Town annual report of Swampscott 1942, Part 10

Author: Swampscott, Massachusetts
Publication date: 1942
Publisher: The Town
Number of Pages: 206


USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Swampscott > Town annual report of Swampscott 1942 > Part 10


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$17,405.05


Net Cost of Schools $201,949.90


REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS


To the School Committee of the Town of Swampscott Mrs. Morse, and Gentlemen:


A little over a year ago this nation became an active participant in the World War. A report on the condition of our schools, there- fore, becomes not a report of progress made, but of participation in the most gigantic war effort that the world has ever witnessed.


One of the outstanding trends that had developed as a result of the war abroad before we went in had been the decline of the utilitarianism of academic education as such, and the simultaneous rise in emphasis on the technical and mechanical side. This trend had been in existence for at least two years before the attack on Pearl Harbor, but nobody, I think, who lacked the foresight to foresee the events that began with Pearl Harbor could possibly have anticipated the speed with which the trend was to advance. The eighth of De- cember, 1941, more than speeded up the process. It pushed the progress of education for the time, at least, off the track it was on onto another track which led to a totally different destination.


The problem that has been precipitated is how to meet an abrupt change which involves not only revamping our traditional and almost hereditary courses, but re-educating and reconciling a public to a temporary abandonment of most of that type of education upon which they themselves have been matured, and from which they have derived their own views on the higher educational values and objectives.


We must drop what we would like to do, and do what we must do, whether we wish to or not. Public statements from those in con- trol make that conclusion obvious. "Let us be realistic," says one. "Every able-bodied boy is destined at the appointed age for the armed services. It is the job of the schools and the colleges to pro- vide opportunity for every youth to equip himself for a place in win- ning the War."


And again, from one who controls such matters: "There is no excuse for any young man or woman to be in college preparing for a profession not directly useful to the war effort."


115


SCHOOL REPORT


1942]


It is then not just now a question of planning for a lifetime. It is not a question of building a foundation for a career of peacetime pursuits. It is a question of supplying youth with the kind of knowledge that will help win the war; and for the next few years, apparently, wherever a choice must be made, educational decisions will be made on that basis. In other words, education in the usual sense of preparing for the future is out, and education for the moment is in.


Obviously this decision has no immediate effect on the elementary schools. The task which is theirs is that of supplying the tools and the foundation. Their techniques and their subject matter are ade- quate, whichever course the trends in higher education may take. They need not, and have not, however, for that reason disregarded the war effort. In fact, they have, on the contrary, been quite con- scious of it and active in it. They participated in the Scrap Drive, each school building its own considerable scrap pile. They have re- organized effective Junior Red Cross units which are enthusiastically active. Elementary school pupils have been ardent purchasers of War Stamps and Bonds, and through their efforts have made Swamp- scott the first community in the Commonwealth whose schools are 100% eligible to fly the Treasury Minute Man flag. According to a report issued for October and September, our per capita purchases were $4.62, only one community in the State reporting a greater amount.


It is in the High School that we must expect to find the most drastic and essential changes. The first of these was instituted in September with the introduction of pre-flight instruction in aviation. The purpose is to supply pupils in the senior class with textbook knowledge necessary for the examinations preparatory to flight train- ing. The outline is that presented by the Civil Aeronautics Aviation Program in co-operation with the Army and Navy. At the moment, this is frankly a war emergency course, but the thought of those higher up is that it shall become far more than that. They are firmly of the belief that peace time aviation has come to stay and that pre-flight instruction will have an essential place in High School training when the emergency has disappeared.


Considering this work in its present status, one thing is evident to insure its successful application to the war effort: it must not be allowed to become a refuge for any pupil not willing or not able to succeed. It must be confined to those whose mental equipment, and whose state of mind is such as to make them fit subjects for further training in aviation. Only those should be admitted to the course who have a reasonable chance to progress beyond it. Once admitted, the student must be treated as a responsible person, present for as serious a business as though he were in an army school; and if he fails to accept such a responsibility, either from the standpoint of scholastic accomplishment or from that of attitude, in the interest of those who are serious in their purposes he should be summarily removed. Aviation is no place for second-raters.


