USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Swampscott > Town annual report of Swampscott 1910 > Part 6
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Mr. Easter is an Englishman by birth, and was born January 21, 1819, at Southwold, England, a seaport town about 100 miles from London. He came to this country when a young man and has been here ever since, having resided in Maine for a long time and in Swampscott for the past seven years.
Consolidation of Water and Sewer Boards.
By vote of the Town at the adjourned Annual Meeting, April 16, 1909, we were instructed to take steps necessary to consoli- date the Water and Sewer Boards under one head. To bring this matter about the following petition to the Legislature was drawn up by the Town Counsel and duly presented to the Leg- islature for action :
[Petition.] HOUSE, No. 97.
Bill accompanying the petition of Charles S. Haskell and others for legislation to authorize the Town of Swampscott to elect a board of water and sewer commissioners, Towns. Jauuary 10.
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.
In the year one thousand nine hundred and ten.
AN ACT
To provide for the Election of a Board of Water and Sewer Commissioners in the Town of Swampscott.
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TOWN DOCUMENTS.
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows :
SECTION. I. The town of Swampscott shall at a legal meeting called for the purpose elect by ballot three persons to hold office, one until the expiration of three years, one until the expiration of two years and one until the expiration of one year from the next succeeding annual town meeting, to constitute a board of water and sewer commissioners; and at each annual town meeting thereafter one such commissioner shall be elected by ballot for the term of three years. Any vacancy occurring in said board of water and sewer commissioners from any cause may be filled for the unexpired term by said town at any legal meeting held for the purpose.
SECT. 2. Upon the election of a board of water and sewer commissioners, the office of sewer commissioners and the office of water commissioners of the town of Swampscott, except as provided in section one, shall be abolished; and thereafter the board of water and sewer commissioners, and their successors, shall have all the powers and privileges conferred, and be sub- ject to all the duties and obligations imposed by law upon the offices so abolished, and shall also be subject to such instruc- tions, rules and regulations as said town may impose by its vote.
SECT. 3. This act shall take effect upon its passage.
A hearing was granted on same February 9, at the State House before the Committee on Towns and also at the Town Hall, Swampscott, February 24, before the same committee.
Your Board of Selectmen feel that they have fulfilled their duty and at this time it is in the hands of the Legislative Com- mittee for further action.
93
SELECTMEN'S REPORT.
1910]
Morris Land.
We have been fortunate in being able to extend the option to purchase the Morris property adjoining the Town Hall for a period of three (3) years from May 9, 1910, to May 9, 1913.
Duplicate Invoices.
The plan of rendering invoices in duplicate has been adopted by many towns, and we consider it a progressive step.
This system has many advantages, and some of the departments have already adopted it, but to be effectual the plan should be general.
All bills should be presented to the Selectmen, both original and duplicate, and the original forwarded by them to the depart- ment for which the purchase was made.
By this plan the invoices would be on file for reference by the department who contracted the bill, and with the Selectmen who are to make draft for payment. We earnestly recommend its adoption.
Financial.
Our citizens, we feel, are to be congratulated on the excellent showing of the financial condition of the Town at the close of the present fiscal year, as the following comparative exhibit will show.
February 1, 1909.
February 1, 1910.
$191,295 00 Notes Payable
$184,295 00
19,323 39 Cash in Treasury 32,889 12
14,808 66 Uncollected Taxes 8,224 46
We are especially grateful to the Committee on Ways and Means for their co-operation and valuable assistance rendered,
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TOWN DOCUMENTS.
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as well as to all other Departments and citizens who have in any way contributed to the administration of the Town's affairs during the past year.
Respectfully submitted,
CHARLES S. HASKELL, WALTER A. DAVIS, ARTHUR C. WIDGER. Selectmen of Swampscott.
JANUARY 31, 1910.
95
SCHOOL COMMITTEE'S REPORT.
