USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Weymouth > Town annual report of Weymouth 1955 > Part 21
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9. DRIVER EDUCATION
The Driver Education Program continues to interest larger numbers of students on a voluntary basis. Although new insurance regulations are largely responsible for this, there is a growing concern among parents for organized driver education. These two factors suggest that the class-room phase of driver education should be placed in a "required-subject" status. This would enable the school to reach the relatively few (approximately fifteen per cent) who are not exposed to the most vital area of the pro- gram - that of attitude building.
A brief summary of the activities of the driver education program in both the high and vocational schools follows:
1. Students enrolled in driver education classes - 330
2. Students completing class work only - 260
3. Licenses issued at school (number of students certified in both class work and driver training) - 190
4. Number of qualified students who were not certified because of scheduling difficulties and/or lack of instructional time - 70
It is encouraging to report that Weymouth-trained drivers continue to maintain an impressive record of driving safety.
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10. AGRICULTURE
The opening of school in September 1955 showed a total enrollment of 45 students divided according to classes as follows:
Seniors
13 8
Sophomores 12
Juniors
Freshmen 12
The above students may be geographically located as follows:
South Weymouth
14
Quincy 5
East Weymouth 9
Hanover
1
Weymouth 6
Hull
1
North Weymouth
2
Rockland 1
Hingham
6
The following table will show the amount of labor and the value re- ceived for the work done the past year - October 1, 1954 to October 1, 1955:
Hours of Labor
Value Received
Boys
Average
Average
Reporting
Total
per boy
Total
per boy
34*
43.545
1,280 hrs.
$26,507.07
$779.61
The 34 boys mentioned above (*) worked on 10 farm or agricultural enterprises in Vermont, 8 in Weymouth, 7 in Hingham, 3 in Abington, 2 each in Quincy Hanover, and New Hampshire. These farms and agricul- ture enterprises included 13 dairy farms, 9 greenhouse establishments, 3 nurseries, 3 poultry farms, 2 dairy-poultry farms, 2 landscaping (commer- cial), 1 landscaping (small estates), and 1 maple sugar bush in Vermont.
11. SCHOOL LIBRARIES
We now have four school libraries, namely at Weymouth High School, which has existed for many years; at South Junior High School. starting in 1951, at Bicknell Junior High School, starting in 1954, and at Central Junior High School starting in September, 1955. These libraries are in- tended to be focal points and materials centers for their individual schools. Those in the junior high schools call on Tufts Library for books which they do not have but need.
In addition, these libraries serve as cultural centers and encourage & love of reading for its own sake. Exhibits from the Children's Museum in Boston are regularly displayed for two-week periods at the High School and at Central Junior High School, less often at Bicknell and South Junior High Schools because of space problems.
Seventh grade classes in all three junior high schools receive instruc- tion in the use of the library, being assigned there weekly. This procedure is reviewed by eighth grade classes. Subject teachers in all junior high grades schedule their classes in the library at the beginning of a unit of work to acquaint the pupils with the available materials. By these steps, pupils are taught to help themselves and to feel at home in the library.
High School teachers bring their classes to the library for research on papers. Bibliographies and materials go to teachers in the classroom. The teachers send titles of books they think should be added to the library. The English department and the librarian recently compiled a new read- ing list. The cooperation and interest on the part of the teachers makes for the best possible use of the resources of the library.
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In each library, students assist the librarian by doing many things which make for good library service to the school. They stamp outgoing books and their cards, make cards, prepare books for the shelves, send overdue notices, mend books, place returned books where they belong, and so on. These student assistants have clubs in most of the schools. At South Junior the Library Staff members entertained the Librarians and Staff members from school libraries in nearby towns. They also visited school libraries in Scituate, Hingham and Quincy.
Statistics:
School
Number of books
Added 1955
Borrowed from Tufts
Total Circulation
Weymouth High
5414
262
10,590
South Junior
3180
460
422
13,397
Bicknell Junior
678
316
650
10,781
Central Junior
1011
1011
400
362
Certificate reading is being done by many junior high school pupils, stimulated by book reviews, exhibits and posters provided by art classes.