The most recent problem for the schools arises out of the de- cision to draft young men when they reach the age of eighteen. We have about forty high school boys coming of draft age between now and July 1. Our problem is how best to prepare them for finding their proper places in army organization.


In dealing with this situation, one obvious fact has got to be recognized; namely, that for them the question of college prepara- tion is no longer in the picture. Unfortunately, no cleancut state- ment of the position of the colleges as a whole has been forthcoming. Either the colleges have developed no policy, or they have decided each to pursue its own individual way, and this latter seems the more


116


TOWN DOCUMENTS


[Dec. 31


likely; but in either case, college entrance requirements as they existed two years ago for the boys' colleges are on the shelf for the duration. We know this from announcements and from personal contacts with several college heads.


All of the better equipped colleges are being rapidly taken over by the military authorities as technical training schools, the principal requirement for the trainees being mental equipment capable of profiting by the training. A type of scholastic aptitude test seems to be the screening test applied at present. There will be little room for the Liberal Arts students. Cultural courses are being abandoned and technical courses set up as fast as equipment and personnel will admit. It now appears probable that the Government will follow the course that leading educators have advocated ever since the drafting of high school pupils was first considered; namely, placing qualified young draftees in college at federal expense for training as technical specialists. Be that as it may, this much seems clear: that for boys over eighteen college preparation of the conventional Liberal Arts pattern is something we can forget about until the end of the war.


Running in parallel with this situation is the known fact that the present war is one of science and mathematics. Every Govern- ment statement dealing with the educational situation emphasizes that fact. We have already so arranged our courses that every boy in high school is now getting not less than two years of mathematics in some form-either the branches of algebra, geometry and trig- onometry, or that of applied shop mathematics, or that involved in accounting for which there is a place in the finance department of the military set-up. Senior boys in our erstwhile college course will study the mathematics of navigation this next half year. We are offering about all we can, therefore, in mathematics.


If you ask the army and navy officers what they would recom- mend as preparation for these young draftees, they will tell you, "All the mathematics, science and physical training that they can get, and never mind anything else." We are likewise told by army officers that they consider that a good part of the first two months of army training is lost in making men physically fit for army life. They find that the boys are lacking in strength, endurance and agility. (Inci- dentally, the same reports come from the WAVES and the WAACS about the girls.) The extreme of the program they recommend calls for three hours a day of physical training, with the normal not less than an hour a day. The purpose is to build up that degree of stamina and endurance which will enable the soldier to endure and survive. It is physical training-hard, grinding physical training- and not physical education motivated through games for fun. Such a course has been authorized along the outline published by the Gov- ernment, and will go into operation in our High School in January. 1943.


Most of the boys in the erstwhile college courses are already engaged in the study of science in some field-chemistry, physics or pre-flight aviation. For the rest, the army and navy course in "Elementary Machines" has been authorized for the last half of the present school year. Boys becoming eligible for the draft prior to July 1, 1943, will be required to enroll, at the expense of any academic subject with which this course may interfere. The course is so set up that any high school boy will have had enough mathematics to handle it-in fact, it is theory, primarily, in the field of mechanics, with laboratory demonstration and practical application. The subject matter is basic to some twenty-four army or navy trades or ratings.


