Town annual report of Swampscott 1945, Part 8

Author: Swampscott, Massachusetts
Publication date: 1945
Publisher: The Town
Number of Pages: 210


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Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori


90


TOWN DOCUMENTS


[Dec. 31


REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE


The School Committee submits the following report for the year 1945:


With the town election of 1945, Mr. Amos Russell, who had been a member of the Committee since 1938, withdrew as a candidate for re-election, and Mr. Robert O'Neill was elected as his successor. The Committee organized for the year with Mr. Edgar U. Burdett as chairman for a second term.


Early in the year the Committee received from Mr. and Mrs. Manuel Ross the following letter:


"In memory of three Swampscott boys, Gershon N. Ross, George A. Foster, and Blaine Kehoe, friends, football team- mates, members of the Swampscott High School Class of 1940, who in this second World War gave their lives to their country, the sum of One Thousand ($1000) Dollars is here donated, to be used to help other worthy Swampscott boys toward a college education.


The donors, Mr. and Mrs. Manuel Ross, of 300 Puritan Road, Swampscott, request that One Hundred ($100) Dollars be awarded each year, until the fund is exhausted, to a boy in the High School graduating class of that year, to apply toward tuition or other expense of his first year in college.


The School Committee may hold this as a separate fund or may turn it over to the Town Treasurer to be held as a trust fund of the town. The recipient shall be selected each year by a committee. The donors appoint as the committee Lee T. Gray, Principal of the High School; Harold Martin, Athletic Director in the High School, and Harry D. Linscott. Any vacancies in the committee may be filled by the School Committee upon recommendation of the Superintendent of Schools. In case the committee in any year fails to make the award by August 1st, then the student may be selected and the award made by the School Committee.


The committee shall make the yearly award to a mem- ber of the graduating class who is entering a college or some other higher institution of learning of recognized standing. The committee may use its own judgment in making the selection. We would hope, however, that the award be made to a student of good character, scholastic promise, and with an interest in sports or athletics. The last named qualification does not mean that proficiency in any particular sport is a prerequisite. What we wish is that the award be made to one who might be termed an all-round student. The question of financial need should also be taken into consideration, and we would prefer that if possible the award be made to a student to whom it would be an actual aid.


The provisions of this letter shall constitute the terms of the trust, and with the letter is enclosed a check for $1000, made out to Frank L. Mansur, Superintendent of Schools.'


At the annual town meeting this scholarship fund was accepted by the Town and placed in the custody of the Town Treasurer. The amount has been somewhat increased since that time by gifts from friends.


At the outbreak of the war the Committee felt that some rec- ognition should be made to those boys forced to discontinue their


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High School careers just short of receiving a diploma. They con- sequently voted to award such students the diploma of the school so worded as to give credit for their military service. This diploma was in every way a full and unrestricted diploma of graduation.


As is usual in such cases, ultimately someone took exception to the practice on the grounds that the diploma might not be acceptable evidence to meet Civil Service requirements or the demands of some employer. The Committee has investigated this phase of the subject. They can find no employer who appears in the least concerned about the question once he has seen the document, and Civil Service has stated that the diploma will meet their requirements which ordinarily are not concerned with diplomas at all. However, rather than become involved in a controversy, the Committee has voted to exchange such a diploma for one containing the usual wording for any graduate who wishes the reference to his war service to be omitted.


During the war the Committee had adjusted its school calendar to meet the special demands for student employment in business and industry. The Christmas vacation period, especially, had been length- ened, with the consequent extending of the school year in June to meet the statutory requirements of 180 sessions at the High School. With the return to peace the Committee decided to return to its nor- mal pre-war calendar. This shortens somewhat the Christmas vaca- tion, but will-unless inclement weather causes days of "no-school" -permit schools to close on June 14th in 1946.


The Committee believes the time has come when the facilities at Blocksidge Park should be supplemented by a field house. There are at present no quarters at the field where players on any team may be adequately cared for. At present, intermissions in play find both our own players and our visitors forced to spend the time in the open. This is not in the best interests of the healthful well-being that is the only legitimate grounds for holding such contests at all. The Com- mittee has therefore, gladly joined with the Park Commission in sponsoring an article in the Town Meeting warrant to build facilities to meet the obvious need.


