USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Weymouth > Town annual report of Weymouth 1947 > Part 16
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BOYS AND GIRLS IN THE LIBRARY
Boys and girls all through the town are reading Tufts Library books from their class room collections, and the reading is stimulated by the awards of certificates from the library. During the past school year 816 certificates were issued to children who read and made reports on five books from the graded lists furnished by the library, and 82 won honor certificates for reading twenty books. Slightly more than two thousand books were borrowed more than eleven thousand times through class room libraries.
For eight months in the year, story hours are held at the library on Friday afternoons for the younger boys and girls. On special occasions moving pictures and music have been used in connection with the story hours with gratifying results.
These activities, stimulating and directing the reading interests of the boys and girls, and teaching the older ones ways of finding knowledge, are the library's part in opening to them a door into a fuller and more satisfying and useful life.
TOWN WIDE SERVICE
The Tufts Library has sought to make books and library service avail- able to all the people of Weymouth. In addition to the Main Library and the Branches at North and East Weymouth there are four smaller branches, known as Library Stations, where service is given for a few hours each week. These Stations are located at Weymouth Heights, Lovell's Corner, Nash's Corner and Pond Plain. Three of the Stations are in school build- ings and, through the splendid cooperation of the School Department, the people of these sections have thriving little branch libraries. But the schools are crowded and need all their space for class-room use. The trustees of the Tufts Library realize this, and want to cooperate, but they do not want any section of the town deprived of library service.
216
TOMORROW - A BOOKMOBILE?
The four stations, taken together, circulated 26,931 books in 1947. To- gether they registered 188 new borrowers. This is the equivalent of a branch library and the trustees are asking the town to make it a branch, - one branch that would serve all these sections, - a bookmobile or travelling branch library. Because it would be mobile, it could, in addition to its regular stops, carry books to the schools and the other branch libraries, or to convalescent homes, or to any point in town where there are book needs that cannot otherwise be met. Such a travelling branch library could carry |approximately 1400 books, and would have a weekly schedule of stops so that people in each section would know when and where to find it. One collection of books would do the work of four, so that books would no longer stand unused for six days in the week, and more titles could be purchased, since less duplication would be required. A travelling branch would cost less to operate than four separate stations and would serve people of all ages, but especially it would serve shut-ins and children who cannot go a long distance to the library or its branches.
GREETINGS FROM WEYMOUTH ENGLAND
In the spring of 1947 a letter came to the Tufts Library from Miss Lucie Holman, Librarian of the Public Library in Weymouth, Dorset, England. Miss Holman told of the establishment of their library in 1944. Weymouth, she reported, is the last town of its size in England to establish public library service. They are pioneering there, and started with a refer- ence collection. With the coming of this New Year they were planning to start circulating books to both adults and children. The Staff of the Tufts Library have sent a New Year's gift of two children's books for the opening of the children's library in Weymouth, England. They chose books that had won the Newbery and Caldecott awards as outstanding in children's literature and that would give true and interesting pictures of American life in New England.
MAINTENANCE
The only major maintenance costs for 1947 were for some additional linoleum on the floor of the Main Library, for refinishing the tables and desks at the Main Library and the East Weymouth Branch, and for paint- ing the exterior trim of the library building. This had not been done for many years and the paint had peeled badly. New equipment included three new desks and a little new shelving.
A LONG LOOK AHEAD
The Tufts Library building is crowded. The shelving space in inade- quate and books have had to be shelved out of reach on the tops of the cases. This is disadvantageous to the public and to the staff and is not good for the books, which are much more exposed to dust. We look for- ward to the time when it will be possible to renovate our library building and make the top floor available for use as a library. This would enlarge not only the shelving capacity of the building, but the facilities for im- proved library service to the community.
Respectfully submitted,
CLARANCE P. WHITTLE, President
By order and on behalf of the Trustees of the Tufts Library.
