USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Saugus > Town annual report of Saugus 1912 > Part 16
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14
REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
Another asks, why not make a contract for a three years' ser- vice at the rate of five hundred dollars per year? The results of such a plan would differ but slightly from our present plan whereby we are losing one-third of teachers each year. Many serious objections to such a plan may be cited. Unless the salary is increased from year to year until it reaches a living wage, the teacher feels that her work is not appreciated and that her own good as well as the good of her school demands that she seek employment elsewhere. Consequently they leave us, sometimes even for a smaller salary. Words of commendation no matter how expressed are naught when compared to the effect of the needed dollar.
The Cost.
A careful survey of our needs for the coming year shows us that we can put into operation this plan for increasing the teachers' salaries by an increase in our appropriation slightly less than three hundred dollars. This means not one cent's increase in the rate of taxation for the increase in valuation is sufficient to yield several times that amount.
A Shorter Elementary Course.
The only plea for shortening the elementary course that has come to us is one of finances. If the work that we are now do- ing in nine years can be done equally as well in eight years then it would seem the part of wisdom to adopt an eight year course. I believe in an eight year course, not on account of cheapness for if it equals a nine year course in efficiency it will also equal it in cost. To adopt an eight year course in Saugus without a great modification of present conditions means a great drop in standards that now are none too high. The ninth grade pro- vides a better preparation for High School work and also gives a great deal of culture for the pupil who for one reason or an- other is to be denied the benefits of a High School education. In abolishing the ninth grade care must be taken lest we lose these two very desirable considerations.
15
REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
Progress and Efficiency.
In our community the prevailing sentiment is in favor of pro- gress and efficiency. So when we change from a nine to an eight grade system it must be done in the interest of this senti- ment. But progress and efficiency can not be obtained by spend- ing less money. Generally each advance means an additional expenditure. Nevertheless, the change ought to be made. First, to keep in harmony with the general educational tendency throughout the country. Second, to bring the schools into closer touch with the future life work of the pupils. I am not in favor of an eight year course that requires nine or more years for its completion as is the case in many of our towns and cities. This is simply a shifting of names with little or no change of work.
New Buildings.
The time to make this change is when we build our next schoolhouse. The plan should be to provide schoolroom for the first six grades as near to the homes of the pupils as possible. The seventh and eighth grades should be centralized and given departmental teaching in special subjects. The course of study for the first six grades should be uniform for all pupils. Three courses of study having much in common and all leading to the High School should be provided for the seventh and eighth grades. One of these courses would prepare for an academic High School course, another would prepare for a commercial course and the other would lead to an industrial course in the High School.
This is the educational trend of the times. This we must do if we wish to give our children a fair chance in life's activities. Such a central building would relieve the existing congestion in our schools and at the same time permit of a more desirable organization of our school system. Further, if financial economy for the town is a consideration, one centrally located building would for a period of years relieve the congestion in all parts of the town. If the next building is not centrally located, then ere long we shall need to bond the town for a second building. The
16
REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
time is near when the High School will need its entire building for its own use. Then the question of a new schoolhouse involves the consideration of relieving the congestion in Clifton- dale and Saugus Center, of early High School accommodations, and the consideration of a better system of schools for the entire Town.
Midyear Promotions.
Each year we have a number of requests for pupils to be allowed to pass two grades in a single year. In some instances this request has been granted where it has been shown that the pupil is probably qualified to do the work of the grade to which promotion is sought. Some of these pupils pass on successfully and do creditable and commendable work. Others are less suc- cessful. In many of the cases the work of a grade has been taken in six or right weeks during the summer vacation. In nearly all the cases the promotion is made with many misgivings as to the pupils' subsequent success. By such a haphazard method of promotion the pupil loses much work in some grade. Often essentials are entirely omitted and a pupil who had given evidence of becoming a fine scholar never gets beyond the ordinary in scholastic attainments. So this haphazard method of promotion, often demanded with persistence, becomes a pos- itive detriment instead of a boon to the individual pupil. Such repeated experiences tend to make us too ironclad and inelastic in the promotion of pupils from grade to grade.
