than it was when he came here.
Furthermore, the superintendents hereabouts, whose work is equal to that of Mr. Whitney, received at least $1,700 each, so that the market wage for superintendents for Saugus is plainly that amount if not more. Professional men, who have had the training that the superintendent of schools must have, an expensive
16
REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
college education, and long experience as a teacher, are entitled to an income in keeping with that training. In the same connection, the fact should not be overlooked that the principal of the High School receives $1,700 now, and there is every reason why the head of the schools should receive as much pay as a principal who serves under him.
Manual Training.
Your committee has looked into the advisability of introduc- ing manual training in the schools of Saugus and has found that for our schools to hold a standard as high as schools in other towns we must introduce manual training as soon as possible.
Nearly every city and town in Massachusetts of the size of Saugus has some form of manual training while Sangus has nothing in this line of education. Every town and city adjoining Saugus except Revere and Lynnfield is already active along this line.
We have considered a system of manual training which we advise the Town to adopt. We would introduce sewing into the 7th and 8th grades for the girls and bench work for the boys. We have consulted Dr. Snedden of the State Board of Educa- tion and he advises the adoption of this course without delay. Your Committee also had Superintendent Whitney go to Read- ing and see several classes in manual training. He reports that this course reached some children with whom book teaching failed.
Many of our scholars leave school before they enter the High School, and are, therefore, necessarily deprived of the benefit of a High School education. These children should be trained before leaving school to work with their hands as well as with their head.
If they had received two years of Manual Training they would be better prepared than now to battle with the world and earn a good salary. Some boys who have had two years of Manual Training in a town not far from Saugus have acquired the ability to do very fine cabinet work. Such boys will un- doubtedly advance in position and salary more rapidly than the
17
REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
boy who left school at the same time and had not received this education. We therefore recommend a small appropriation for Manual Training in our 7th and 8th grades.
Respectfully submitted,
FRANK P. BENNETT, JR., HENRY T. CLAUS, ALVAH J. SHEPHERD,
Report of the Superintendent.
To the School Committee of Saugus :
GENTLEMEN, -I present herewith my second annual report. It is based upon fifteen months observation of actual conditions with schools in session.
The usual tables are printed because they contain facts called for by State or Washington officials. The table of average mem- bership no longer shows exactly the number from each section of the Town because of the many changes in school boundaries, due to consolidation of grades and crowding of rooms. The actual number of children in each precinct September Ist, can be found in the return of the enumerator who took the school census.
The High School membership is smaller than in the fall of 1908 and so while the tabulation gives an increase in average membership of sixty-five for this fall over last, the increase in grade pupils has been eighty-seven, more than enough for two schools.
Assuming the school boundaries to be the same as last year there has been a gain in each section but nearly half the total gain has been at East Saugus.
The list shows that grades have been rearranged at East Saugus and two rooms opened in the Masonic building. One of the North Saugus Schools was closed in the fall so that the net increase has been one school.
A smaller enrollment with a larger average membership indi- cates more regular attendance with possibly fewer transfers from other towns in the State.
There are more pupils in the three upper grades than ever before and 43 more than last year.
19
REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
Not a case of tardiness was recorded against either of the 28 Oaklandvale pupils.
The per cent. of attendance, 93.7, is the best for twenty years and probably the best Saugus ever had. It is about as good as we can reasonably expect, for my experience has been that unless children are unusually well cared for at home there will be 5 per cent. of necessary absence.
Co-operating with Gen. E. W. Hinks Post, G. A. R., the schools observed the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln. The children met in groups of about three hundred each. The program for the meeting of the High School and the upper grades is printed elsewhere.
Teachers.
We expect to change about one-third of our teaching force each year, but since the last report the corps has suffered notable losses in the death of Miss Laura F. Armitage and the resignation of Miss Helen L. Bacheller.
Miss Armitage began her work in this Town at North Saugus in 1885, and was transferred to the Essex street Primary when the school was opened in 1889, nearly twenty years in the same school. She is missed both because of her worth as an instructor and because of her genuine, active interest in the welfare of the children and the new teachers. She was ever ready to render unpaid service, and was especially active and helpful at the teachers' meetings and the teachers' association.