In preparing its budget for 1946, the Committee has had to con- sider two important questions: (a) "Should kindergartens be estab- lished in September, 1946?" and (b) "What will be the effect of the new so-called 'Equal Wage Statute'?"


The Committee is in favor of kindergartens. In investigating the possibility of establishing them at this time in Swampscott, however, they encounter more than normal obstacles. Only in the Stanley School is the floor of any room suitably finished for kindergarten use. In other buildings new flooring would be needed. Lumber men unani- mously tell us that it cannot be obtained for at least a year. Certain items of equipment-the small sturdy classroom pianos, for example- are not yet in manufacture. A definite shortage of fully trained teach- ers exists in the kindergarten field. In consideration of these and other factors, the Committee deems that this would be a most un- favorable moment to launch kindergarten projects, which certainly should be well done or not at all, and they have consequently tabled the subject for a year.


In 1945 the Legislature passed an Act providing that women teachers employed in the same grades and doing the same type of work with the same preparation and training as men teachers shall be paid at the same rate as men teachers. This Act becomes effective in Swampscott if and when accepted by vote of the Town. The legis- lation is so lacking in definitions and so open to conflicting interpre- tations that the School Committee has asked the Town Counsel for


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TOWN DOCUMENTS


[Dec. 31


clarification of several points. However, the general effect would seem to be to abolish our existing salary schedule for women, to require the establishment of a new salary schedule for men where none now exists, and to concentrate in the Junior and Senior High Schools salary increases to women teachers totalling between $12,000 and $15,000, with elementary grade teachers profiting not at all.


Since the Committee cannot know until March what the will of the Town may be in this matter, its budget submitted to the Finance Committee contains no provision for this possible situation, and may have to be amended by a sizeable amount should the Town accept the Act.


The Committee looks forward to the time when a gymnasium may be built for the Junior High School. The only facility at present is an inadequate, poorly ventilated, barren room in the basement, too small to accommodate any equipment. The logical location for such an addi- tion would be on the property either to the north or west of the Hadley School lot. While this project may not be feasible at the moment, it should receive serious attention in the immediate future.


Respectfully submitted,


EDGAR U. BURDETT, Chairman; MARION D. MORSE, BERNARD F. CAREY, RALPH N. MURRAY, ROBERT O'NEILL,


School Committee.


REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS


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


I have the honor to present to you my report as Superintendent of Schools for the year 1945.


For the first time in five years we are living in a period of com- parative peace. The world conflicts are at an end. Only here and there do the embers of those great conflagrations still glow, and our nation, fortunately, is not involved in extinguishing them. The period of up- heaval has been a long and a trying one-how long may be realized when one considers that no pupil who entered our first. grade this fall had any memory of a world at peace, and that until this Septem- ber some of our teachers had never taught in a classroom freed from the additional strains and responsibilities that war brought to the school environment.


We are, perhaps, impatient at what seems the tediously slow re- turn to normal conditions. We had, perhaps, hoped that materials restricted by war conditions would miraculously reappear in their accustomed profusion, or that persons withdrawn from their ordinary occupations, such as teaching, for example, would suddenly return to take up their tasks where they had left them. In that case, we are up to the present greatly disillusioned. Many materials are as difficult, if not more difficult, to secure readily today than they were a year ago. The removal of priority ratings for school requirements has thrown schools into the market where open competition prevails. Where formerly we had preference over the rank and file, we now have none and must take our place in the line that is waiting. Some of our orders placed in early summer are still undelivered. As for teacher supply, it is practically non-existent in certain fields, notably,


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SCHOOL REPORT


1945]


I am told, Household Arts, Kindergartens and the upper Elementary grades-and salaries demanded by those changing positions in any field seem to be running approximately $500 higher than was the case in 1942.