217
GIFTS OF BOOKS TO THE TUFTS LIBRARY 1947
The trustees acknowledge gratefully gifts of books from the following persons:
Eileen Ainslie, Mrs. Barbara Barnes, Mrs. Harriet Berry, Harold K. Bowen, Ralph Chamberlain, Mrs. Adeline Clark, Salvatore Cutino, P. T. Dondlinger, James Ferguson, Alice Fulton, Mrs. George Gardner, C. M. Goethe, David O. Gunville, Richard Hines, June Johnson, W. J. Keniston, Victor Kravchenko, Samuel H. Kress, Mrs. Walter Lang, Robert C. Mac- Arthur, Warren MacCullum, John O'Hara, David Perkins, Charles E. Richardson, Charles Rowland, Lester W. Tisdale, William Woodworth, Mrs. Clara Wooten, and Mrs. Mabel Wray.
Two books were received from the Weymouth Unit No. 79 of the Ameri- can Legion Auxiliary in memory of their past presidents, Mrs. Edna Warren and Mrs. Mary K. Haviland, and the boys and girls of the Pond School and the Pratt School gave books to the children's library. Forty-seven books were given anonymously.
The trustees also wish to take this opportunity to thank other public libraries and the various government departments for their publications, and the following organizations:
The American Legion
B'nai B'rith
Christian Science Publishing Company
Chrysler Corporation
Cities Service Company
Consumers' Union of the United States
Disabled Veterans of the World War
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
Human Events Association
Labor's Non-Partisan League Loyal Order of Moose
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company
Morrow Publishing Company
National Association of Manufacturers
National Physician's Committee National Ski Association Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company
Southern New England Book and Bible House
Standard Oil Company of New York
State Street Trust Company Veteran's of Foreign Wars Wamsutta Mills
The Town of Weymouth
The Weymouth Historical Society Willys-Overland Motors, Inc.
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STATISTICAL REPORT OF THE TUFTS LIBRARY
1947
Date of founding
1879
Population served (Federal census 1940)
23,868
Population served (State census 1945)
27,957
Assessed valuation of the Town
$53,592,058.00
Total number of agencies consisting of
Main Library
1
Branches
2
Deposit Stations
4
Schools
13
Number of days open during the year
302
Number of hours per week open for lending and reading
66
INCREASE
Adult
Juvenile
Total
Number of volumes at beginning of year
48,666
14,458
63,124
Number of volumes added in 1947
1,731
925
2,656
Number of volumes withdrawn
886
147
1,033
Total number of volumes December 31, 1947
49.511
15,236
64,747
USE
Number of volumes of non-fiction loaned for home use
28,850
30,800
59,650
Number of volumes of fiction loaned for home use
79,819
37,456
117,275
Total number of loans
108,669
68,256
176,925
REGISTRATIONS
Number of new borrowers registered dur- ing 1947
863
590
1,453
Total number of borrowers December 31, 1947
5,816
2,779
8,595
Number of newspapers currently received
6
Number of periodicals currently received
136 titles
202 copies
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TUFTS LIBRARY BOOK CIRCULATION IN 1947
Fiction
Non Fiction
Total
Grand Total
THE TUFTS LIBRARY
Adult
27,415
16,280
43,695
Juvenile
16,698
7,533
24,231
Total
44,113
23,813
67,926
67,926
NORTH WEYMOUTH BRANCH
Adult
21,542
5,473
27,015
Juvenile