Our libraries serve often as the location for meetings, receptions, teas and other social and business events, usually by teachers' groups but also on occasion by school building committees and groups of pupils. A univer- sity extension course in history made use of one library.
12. EVENING SCHOOLS
Our Evening Schools, with some minor changes continued about as usual in 1955. Registrations were more numerous than ever before, yet we have one less class in each of two of the regular practical arts offerings. We have added one class each in Millinery and Upholstery, which are the first classes to be held in our new Central Junior High School. We have a waiting list in Beginning Clothing and also another waiting list, in Up- holstery and a third in Woodworking.
Exhibitions of work done in Practical Arts classes were held after classes closed in March. At South Junor High, it took place in the gym- nasium on April 4. At the High School it was again held in the cafeteria on April 5. A surprisingly large number of people attended these exhibi- tions. Style shows by members of the Clothing classes were probably the main attraction, but there was also much fine furniture, many beautiful hooked rugs, much attractive decorated ware, and many lovely products of the fabric painting classes.
Registration for the classes starting in October took place the evening of Thursday, September 15, 1955, at Weymouth High School. A total of 821 people registered then or later. Registration for Rug Hooking and Tray Painting was such that one less class of each subject was established than we had last year. In Beginning Clothing, registration was heavy in South Weymouth and a group had to be placed on the waiting list; these people could have been placed in class had they lived near the High School, where we have one less Beginning Clothing class than last year.
A drawing was held to determine the order in which people on the Clothing and Woodworking waiting lists would be called in the event of vacancies this year. All those on the Upholstery waiting list are late reg- istrants.
For the second year, we have a class in Adult Civic Education. The class is smaller than it was last year, but serves a real need for those en-
286
rolled. Last year's class had seven persons taking the tests for citizenship; all seven succeeded in passing them and have become American citizens.
Assignments to classes are as follows:
WEYMOUTH HIGH SCHOOL
Advanced Clothing 23, Fabric Painting 29, Foods 12, Rug Hooking 36, Tray Painting 32, Woodworking 22, Office Machines 54, Beginning Short- hand 28, Typewriting 61, Adult Civic Education 7, Beginning Clothing 25, Wood Refinishing 26, Advanced Shorthand 17.
BICKNELL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Beginning Clothing 23, Advanced Clothing 26.
CENTRAL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Beginning Clothing 24, Millinery 11, Upholstery 24.
SOUTH JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Beginning Clothing 25, Advanced Clothing 22, Tray Painting 19, Wood- working 24, Rug Hooking 24, Wood Refinishing 12.
The Evening Vocational School includes three classes which consist of 18 in the Carpentry Course, 25 in the Diversified Related Course, and 16 in the Trade Extension Course in Sheet Metal Drafting and Shop Mathe- matics.
It is heartening to visit our evening classes and to see the enthusiasın of the large number of women and smaller number of men in their several undertakings. They get much pleasure and produce results of which they are justly proud. Those in our commercial and vocational classes improve their job skills and job opportunities.
287
School Building Program
Annual reports in recent years have treated in some detail the progress of the school building program listing the number of buildings and addi- tions erected and the annual cost of the building program as the serial bonds payments are made over the next twenty years. This report will treat the future problem in a more generalized way.
The Town has now completed the program originally recommended by Dr. William K. Wilson in his report submitted to the School Commit- tee in January 1948 and the supplementary report made by Dr. Wilson ja January of 1953. The first construction was begun in April of 1949. Six new buildings, an addition to one of the new elementary schools and addi- tions to six old buildings have been completed and occupied as of October 31st, 1955. This construction has provided 79 elementary classrooms and three junior high schools with a pupil capacity of 2,300.
We now have 9,001 pupils enrolled and for the first time in a number of years all pupils are attending school for a full session. With the opening of the Central Junior High School in September, all 7th, 8th, and 9th grade pupils are housed in the three Junior High Schools and the High School and Vocational School have only three upper years of the old four year high school. There are three vacant elementary classrooms, accommoda- tions for a further junior high enrollment increase of 285 pupils, and ca- pacity in the high school for a future increase of nearly 300 pupils. In September 1956, however, there will be a shortage of eleven elementary classrooms and it will be necessary to place twice that number or twenty-twc elementary classes on double sessions. If funds for the erection of the new elementary school on the East Weymouth playground are voted at the Special Town Meeting to be held on January 23rd, ten of these classes can resume full sessions in the spring of 1957 upon the completion of the new school.