During the past twelve months we have had a number of changes in our teaching staff :


Mr. Otto Peterson, High School, resigned to accept a desirable opportunity in business.


Mrs. Dorothy Dixon, High School military substitute, withdrew from teaching in the interests of her home duties.


Mrs. Jean Dodge, Clarke School, resigned when her husband re- turned from military service.


Mr. Theodore Sargent, High School, resigned to accept a desirable position in industry.


Miss Elizabeth Mower, High School, resigned for further study and a teaching position at Boston University.


Mrs. Agnes Santry, High School, retired under the statutes, after more than fifteen years of inspiring and enthusiastic service as a member of the English Department.


Fortunately, in view of the times, we were not forced to fill two of these vacancies. The small entering first grades of 1934, 1935 and 1936 have now reached the High School and caused a noticeable low- ering of enrollment at that building. By a reassignment of classes we were able to dispense with the services of two teachers, and the positions vacated by Mrs. Dixon and Mrs. Santry were not filled.


The following have been elected to the other vacancies:


Mr. Albert Reinhalter, from Reading High School, as teacher of Mathematics and assistant in Athletics.


Mr. Reginald Barry, from Lynn English High School, as teacher of Science.


Miss Jennie Rodgers, from Lynn, as teacher of Office Machine Practice and Typewriting.


Mrs. Helen Hudson (substitute) as grade assistant in the Clarke and Hadley Schools.


In considering our teacher problems for next year, we should bear in mind that two teachers still in the armed services seem likely to be released in the not too distant future. We must be prepared to provide them with employment when that time arrives. There is like- wise the probability that several women teachers who were married during the suspension of the "married teachers" regulation will with- draw from teaching to take up their home interests with the close of this school year in June.


We have in general maintained our buildings in good physical condition. The painting program has gone forward at its usual rate. We shall, I think, have to paint no schools on the outside next sum- mer, and so can concentrate to a greater extent inside. The Machon, the Junior High and the Senior High all need some attention in that respect.


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TOWN DOCUMENTS


[Dec. 31


We have given considerable attention to the heating system at the Junior High School. A new vacuum pump has been installed, and all traps incidental to its successful operation have been renewed. Ten old thermostats, installed when the building was first erected, are to be replaced with more sensitive, modern instruments which are now on order. In the opinion of the custodian of this building, the pump alone may pay for itself in a single year, judging from the fuel saving that was evident as soon as it went into operation. The other changes should effect additional economy. There remains the need for new grates under the boilers. In view of the fact that we burn buck- wheat coal in this building, I believe rocker grates are more economi- cal in that the fires can be kept clean with less loss of heat and fuel. I recommend that one set be installed in 1946 since nearly a complete set of grates must be replaced anyway in the two boilers.


The Stanley School playground was repaved with the sheet asphalt found satisfactory in the Hadley School yard. This surface seems for the most part to be overcoming the troubles that arose from the old cinder year-black dirt that covered the children during dry spells, and knees and clothing torn from falling at any time. It has the added advantage of providing a quickly drying surface avail- able for play at all times except immediately after heavy snow.


*


We had the unexpected job of refinishing and remarking the gym- nasium floor during the summer. The constant use of this surface by people wearing "war rubber" shoe soles worked the floor into a con- dition where no other treatment would bring it into a satisfactory condition. It should be noted that during the months of January, February and March this floor is in almost constant use from 8:30 in the morning to 9:30 at night every weekday.


Another unanticipated expense was encountered when trouble developed in the ventilating motors at the Stanley School auditorium. Investigation showed that a definite fire hazard existed because of the condition of some of that installation. This difficulty was corrected, so that everything now conforms to the standards of rigid electrical codes.


Vandalism-the first that has come to us for some time-required other repairs that were not anticipated. Over a weekend sixteen panes of glass were broken by boys throwing rocks from the hillside behind the Machon School. Fortunately only the glass was damaged. The culprits were later apprehended and have worked out the cost of re- pairs by helping our janitors. Since that time there have been two breaks in the building with some slight damage to doors and furniture.