1910]
Report of School Committee
To the Citizens of the Town of Swampscott :
The past year in the School Department has been notable principally in the fact that all the available facilities for housing pupils have been taxed to the utmost. Such was the congestion at the opening of the school year in September that the Clarke School was filled to overflowing and many pupils had to be trans- ferred to other buildings notwithstanding the fact that they resided in the vicinity of the former.
The transfer of pupils from the localities where they live is not a pleasant task for the School authorities. Naturally it involves more or less friction with parents who should take into con- sideration the exigencies of the occasion as well as their personal convenience. No partiality nor prejudice enters into this work, the School Committee making the transfers on as absolutely equitable a basis as it is able to find.
The coming year will see further additions to the enrollment of pupils in the public schools and the Committee has arrived at the point where it must ask the Town for a new building. The old Redington Street School building is totally inadequate for the needs of the district it covers. Crowded away beyond its original capacity it is far from being what a modern school building should be. The rooms are dark and poorly ventilated and other con- ditions are far from being consistant with obtaining the best of results.
ur The Redington street building originally contained but fo rooms. Summer before last the Committee secured two additional rooms by reducing the hallway and taking some area from two
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of the largest rooms. The building is now overcrowded and there is no further opportunity to relieve the congestion. The location of this building is particularly desirable as a site for a new school-house and the Committee recommends taking the adjoining properties, comprising the Wiley and Chick estates on Redington street and the erection of a sixteen-room structure to contain a hall capable of seating 800 people and the necessary offices for the School Committee and superintendent.
To some it may appear that a sixteen-room building would be too large but as the school population is increasing at the rate of rising one hundred a year it would be only a few years before entirely filled. The Clarke School was erected with the idea that it would take care of the increasing school population for a number of years but its eight rooms were entirely filled at the opening of the building. As every available room is now occupied it is probable that the coming fall will see the com- mittee forced into hiring quarters to take care of the overflow. With a new building voted by the Town it may be that the health authorities will allow a temporary use of the lower room in the Beach School building. This building is not connected with the sewer nor properly located for school purposes and it would probably be entirely abandoned with the opening of a large new school-house on the site of the present Redington street building To put it into proper shape for permanent occupancy would involve an expense of $3,000 or more.
The School Committee again recommends the finishing of two rooms on the upper floor of the High School building for the commercial and drawing classes. These classes are being conducted in small rooms, formerly used by the teachers, with no ventilation and of insufficient size to properly seat the pupils. Under such conditions satisfactory results cannot be obtained. The plan of finishing off two rooms on the upper floor, involv- ing an expenditure of approximately $3,000, would result in giving the High School adequate facilities for carrying on its work.
During the past summer the Committee retinted the rooms of the High School building and provided new window shades,
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SCHOOL, COMMITTEE'S REPORT.
1910]
Necessary repairs were made in other school buildings, and at the Palmer School the grounds were graded, seeded and a re- taining wall constructed.
The Committee has constantly aimed to bring the schools up to a high standard of efficiency. The work of the schools of other towns and cities has been carefully watched and no effort spared to give the children of Swampscott all the advantages that are enjoyed elsewhere. The schools are all well organized, good discipline is maintained throughout, and most satisfactory results are being obtained. These are what should count with the townspeople, and not the trivial matters which involve per- sonal inconvenience or dislike.
During the last fall the only unoccupied room in the Machon School building was opened to relieve the congestion arising at the Clarke School. The activity in building operations during the year warrants the belief that there will be no diminution in the attendance at any of the schools next fall, and it is safe to assume that there will be a large overflow at the most centrally located points, the Clarke and Redington street buildings.
The certificate privilege is now enjoyed by the High School, and by its use a number of last year's graduates entered higher seats of learning, and the reports of their progress indicate the thoroughness with which they were equipped. The School Committee believes that the Town has a High School that will compare favorably with any in the state.
Through a careful medical examination in the schools, illness, especially from contagious diseases, has been reduced to the minimum, there having been an unusually small amount during the past year.