The Shaw School Replacement Building Committee have selected an architect and they are now working on the plans for this 12-classroom school which, it is hoped, will be ready for occupancy in September 1957. This Committee also has the assignment for selecting a site on which would be located a replacement for the Center "Portable" School.
With the opening of three new buildings in the fall of 1955 and the completion of the enlarged Wilson program, the School Committee de- cided that the time had come for a further detailed and comprehensive study and report on the probable further increases in enrolment over the next ten years and recommendations for a future building program to meet these predicted needs. The School Committee appointed a Citizens' Advisory and Study Committee of 19 members made up of former or pres- ent School Building Committee members and Appropriation Committee members who signified a willingness to serve on such a committee. These men were selected because it was felt that their experiences with school building problems made them well qualified to study future needs and to make recommendations for meeting these. needs.
It is hoped that the Study Committee will make its report in two stages, (1) an interim report on the immediate, pressing elementary school problems and (2) a final report covering later elementary school needs and the best solution for housing future increases in junior high and high school enrolments, including added facilities for the Vocational School.
Tentative estimates of enrolments, which are undoubtedly conserva- tive, were furnished the Study Committee as follows: elementary enrol-
288
ment in 1960, 6,500 to 6,800; junior high enrolment in 1963, 3,400; senior high and vocational enrolment in 1966, 3,050.
Hull Tuition Pupils
The School Committee unanimously voted on November 1st to provide accommodations for the school year 1956-1957 for the sophomore and junior classes who are being evicted from the Hingham High School. Hull has started construction of a new High School which should be opened by September 1957.
Due to the removal of all 9th grade pupils from the High School, we will have room for these pupils during the next school year. The estimated high school enrolment in September 1956 is 1,175 and in September 1957, 1,365. The estimated number of Hull pupils to be accommodated is 130. It is evident that in providing teachers, textbooks, etc. for these Hull pupils we shall be merely anticipating by one year 130 of the 190 increase ex - pected by 1957.
Based on an estimated tuition rate of $390.00 and an average member- ship of 120 Hull pupils, we can expect an income of about $47,000.00. The estimated cost to provide teachers, textbooks, and supplies for these pupils is $26,000.00 The Town can expect a "profit" of at least $20,000.00 on the arrangement. The profit motive, however, was not the basis for the School Committee's action. We temporarily have the room, 130 pupils were lacking a place to attend school.
The Future Supply of Teachers and Teachers' Salaries
The quality and standards of a school system depend primarily on the quality and standards of the teachers who carry on the day to day instruction in the classrooms. Good school buildings with modern facilities provide the proper environment for good teaching, an adequate supply of textbooks and teaching materials is advantageous, and sufficient and com- petent supervision aid the teaching process. These are in a sense all tools that help the good teacher do a better job, just as the proper tools and working environment make it possible for the skilled craftsman or me- chanic to work efficiently and produce a high quality product. But in both cases, the end product depends primarily on the training and competency of the craftsman.
Much has been said and written in recent years about the teacher shortage problem. It very definitely exists in Massachusetts and the na- tion. In this state to my knowledge, no classroom has gone unstaffed be- cause of the lack of a teacher. But the quality of the teaching that takes place in many classrooms in many school systems throughout the State has suffered in recent years by the inability to find and employ qualified, capable teachers. Obviously, the school system that pays salaries at least equal to, or still better, slightly above its neighbors, is in a better bargain- ing position to secure the best of the teacher supply available.