The department has been ready and willing to assist men re- turning from the military services to adjust themselves to such edu- cational programs as they might desire. For the most part the re- quests have been from those already graduated from High School, and thus interested in college or other advanced courses. These have been readily handled by Mr. Gray at the High School. For those not ready for this advanced education we have been able to secure place- ments in the Lynn accelerated program and in the State organization at the Teachers' College.


By far the most satisfying placements, however, have been in our own High School, where two former undergraduates have returned to complete a regular High School course. These young men asked


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SCHOOL REPORT


1945]


specifically for the opportunity to return because their years in the service-in one case four years in the South Pacific-had shown them the need of a High School diploma. They have entered upon their work with a seriousness of purpose that is an asset to the school and a revelation to some of the younger students who have not yet arrived at a maturity to comprehend what these two boys have learned through sobering experience. With the credits which their army train- ing will provide, they will be eligible for a diploma this June.


There is a section of the report of the principal of the High School which warrants comment relative to the work of that school. This is the question of college entrance. Ability to gain entrance to college consists of two qualities: a willingness, plus a mental capacity, to do the work necessary to be acceptable to the college, and an aptitude for the type of work which the college in question offers. There has persisted in Swampscott for a great many years a critical attitude towards our school which not only ignores those facts, but refuses to examine the evidence as to what the school does accomplish. As always with bad news and scandal, the purveyors of this type of insidious misinformation have only to drop a word to have it accepted and redistributed. One never catches up with that sort of wild fire.


During the five year period from 1941 through 1945-the period, you will note, when comparatively few boys were free to enter college because of the operation of the Selective Service Act-one hundred and eighteen graduates of the school have been admitted to forty-six different colleges and universities. This figure is significant in that it covers a period during which the women's colleges were so swamped with applicants that they could and did reject about seventy-five per- cent of all those who applied nation-wide.


The list of the colleges, likewise, is significant as being repre- sentative of the best in the country and as indicating the wide variety of choice which our young people are making. For that reason I list them here, with the number of graduates who have entered them: Bates 2, Boston College 1, Boston University 15, Bowdoin 6, Bridge- water 1, Brown 3, Bryn Mawr 2, Colby 5, University of Colorado 1, Connecticut College for Women 2, Cornell 1, Dartmouth 1, Georgian 2, Harvard 4, Jackson 4, University of Maine 4, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 4, Massachusetts School of Art 3, Massachusetts State College 7, University of Michigan 1, Middlebury 1, Mount Holyoke 1, University of New Hampshire 3, Northeastern University 4, Norwich University 4, Oberlin 1, Ohio State 1, Pembroke 2, University of Penn- sylvania 2, Purdue 1, Radcliffe 1, Rhode Island State 1, University of Rochester 1, Salem Teachers College 3, Skidmore 1, Smith 7, Spring- field 1, Syracuse University 1, Tri-State 1, Tufts 4, Upsala 1, Welles- ley 1, Wheaton 1, University of Wisconsin 1, Worcester Polytechnic Institute 3.


Out of the graduates in the class of 1945 alone we sent thirty-five students into eighteen colleges as representative and as widely scat- tered as Harvard, Smith, Purdue, University of Pennsylvania and Oberlin. * *


This evidence, I submit, does not indicate any inability to prepare for college. It indicates rather that the preparation which the school gives is sufficient and flexible enough to give the student a wide choice of college and to get him there if he keeps his mind on his job. There are those whose minds are filled with other things, to the subordination of school work. Those pupils do and will find getting to


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[Dec. 31


college difficult. True as it may be that personality, athletic ability and all-round interest in school activities are given weight by the colleges, the primary consideration is scholastic ability. The record of the preparatory school, fortified by the scholastic aptitude tests, is taken as first-hand evidence in that regard.