8,642
9,059
17,701
Total
30,184
14,532
44,716
44,716
EAST WEYMOUTH BRANCH
Adult
18,323
5,060
23,383
Juvenile
6,454
7,515
13,969
Total
24,777
12,575
37,352
37,352
WEYMOUTH HEIGHTS STATION
Adult
3,192
633
3,825
Juvenile
1,248
1,431
2,679
Total
4,440
2,064
6,504
6,504
LOVELL'S CORNER STATION
Adult
3,939
522
4.461
Juvenile
1,861
2,341
4,202
Total
5,800
2,863
8,663
8,633
NASH'S CORNER STATION
Adult
2,062
358
2,420
Juvenile
1,313
1,610
2,923
Total
3,375
1,968
5,343
5,343
POND PLAIN STATION
Adult
3,346
524
3,870
Juvenile
1,240
1,311
2,551
Total
4,586
1,835
6,421
6,421
TOTALS
Adult
79,819
28,850
108,669
Juvenile
37,456
30,800
68,256
Total
117,275
59,650
176,925
176,925
220
THE FINANCIAL REPORT OF THE TUFTS LIBRARY FOR THE YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 1947
Salaries and Wages
$21,404.16
Books and Periodicals
3,806.62
Service to Stations
549.27
Binding Books
817.25
Fuel
632.97
Light
421.86
Maintenance of Building
2,531.31
Other Expenses
1,249.77
$31,413.21
North Weymouth Branch:
Salaries and Wages
$3,304.30
Rent
1,065.00
Books and Periodicals
883.07
Fuel
172.25
Light
29.90
Maintenance of Building
139.32
Transportation of Books
51.00
Sundries
251.46
$5,896.30
East Weymouth Branch:
Salaries and Wages
$3,116.59
Rent
1,200.00
Books and Periodicals
984.68
Light
53.68
Maintenance of Building
306.06
Transportation of Books
51.00
Sundries
20.58
$5,732.59
Total Expended
$43,042.10
Balance to 1948 Account
175.00
Balance to Treasury
385.91
Total
$43,603.01
Appropriation Account
$42,800.45
Income from Other Sources:
Joseph E. Trask Fund
310.10
Augustus J. Richards Fund
125.00
Arthur E. Pratt Fund
75.00
Susannah Hunt Stetson Fund
62.50
William H. Pratt Fund
55.96
Tufts Fund - Books
50.00
Tufts Fund - Reading Room
50.00
Tirrell Donation
25.00
Francis Flint Forsyth Fund
25.00
Alida M. Denton Fund
14.00
Charles Henry Pratt Fund
10.00
Total
$43,603.01
Emerson R. Dizer, Town Accountant
January 15, 1948
221
Annual Report
of the
School Committee
55
WE
SSET 1622
VINCERE
MASSACHUS
SETTS
.1635.
635
WEYMOUTH, MASSACHUSETTS
1947
WEYMOUTH SCHOOL COMMITTEE
Joseph W. Mahoney, Chairman Mrs. Arthur R. Taylor, Secretary
Clayton W. Nash
19 West Street, South Weymouth 90
Harold A. Spalding, M. D.
875 Main Street, South Weymouth 90 Joseph W. Mahoney 21 Pierce Court, North Weymouth 91 William F. Shields 41 Glendale Street, Weymouth 88
Wallace H. Drake, M. D. 88 Sea Street, North Weymouth 91
Mrs. Arthur R. Taylor
44 Tower Avenue, South Weymouth 90
Term expires March, 1948 Wey. 9-0740 Term expires March, 1948 Wey. 9-1770
Term expires March, 1949 Wey. 9-0650
Term expires March, 1949 Wey. 9-1610
Term expires March, 1950 Wey. 9-0450
Term expires March, 1950 Wey. 9-2354
ADMINISTRATION
Elmer Stephens Mapes, Superintendent of Schools 608 Bridge Street, North Weymouth 91
Wey. 9-3518
OFFICE
Weymouth High School 89 Middle Street, East Weymouth 89
Wey. 9-1460
Helen G. Tonry, Secretary 79 Chard Street, East Weymouth 89 Wey. 9-0966
Myrtle L. Rice, Assistant Secretary 56 Aster Circle, Weymouth 88
Wey. 9-1534-M
Kathleen W. Weir, Assistant Secretary 27 Fore River Avenue, North Weymouth 91 Wey. 9-0927-W
Office Hours: 8.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. on all school days; 9.00 a.m. to 10.00 a.m. every weekday, except Saturday, when schools are not in session; at other times by appointment.