The Difficulty Overcome.
This year we are making a systematic effort to meet the situa- tion mentioned above. From this endeavor we expect two re- sults, namely, an adequate accomplishment by the pupil in school of each year's work and a shortening of his elementary course by one or two years. No pupil is encouraged to attempt this work who has not been able to secure in his previous work a rank better than "B". No pupil is encouraged to attempt this work whose health is not the best in all respects. No pupil is encouraged to attempt this work if it is against the wishes of the pupil's parents.
17
REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
In What Grades ?
The work is optional and begins with the sixth grade. We have forty-six pupils in the sixth grade, fifty-two in the seventh grade and thirty-eight in the eighth grade now working by this plan. The teachers with one accord testify to the pupils' greater endeavor that the plan has stimulated. This awakened interest amply repays the extra effort of the teachers and greatly enhances the success of the plan. By promoting at this time 139 pupils we are saving $3,475 at a cost of $III.04.
Advantages.
The completion of the elementary course in less than nine years. Some relief of the congestion in some schools. Any pupil in the school failing on account of sickness, absence or other cause, to pass on the first half of the year's work may re- view with the "A" division that portion of his work and thus be assisted to gain his regular promotion at the end of the year. A stronger desire and a more determined effort on the part of the pupil to do better work. Psychology teaches that the child at this period in its life, ten to thirteen years of age, is capable of doing more hard work than in the preceding or in the follow- ing period. Hence the sixth, seventh and eighth grades are the places where extra work should be done, if anywhere in our school course. Too little work is as detrimental to the develop- ment of scholastic ability as too much work. We aim to give just enough work to keep every one busy and interested.
Manual Training.
One serious hindrance to the best results of our manual train- ing course has been the lack of a sufficient equipment. We are gradually overcoming this, however, by increasing our equip- ment from year to year according to our means and without drawing unduly from funds needed elsewhere. This gradual increase in equipment is also in accord with the advance of our pupils. When the pupils are ready to make use of more equip- ment we have been getting as much of it as our means would
ii
18
REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
permit. In this way since the course was started we have added a few more bench tools, a mitre box, a saw table with power, a moulder's outfit and six motor driven lathes together with a small equipment of wood turning tools.
More Time for Manual Training.
In order that we may secure adequate results in manual train- ing instruction more time is an imperative necessity. At present seventy-five hours in the manual training room is about all that a boy has during his entire course in our schools. Less than two weeks of continuous work. When we consider this, the results obtained are marvelous. Yet with rare exceptions, the pupils' product seldom reaches a desirable perfection of finish per se. We ought not to delay longer in providing two hours per week for the ninth grade.
Ninth Grade in Manual Training after February 3, 1913.
On account of not being able to accommodate the ninth grade in two divisions after February 3 of the present year, we are forced either to deny the third division any instruction in manual training or to employ the manual training teacher another day for the remainder of the year. Although a whole day is not needed for this increase in the size of the ninth grade, yet the day would be spoiled for the instructor and so the cost for a part day would be not much less than for a full day. Therefore, it has seemed best for the remainder of this year to give the ninth grade two hours per week in manual training, thus utilizing the instructor's full time.
Sewing.
We think that one hour is ample time for a sewing lesson. But the size of the classes and the inability to arrange a satis- factory program make it impossible for us to do the work in one day. Accordingly each of the three divisions in the ninth grade after February 3, will be divided into two divisions making classes of convenient size for successful instruction and thus utilizing the full time of the sewing teacher for two days.
19
REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
Summer Manual Training.
Forty-six boys joined our summer manual training class last July and in eighteen two-hour lessons accomplished as much work as is now accomplished in a full year of our one hour per week lessons. The effect, then, has been to add by this summer course, one year to our manual training instruction.
Each boy paid a nominal sum of one dollar for the entire course. The sum thus realized together with a part of the receipts from the annual field day was sufficient to pay for the instruction only. The lumber, tools and room were furnished by the School Department. The following account shows the cost of the venture.