*


I commented in a previous report upon the connection between reading and the ability to do college work as revealed by the Scholas- tic Aptitude tests. We have had an interesting confirmation of the existence of that connection from the aptitude tests which are given annually to our Junior class by Boston University. These latter tests include a Test of Reading Comprehension. Mr. Gray has made a recent comparative study of these tests and the College Aptitude tests. With- out exception those who had a percentile standing of eighty or better in the Boston University Reading Vocabulary test passed the vocabu- lary section of the College Scholastic Aptitude test. Without excep- tion those who fell below the eightieth percentile in the former failed to pass the latter.


Without question, facility in reading is a most important factor in success at the higher education levels-High School and upwards. Reading, in the sense in which I use it here, is more than learning to read glibly and readily in the elementary classroom recitation. That, of course, is necessary, but it is not enough. It means rather the habit and practice of reading extensively outside the school in the home environment. It means the regular and constant use of newspapers and periodicals and books until one's vocabulary has been enriched by new contacts, and until one has acquired by practice the ability to read rapidly and to gain the full gist of a passage by scanning in- stead of labored word-by-word perusal. This is the kind of reading that one must do under the pressure of college work. This is the kind of reading that leads to passing Scholastic Aptitude Tests. This is the kind of reading that the school can only urge and which the home alone can assure.


I should, I feel, call to your attention the excellent service that is being rendered by our janitorial staff. Almost without exception visit- ors comment on the clean condition in which our buildings are kept. For practically the duration of the war our staff was shorthanded. This meant that many times everybody on the staff of a building had to shoulder extra loads to keep the building at the accustomed stand- ard. Those loads were shouldered without complaint. On several occa- sions illness on the part of one man meant nearly double duty for the person who was covering in. This double duty was accepted most cheerfully. Indeed, the work of the entire staff is marked by a per- sonal pride and interest in their work that is deserving of your com- mendation.


For over ten years the salary schedule for Swampscott teachers has been built on the theory that the teacher of any grade performs a service equal to that performed by a teacher in any other grade. This principal is generally accepted as sound. There will be laid before the town on referendum at the next annual election a bill requiring the Town to accept or reject that principal. This bill is the so-called "Equal Salary Law." The acceptance of this Act forces increases in the salaries of a certain few teachers merely because by chance a man happens to be employed in the same grade, and it benefits nobody else.


I do not interpret that as an Act to provide equal salaries for men and women teachers. If the law means what it says, and what


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1945]


some with legal training say it means, with the possible exception of one or two Department Heads, no teacher in our elementary grades, in Commercial subjects, in the Social Studies or in foreign languages, and possibly in some other departments, will thereby be entitled to a salary increase.


The Act in its present form is discriminatory and beyond any question bound to disrupt the morale of the teaching force. I cannot favor it.


We have been able to complete our financial year with a small unexpended balance. The summary of the year's finances follows:


Appropriation


Refunds


$233,470.00 11.00


$233,481.00


Warrants Payable


765.00


$232,716.00


Expenditures :


General Control


$ 7,935.19


Instructional Service


178,895.69


Operation of Plants


33,037.82


Maintenance


8,852.14


Auxiliary Agencies


3,911.94


232,632.78


Unexpended Balance


$83.22


Credits to the Department:


General Receipts


$ 322.93


Tuition Received-General


1,406.00


State Refund, Trade and Vocational Schools


117.98


State Refund, General School Fund


14,660.20


$16,507.09


$216,125.69


Respectfully submitted,


FRANK L. MANSUR, Superintendent of Schools.


December 31, 1945.


SWAMPSCOTT HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION Financial Report for Fiscal Year September 1, 1944, to June 27, 1945 Receipts


Football:


Gate Receipts


$2,768.12


Contracts and Guarantees.


275.86


Change Fund Deposits


363.50


Miscellaneous :


Reimbursement from Park Department


Loan


200.00


Reimbursement from Cheerleaders' Sweaters


32.00


Advance sale of Newburyport tickets .. 7.00


Insurance Fee received from pupil.


1.35


$3,647.83


Net Cost of Schools


...


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TOWN DOCUMENTS


[Dec. 31


Boys' Basketball: Gate Receipts


$168.90


168.90


Girls' Basketball:


Refund on Transportation Charges ...




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