The whole high school set-up will be studied further during the winter to determine what other adjustments are practical and ad-


117


SCHOOL REPORT


1942]


visable. None of those made affect the girls, although their work in physical training is being stiffened. Perhaps there should be changes in their behalf. However, there are fewer short cuts to opportunity in the field in which they can function outside of factory work. For example, no career holds greater promise at present than that of nursing, but there is no tendency to lessen requirements for entrance to schools of nursing. There are opportunities in the WAVES and the WAACS for girls of sound physical well-being, alert minds, and an aptitude for some one of the many specific jobs to which those girls may be assigned. Those with sufficient maturity should be able to pass the tests for the rank and file of those corps of high standing graduates from our Commercial Department, but we cannot guarantee the required maturity that only years can bring. We have no diffi- culty placing our commercial graduates in the usual employments. We have no list of unemployed.


One thing above all we must stress, and that is an understanding of the fact that this war is to be a survival of the fittest. That is true from both a mental and a physical standpoint; and the lacka- daisical, the laggards and unfit are likely, in spite of occasional ex- amples to the contrary, to find their places close to the bottom, while those who can deliver the goods will be those who climb.


Our teaching staff, aside from their school duties, are fully assuming their responsibilities in various departments of the war effort. They, of course, are leading the intra-school activities. We have members with important positions in the Civilian Defense, on the War Price and Rationing Board, and on the Selective Service Board. The entire rationing registration programs have been handled by teachers, both as to organization and as to details, with some as- sistance from out-of-school volunteers. We have tried to conduct this problem so as to discommode the public as little as possible, and we believe we have been successful. At no time has there been any con- gestion or delay for those to be served, and the interference with school sessions has been held to a minimum. Our relationships with the local rationing board have been most cordial. We anticipate that we shall be called on again for further service in this line, and we are not only ready but anxious to serve.


The problem of the rationing of fuel oil strikes us close at home, in that our High School is oil heated. Last year our consumption was nearly 50,000 gallons. This year we are allotted slightly less than 33,000. To meet the situation we restricted the use of the school to those activities purely of a school nature, and have extended the Christmas vacation by a week. That doubtless will not meet the situation fully. There will have to be further curtailment. The building does not readily lend itself to conversion to coal, due to the peculiar conditions existing in the boiler room. An order to con- vert entirely would doubtless lead to closing the building for some time, and to extensive and expensive alterations. This loss of time presumably would have to be made up by extending sessions into the summer. The local Rationing Board appears satisfied that convert- ing is not feasible, and the facts have been reported to the Federal authorities in this light. We are now awaiting a decision following an official inspection from the O. P. C.


Three members of our department have joined the armed services :


Mr. John I. McLaughlin of the High School faculty has been commissioned in the Navy.


Mr. Emery Doane, janitor at the Clarke School, has been called by the Selective Service for duty in the Army.


Mr. Howard Batchelder of the High School faculty has been com- missioned by the Navy.


118


TOWN DOCUMENTS


[Dec. 31


The vacancies thus occasioned are for the duration of the war and have been difficult to fill, but we have been fortunate in finding successors of promise. Mrs. Ethel Bardgett comes to us with ex- perience in the schools of Lynn to succeed Mr. Mclaughlin. Mr. Leonard C. Lorens, formerly of the Bay Path Institute and with extensive business experience and advanced study in commercial teaching fields, takes Mr. Batchelder's place as the New Year opens. We have transferred Mr. Michael Pagnotta from our own staff to the Clarke School, and are filling his place with a substitute at present. The problem of permanent, capable janitors is acute in view of the temporary nature of the employment due to war legis- lation and attractive wages in neighboring industries.


Other changes, not due to the war, include the following:


Miss Hilda Hennigar, Stanley School, to be married.


Miss Mary Santry, Clarke School, to be married.


Mr. Donald Lowe, High School, withdrawing from teaching.


Miss Mary Mallery, High School, illness at home.


Miss Marjorie Young, Junior High School, to accept another position.


Miss Marjorie Chamberlain, Clarke School, withdrawing from teach- ing.


There have been the following advancements and appointments: Miss Margaret Forbes, from building assistant to Grade 3, Clarke School.


Miss Christine Zahr, from building assistant to Grade 4, Stanley School.