The schools are thoroughly organized. The teaching and supervising forces are working in harmony. Negligence and carelessness are not tolerated, and every effort is being put forth to give the children of the Town a thorough training. The co- operation of parents is always a help to the school authorities, and the Committee hopes that it may rely on the townspeople to give their support in all matters which aim to improve conditions in the schools. It must be remembered that the schools are for
7
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all and not the few, and that the best interests of the schools cannot be jeopardized to satisfy petty dislikes or jealousies.
Each boy and girl in the public schools is entitled to receive what every other boy and girl receives. The affairs of the schools are administrated with this always in view. If it appears hat partiality is shown an investigation will indicate that it is only in appearance. The School Committee welcomes inquiries and again urges a more frequent inspection of the schools by the parents.
S. PERRY CONGDON, Chairman. ARTHUR W. STUBBS. DR. HOWARD K. GLIDDEN
99
SCHOOL COMMITTEE'S REPOPT.
1910]
REPORT OF SECRETARY OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
To the Members of the School Committee :
At the end of the fiscal year, January 31, 1910, the books of the School Department showed expenditures during the year of $34,985.38. On February 1, 1910, there were on hand unpaid bills amounting to $249.53, the greater part of these repre- senting January accounts. Following is the statement of the financial condition of the department at the end of the fiscal year :
RECEIPTS.
Balance on hand, February 1, 1909,
$2,857 40
Annual appropriation
35,000 00
Tuition of state charges
115 00
Total receipts
$37,972 40
EXPENDITURES.
Salaries .
$24,629 00
Supplies
.
1,921 16
Books
2,015 44
Light and power
106 93
Miscellaneous
1,052 58
Repairs and cleaning
1,471 89
Furniture and furnishings
197 00
Fuel
2,245 92
Insurance
375 00
Amount carried forward,
$34,014 92
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Amount brought forward, $34,014 92
Printing
251 35
Water .
601 54
Freight, express, hauling
117 57
Total expenditures
$34,985 38
Balance on hand, Feb. 1, 1910 .
$2,987 02
ARTHUR W. STUBBS, Secretary.
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SCHOOL COMMITTEE'S REPORT.
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
To the School Committee of the Town of Swampscott :
I herewith present for your consideration my fourth annual report as Superintendent of Schools.
Since my last report numerous changes have taken place in our schools, notably in the corps of teachers and in general advancement. Miss Murphy of the fifth grade, Redington School, resigned June I to get married, Miss Macomber left us June 30 for a better position in the Ingalls School, Lynn, and Miss Robinson resigned to accept a position in Hartford, Conn. To fill the vacancy at the Redington School, Miss Marion Sands of Fitchburg was engaged; Miss Macomber was succeeded by Miss Alice A. Oliver of Warwick, R. I .; and Miss Mabel Knight of Everett, Mass., was elected to the vacancy in the High School. In addition to these appointments Miss Catherine Flagg was appointed to the staff and has been placed in charge of a mixed third and fourth grade class at the Machon School. Nov- ember 4th, 1909, Miss Elizabeth Hadley was voted a leave of absence for the months of January and February, and Mrs. Russell Elliott of Malden was engaged to take charge of her class. The entire teaching corps including Supervisors and Superintendent comprises thirty-three persons, an increase of one over last year. Assuming that we shall have as large an increase in attendance next fall as entered last September, and taking into consideration the present crowded condition of some of the class rooms, the Committee may safely plan for two extra teachers for the beginning of the next school year. In addition to this extra expense more room will be needed, as every avail- able room in our buildings is now occupied. The overcrowded conditions in some of the buildings, notably the Redington
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street building, is not conducive to healthful conditions, to say nothing of the handicap under which the teachers and pupils must labor. In my last report I emphasized the need of a new building. I can only add increased emphasis to that request at the present time. The people of Swampscott are already alive to the fact that a new building at Redington street is a dire necessity. Let us hope that at the coming Town Meeting they will voice their sentiments by voting a new school building. The following table of enrollments for the fall term during the past five years will show how the school population of the Town is growing.
