USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Swampscott > Town annual report of Swampscott 1937 > Part 12
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 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22
Overdraft previous year
$4,812.95
TO BE RAISED BY RECEIPTS AND TAXES ON PROPERTY
Assets
Estimated receipts
Transfers
Poll taxes
·
Property taxes
1933 $95,627.16 00.00 *9,807.00 577,167.31
1934 $116,840.21 00.00 6,608.00 633,769.13
1935 $100,489.54 00.00 6,506.00 684,925.56
1936 $114,912.08 22,500.00 6,462.00 627,503.14
49,251.77 6,178.00 613,226.41
Totals
$682,601.47
$757,217.34
$791,921.10
$771,377.22
$795,888.46
APPROPRIATIONS FOR WATER DEPARTMENT OR MONEY RAISED ON BOND ISSUES NOT INCLUDED IN ABOVE FIGURES
Amounts bonded
$00.00
$00.00
$00.00
269,000.00
$33,000.00
Value of buildings
15,454,462.00
15,402,015.00
15,329,891.00
15,208,975.00
15,209,270.00
Value of land
6,950,961.00
6,855,872.00
6,805,751.00
6,780,865.00
6,799,905.00
Value of personal property
1,248,875.00
1,215,044.00
1,240,657.00 23,376,299.00
1,251,017.00
1,225,448.00
Total valuations
23,654,398.00
23,472,931.00
23,240,857.00
23,234,623.00
Tax rate
24.40
27.00
29.30
27.00
26.40
Polls
3,172
3,304
3,253
3,231
3,089
Population 10,328.
*Includes Old Age Assistance Tax.
[Dec. 31
140
TOWN DOCUMENTS
1937 $127,232.28
141
REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE
1937]
School Committee, 1937
Thomas S. Bubier, Chairman
Br. 3893
26 Banks road
Marion D. Morse
Br. 3168
56 Elmwood road
Edith H. Logan Br. 2170
Br. 9165
60 Atlantic road
Regular meeting, second Wednesday of each month.
Superintendent of Schools and Secretary of the School Committee Frank L. Mansur
88 Banks road
Br. 2193
The office of the Superintendent of Schools is open on school days from 8.00 A.M. to 4.00 P.M .; Saturdays from 9.00 A.M. to 12.00 M.
School Calendar 1938
Winter term begins Monday, January 3
Winter term closes Friday, February 18
Spring term begins Monday, February 28
Spring term closes Thursday, April 14
Summer term begins Monday, April 25
Summer term closes Wednesday, June 22
Fall term begins Wednesday, September 7
REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE
The year 1937 has brought out several things relative to the schools that are important to the citizens.
In the first place, after a year's service the high school is standing up well. There have been practically no defects in the workmanship or material. The building is, as it should be, a credit to the town and to the committee that built it.
Financially the year has been a hard one. Excellent as the high school is, the increased capacity and accommodations have caused an increase in the bills for heat, light, water and janitor service. Supplies and repairs have increased in price. The normal increase in salaries, the accidents to the flag pole and to the water system at the Hadley school, together with the above facts, have all but exhausted our appropriation. Unfortunately, too, the tentative budget for 1938 calls for more money than we had this year.
During the past year the members of the committee have been defendants in litigation brought by Miss Ada S. Lewis, a teacher at the Machon school. After full investigation the committee voted to retire Miss Lewis for physical disability, and she sought reinstate- ment by a petition for a writ of mandamus. After protracted hear- ings the petition has been dismissed by the full bench of the Supreme Judicial Court. This is, of course, a victory for the committee. Some of the townspeople have the impression that we have deprived Miss Lewis of her pension rights. This is entirely wrong. On retirement she will be entitled to a pension and will receive one.
The new toilets at the Clarke school, for which a special appro- priation was made, have been completed. The conditions disclosed when the old toilets were torn out showed that the work was abso- lutely necessary.
3 Beverly road
Philip H. Stafford
Br. 2927-M
7 Millett road
Edgar U. Burdett
142
TOWN DOCUMENTS
[Dec. 31
In the summer the Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway Com- pany received permission to run buses up and down Redington street. Because of the obvious danger to young children we opposed this. After the company had agreed in writing that its buses should slow down on approaching, and stop before passing the school we with- drew our opposition.