Miss Frances Clay, from Strong, Maine, to High School.


Miss Elizabeth Mower, from Auburn, Maine, to High School.


Miss Doris McCausland, from Seekonk, Massachusetts, to Junior High School.


In view of the lower enrollment, one assistant's position has been left unfilled.


Charles Burgess of the Class of 1943, who left High School early in the year to join the Marines, became the first member of the school to lose his life as the result of enemy action. Wounded in the South Pacific, he later succumbed to his injuries. He had, as a student, been a popular member of the school and active in athletics as a member of the baseball team. The news of his death was keenly felt by all students and teachers. Three other former mem- bers of the school have already made the supreme sacrifice, and we honor them. They are James Sharp, Harold Raymond and Gerald McGettrick. More than two hundred and sixty-five past members of the school are now in service, including Brigadier-General Edward Russell Randall.


Up to the present we have been able to secure needed supplies and materials at prices better than we anticipated, even for repairs. In general our buildings are in good condition. The stand-by boiler at the High School has been retubed so that it will now serve in an emergency. The masonry of a section of wall on the southeast corner of the High School was pointed during the summer, and this fall, for the first time, showed no leakage under the force of a violent storm. Further work of this nature should now be done on the gymnasium walls. The High School will need an exterior coat of paint at the same time.


I desire to commend the janitors at the Junior High School for their personal accomplishments in improving the general heating situation in that building. By ferreting out a number of seeming trivialities, they have located and corrected several difficulties that had annoyed for some time.


119


At the Clarke School the installation of the so-called "Fire Master" has made that building easier to heat, particularly over cold week-ends. Measuring the saving in coal has been difficult. We think we have saved some, and we know that the results have been worth the expenditure in the effectiveness of what we have burned.


Interior decoration at the Stanley is now nearly complete and may be easily finished this coming summer. The basement of the Junior High School has been painted throughout, after a lapse of fifteen years or more. The classrooms of the Clarke School must have attention in this direction next.


The State Building Inspector has recently visited the High School and renewed its certificate.' All buildings have been inspected by the local Fire Department representative and pronounced satisfactory. You will be pleased to know that both of these gentlemen commented most favorably on the conditions they found, and particularly com- plimented the excellent housekeeping.


It would be ungrateful for me to make any report on the year which failed to acknowledge the excellent spirit of our entire corps of employees. Every demand upon teachers, janitors and clerks alike has been met with a heartening responsive willingness, and there have been many such demands beyond the usual line of duty. There has been no need to call for volunteers when jobs were to be done. The volunteers were already at hand.


By the same token, may I state my appreciation of your own attitudes of patience and confidence. They lend courage to carry on.


Respectfully submitted,


FRANK L. MANSUR.


December 31, 1942


December 23, 1942


To the Superintendent of Schools and the School Committee of the Town of Swampscott


Mrs. Morse and Gentlemen:


I herewith submit a report of the work done for the year end- ing December 31, 1942.


School Visits (Regular)


162


School Visits (Extra)


284


Home Visits


279


Clinic Visits


42


Number of children referred to family physician


176


Number of children excluded


49


Notice to parents


286


Physical. Examinations


1483


Vision Examination


552


Defects Found


241


Defects Corrected


162


Tuberculin Test


180


Chest X-ray


44


Report of attendance and Home Adjustment


Visits for attendance


91


Visits for Truancy


36


Visits for Home Adjustment


85


Visits for School Adjustment


74


Miscellaneous Visits


82


Visits to Handicapped Children


8


Visits to State Clinics


10


School Census (under 16 yrs.)


1528


MARY K. HAMMOND, R.N.