1905
881
1908
1,023
1906
960
1909
1,046
1907
973
The present Redington street building is the most centrally located school building in the Town. As a consequence the attendance at this school would be the greatest of any of our schools were there accommodations. The Clarke school is now filled to its capacity. A redistricting of the Town will therefore be necessary in order to accommodate the increasing population near the Clarke school. The only solution of the problem will be to move the boundary of the Clarke school north to Paradise road and transfer all pupils between that boundary and the present boundary to the Redington street building. There are at present six overcrowded rooms at Redington street in a building con- structed to accommodate four classes. In addition to the pupils between the boundaries mentioned who must go to Redington street, the eighth grade class at the High School must go else- where within a year's time, while the seventh grade class at the Beach school logically belongs at Redington street on estimates which I have made out based on the present school population of the district mentioned, Redington street should by 1911 have room for ten grades. In view of these facts therefore and assuming as increase in population commensurate with the figures of the past five years I recommend the construction of a sixteen room building of modern type to take the place of the present Redington street building.
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SCHOOL COMMITTEE'S REPORT.
1910]
Repairs and Equipment.
The condition of the school yard at the Machon school demands your consideration. A retaining wall should be built at the rear of the building to prevent the washing of the embankment into the school yard. The yard should also have a top dressing of loam to cover the present rough and dangerous condition.
At the High School the worn-out carpet in the library should be replaced by a layer of linoleum which is much more durable and sanitary than ordinary carpeting.
I should like to see the High School provided with a modern reflectoscope, which would include a steropticon and microscopic equipment. Nothing impresses a fact on a pupil's mind more thoroughly than a picture, Present methods of teaching the sciences make such an instrument as the reflectoscope a necessity . At the same time historical study is brought nearer to the pupil when he is given an opportunity to fix the facts of history by connecting them with the projected picture. Furthermore, opportunity would be offered the Town to use the teaching force of the High School, and the Superintendent for lectures on various topics, which through their illustrations would prove of interest and value to the people of Swampscott.
Course of Study.
A new course of study, covering eleven subjects, has been placed in the hands of the teachers, and is proving a valuable aid in planning and grading the work of the various schools. The aim has been to plan for quality rather than quantity of work, and at the same time to procure a maximum of result from a maximum of teaching. All effort in the class room is a waste if there is not an equal ratis between teaching and learning. The teacher who is not constantly on the watch to see whether the pupils under her charge are receiving what she is imparting, is simply a time server, and should find no place in the school room. Teaching is not merely a question of lessons assigned and recitations heard. A whole lesson may be gone over in a mechanical way with no results. The effort of the teacher must
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TOWN DOCUMENTS.
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arouse interest in the pupils, and must be of a nature to instil facts to be assimilated by the child mind. The good teacher con- tinually asks herself: "Am I placing the facts of this lesson within the grasp of every mind before me ?" " Is each pupil getting the maximum of development from my efforts?" "Am I aiding my class in forming right judgments regarding this lesson?" "Am I allowing them to recite to me the memorized lesson from the book or am I helping them to see the facts as they are, and to know why they are? "
A rightly acquired lesson is not a memorized one. Unless a pupil gleans the facts and makes them his own he has received little profit from a recitation. I do not mean by this to under- value the development of memory in the class room. What I am trying to show is that parrot-like recitations do not produce a maximum of results. It is this use of memory that I oppose, and it is a cultivation of memory for ideas rather than words for which I expect our teachers to aim.