In conclusion the committee wishes to express to all persons connected with the school department its appreciation for the loyal support and co-operation that it has received during the past year. Respectfully submitted,
THOMAS S. BUBIER, Chairman,
PHILIP H. STAFFORD,
MARION D. MORSE,
EDGAR U. BURDETT, EDITH M. LOGAN.
FINANCIAL REPORT OF THE SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
$191,897.00
Expenditures
$7,307.14
Instructional service
151,508,92
Operation of plants
24,390.05
Maintenance
3,784.89
Capital outlay
680.15
Auxiliary agencies
4,222.56
191,893.71
Unexpended balance
3.29
Credits to the Department
General receipts
$160.21
Tuition received
470.75
State refund, Trade and Vocational Schools
272.12
Tuition, State Wards
341.59
State refund, Americanization
132.88
State refund, General School Fund 1937
14,486.75
Net cost of schools
$176,029.41
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT
To the Members of the Swampscott School Committee
Ladies and Gentlemen:
I submit herewith my report as Superintendent of Schools for the year 1937.
Reporting on school matters is of the nature of attempting an inventory; but the results of education are so intangible in the present, and time of the full maturity of educational experiments so remote, that actual value is difficult, if not impossible, to set with any degree of definiteness. We have all seen the educational theories and practices of our own youth modified or discarded as inadequate or unsound. We have seen new theories arrive to take their places; and we have seen even these new theories swept away before still newer "truths" expounded by enthusiasts or worked out by some genius in organization. So, I suppose, we shall pass on from era to era, trying out the new. retaining a little, discarding much, and com- ing back in the final analysis to the fact that what is worth keeping in the new discoveries is not so much new as it is a restatement of what the best teachers always have done in some form or other.
$15,864.30
Appropriation
General control
143
REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE
1937]
It is amusing to read glowing accounts of up-to-date activity and experience programs wherein pupils are actually taken on visits to real places to see real things, and to remember that thirty-six years ago this winter, as a ninth grade boy, I was taken by a little woman teacher to read "Snowbound" before the hearth of the kit- chen of Whittier's birthplace, the very scene of the poem. In the long run, man may invent and pass on to teachers a knowledge of techniques and subject matter that will enable them to perform their teaching duties skillfully-and indeed, in these days no one should be considered a qualified teacher who lacks knowledge of such de- vices. But nothing that man can do can supplant or supply the spark of sympathy and understanding of young people that nature has made an integral part of all great teachers.
Schools are no better than their teachers. I conceive it to be the duty of a school administration not only to be actively in touch with the best and latest thought on education, but to bring into the sys- tem teachers who are keenly alert to the most recent developments in subject matter and technique in their particular fields, and to en- courage those teachers already in service to avail themselves of the many opportunities for self-improvement with which this particular section of New England is so fortunately endowed. In keeping with these aims many teachers, as well as your superintendent, are at present enrolled in graduate work at Harvard or Boston University. New teachers who have come to us have been selected from numer- ous applicants, and have finally been recommended to you on the basis of excellent past records, substantial educational background, and outstanding personality. It is interesting to note that two of our teachers are esteemed outside of Swampscott to the extent thac they are serving as presidents of two regional educational societies. Mr. Theodore Sargent, head of our Science Department, is President of the New England Association of Chemistry Teachers, and Miss Mildred O'Leary, recently appointed head of our Commercial De- partment, has just been elected President of the New England High School Commercial Teachers' Association.
After a careful sifting of available new material last spring, we decided to try out two new reading systems in our primary grades. We are now engaged in the experiment, with the Machon School and the Stanley School using one method and the Clarke School and the Hadley School another. Each system is nationally recognized. The result of the experiment cannot be apparent for some time to come. It may well be three years or more before we shall be in a position to judge whether one of the systems is to be preferred to the other in our particular case. Meanwhile we shall maintain a careful observation of apparent results, have the ser- vices of reading experts to guide us without cost to ourselves, and inaugurate a testing program to obtain a more accurate picture of just what we are accomplishing.