1942]


SCHOOL REPORT


120


TOWN DOCUMENTS


[Dec. 31


SWAMPSCOTT HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION Financial Report for Fiscal Year, September 1, 1941, to July 1, 1942


Receipts


Football:


Gate Receipts


Contracts and Guarantees


$2,048.12 1,686.03


$3,734.15


Baseball:


Sale of Shoes


$ 5.50


5.50


Boys' Basketball:


Gate Receipts


$ 216.55


Share of Tournament


. 33.28


Sale of Bus Tickets


13.25


263.08


Girls' Field Hockey:


Sale of Blazers


$ 3.75


Players contribution to cover


excess cost of awards


26.25


30.00


Total Receipts


$4,032.73


Expeditures


Football:


Equipment


$ 459:26


Cleaning


298.05


Medical Supplies and Services


215.75


Transportation


189.00


Police


116.00


Officials


144.00


Taxes on Admissions


215.55


Scouting


24.00


Contracts and Guarantees


371.14


Band Appropriation


150.00


Field Expenses


71.39


Awards


54.10


Misc. Operating Expenses


36.37


Baseball:


Equipment


$304.23


Cleaning


27.93


Transportation


10.00


Officials


15.00


Awards


27.00


Misc. Operating Expenses


.25


Boys' Basketball:


Equipment


$ 23.98


Cleaning


20.33


Transportation


169.35


Police


12.00


Officials


25.00


Tax on Admissions


24.05


Awards


13.75


Misc. Operating Expenses


20.00


$2,344.61


384.41


308.46


1942]


SCHOOL REPORT


Girls' Basketball:


Equipment


$ 22.33


Cleaning


12.00


Transportation


51.45


Officials


31.50


Misc. Operating Expenses


1.65


118.93


Girls' Field Hockey :


Equipment


$ 73.76


Cleaning


55.00


Transportation


58.00


Officials


32.00


Blazer Awards


82.00


Misc. Operating Expenses


7.82


308.58


Total Expenditures


$3,464.99


Balance for year


$ 567.74


Balance, September 1, 1941


458.24


Cash on hand, July 1, 1942


$1,025.98


H. E. BATCHELDER,


Treasurer.


MEMBERSHIP BY AGE AND GRADE, OCTOBER 1, 1942


Boys


Age


Grade


5


6


7 8


9 10


11 12


13


14 15 16 17 18 19


Tot.


1


18


23


2


29


8


....


25


6


2


1


....


...


1


...


1


....


2


4


1


....


....


....


67


8


....


...


....


....


....


....


....


58 77 80


11


....


....


....


....


....


..


....


....


....


9


13


9


2


....


65


12


....


....


....


...


....


....


....


....


1


14


30


8


1


54


P.G.'s


...


....


....


....


....


....


....


....


....


....


4


..


....


..


5


Total


19


41


50


49


62


64


67


58


60


90


61


69


44 10


1 745


...


1


15


40


17


34


19


11 24 24


14


1


12


....


....


....


10


....


...


....


....


...


...


....


1


38 25


29


5


....


....


58


7


....


....


....


....


....


...


38


8


6


....


....


...


....


...


....


57


3


53


4


63


5


....


...


16


37


8


1


..


2


1


18


19


...


...


65


9


....


....


...


...


..


..


1


graded


....


Un-


....


....


43


1


18


...


....


3 20 32


121


122


TOWN DOCUMENTS


[Dec. 31


Girls


Age


Grade


5


6


7


8


9


10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19


1


16


20


1


1


....


....


....


....


....


...


....


....


....


....


....


38


2


....


19


27


1


29


5


1 4


1


...


3


1


....


....


....


....


....


....


..


8


3


..


....


....


....


....


...


7


1


....


....


....


....


8


..


....


....


....


...


....


....


9


....


...


....


....


...


...


....


1


3


35


28


33


7


3


71 62


P.G.'s Un-


graded


....


....


....


1


4


Total


16


39


55


49


57


70


55


53 77


70


79


69


43


7


...