Miss Bacheller was appointed assistant in the Saugus High School in 1895. Although she might have gone to some other school for an increased salary at almost any time, she chose to continue her work here until promoted to a position in her home city, Lynn. She was conspicuously successful in her depart- ment both as an instructor and as a disciplinarian. Most pupils worked for her willingly, a few because there was no other way.
By the appointment of a competent man as sub-master and teacher of Latin and Physics, you most successfully forestalled the difficulties involved in the loss of so strong a teacher. The
20
REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
time has come when the Principal of the High School should give much of his time to general supervision. The sub-master gives his whole time to teaching and closer association with pupils. All children, but boys especially, need at times a man's influence.
The following table summarizes the principal changes in the list of teachers.
WITHDRAWN BUILDING
APPOINTED John J. Desmond, Jr.
Helen L. Bacheller
High
Rebecca D. Moore
High
Nancy C. Spencer
Ethel W. Coker Roby
Gertude L. MacDonald
Gertrude L. MacDonald Roby
Edith K. Moore Cliftondale
Clara Nash Wentworth Doris Kohlrausch
Laura F. Armitage
Essex
Katherine Price
Katherine Price
Essex
Lillian C. Campbell
Edna C. Purvis
East Saugus
Ina H. Fisher
Gertrude R. Sherman Emerson
Bertha A. Bond
Edith R. Day
North Saugus
Mary O. Freeman
Mary O. Freeman
North Saugus
Frances P. Johnson
Effie E. Campbell
Oaklandvale
Alice F. Sayre
F. W. Ried
Drawing
Frank L. Allen
Ida M. Tibbetts
Roby
Mabel E. Bemis
Felton
Ida B. Macdonald
Lincoln
Mabel A. Bacon
Emerson
Ethel E. Asker
East Saugus
Marion R. Richardson North Saugus
Felton Harriette J. Ricker
Cliftondale Maud A. Moore
Masonic Building Sara W. Young
Masonic Building Ethel M. Harvey
East Saugus Lillian D. Byrne
East Saugus
May Q. Clough
Emerson Gladys Smith
* East Saugus *Lotta M. Stevenson
*East Saugus *Margarette Brown
*Assistants for part of school year ending in June.
2 I
REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
Besides the changes indicated above, four teachers have been transferred, sixteen persons have acted as substitutes for periods varying from one day to three months each. The total time of such service has been about sixty-three weeks. Fifteen pupils from the Salem Normal School have practiced as "coaching teachers " for one or two days each.
Are Our Schools Efficient ?
One reason why this is a difficult question to answer is because of the difference of opinion as to what constitutes efficiency. One judges the success of schools by the results accomplished in some single study as arithmetic or spelling, another estimates the value of schools by the readiness with which pupils step into wage earning occupations, a third demands evidence of culture and character in every one who has come under school influence, and a fourth claims that education at public expense is justified only when it produces self-supporting citizens with high ideals of public service. Even if the standards are similar, the results attained in working under the highest ideals cannot be expressed in figures for comparison. Again while we may point out the regular attendance, studious habits and orderly conduct of the pupils ; the training, skill and character of the teachers; the im- provement in text-books and courses of study and the prosperity and reputation of the graduates, we never quite know what share the schools may rightfully claim in the resultant of many forces.
The success of a manufacturing plant may be measured by the proportion of stock it turns into finished product at a given cost. and just now there is considerable interest in attempting to deter- mine to what extent the schools accomplished their avowed object of giving children an accepted elementary or High School education. The child who starts at six years of age should com- plete the eight grades before he is fourteen. Those who fail to do this may be considered " spoiled material," and yet schools may be only partly responsible, for communities differ in the average intelligence of the children, and it is possible to put a large percentage through the mill by lowering the standard. Therefore we cannot fairly estimate the efficiency of a school
22
REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
system on this basis without taking into account many local conditions.
Fits and Misfits.
I have assembled the following facts bearing upon the answer to the question, "What part of the children get the education the town offers?"
In the first line is given the age a child would be if he entered first grade at six and advanced regularly one grade per year. In the second line is the average age (in years and months) of Saugus children in each grade last September.
Grade I. II.
6
6
7 7-2 8 8-4 III.
9 9-6 IV.
V
VI.
II II-II VII. VIII.
