USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Saugus > Town annual report of Saugus 1947 > Part 13
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Recommendations
An important duty of the Superintendent of Schools is to recom- mend to the School Committee and to the citizens of the town such projects as will improve our school system. I recommended all of these in my report of last year.
(1) That a modern gymnasium be constructed so as to make possible an effective program of physical education for all pupils in the Junior and Senior High Schools.
(2) That a program be initiated towards the improving of the play areas of all schools so that all school play areas may be ultima- tely resurfaced with modern asphaltic or cork treatment.
(3) The installation of new lighting equipment in all of our school buildings, especially in the classrooms of the same.
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(4) The construction of a new modern six room elementary school building in the Oaklandvale section of the town.
(5) The introduction of a course in domestic science for girls who attend the Senior High School.
(6) That the School Department be provided with plans and detailed blueprints of all school buildings in town so that such will be available to the School Department at all time.
(7) That the present costly heating plant in the Ballard School be removed and that such be replaced by a central heating plant with oil burning apparatus.
(8) The establishment of a super-maximum salary in the high, junior high, and elementary schools to be given only to those teachers who, in the opinion of the Superintendent of Schools, have demon- strated extraordinary teaching skills and exceptional value to the school system.
(9) That the Mansfield School building in East Saugus be com- pletely repaired, renovated, and reequipped for active use or, in lieu of this, that an addition to the Ballard School be considered.
Unless parochial schools are established in Saugus this section of the town will soon be in need of additional school housing facilities.
The School Committee has already taken steps to initiate action on recommendations two, four, six, and possibly eight.
School Building Program
In my 1946 report I wrote at length of the necessity of a school- house building program. Due to it's importance, I am reiterating in this 1948 report most of that which I said last year.
A town may postpone the inevitable but not forever. Such prob- lems are not solved by hiding one's head in the sand like the ostrich.
Saugus has not erected a new schoolhouse since. 1933 when the present Central Junior High School building was constructed. For fourteen years we have remained dormant as far as new school build- ings are concerned. This, in spite of the fact, that Saugus is one of the few municipalities that does not owe one cent for its' school buildings.
There are two definite and pressing needs for new schoolhouse construction.
(a) A new and modern Senior High School.
(b) A new elementary school building in the Oaklandvale section of the town.
May I discuss each under separate captions ?
Senior High School
Twice within the last fifteen years your School Committee has urged upon the citizens the necessity of the erection of a new modern Senior High School Building. Twice the voters, or their chosen rep- resentatives in town meeting, have turned it down.
The second defeat of this worthy project was, in my opinion, the most costly mistake our town has made in a lifetime. At that time the building, completely equipped, could have been constructed for about $500,000.00. The United States Government, at that time, stood ready
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and willing to donate a cash grant of $250,000.00 or approximately one half of the entire cost of construction. Schoolhouse building costs were then approximately 35 cents per cubic foot. I shall always view the rejection of this particular project as one of the greatest sins ever committed against the youth of Saugus. It was a colossal blunder.
Why does Saugus need a new modern Senior High School Building? Here are the reasons and any citizen can check the present building and verify the facts.
(1) No gymnasium and as a result no program of physical edu- cation possible.
(2) Totally inadequate and antiquated science laboratories.
(3) Inadequate assembly hall (auditorium) so important in the development of school morale and spirit.
(4) No suitable washroom facilities and outmoded and ancient toilet facilities.
(5) No suitable or adequate place for the teaching of domestic science for girls.
(6) Inadequate cafeteria facilities.
(7) Insufficient space for expansion of Woodworking and Metal Shops.
(8) Aged and ineffective lighting equipment.
(9) Poor school library facilities for a school of our size.
(10) No proper place for students to hang their clothes under protection.
All of these shortcomings were told to the citizens at the time the proposed new school building was rejected.
The permanent solution is a new modern Senior High School Building. The solution does not lie in adding wings to the present building. To attempt this would prove very costly. The result would be a sprawling octopus of a building difficult of operation and adminis- tration.
If something isn't done our Class "A" High School rating will eventually be affected.