739


SCHOOL CENSUS-OCTOBER 1, 1942


In the registration of minors


Boys


87


681


768


Girls


82


678


760


Totals


169


1359


1528


Distribution of the above minors:


In public day school mem- bership


88


1140


1228


In continuation school mem- bership


-


-


In vocational school mem- bership


4


4


In private school membership


45


205


250


In State and county institu- tions and special schools for defectives and delinquents Not enrolled in any day school


36


2


38


Totals


169


1359


1528


PUPILS ENROLLED-NOVEMBER, 1942


High School


Sophomores 164


Juniors 129


Seniors 111


P.G.'s


Total 408


Junior High School


Class I 107


Class II 127


Class III 146


380


3


....


....


....


....


62


4


...


....


....


....


...


5


....


....


..


....


....


....


14


4


20 23


38 28


29


8 37


....


1


....


....


10


..


. .


....


...


...


...


....


...


....


..


1


2


1


28


31


2


..


2


2


...


...


49 60 81 40 69 67 85


11


..


27


18


26


25


31


34


36


..


. .


....


....


..


47


6


....


....


....


1 3


4


....


....


8


2


....


Tot.


....


..


1


12


4


5 Years or Over 7 Years or Over and Under 7 and Under 16


Total


8


8


4


...


123


Grades


1


2


3


4


5


6 Special Class


Clarke


26


31


36


29


34


40


196


Hadley


27


24


39


32


29


48


199


Machon


14


25


19


27


32


24


7 148


Stanley


15


28


23


26


29


31


152


High School


408


Junior High School


380


Elementary


695


1483


SCHOOL DEPARTMENT DIRECTORY


High School


Lee T. Gray, Principal


Elizabeth Mower


Charlotte Bailey


Edna I. Morrison


Ethel Bardgett


Warren W. Morton


Howard E. Batchelder


Dorothy O'Keefe


Brooks K. Blossom


Mildred J. O'Leary


Flora A. Boynton


Agnes T. Santry


Frances Clay


Theodore C. Sargent


Arthur G. Cronk


Eileen Soper


James H. Dunn


Amy D. Thissell


Walter R. Henshaw


Marjorie White


Junior High School


Alice L. Shaw, Principal


Doris McCausland


Jean G. Allan


Florence Melanson


Mary C. Boyce


Oella Minard


Marion P. Burlingame


Crandall P. Nodwell


Eleanor J. Chaisson


Lena M. Patchett


Beatrice L. Cook


Eleanor Sanborn


Alice T. Durgin


Mary Sexton


Hester Dwinell


Helen Warren


George E. Hutchinson


Emma S. White


M. Shirley Lane


Grace Young


Clarke School


Blanche E. Doyle, Principal Louise Cerica


Marjorie Chamberlain


Margaret Forbes


Hadley School


Alice L. Shaw, Principal


Amy M. Fenwick


Elizabeth Pirie Hilda J. Thacher Maxine Walker


Ruth James Marion F. Newcomb


Anna F. Willey


Machon School


Mary I. Perkins, Principal


Eleanor L. Birch


Hazel D. Chase


Mae M. Graham


- Evelyn H. Lovejoy Elsie B. Oakes Phyllis G. Smith M. Elizabeth Wade


Stanley School


Blanche E. Doyle, Principal Charlotte N. Conners Margaret E. Durgin Grace M. Farrell


Jessie C. Martin Clara Waterman Christine Zahr


1942]


SCHOOL REPORT


Antoinette Lambert


Eleanor C. Parsons Dorothea Paulson Katherine F. Wilson


124


TOWN DOCUMENTS


[Dec. 31


All Schools


Clara B. Chase, Supervisor of Art Tina Fabricant, Adult Alien Evening Classes Anne Linscott, Teacher of Speech Louis J. Marino, Teacher of Instrumental Music Harold S. Martin, Supervisor of Physical Education Esther Nazarian, Supervisor of Music Marion E. Tyler, Supervisor of Penmanship Mary K. Hammond, R.N., School Nurse




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