It will be seen that the ages agree at the start, but the average age of our pupils increases two months per year until the fifth and sixth grades are reached. There our children are a year older than they ought to be. The misfits must drop out for in the next two years the average is only one month too old.
A similar hint as to what happens is given by the list of Age and Schooling Certificates given in each grade in 1909.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.
2
II
6
8
I 2
High. 5
If we count that pupil as behindhand who is more than a year older than the figure given in line one above, the following table will show how many such pupils have been in each grade for the past five years. The number is pretty constant, and ten per cent. of the whole number were not up to where they ought to have been. Again, we see the condition of things in the fifth and sixth grades, and the contrast with the two following and with those that precede.
Grade I.
II.
III.
3 13 26 30 15 115 IV.
19 34 144 V.
21
13
8
116
1173
1906
7
14
12
22
15
S
125
I200
1907
5
IO
22
27
12
6
143
1346
1908
6
14
S
37 36
39 19
13
4
152
1365
1909
2
6
15
22
9
130
1305
32
52
79
12S
75
35
666
6479
VI. VII.
VIII.
Retarded
Enrolled
1905
12
8
22
-
IO
I 2 13
II
12-I 13-I
23
REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
Wishing something more specific than averages I took the names of children who were registered in the first grade in 1903- 1904 and also those so registered in 1904-1905. By means of the "Promotion List" and the registration cards I found where each was in June, 1909, when the first class should have reached sixth grade and the second fifth.
Grade II. III. IV. I 20
V. 43 46
Half of them had left town, three-fifths of the others had failed one or more times, several had failed twice and a few three times. Only one in each year' had shortened his course by an extra promotion. The last two tables substantially agree in showing that at each trial one pupil in ten fails. The last one shows clearly that the majority of children do not keep up to the schedule time allowed for lower grades.
The next table shows the membership, promotions and failures in each grade for the past five years, and also some facts about the High School.
Grade
1905
1906
1907
1908
1909
Total
I.
Members
179
199
224
246
233
1080
Promoted
125
157
1 70
139
186
827
Failed
54
42
54
56
47
253
II.
Members
171
152
171
193
199
877
Promoted
150
I37
143
174
179
783
Failed
2I
I5
28
19
I I
94
III.
Members
175
176
190
155
18I
877
Promoted
155
159
162
143
175
794
Failed
20
I7
28
I 2
6
83
IV.
Members
135
163
182
185
186
851
Promoted
119
147
146
157
171
740
Failed
16
16
36
28
15
III
V.
Members
142
130
164
146
I74
796
Promoted
135
II7
150
133
160
695
Failed
7
I3
14
13
14
5I
2
I 2
49
VI. VII. 4I I I -
Gone IOI
Total
217
92
202
24
REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
Grade
1905
1906
1907
1908
1909
Tota
VI.
Members
147
146
122
146
136
697
Promoted
126
130
IIO
116
I30
614
Failed
21
16
I 2
28
6
83
VII.
Members
126
118
IOI
131
I27
603
Promoted
115
113
87
I22
II3
550
Failed
I1
5
14
9
14
53
VIII.
Members
85
105
115
80
81
466
Promoted
80
97
106
76
74
433
Failed
5
8
9
4
7
33
IX.
Members
70
63
87
81
69
370
Promoted
61
57
80
73
63
334
Failed
9
6
7
8
6
36
Class
High School
IO
Members
30
39
53
50
60
232
II
Members
18
38
29
44
44
173
I2
Members
17
I5
34
18
39
123
13
Members
I 2
II
9
20
II
.
63
Graduated 3 years
8
4
14
6
20
52
Graduated 4 years
II
II
9
20
II
62
From these facts I estimate that the average number of first grade children in recent years has been about 200, of whom one- fourth failed in the first year. Half failed once during the first five years, a considerable number failed twice and a few three times. One-fourth of the above 200 were repeaters. Of the 150 who went on, a few dropped out before the fifth grade, but most have entered it. Few of them could have been old enough to leave school. In our estimate then we may assume that the number in the fifth grade represents the full number of children. If so of 100 to enter we have left in the sixth grade 90, in the seventh 81, in the eighth 62, in the ninth 49. Without loss of promotion every child should complete the eighth grade before he is 14, but in fact only 58 in 100 complete it at all and but 45 receive the ninth grade diploma.
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.