If this happens, the blame will not be attached to anyone connected with the School Department.
New Oaklandvale School
The members of the School Committee and the Superintendent of Schools are of the unanimous opinion that a new modern six room elementary school building should be erected in the Oaklandvale section of the town at the earliest possible date.
To this end the School Committee has inserted a special article in the warrant for the annual Town Meeting of February 1948 seeking an appropriation of $750.00 with which to engage the services of a respon- sible firm of architects. The members of the firm thus engaged would prepare preliminary data and estimate costs, etc., of such a structure. This firm would also survey the Oaklandvale section and recommend the two or three best available sites for the erection of the building. As soon as such data is available the School Committee intends to
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insert proper articles in a special or regular town meeting warrant calling for the appropriation of funds by bond issue for the construction of said school building.
The need of a new school building in this section of the town is imperative. The present Oaklandvale School building is approximately one hundred years old, insofar as I am able to ascertain. It is con- structed upon a ledge on about as poor a piece of land as there is in the whole community. It is costly to heat, costly to maintain in repair, and certainly grotesque in its appearance. This present building will be totally inadequate to serve the elementary school children of this section with any appreciable growth in home building.
Any attempt to enlarge or renovate this present building would be little short of criminal asininity. The cost would be tremendous and the result a monstrosity.
The Oaklandvale section of the town is already productive of one of our best home building developments. In the opinion of our school authorities this section of the town will outstrip all others in new home construction within the next decade.
The construction of a new, modern six-room elementary schoolhouse in this section should be given serious consideration by all citizens. It is virtually a must in any long range school building program.
I have confined my discussion of a school building program, for the present, to these two above mentioned consider projects. This does not mean that we are not going to have to continue other school building projects in other parts of the town. It is extremely difficult to discuss other phases of an elementary school building program until such time as it is definitely determined whether or not there are to be parochial schools for children of elementary school age.
Scholastic Standing
Scholastically our schools remain at a high standard.
Our High School is rated a Class "A" High School by the State Department of Education.
I stated in my last year's report that the New England College Entrance Certificate Board has gone out of existence. In the future colleges will accept graduates from high schools largely on the follow- ing basis:
(a) High school grades of the student.
(b) Principal's recommendation of student.
(c) Results of aptitude and other tests given the student by the college.
The trend, in short, is away from written entrance examinations and more towards a total evaluation of the student's ability and per- sonality as determined by the above methods.
Again I desire to repeat what I said in my annual report of last year. From time to time I hear the uniformed spread the story that graduates of Saugus High School cannot enter college and do successful college work. I do not know for what purpose this story is spread but I do know that it is absolutely untrue. It is also an unvarnished insult to hundreds of graduates of Saugus High School who are now in college or have successfully graduated from college.
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At the present time, as nearly as I can ascertain, we have graduates. of Saugus High School doing successful college work in the following. colleges and universities. I am sure that this is not a complete list but it. should suffice to convince even those who maliciously spread untruths.
Tufts College
Boston University Harvard University Boston College
Simmons College University of Michigan
Ohio Wesleyan University University of New Hampshire
Holy Cross College
University of Southern California
Connecticut College for Women
University of Notre Dame
Jackson College Dartmouth College
Middlebury College
Colby College
Stetson University
Brown University
Columbia University
As a usual custom I do not single out any particular graduate of Saugus High School to mention in this report. There is one recent graduate, however, who must be recognized.
Miss Bernice Kenerson, now a sophomore at Middlebury College in Vermont, graduated from Saugus High School in June 1946. In fact she received her entire preparatory education in our public schools. She entered Middlebury College in September 1946. During her first college year she was one of a freshman class of approximately 335 students. When the scholastic grades of this entire college freshman class were issued, Miss Kenerson stood first in her entire class. This feat is all the more remarkable when it is understood that she competed with gradu- ates from high schools throughout New England and elsewhere through- out the nation.