It is in this connection that I anticipate finding the greatest use for the building assistants, of which we have three working in our four elementary schools. It is probable that no school subject has had greater beneficial study than reading during the past few years, because, nation wide, so many pupils failed to read satisfactorily. Not long since, the belief was that the trouble lay in low mentality. Study has shown, however, that this is not always the case; that reading difficulties lie in many directions and arise from various
144
TOWN DOCUMENTS
[Dec. 31
causes; and that diagnosis followed by remedial work is necessary. The regular teacher cannot possibly find the time necessary for treating the individual cases.
Because our Supervisor of Music had no time available for the full development of instrumental music, we have added Louis Marino to our Music Department as a part-time teacher. Mr. Marino is a product of our own schools and is well known as a musician. His work with the school orchestras has already received much favorable comment. It is now his ambition and intention to develop a school band. In this work he is starting almost from scratch, since previous to this year no pupil was studying any of the heavier basic band instruments. However, through funds from the profits of the High School opera and the Music Clubs' concerts, ten such instruments are now available and are being loaned to interested pupils who otherwise could not obtain instruments. We are likewise attempting to stimulate a general interest in instrumental music in the lower grades, with two ends in view; first, the preparation of musicians for our own orchestras; and second, the laying of foundations upon which may be built up those satisfying elements that give substance to later life, and which we know as hobbies. There are no hobbies more richly satisfying than those to be found in music.
Five years ago Domestic Science dropped off so much in enroll- ment in the High School that classes under a separate teacher there were discontinued. The lessening of interest was hardly unexpected, for the conditions under which classes had to be conducted were abominable. An attempt, not too successful, was made to continue these classes in conjunction with those at the Junior High School. The presence of the new laboratories appears to have aroused a new interest, and this year the number of pupils seemed to warrant a part-time teacher at the High School building. This teacher has been installed, and the work is going forward.
There are other fields which I wish we might expand, but I realize that expansion means greater cost, and we are already re- ceiving generously from the town in respect to money. There might, for example, be profit in having on our staff a teacher of speech- one who might not only develop and direct the usual extra-curricula activities that take the form of plays and pageants, or expand the regular work in diction and delivery, but one more especially skilled in correcting speech defects. It is a peculiar condition that in general such defects receive so little attention except when they are made subjects for ridicule. Strangely, the child with a speech defect has hardly been considered by the public-at-large a child physically handicapped, yet it is undoubtedly true that such a child often finds himself in a situation more cruel mentally than that endured by many types of cripples or the hard of hearing.
Again, the Art Supervisor is at a disadvantage from lack of time. Neither the Junior nor the Senior High School has enough of her services to accomplish what might be accomplished, yet more hours cannot be given these schools without securing anothe: teacher for at least part of the time.
Outside of money costs, there is another reason why I feel hesi- tant to recommend expansion, namely, the fact that enrollment in the lower grades has definitely declined. This is a situation not pecu- liar to Swampscott but noticeable country wide. Statistics indicate that the classes entering grade one in Massachusetts last year dropped five thousand pupils below previous figures. In certain local- ities this process has been going on since 1930, and has already be- gun to effect the High Schools. Sociologists tell us that the change is one step in the predicted stabilization of population, and that the
145
REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE
1937]
proportion of young people under the age of twenty-one in the total population has been, and will be further, definitely and permanently decreased by natural process and the extension of the span of life. This has significant aspects for education, which presumably must rearrange its program to meet the altered proportions.
Just how the change has begun to effect Swampscott is evident in statistics covering the past four years. Examining the data as of December the first, for each year since 1933, the following facts appear:
1. The average membership for all schools has dropped from 1722 to 1647, a loss of 4.3%.
2. The average membership of grades one to six, inclusive, has dropped from 852 to 767, a loss of 12.4%.
3. The average membership of grades one to four, inclusive, has dropped from 567 to 477, a loss of 15.9%. Meantime:
1. The average membership of grades five and six has been almost stationary, increasing from 285 to 290, a gain of 1.8%.
2. The average membership of the Junior High School has changed even less, moving from 427 to 433, a gain of 1.4%.
3. The average membership of the Senior High School has grown from 413 to 432, a gain of 4.8%.
Summarizing, the figures indicate that while the average mem- bership has decreased over the school system as a whole, the loss has taken place entirely in the first four grades, and the effect on the whole has been offset somewhat by the membership in the grades above four which, in contrast, have maintained a normal rate of increase. The implications for us seem to be that the decreasing en- rollment will probably work upward through the system, reaching the Junior High School in a form to effect its size about three years hence; that meanwhile, for about six years, the Senior High may continue to gain at a normal rate. What conditions will be beyond that point are beyond conjecture for the High School. The guess would be that it will ultimately decline somewhat; but while the size of the Junior High School in September does bear a rather definite relationship to the pupils leaving the sixth grade in June, the num- ber of pupils in the Swampscott High School, on the other hand, has in recent years seemed to have no direct connection with the number of pupils moving on from the Junior High School. In the latter case shifting population and the enrollment of post graduates have been sufficient to upset calculations and to bring about a rather regular rate of Senior High School increase, even when decreases seemed possible.
At any rate, we are certainly face to face with a declining ele- mentary school enrollment, and paradoxically little chance to de- crease our teaching force on account of it. Our elementary schools are so definitely serving localities that no plan seems logical for combining any grades by transferring pupils to the end of eliminat- ing a grade in any building. It seems inconceivable at this time that community opinion would ever permit this step.
Since there is due to be further growth in the Senior High School for a while, there is no chance to reduce the faculty at that point. Indeed, just at present another teacher is definitely needed there, if we are to maintain even its present efficiency. The duties of such a teacher are rather clear cut-to provide relief in the de- partments of History and English and to develop the library which has been robbed of much of its value this year because we have had to use the teacher in charge almost exclusively in regular classroom work. No teacher can devote full time to two separate tasks, and a
146
TOWN DOCUMENTS
[Dec. 31
library will not run itself. In subject matter fields, Mr. Gray reports that he anticipates from data at hand at least one more section in both History and English in September. I suggest, in addition, that better provision be made in English for the post graduates, whonı we evidently have with us as a permanent part of the school. These pupils have in all cases completed the regular prescribed English course, and on our present scheme are offered nothing but a review when they take their extra year. It seems to me that definite pro- vision should be made to offer them new literary material and some advanced composition work.
If we can finance it, an assistant is desirable at the Junior High School. We have found the load of extra work that falls on regular teaching at periods of heavy absence because of weather or illness, extremely difficult to keep abreast of. With so many pu- pils breaking into new subjects like Latin, French, Science and Al- gebra, together with the increasing difficulties of advanced work in other subjects, it is essential to a pupil's progress that no step be lost. The Junior High School age is a particularly crucial one from the standpoint of physical and mental change, and the stress of the period is difficult enough for most when met normally. We never have had a paid assistant in this building, though for a year or two a volunteer has performed much of such work an assistant would do. Probably it cannot be argued that the work of the school will deteriorate without such a teacher, but it does seem that with her the work could be made that much more effective, at least until the looked-for decrease in enrollment has set in in that building.
With regard to the College Entrance Board Examinations, which are always a source of interest, Mr. Gray, Principal of the High School, reports as follows:
"Three seniors, nine juniors and one sophomore took College Board Entrance Examinations in twelve subjects in June, 1937, and passed twenty out of the twenty-two examinations they took. Ten took the Scholastic Aptitude Test, of whom seven received a satis- factory rating.
"The new thermometer scale of rating pupils in the College Board Examinations proved unsatisfactory, because there was no uniform passing mark. For instance, in one group of colleges there was a variation of one hundred points (400 to 500) in the minimum passing score; in another group the variation was from 367 to 425; in a third it was from 429 to 500; and in a fourth group from 512 to 575.
"A committee of the New England Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools is working with a committee of the College En- trance Examination Board in an attempt to arrive at a uniform minimum passing mark among the colleges."
This year, for the first time in years, our budget has not had to carry an item for the support of athletics. This condition we hope is permanent. With an inclosed field, football receipts have been just about large enough to carry the entire year's program. It should be borne in mind that no sport except football has income sufficient to pay its own way in full, and that the surplus from football has to make up the deficiency.