RECEIPTS.
Tuition .
$45 75
Field day .
7 25
School Department
41 40
Total
$94 40
EXPENDITURES.
Paid for instruction
$54 00
Paid for lumber
41 40
Total
$94 40
The interest taken in the work and the results obtained justify the continuance of the work next summer.
Domestic Science.
The time has come when we should extend our work in do- mestic science so that our girls may receive a training equally as efficient and practical as that which we are attempting to give our boys. Cooking should be added to our work in sewing. Let the mothers do this work if they will. Let the school do it, if it must. Let both work together to this end if they can. The
20
REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
work is eminently practical and forms a vital part in the leading school systems of the country. The cost of fitting up a domestic science room is a trifle when compared to a manual training equipment.
Commercial Course in the High School.
However good and worthy any activity in public school edu- cation may be unless it serves satisfactorily the desires of the community it is doomed to failure. So far as I know the citi- zens of Saugus have never formally expressed themselves in regard to an efficient commercial course in our High School. Nearly every high school in Massachusetts offers a commercial course to its pupils. The efficiency of such a course in most cases is fully as high as that of the other courses offered by the school. During the last ten years no other department in the high school has shown such an improvement in methods of instruction. No other department has had such obstacles to overcome. Public school men at first opposed with vigor the introduction of commercial subjects into the high school curric- ulum. Competent teachers to do the work were few. Conse- quently the first results were necessarily unsatisfactory. But what a change. Educators, no longer opponents, have become enthusiastic advocates. The supply of competent commercial teachers is increasing yearly. Colleges and Normal schools have just begun to train teachers for commercial work. Fifty per cent of the pupils enrolled in high schools offering this course are pursuing the commercial branches.
The Educational Value of the Business Course.
Competent critics of educational procedure agree that when the commercial course is rightly administered its power for men- tal training and discipline is not inferior to that of the other high school departments. Professor DeGarmo of Cornell University says : " If he has equally efficient teachers and is supplied with equally good facilities, the student of the commer- cial course is not inferior to his brother in the arts course in the range of his education, in the quality of his discipline, in the dignity of his work or the worthiness of his destination."
21
REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
The Aim of the Course.
To train competent stenographers, bookkeepers and office helpers is one immediate and practical aim of the commercial course. But the possibilities of such a course exceed this limited, yet essential aim. To train young people to think, to enable them to acquire a larger view of commercial activities, to prepare them to undertake successfully college courses, all these come within the domain of the really good commercial high school course.
But will all your graduates become one hundred per cent bookkeepers, etc .? Never. Is there a schoolroom in Saugus or elsewhere from which all the pupils come forth perfected in the subjects taught therein? Universal perfection in the school product, however desirable it may be, is everywhere and in all departments an impossibility. Yet it is a worthy ideal for every · earnest teacher.
A Matter for the Voters to Decide.
Whatever you as members of the School Committee or I as a superintendent and teacher may think, the final decision of the matter rests with the voters. Therefore, in order that we may know whether this community desires to have such instruction given in its High School, I recommend that you give the voters an opportunity to express themselves upon so practical an educational venture.
School Exhibit.
We have to report an increasing interest on the part of our pupils in our home gardening projects. This past year we were supplied with seed potatoes, corn and beans by the Agricultural College at Amherst. The garden products together with other exhibits of work done by our pupils were exhibited in the Town Hall on the afternoon and evening of September the twentieth. The same Committee as the year before awarded the prizes for the best displays of vegetables and flowers.
The success of the exhibit was greatly aided by the Manola Orchestra and by the efforts of many of the parents and citizens.
22
REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
Sweet Pea Exhibit.
At the Fourth Annual Exhibition and Convention of the National Sweet Pea Society of America which was held in Bos- ton, July the thirteenth and fourteenth, our High School won the F. R. Pierson Cup, value $25, for the best display exhib- ited by any school.
A number of our pupils also won prizes for individual exhibits at this exhibition.