Another phase of the teaching process that the teacher must look for is the growth of the mind, and its awakening powers. She must stimulate and direct the pupils' thinking in order not to overtax the memory, nor allow facts to lie unassimilated in the mind, and thereby exhaust intellectual energy in the effort to retain these facts. Stimulus to thought is employed by every skillful teacher. This is not an easy art, and its most important factor is the teacher herself. The pupil is being educated only when there is a complete harmony of effort between his mind and the teacher's mind-when one stimulates the other. A teacher who has not the power to stimulate thought has reached the "dead line." Teachers, therefore, may be divided into two classes-those who have ceased to grow and those who are still alive and growing. Pupils taught by the first class soon lose interest in study and seldom acquire the thinking habit. This is one of the causes of retardation of pupils. It also produces recruits for that class of boys and girls in school who are con- stantly nagged by some teachers because their grade in the class is below that of the majority. This first class of teachers seldom stop to think that they may be the cause of the laxness and dis-
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1910]
interestedness of many of the slower pupils in their class. This brings me back to where I began, the course of study. Some one has said that the chief trouble in our schools is not that the courses of study are too crowded, but that the teachers' minds are too empty. To produce thinking in pupils there must be much thought on the part of the teacher. To help furnish the fuel for the thinking mind of the teacher is the object of the course of study. It is not expected that the teacher shall see to it that every pupil shall assimilate everything in the course of study ; but she should aim to so feed the minds of her pupils that thinking will be a pleasure to them, that their reflective powers will be exercised, and that they will come back hungry for mere knowledge rather than that they shall shrink from every lesson as though it were a sentence imposed for some misdemeanor.
I am not leading you up to a bitter complaint against our teachers. Far be it from me to do so. As a whole they are wide-awake and never tiring in their efforts. My purpose in thus discussing the course of study and its use by the teachers is to show that the policy of the Superintendent is to get that sort of teaching which shall help the boys and girls to grow mentally as they develop physically, by a rational and even process. Marks obtained in a recitation, oral or written, or in an examin- ation, do not furnish a fair criterion in estimating a pupil's intellectual advancement. They must be supplemented by a teacher's sound judgment formed from careful scrutiny of the pupil, in school, on the playground and at home in so far as she is able. The best training boys and girls can get in school is a training in life habits. One of the greatest benefits which a boy receives in school is derived from the life in the school, the boys and girls with whom he comes in contact, and the teacher's trained intellect. He is mingling with three classes-his equal, his inferiors and his superiors. Such a surrounding is a training in life habits and he is able to measure his own capacity with that of his associates both as a student and as an individual.
Studies are a means only to an end. They are valuable chiefly when the teacher requires the pupil to master his tasks and over-
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come difficulties. Too much real book knowledge is required and too great stress is laid on the direct use that can be made of arithmetic, spelling, writing and grammar. Were we to dole out to pupils simply those facts which they will actually use in life, much of our books would be left with the leaves uncut. We often hear business men complain that boys and girls who are turned out of our schools are no use in their offices-that they cannot add correctly, that their spelling is poor and their pen- manship is disgraceful. Why is this? Simply because the ability to do these things comes through practice. The father who criticises his boy because he works out his problems in arithmetic so slowly forgets that the boy's mind has not had the benefit of years of experience which the father may have had. His standard for judging his boy's ability is wrong. This father and the business men mentioned above overlook some all- important qualifications in the boy which our schools believe it to be their duty to equip every child with, viz., honesty, indus- try, loyalty to their work, and love for the truth. The boy who has all these qualifications together with the meagre training in the fundamentals of the elementary school studies will be pretty sure to serve well his employer's interests. As Rousseau says : "In the natural oven of things all men being equal, the common vocation of all is the state of manhood; and whoever is well trained for that, cannot fulfill badly any vocation which depends on it."
High School.
Last spring the New England College entrance Board granted the certificating privilege to the High School, which makes it possible for graduates of the school to enter any college in New England which belongs to the association, on the recommenda- tion of the Principal. This is an indication that our High School is doing a grade of work which meets the approval of those well able to judge of the work done by secondary schools.
The Manual Training department continues to be attractive to a large number of pupils, and the work done in the shop will measure up to the standard of that done by the leading schools
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