The intention is to expand our program with any surplus that may accrue. We should develop a track team. We should finance all school teams-golf, tennis, field hockey, track, or whatever others may be desirable-and not ask pupils to pay their own way as we
147
REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE
1937]
have often had to do in the past. Charging admission to school athle- tic contests is defensible only on the grounds of providing means to supply players with the best equipment possible in order that they may play under the safest conditions and with the greatest enjoy- ment, and to provide an amount of equipment which will allow as many as desire to participate. This has been, and I hope will con- tinue to be, our policy. The lowest charge which will assure those ends and provide a factor of safety in case of a poor financial sea- son is the charge which can be justified. I append a financial state- ment of the athletic activities, and from it you will observe that only a small surplus, if any at all, is likely to be on hand by Sep- tember 1, 1938.
A word of appreciation to the Board of Park Commissioners is in order. They have provided us with one of the best football fields that could be built. Our boys play on no field that is better. The Board has been co-operative in every particular, and has seen to it that playgrounds have been available for the girls playing field hockey and for the Junior High School. This year, thanks to this Board, school sports have been conducted under better conditions than at any time within my knowledge.
There have been the following changes in the teaching staff this year:
Miss Mabel M. Connell, resigned to be married.
Bartholomew F. McArdle, resigned to accept position in Lynn.
Miss Ruth V. Holmes, resigned to be married.
Miss Miriam L. Hill, resigned to accept another position.
Miss Elise A. Meaney, resigned to be married. New teachers elected are:
Howard E. Batchelder, Senior High School.
Warren W. Morton, Senior High School.
Miss Dorothea Paulson, Clarke School.
Miss Marjorie Kiernan, Clarke School.
Miss Eleanor Birch, Machon School.
Respectfully submitted,
FRANK L. MANSUR, Superintendent of Schools.
SWAMPSCOTT HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION
Report of income and expenses for period December 1, 1936, to November 30, 1937:
Receipts
Football:
Gate receipts
$4,537.30
Guarantee and contract receipts 641.29
American Legion canvas rental 40.00
Balance, December 1, 1936 694.43
Boys' Basketball:
Gate receipts 314.23
Baseball:
Sale of shoes
14.45
Total receipts
$6,241.70
148
TOWN DOCUMENTS [Dec. 31
Expenditures
Football:
Cleaning and equipment
$1,599.37
Officials
262.00
Police
233.00
Transportation
83.45
Medical
163.95
Guarantee and contract payments
234.20
Field expenses
29.65
Awards to students for sale of Marblehead tickets
67.50
Band deficit (1936)
38.00
Special honorariums
35.00
Miscellaneous operating expenses Tickets, advertising, postage, etc.) .
114.16
Total
$2,860.28
Baseball:
Cleaning and equipment
$204.96
Officials
35.00
Transportation
49.00
Guarantee and contract payments
4.00
Postage and dues
3.10
Total
$296.06
Deficit, December 1, 1936
321.48
Boys' Basketball:
Cleaning and equipment
$247.93
Officials
29.00
Police
60.00
Transportation
75.00
Medical
5.00
Guarantee and contract payments
25.00
Miscellaneous operating expenses
5.50
Total
$447.43
Deficit, December 1, 1936
12.48
Girls' Basketball:
Cleaning and equipment
$55.00
Transportation
17.00
Officials
18.50
Miscellaneous operating expenses
2.45
Total - Deficit, December 1, 1936
$92.95 9.92
1937]
REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE
149
Girls' Field Hockey:
Cleaning and equipment
$140.99
Officials
35.60
Transportation
41.00
Miscellaneous operating expenses 8.11
Total
Deficit, December 1, 1936
$225.70 88.50
Total expenditures and deficits
$4,354.80
Working balance, November 30, 1937
$1,886.90
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL NURSE
To the Superintendent of Schools:
I herewith submit my annual report for the year now ending.
The following figures seem worthy of your attention: School visits, regular
182
School visits, extra
233
Family visits
241
Children referred to family physician
92
Children referred to school physician
4
Children excluded for illness
66
Notes to parents
135
Children taken to clinics
78
Physical examinations
1200
Defects found
130
Defects corrected
90
Defects under treatment
63
Examination for defective vision
900
Glasses provided
67
Examination for hearing
1400
Defects found
78
Chest X-ray for tuberculosis
27
Schick tests
199
Report of Attendance
Family adjustment
71
Visits for attendance
64
Truants
29
Taken to court
6
I wish to express my sincere appreciation of the assistance rendered by the various individuals and organizations during the year.
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.