Well qualified and able teachers are usually interested in the reputa- tion and standards of a school system and the morale of its teaching staff, as well as the salary paid. If relatively high salaries have been paid over the years and if teachers have been given responsibilities and made to feel that they are part of a working team, then high morale will prevail, the school system will be rated relatively high, and the highly qualified and talented teacher will be more likely to accept an appointment in the system with a good record and the good reputation. Information about a school system's reputation spreads largely by word of mouth. Teachers
289
talk to their friends in other school systems or to their younger school mates who are still in college. It is as essential then, to pay sufficiently high salaries to an existing staff of teachers if a school system hopes io attract the top quality in new teachers, as it is to pay relatively high be- ginning salaries.
The teacher shortage has been serious the last seven or eight years. particularly at the elementary level. All indications are that it may be still more serious in the next ten years, particularly at the high school level Our own high school teaching force, for example, will have to be more than doubled. A study recently published by the Fund for the Advancement of Education, established by the Ford Foundation, estimates that in the next ten years, one-half of the graduates of the universities and colleges will need to enter teaching to meet the demand; in the last three years only one-fifth of the graduates have become teachers. The same study predicts that the total teaching force must expand more in the next ten years than it did in the past thirty-five years.
The principals and supervisors of our new Junior High Schools, I be- lieve, would agree that these three new schools are staffed with 84 capable, conscientious and enthusiastic teachers, all well prepared for the sub- jects they are teaching. Sixty-one of these instructors are new to the Wey- mouth schools in the last five years. The problem of recruiting these teachers was a big one, and a great deal of time was spent in an attempt to secure the best possible teachers. If our salaries had been slightly lower in this five-year period, the task of recruitment would have been doubly hard and the results in the competency of the teaching staffs would have been lower.
The salary levels paid Weymouth's teachers in the next ten years must be maintained at a level comparable to the whole metropolitan area if we are to continue to recruit fully prepared, experienced and capable teachers for our growing high school, as well as for the growth and re- placement needs in the junior high and elementary schools.
How Weymouth's average salaries have compared in the last fourteen years with the average salaries in the State is shown in the table below. Can anyone seriously believe that Weymouth is overpaying its teachers when the average annual salary is only $76.00 higher than the State average?
State Average Teachers' Salaries and Weymouth Average Teachers' Salaries Compared 1941-1954
School Year
School Year
1941-1942
State
$229 higher
1948-1949
State
$93
higher
1942-1943
State
140
1949-1950
State
39
1943-1944
Weymouth
29
"
1950-1951
Weymouth
10
"
1944-1945
Weymouth
38
"
1951-1952
Weymouth
41
1945-1946
State
45
"
1952-1953
Weymouth
66
1946-1947
State
66
1953-1954
Weymouth
126
1947-1948
Weymouth
6
,
1954-1955
Weymouth
76
1956 Budget
The estimates for the 1956 School Budget will be found on pages 272-273-274 following the report of the School Committee.
The appropriation required is 15 per cent greater than in 1955. An increase in the enrolment of 650 pupils, the opening of three new schools,
290
and the assignment of 65 per cent of the school enrolment in new build- ings, or buildings with new additions, has increased the costs. For example, last year over 2,000 pupils were housed in the High and Vocational Schools with the seventh and eighth grade pupils on double sessions. This year the High School plant has about 1,400 pupils, with approximately the same overhead and operating costs, and the overhead and operating costs of the new Central Junior High School, with 950 pupils, has been added to the budget.
ANALYSIS OF FACTORS MAKING UP INCREASE IN 1956 BUDGET FOR INSTRUCTIONAL SALARIES *IN EXCESS OF 1955 BUDGET
1. Salaries payable for 12 months in 1956 instead of 4 months in 1955:
(a) for 40 additional teachers, September 1, 1955 $94,866.00
(b) for step-up increases, September 1, 1955 10,433.00
(c) for master's degrees and 20 years' experience increases, September 1, 1955 2,100.00
(d) for general increases September 1, 1955 of $125.00 for 351 teachers, principals, etc. 29,250.00 $136,649.00
2. For 30 additional teachers, supervisors, etc., September 1, 1956 39,983.00
3. For an additional part-time home visiting teacher, January 1, 1956 2,400.00
4. For increased costs of special payments: coaching, sick leave, penmanship, and principals of schools on double sessions 6,085.00
5. For increases provided in salary schedule; viz., step-ups, masters, etc., September 1, 1956
12,150.00
6. For special increases to principals, directors and supervisors, September 1, 1956 333.00
7. For general increases effective September 1, 1956 31,467.00
$229,067.00
Actual increase in instructional salary budget for 1956 over 1955 ** $227,416.00
* Does not include Vocational School salaries
** Because of the changes in teaching staffs, it is not feasible to make ar. exact comparison of salaries from one year to the next.