SCHOOL CALENDAR 1947-1948
First Term: Opens September 3 - Closes December 23 (noon)
Second Term: Opens January 5 - Closes February 20
Third Term: Opens March 1 - Closes April 16 Fourth Term: Opens April 26 - Closes June 17 (noon)
Holidays: Columbus Day, Armistice Day, Thanksgiving and day following, Good Friday, and Memorial Day
Opening Day for 1948-1949: September 8, 1948
225
"NO SCHOOL" SIGNAL
All "No School" signals are sounded on fire alarm box 222 (three rounds), and are interpreted according to the following schedule:
7.15 a.m. No school all day
All schools
7.45 a.m. No school all day
Grades I through VIII
11.30 a.m. No afternoon session Grades I through VIII
In addition to the fire alarm signal, announcement will be made over radio stations WEEI, WNAC, and WJDA whenever possible.
GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
Meetings of the Committee
Regular meetings of the School Committee are held on the first Tues- day of each month at the High School Building at 8.00 p.m.
Entrance Age
No child shall be admitted to school in September unless he has reached the age of five years on or before the first day of April preceding.
A birth certificate is required for entrance to the first grade.
Children entering for the first time will be admitted only during the first two weeks of school.
Vaccination
No child shall be allowed to enter the first grade without a certificate of successful vaccination.
Employment Certificates
Employment certificates, educational certificates, and newsboys' badges are issued at the office of the Superintendent of Schools in the High School Building from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. every weekday, except Saturday.
All persons must make personal application and present a birth certifi- catê.
REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE
To the Citizens of Weymouth:
The School Committee submits its report to you for 1947 together with the Annual Report of our Superintendent, Mr. Elmer S. Mapes. This has been a particularly busy year in the School Department. The building program on which we have been working for several years has been brought much closer to a definite beginning by the submission of a final report on the survey being made by Dr. William K. Wilson, Supervisor, Division of Buildings and Grounds for the State Education Department of New York. Dr. Wilson's report, which will soon be printed in full for the study of any one who is interested, is comprehensive and factual. It proves conclusively that our present school buildings will be inadequate to house the number of Weymouth children of school age for whom we shall be responsible. According to the most conservative estimates that Dr. Wilson could find, the population of Weymouth will grow to 36,000 by 1962. Our present school population is 4,816 and twelve years from now, according to this re- port, it will be about 9,000. Dr. Wilson's report recommends additions to the Adams, the Pratt, the Nevin, the Humphrey, and the Pond Schools; new junior high schools in the south, north, and central parts of the town;
226
and two new buildings for the elementary grades, probably in the Home- stead Avenue district of Weymouth Landing and the Union Street area in South Weymouth.
This work should be started in 1948 and continue until about 1956. As our school population at the present time is 4,816 and will probably grow to 9,000, between 125 and 130 new classrooms will be needed to house the additional students. We sincerely hope that we shall be able to provide educational facilities for all the Weymouth pupils and we shall need the cooperation of every interested person in Weymouth to accomplish this purpose. The School Committee has not forgotten the taxpayer. We will do everything possible to see that the cost of this program is kept at a minimum consistent with good school buildings.
A great deal was heard in 1947 about school busses and transportation in general. At the beginning of the school year in September 1947, we had a contract with the Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway Company which was then transporting the children in North Weymouth. The Company was doing the work at that time for $45. a day and asked for an increase to $54. We signed a contract with them at that time for four months taking us to January 1, 1948. The Lovell Bus Lines, Inc. were transporting the rest of the school children and had been doing this work for thirty cents a mile. In September of 1947, they asked for an increase to forty cents a mile. We finally came to an agreement with them for thirty-eight cents a mile for the balance of the year with a further increase to forty cents a mile if we signed a contract with them on January 1, 1948.
The Lovell Bus Lines, Inc. were giving us unsatisfactory service as can be seen by the fact that during the month of November 1947 the busses were late twenty-two times and failed to arrive at all three times. During the month of December 1947, which was a short school month, they were late twenty-four times and failed to run a trip seven times. It was impos- sible to run our school system properly with this lack of good service and, therefore, the School Committee decided that a change was necessary. We had proposals from three companies: the Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway Company, Fred Coyle of Weymouth, and the South Shore Bus Lines, Inc. The price submitted by the Eastern Massachusetts Street Rail- way Company was $46,000. a year. The Committee decided that this price was too high as it was $52,000. more for a three-year period than we finally agreed upon with the South Shore Bus Lines, Inc. The prices submitted to us by Mr. Coyle and Mr. Manning, President of the South Shore Bus Lines, Inc., were about the same. The latter company was awarded the contract at $30,000. for the first year and $28,000. for the second and third years. The decision was made in their favor because the Committee was assured by this company that public carrier service would be provided if the town officials asked for it. The School Committee felt that no decision should be made which might leave a substantial part of the Town of Weymouth without transportation. As this report is being written, the new company has been in operation for one week and although weather conditions have been very severe, its service has been satisfactory.