Teachers' Salaries
As a result of the action of the School Committee and the annual Town Meeting of 1947, Saugus school teachers received salary increases in the year 1947. Not including department heads and executives, the maximum salary of a High School teacher is now $2,900.00, a junior high school teacher $2,700.00, and an elementary grade teacher $2,400.00.
These salaries are still much lower than they should be if Saugus is to maintain an efficient and well qualified teaching staff.
The teachers petitioned the School Committee for the adoption of an increased salary schedule in 1948. The School Committee recognized the justice of their request but felt that the citizens had been generous. in 1947 and should not be asked to again grant substantial permanent salary increases the following year. The School Committee does feel, however, that the present salary schedule must be revised upwards in the very near future. The failure to so do will result in the loss of many of our best teachers.
It was unanimously agreed that a special committee of five quali- fied persons be appointed to make an exhaustive study of the whole question of teachers' salaries in Saugus. This special committee will make its report to the School Committee at the conclusion of its study and deliberations. The special committee is comprised of the following: persons:
Mr. James W. Currier, Chairman, School Committee.
Dr. John L. Silver, Member, School Committee.
Mr. Vernon W. Evans, Superintendent of Schools.
Mr. Edward Gibbs, 3rd, President, Saugus Teachers' Association.
Mr. John B. Leahy, Chairman, Salary Committee, Saugus Teachers' Association.
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The meetings of this special committee will start soon after Janu- ary 1, 1948 and it is expected that the studies of the committee will take about six months.
Tolerance
We are placing much emphasis in our school system upon the teach- ing of true tolerance to our boys and girls. This is not an academic subject but it is of the utmost importance if the United States of to- morrow is to be the leader in the shaping of world opinion.
No person can lay claim to true greatness unless he is truly tolerant of the beliefs of others. For tolerance is one of the basic cornerstones upon which democracy is founded. These children of ours are soon to be the citizens of tomorrow. It is, therefore, fitting that in their youth they learn to respect the rights and beliefs of others. In this nation we are apt to boast of our personal rights and liberties. We are prone to forget that these same privileges end when they trespass upon the rights and liberties of others. It is such basic concepts of tolerance that we must teach to our youth of today. If they learn them well they will be better citizens and America will be the stronger.
I am of the definite opinion that the youth of today are already far more tolerant of the beliefs of others than their elders. We have few examples of intolerance among our school children. We do see much intolerance in the world of adults. If proof is needed, one only has to remember back to the year just passed. During the recent discussion relative to our change of town government I heard many citizens who were unwilling to concede that another citizen had a right to his own opinion and beliefs.
Many times Life's greatest lessons are taught in silence. I recently witnessed the lesson of tolerance being taught, although no word was spoken.
The body of Sergeant Arthur DeFranzo, Congressional Medal of Honor hero of World War II, was recently brought back to Saugus for burial. As the funeral cortege proceeded up Central Street twelve hundred students of the Central Senior and Junior High Schools lined the sidewalk in silence. It was perhaps the most impressive tribute I have ever seen.
I am certain that on that occasion twelve hundred young men and women learned the lesson of true tolerance. In that flag-draped coffin rested the body of a graduate of their high school. He attended one church, many of them attended another. His parents came from one country, many of theirs came from another. His beliefs, ideals, and opinions certainly were not the same as many of theirs. Yet he had made the supreme sacrifice of Life itself, asking no questions as to race, creed, or color. And on the day he was honored, no similar questions were asked. The lesson of true tolerance was there, in the silence of tribute and death.
Can it be that Death is the only power which can break down the barriers of intolerance ?
I cannot believe that such is so. Rather shall I believe that the boys and girls of today are capable of learning the lessons of true tolerance.
Summary of Progress
Since this is my fifteenth annual report as Superintendent of Schools I desire to summarize briefly the accomplishments which have made our
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1947]
school system more efficient and of greater value to the children we serve.
(1) The installation, throughout our school system, of modern text- books generally recognized as the best obtainable.
(2) A teaching staff which, by training and experience, will com- pare favorable with any other large or small.
(3) A department of Guidance in our Senior High School, which in the opinion of outsiders, is extremely well organized and efficient.