A further analysis of the above chart shows that of the total in- crease in instructional salaries, $137,249.00 or 60% was due to additional teachers, necessitated by increased enrolments; $6,085.00 or 2.6% was due to added costs of special payments caused by the increased number of pupils or teachers; $24,683.00 or 10.8% to annual increases provided by the salary schedule; and $61,050.00 or 26.6% was due to general salary increases.
It is estimated that the receipts which will be paid the Town in 1956 as State reimbursements for school expenditures, for tuition, and for sales and damages will total $413,775.00. This is approximately $47,000.00 more than was received in 1955 and it will help materially in paying the in- creased cost of school support in 1956.
In 1955 Weymouth received $60,161.00 in federal funds under Public Law 874, based on the number of pupils attending our schools whose parents either lived on or were employed on federal property. We will
291
receive an additional payment in 1956 of $2,850.00 on the 1955 entitlement. Our 1956 entitlement will be about $63,000.00. We will definitely receive at least $46,000.00 of this amount, and the balance will be paid if Congress makes a supplementary appropriation.
This federal money by State law is available for expenditure by the School Committee without re-appropriation by the Town Meeting. The 1955 School Budget was reduced by $15,087.04, the amount of the unen- cumbered balance in the 1954 Federal fund. In accordance with an agree- ment with the Appropriation Committee, the School Committee is return- ing a balance of $41,795.74 to the Excess and Deficiency account in lieu of the expenditure of $41,775.07 from federal funds during 1955. (See the report on page 274.)
Our cost per pupil for current day school expenditures continues low among the large communities of the State. Of the forty-seven cities and towns in Massachusetts with a population of 20,000 or more, only six have a lower per pupil cost than Weymouth, and four of these are only from two to six dollars less than Weymouth. If Weymouth had spent as much per pupil as the State average, our school appropriation would have needed to be increased $207,035.00; if we had spent as much as the average for the cities, the amount of the increase needed would be $285,013.00.
The table on page 314 shows the percentage distribution of expendi- tures for the last five years. Note, that notwithstanding the rapid growth in our school system with all the changes due to the opening of new build- ings, the addition of many new teachers, the increase in the number of pupils transported, the changes in the quantity and prices of all types of materials and supplies used in the schools and in the cost of fuel, light, telephones, etc., that the relative amounts spent on various divisions of the budget remains relatively stable. It will also be noted that the per- centage of the budget expended for salaries has fluctuated either just above or just below 80% in all five years.
New Administrative Offices
The School Committee is sponsoring an Article in the Warrant for the Annual Town Meeting requesting an appropriation for the purchase of the old Telephone Exchange building on Middle Street near the High School, to be used as a School Administration Building. The Article also requests funds to remodel and furnish the building.
The Superintendent of Schools' Office has been located in the High School since it was built in 1898. When the first addition to the High School was built in 1924, new rooms for the School Committee and the Superintendent's office were provided. These quarters have now become altogether too small. A new office for the Director of Instruction and her assistant and secretary was partitioned off the Agricultural room five year's ago. If new quarters are not secured, it will be necessary to take over an- other high school classroom this summer for additional office space. Within two or three years' time, the increased enrolment in the high school will demand the utilization of all rooms for instructional purposes.
The question of more adequate offices for the administrative and su- pervisory staff has been under consideration by the School Committee for some time. The Superintendent proposed five years ago that a separate building be erected on the high school grounds. The School Committee has deferred action because of the cost of constructing a new building. The conversion of the Jefferson School for administrative offices has alsc been considered, but this building is still needed to house elementary pupils. The location of the old Telephone building near the High School
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