Field Day.
The expenses of our school exhibit have always been met by the receipts realized from our annual field day. The field day has in itself a sufficient excuse for its being held. The long preparation for the day in outdoor exercise by a very large per- centage of our school children tends to promote their physical well being quite as much as anything now being done in the schools.
The following is a summarized account of the receipts and expenditures for the annual field day, summer manual training course, Boston sweet pea exhibit and our local school exhibit, exclusive of lumber.
RECEIPTS.
Balance and interest from last year .
$41 31
Sale of tickets
ISO 60
Advertising
35 00
Cash donations
17 50
Tuition for manual training
45 75
Grade IX for reflectoscope
9 00
Total receipts
$329 16
23
REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
EXPENDITURES.
Printing
$19 00
Medals and trophies
18 75
Police
8 00
Band, orchestra, piano
19 00
Balls and bats
6 85
Prizes for sweet peas
16 50
Manual training
54 00
Prizes for school exhibit .
35 00
Cartage and labor .
12 50
Stereopticon and reflectoscope
83 25
Miscellaneous expenses .
7 73
Total expenditures .
$280 58
Balance in Home Savings Bank of Boston
48 58
$329 16
Coaching Teachers.
At the close of school last June, the regular teachers affirmed unqualifiedly that 161 pupils were promoted as a direct result of the work of the coaching teachers for backward pupils. Many other pupils who had fallen behind for one reason and another were also assisted by these teachers to regain their class standing.
The cost of this work is insignificant when compared to both the financial and educational loss that would ensue without it. I would like to see the day when the necessity for this work did not exist. But that day will never come until we are able to make a very radical change in the organization of our schools. Fewer pupils per teacher is the other alternative for eliminating the repeater from our schools. It costs less to prevent a pupil from becoming a repeater than it does to educate him as a repeater.
The coaching teachers by preventing these 161 pupils from failing saved the Town about $4,025. If ten per cent of our pupils fail each year the tendency will be to produce congestion. To relieve congestion we must build more schoolhouses, hire more teachers and janitors and buy more fuel, books and sup-
24
REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
plies. These 161 pupils alone would require the entire use of a fully equipped four room building. Where our present accom- modations are already taxed to their full capacity each pupil held back helps to make a crowded condition besides greatly lessening the efficiency of the whole school system.
The percentage of failures some years before employing coaching teachers was nearly twenty per cent. This year it has been reduced to about five per cent. Our present crowded con- dition is due in part to these failures of previous years. Elim- inate the repeater from your schools, for until that is done we will never be able to get a full return for the money that we are spending for education.
Summary of Promotion Reports in the Schools where Coaching Teachers Were Employed, June, 1912.
Promoted.
Failed.
Boys .
629
42
Girls .
605
25
From Non-English speaking families
116
2I
Average number of days of attendance .
155.1
143.3
Foreign born
93
9
Suffering from malnutrition
·
27
II
Mentally defective
.
34
6
Defective vision .
146
7
Defective hearing
39
Adenoids
258
3
Other throat troubles
187
Enlarged glands
70
I
Defective teeth
180
4
Other defects
100
5
Promoted as a result of special work, 161, a gain of 22 over last year.
Repairs
Your appropriation for inside repairs is insufficient to do the things that ought to be done. For several years it has been found necessary to spend more than one thousand dollars for inside repairs.
25
REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
Floors Should Be Oiled.
New floors are needed in several schools and the floors of all should be oiled both for economy's sake and out of consideration for the health of our pupils. The oiling of the floor when properly done forms a hard coating on the floor and thus lessens greatly the wear. By increasing the length of service for the floor the cost of the oiling in the end is not an additional expense.
A Health Measure.
Of far more value than a slight financial saving is the health of the children. The dust from the dirt brought in on the feet might be endured by itself, but when it is mingled with crayon dust and finely powdered particles of wood the injury done may reach farther than we suspect. With gravelled walks and yards and many damp days the grinding of the unoiled floor is very noticeable. All the dirt, being quickly dried in the superheated and very dry air of the schoolroom, becomes a floating menace to the health of every individual in the room.