There are many other phases of School Department activity which we are sure would be of interest to the citizens of Weymouth. A number of these will be discussed by our Superintendent in his report.
227
The budget for 1948 is herewith submitted together with the amounts spent in 1947:
Account Classification
Expenditures 1947
1948
Administration
$19,707.37
$20,625.00
Teachers' Salaries
516,310.21
559,984.00
Supplies
18,215.61
20,800.00
Textbooks
14,034.94
14,500.00
Health
8,824.33
10,250.00
Transportation
29,888.10-
30,400.00
Support of Truants
334.00
312.00
Tuition
1,363.71
1,540.00
Janitors
48,859.96
49,740.00
Fuel
16,207.75
19,774.00
Light, Power, Water
6,979.81
6,800.00
Maintenance
61,047.83
71,875.00
Other Expense
1,210.55
1,315.00
Day Household Arts
7,405.01
5,900.00
Day Industrial
59,513.92
83,324.00
Evening School Program
1,575.79
2,970.00
Part-time Apprenticeship School
567.45
2,569.00
Traveling Expense:
Out of state
116.97
250.00
In state
146.07
200.00
War Veterans Retirement
1,350.00
2,550.00
1947 Expenditures
$813,659.38
1948 Estimates
$905,678.00
CREDITS
The sums listed below are due the Town and are not credited to the School Department appropriation. Therefore, for the purpose of determining net cost of schools to the Town, the amounts listed below should be de- ducted from the total expenditures.
TOTAL EXPENDITURES
$813,659.38
Credits
State Reimbursement:
Teachers' Salaries
$34,490.00
Transportation
2,060.00
Day Household Arts*
4,300.61
Day Industrial*
21,693.61
Evening Practical Arts*
151.36
Evening Apprenticeship*
164.41
Tuition paid to other
localities - Trade Schools
259.27
$63,119.26
*Half cost of instruction
Tuition:
Day Industrial
$8,302.11
State Wards
1,458.20
City Wards
299.26
High School
309.77
Agricultural Dept., High School
61.56
Physically Handicapped
home instruction
28.00
$10,458.90
Estimates
228
Miscellaneous Cash Receipts : Day Industrial sales: Auto Repairs
$363.45
Cabinetmaking 110.01
Carpentry
81.89
Printing
275.83
Sheet Metal
594.47
Supplies
324.82
$1,750.47
Fines, damages, refunds; sale
of supplies, old books, etc .; telephones
573.56
$2,324.03
TOTAL CREDITS
75,902.19
TOTAL NET COST TO TOWN
$737,757.19
Respectfully submitted,
JOSEPH W. MAHONEY, Chairman ETHEL G. TAYLOR, Secretary (Mrs. Arthur R.) WALLACE H. DRAKE, M.D.
CLAYTON W. NASH
WILLIAM F. SHIELDS
HAROLD A. SPALDING, M.D.
At a meeting of the Weymouth School Committee held on December 2 the following resolution was adopted unanimously:
WHEREAS
Charles Y. Berry, Principal of the Hunt School from 1910 to 1947, was called to his eternal reward on May 22, 1947, we, of the Wey- mouth School Committee, wish to record for posterity our sincere appreciation of his works in the interests of the youth of the Wey- mouth schools.
His influence for good was impressed indelibly on all children pass- ing under his guidance and leadership for almost four decades. His leadership in things civic, and his acts of charity toward his fellow men, are legend.
Of this true disciple of altruism, we say to his bereaved family, Requiescat in pace."
REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS
To the Members of the School Committee:
I respectfully submit my third annual report as Superintendent of Schools, the sixty-second report in such a series.
Due to space limitations it is not possible to print in full the reports of all directors, supervisors, and special teachers, but excerpts of varying length are included here for the information of the general public.
1. Art
"The Weymouth Art Department has been more active than usual during 1947, due to several extracurricular activities which have grown out of the regular daily work. These events have been briefly: par- ticipation in the Scolastic Art Awards Contest, an art display and
229
demonstration at the Weymouth Fair, a box of Christmas art projects partly finished sent to England to be completed by children there, and a Christmas art sale by the High School art classes.
The regular work has been carried on throughout the year at all grade levels, and the new course of study in preliminary form has been distributed to grades 1, 2, 3, 7, and 8. This new course provides for the use of art as a tool of expression and as a help in the integration of all subjects.
The reception of this course by the teachers has been good. Some feel that the leeway in choice of specific problems makes it difficult, but others are glad of the opportunity that it offers in the integration with current subject matter that makes the art work an added tool in vital teaching of all subjects. It is our ultimate goal that art stand not for itself only, but that it help make possible more complete understanding of all learning.
Last winter a group known as the Boston Regional Comittee of Art Educators cooperated on a project of assembling and selecting paintings from all grade levels from primary through beginner adults and made up a series of Kodachrome slides. These are available for loan to mem- bers of the group and are most helpful for showing the development of picture making by age groups. Seven of the slides were made from primary and elementary work from the Weymouth schools and it gives us quite a thrill to have had some considered suitable to be included. In November we borrowed the slides for two weeks and used them in high school classes and also for a general meeting of all those teaching art in grades 1 through 8. The teachers were extremely interested and felt that it gave them a chance to see how their work stood up in the line of progress.
The physical setup of our art rooms needs much to improve them as has been noted many times before. In any new building program we hope that our workrooms in junior and senior high levels will be given careful planning. The High School is especially crowded and many suggestions will be willingly given for improvements we believe desir- able to do efficient work. The departmental teaching in the 7th and 8th grades is much better since September and we hope the resulting work will show real progress."
2. Music
HIGH SCHOOL
"The musical groups of the High School made very good progress during the past year. The band and choir both entered the State and New England Festivals and secured excellent ratings. Both of these festivals are important in that they give our pupils a chance to hear other groups of the same class perform and to hear and judge for themselves how they compare with those groups. They are also an in- centive for them to try to bring back to Weymouth a record good musi- cally and also a record of behavior which no host can find fault with. In this last, Weymouth has been commended highly.
The instrumentation of both the band and orchestra is lacking in many ways.
The choir is doing a good job and considering that it meets after school, presents a problem to some who have other activities, sports, etc. This group needs rehearsals daily to make the proper progress.
Space for small ensemble groups is needed and that space could also be used for vocal groups, thereby freeing the hall for other groups of the High School. Some two hundred and fifty students go to make up the music groups of the High School.
230
1
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
The Bicknell School has an organized group of twenty-three mem- bers with fourteen more pupils studying. They improved considerably and played at several assemblies. Eight pupils took the summer school course. These students are all in the lower grades, so the Bicknell School is assured of a larger and better band for several years. The strings are just beginning and it will take time to get a full complement. The Adams School has a small group but the transfer each year of the eighth grade to the Junior Annex tends to discourage the younger pupils. The' top people leave before they can be of much help to the others. The Pratt School has an organized group and has played for the P. T. A. and assemblies. There are fourteen members and six other pupils study- ing. The Hunt School has presented a problem but has shown some improvement this year. There is considerable interest but the lack of instruments has held many back. This lack seems to be more prevalent at the Hunt School. The Nevin School has played for P. T. A. assem- blies, basketball, rallies, and field day. This group numbers twenty- four members. The Pond School orchestra increased last fall to twenty- three members. We have fourteen violin pupils and two cello pupils. This group helped to put on two music concerts at the Pond School. Most of the members are in the lower grades, so again the trend is toward a fine group for two or three years. This practice helps the younger musicians to get a grasp on the music - rhythms, tempo, etc.
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