(4) The introduction of the Rhinehart Functional Handwriting System in the first six grades of our schools.
(5) The establishment of a department of scientific Testing in our school system.
(6) The creation of a department of Visual Education under a part-time well qualified director.
(7) The organization and proper maintenance of one of the best high school bands in New England.
(8) The establishment of courses in both woodworking and metal working in our Senior High School.
(9) The setting up of an athletic program which benefits many students-this in spite of the fact that no gymnasium is available as in other communities.
(10) The introduction of the School Milk Program whereby school children are enabled to buy the best grade milk at low prices.
I have listed only ten of the many major accomplishments made during the past fifteen years. Each has been of great importance in the building of our present school system.
What Price Glory?
Saugus High School. 14.
Lynn English High School. 0.
Yes, folks, that was the score of a football game in 1947.
Little Saugus, population 16,900, defeated mighty Class A Lynn English, population 106,000, by a score of 14 to 0. And a Lynn citizen, sitting beside me at that game, said "How do you do it in Saugus?"
Under this caption "What Price Glory?" I shall tell you how we do it in Saugus.
We do it with little financial help from the Town of Saugus.
We do it with good and competent coaches.
We do it with clean, eager-to-learn American boys.
We do it through the efforts of earnest hard-working school officials whose chief reward is petty abuse.
I said above that we do it with little financial support from the Town of Saugus.
The Town of Saugus did not appropriate one single cent for the maintenance and support of the Stackpole's Field Stadium during the
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year 1947. Do you know of any city or town in Massachusetts which did likewise ?
In 1946 and 1947 the school authorities constructed a first class modern football gridiron at the Stackpole's Field Stadium. The initial cost was about $2,000.00. The school, out of athletic finances, paid about $1,600.00 of this cost. The Town of Saugus, out of its 1946 Stadium Budget, paid the other approximately $400.00.
So the school had to build its own football gridiron or it would have had none to play on.
Here is what the school had to expend in 1947, all out of athletic finances or receipts, to maintain the Stackpole's Field Stadium:
(1) Pay the entire salary of the caretaker.
(2) Pay the entire maintenance bill for the up-keep of the newly constructed football gridiron.
(3) Pay the entire heating bill for the town-owned clubhouse.
(4) Pay all of the repair bills for the maintenance and repair of all Stadium property.
(5) Pay for the transportation, erection, and removal of temporary portable bleachers, seating capacity 1500, loaned to us by the kindly City of Lynn, at a cost of more than $500.
(6) Pay for insuring said portable bleachers, also all other Stadium property, so as to protect the town and its officials against suits for injury.
(7) Pay a substantial water bill of the Town of Saugus for water used so that the football boys could take showers after practice and after games.
(8) Pay a substantial water bill to the Town of Saugus for water used to water the grass on the football gridiron which the school con- structed for the town.
(9) Pay the Town of Saugus for turning the water on and off at the Stadium.
(10) Pay for purchasing, erecting, and painting the goal posts so that Decereau could kick the extra points to thrill the fans.
(11) Pay for police to protect the Stadium from damage on such nights as Halloween, the night before the Fourth of July, etc.
In short, folks, your school, out of athletic receipts, had to maintain singlehanded your Stackpole's Field Stadium in 1947.
Now can you name a town or city in Massachusetts in which the school was forced to pay the entire operating cost of a municipally owned Stadium in 1947?
What else did the school pay out of athletic receipts in 1947? Below is a partial list.
(1) The entire coaching salary of the Assistant Coach of Football and Head Coach of Basketball.
(2) The entire salary of the Faculty Manager of Athletics.
(3) The entire salary of the Athletic Physician.
(4) All of the hospital and X-ray bills for boys injured during par- ticipation in the athletic program.
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(5) All other medical bills covering various types of injuries.
(6) The entire cost of equipment for boys participating in four sports, namely football, baseball, basketball, and ice hockey. The only exception being a few items which the boys purchase themselves.
(7) The entire cost of transporting the 60-piece crack Saugus High School Band to all out-of-town football games. (two busses required each time.)