The oil, when properly applied, will not soil the teacher's skirts. Even if it should, a little dirt on her skirts is better than a great deal in her lungs. Further, the schools are maintained primarily for the best interests of the children.
Then it is not a question of finances, since in a period of years the saving would be in favor of the oiled floor. We have then the health of the children to oppose every unfavorable consider- ation. If we do our duty we will not be long in taking the course that favors the physical wellbeing of our children.
The Cost.
On account of the porous condition of most of our floors the initial cost would be much larger than at any subsequent oiling. The initial cost, if the floors are oiled while the price of linseed oil is low, ought not to exceed five dollars per room. Subsequent oilings once a year ought not to exceed three dollars per room.
26
REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
Needs.
A concrete walk leading to the High School.
Means to make more effective our medical inspection. While we are getting results from our medical inspection that are well worth while it is yet possible to have them larger.
More domestic science for the girls.
An efficient business department in the High School.
State aid to make our school problem the equal of the average in the State.
One more teacher for backward pupils.
A longer course in manual training.
To continue as our regular policy two hours per week in manual training for the ninth grade.
A larger appropriation for inside repairs.
Conclusion.
Your consideration of the accompanying reports and statistics is sought. They will help us to gain a fuller knowledge of the work of our schools.
In concluding this report I wish to formally, yet sincerely, express my gratification for your confidence in me and for your strong support in behalf of the welfare of our public schools. To the voters who granted you such an appropriation as you deemed necessary for the work of the schools thanks are also due. Without this timely aid we could not have had such a year of material progress in so many ways. I also commend to you the faithful work of our teachers. I believe that one and all have conscientiously given their best labors to make the work of our schools a commendable success. I surely am not unmind- ful of their willing cooperation in whatever has been undertaken for the betterment of our schools. To the pupils and parents we are also grateful for the essential part that they have performed in the past year's work.
Respectfully submitted,
WILLIAM FISHER SIMS, Superintendent of Schools,
SAUGUS, MASS., February 3, 1913.
27
REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
Statistics.
Total cost of schools . . $46,691 07
Total cost to the Town for schools 46,499 09
Cost per pupil based on enrolment 26 42
Cost per pupil based on average membership 27 92
Cost to the Town per pupil based on enrolment
26 31
The same based on average membership
27 81
Per capita cost of High School and Grade IX books 2 38
Per capita cost of other school books
82
Per capita cost of High School and Grade IX supplies . 1 50
Per capita cost of other school supplies 1 13
Per capita cost of manual training 4 03
Per capita cost of sewing
I 38
School Census, September 1912.
Number of persons in Town between the ages of five and fif- teen years, 894 boys, So9 girls, total 1,703.
Number of persons in Town between the ages of seven and fourteen years, 624 boys, 599 girls, total 1,223.
Number of male illiterate minors in Town over fourteen years of age, none.
Number of female illiterate minors in Town over fourteen years of age, 2.
28
REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
MEDICAL INSPECTION Examination by School Physicians
Ailments
Dr. Parcher
Dr. Gale
Dr. Perkins
Total
Number examined
669
538
564 300
1,768
Adenoids
Chicken pox .
3
...
...
3
Chronic glossitis
....
3
3
Conjunctivitis
6
2
S
Curvature of the spine .
....
...
4
4
Decayed teeth
28
24
32
84
Defective nasal septum .
I
2
4
7
Enlarged cervical glands
4
8
16
28
Enlarged tonsils
53
20
207
280
Impaired vision (wearing glasses)
5
5
Ichthyosis
....
I
I
Malnutrition .
.. ..
...
I
I
Mental deficiency
....
2
....
2
Nasal catarrh
3
7
I
II
Papilloma of lip
Pediculosis
29
I2
28
69
Right internal strabismus
..
..
I
I
Ring worm
1
3
4
Scabies -
2
4
.. ..
4
Seborrhea Oteosa of scalp
...
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