(8) The entire cost of the rental of the Cliftondale Community House gymnasium so that our high school boys could play basketball.
(9) The entire cost (about $1,800.00) of an educational trip to New York City for the 1947 football lettermen so that the boys, who sup- ported the Stadium, might be rewarded in some small way.
(10) The entire cost of keeping the financial accounts including the cost of an audit of the books every two years.
(11) The entire cost of cleaning, repairing, and storing all athletic equipment.
(12) The cost of bonding the treasurer of the account to protect the town or the school.
Three of the four sports, in which our high school participates operate at almost a total loss. Football alone operates at a profit. In other words, football carries the cost of virtually the whole athletic program.
That is how we do it, Mr. Lynn Citizen. That is how we have reached the Glory Road. But-What Price Glory ?
Well, the price our school authorities pay is the abuse of cheap innuendo, sly inferences of dishonesty, and various other insinuations.
"Who is getting the money?"
"Why don't they publish the figures ?"
"What do they do with all of their money ?"
These are the types of nasty insinuations heaped upon the school authorities who have worked hard and long to foster a clean and suc- cessful athletic program.
Aside from the ticket sellers the only persons who handle any of the athletic money are Mr. John A. W. Pearce, Principal of the Central Senior and Junior High School, and Miss Mabel C. Willey, treasurer of the athletic account.
These nasty insinuations are an insult to both Mr. Pearce and Miss Willey. They are both persons of the highest integrity and honesty. I have the greatest respect for the integrity and honesty of each.
Members of the School Committee and the Superintendent of Schools have given hours of their time, outside of working hours, for the interest of this athletic program. Not one of us has ever attended a football game without buying our ticket the same as every other citizen. Check and see if that happens in other places. And our reward? Cheap insinuations, petty abuse, inferences of dishonesty and innuendo.
This in spite of the fact that a complete financial report of all ath- letic monies is published in the annual town report each year.
This in spite of the fact that the accounts are audited every other
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year by a competent person in no way connected with the School Department.
This is spite of the fact that the treasurer of the account is highly qualified and a respected citizen of the community.
For myself I do not care. I can take such type of abuse from whence it comes and appraise it for what it is worth.
For the members of the School Committee, Mr. Pearce, and Miss Willey, however, I am sorry. It is too bad that they have to take such unwarranted and unjust abuse.
SAUGUS HIGH SCHOOL 14 LYNN ENGLISH HIGH SCHOOL 0.
Isn't it glorious to travel the Glory Road ?
Isn't it sad that school authorities must pay the price for attempting to operate a program of clean sport for clean American boys ?
Schoolhouse Repairs
Soon after the Board of Selectmen, under the Plan E form of gov- ernment, take their oath of office, the responsibility for schoolhouse repairs passes from the jurisdiction of the School Committee to the Town Manager. I believe that this was one of the very good features contained in the bill passed by the Legislature. I have always felt that the upkeep of all town property should be under the jurisdiction of one person or department.
In the past fifteen years the School Department has not once been given an adequate amount of money for the upkeep of our school build- ings. I have said this repeatedly to no avail for the past fifteen years. I have predicted innumerable times that there would come a day of reckoning. That day has just about arrived.
Since it will no longer be my responsibility, my only hope is that the Town Meeting will vote the Town Manager appropriations for schoolhouse repairs sufficient to maintain our school buildings in decent repair. Until such is done, no one can maintain them as they should be maintained.
This year, 1947, Mr. P. F. Healey, State Building Inspector for this district, ordered many changes in our school buildings throughout the town. All changes, that he ordered, were in the interests of better pro- tection for the safety of our school children. Many of the ordered changes were costly, however, and their cost made a very sizeable dent in the Schoolhouse Repair Budget. We were able to carry out prob- ably 80% of Inspector Healey's recommendations. The other 20% I shall hand over to the Town Manager. The carrying out of these recom- mendations necessitated the shelving of many needed repairs planned by the School Committee in 1947. These also will be handed over to the Town Manager for whatever action he sees fit to take.
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