USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Weymouth > Town annual report of Weymouth 1962 > Part 20
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It is essential that funds be provided for this remodeling job at the Annual Town Meeting in order that the five and one-half month pe- riod from March 15th to September 1st, when the building will be occu- pied by only 350 pupils, may be utilized for the construction work. This is a very minimum period of time to do the necessary work. In future years when the building is filled to near capacity, it would be impossible to carry on the remodeling work in the very limited two- month Summer vacation.
We now have eighteen 7th grade classes housed in six elementary buildings: the Jefferson, Hunt, Shaw, Nash, Nevin and Pond schools. When the fourth junior high school is organized in September, 1963, the Shaw School will be closed for the second time, the Jefferson School will again become an elementary buiding to help house the increasing
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enrolment in East Weymouth, and the other buildings will have some room (8 classrooms) to accommodate future elementary growth. The School Committee has designated the ney junior high as the East Junior High School, and with the reorganitaion of the junior high attendance districts, it will serve the needs of 7th. 8th, and 9th grade pupils in East Weymouth and the Pratt School elementary district.
Our extensive school building program is nearing completion. Since 1949, when the additions to the Adams and Pratt schools were started, Weymouth has built eleven new schools (8 elementary, 2 jun- jor high, and 1 high school), two additions to new elementary schools, and seven additions to older buildings including the addition to the Bicknell School to convert it into a junior high school. These twenty projects have cost approximately $14,700,000 excluding interest cost. School bond issues have totaled $13.073,000. The amount of State re- imbursement available over a thirty-two year period, 1958 through 1981, to defray a portion of the cost will be about $5,000,000.
Payment on the principal of the bonds in 1962 was $657,000, and interest payments were $238,917.50, for a total cost of $895,917.50. Deducting the annual State Grant payments of about $221,700, the net cost to the Town was $674,227 or about $5.55 on the tax rate. This an- nual cost will decrease each year as interest payments decrease because of the reduction of the balance of serial bonds outstanding. The Adams and Pratt addition bonds were paid off in 1959. The Johnson School bonds will be paid off in 1966, the South Junior High, the Bicknell Jun- ior High, the Homestead School and the first Pond addition in 1970, the James Humphrey School addition in 1971 and the Nevin School addition in 1972. The total hond issues paid off by 1972 will total $3,643,000, and an additional $3,320,000 of school bonds will be paid in full in 1974.
TEACHERS AND THEIR SALARIES
The Teachers' Association presented to the School Committee a salary schedule proposal which would have increased minimum salaries $200 at all levels, provided for three $300 increments at the top of the schedule, plus a $300 increment after 20 years of service, and an in- crease from $300 to $400 in the differential between the bachelor's level and the master's level, and also between the master's level and the 30- hours beyond the master's level. This request would have upped maxi- mum salaries $500, $600, and $700, and supermaximum salaries after twenty years $600, $700, and $800. The cost of this proposal would have been $205,500 for a full year and $68,500 in 1963 for one-third of a year.
In the past, for the sake of brevity, we have been inclined to quote bachelor's degree salaries only in discussing salaries. This is no longer possible, if a true picture is to be presented, as 198 or 40% of our present instructional staff of 493 have master's degrees or thirty hours' credit beyond the master's.
The teachers' representatives stated that they were primarily in- terested in raising the maximum salaries that long-time career teachers could expect to attain and in bringing Weymouth's maximum salaries more nearly in line with those in the 65 cities and towns in the State which presently have higher maximums than Weymouth.
The School Committee decided that with the passage of the new minimum salary law by the 1962 Legislature, increasing the mandated
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minimum by $300 with a resulting increase in minimum salaries all over the State, it was essential to keep our relative position at the lower levels of the schedule in order to be in a competitive position to secure well-prepared, competent teachers who rank well up in their college classes. Some of the School Committee members were sympathetic to the need for higher mximums, but felt that cost wise it was not feasible to grant big increases in maximums and to raise differentials between levels and at the same time vote sizable increases in minimum salaries. Consequently, they voted to increase the schedule $300 at all steps and levels (see revised teachers' salary schedule) at an estimated cost of $46,700 in 1963.
We hear arguments against the continued raising of teachers' sal- aries but it should be pointed out that Massachusetts, notwithstanding annual increases in salaries over the years, has lost ground in compari- son with the other states: in 1941 we ranked second in the country, in 1961 we ranked 17th. Among the 50 cities and towns in the state with populations of 20,000 to 100,000, Weymouth ranked 16th in median sal- aries for teachers in October 1961 but dropped to 20th in rank in Octo- ber 1962. The average salaries of classroom teachers in Weymouth in- creased only $112 from October 1961 to October 1962.
Among our immediate neighbors, the minimum salaries of teach- ers with bachelor's degrees in September 1963 will be: Braintree, Hing- ham $4,900; Brockton, Cohasset, Milton, Weymouth $4,800; Marshfield, Quincy $4,750; Hull, Scituate $4,700; Abington, Hanover, Holbrook and Rockland $4,500. For teachers with master's degrees the maximum salaries in September will be: Marshfield $8,200; Milton $8,100; Brain- tree $8,000; Quincy $7,875; Hingham, Scituate $7,800; Weymouth $7,500; Brockton $7,450; Abington, Holbrook, Hull, $7,300; Cohasset $7,200; Rockland $7,100 and Hanover $6,900. A look at this listing might incline one to conclude that Weymouth teachers are not unrea- sonable when they ask for an increase in salaries for career teachers with a master's degree and long years of devoted service.
Comparison of Instructional and Salary Budgets
1962 Budget
October pay roll previous year
$2,862,660
1963 Budget $2,985,850*
Increase $123,190 158
Sick leave allowance
39,042
39,200
Special items
35,729
37,025
1,296
Additional teachers
16,300
33,800
17,500
Step up master's degrees or increments
19,509
20,284
775
General increase, September
25,037 **
47,050
22,013
$2,998,277
$3,163,209
$164,932
* Less reduction of $4,200 for replacement of five teachers, Janu- ary 1st, 1963
** Includes increased differential for principals, directors and supervisors
The allowance of $33,800 in the above table for additional teachers will provide for ten and one-half new teaching positions in the High School and High School Annex, a net of five new positions in the junior high schools, and four additional elementary positions. The additional high school teachers are needed primarily because of increased enrol-
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ments. The equivalent of one of the added teachers will be used to reduce the teaching load of department heads and one will be for a new position of developmental and speed reading. The opening of the East Junior High School requires the addition of six teachers of special subjects and one French teacher, and one French teacher is provided for South Junior High School, but this total of eight teachers is reduced to a net increase of five because it is possible to reduce the number of academic teachers by three due to the opening of the new junior high unit with its corps of special teachers. With this increase, the era of big increases in the teaching staff should be ended. From 1964 on, the increases needed should be relatively small.
THE 1963 SCHOOL BUDGET
A great deal of time is spent each year in compiling and assem- bling the necessary facts and figures for the School Committee's con- sideration in determining the financial needs of a growing school sys- tem. The man hours of work that are spent in the preparation of a detailed budget are necessary in order to arrive at as nearly an accu- rate estimate as possible for each item. If the amount budgeted for each item were determined without sufficient time and study and then estimated high enough to be on the safe side, the total amount of a budget could grow by leaps and bounds.
Upon adoption, a budget becomes a guide for expenditures throughout the year. In fact, it would be impossible to control expen- ditures in as large an operation as our schools today without a detailed and well planned budget.
This budget is $324,154 higher than last year, with $259,023 or 80% of the increase in salaries. This is an increase of 7.5%. Percent- age increases in the budget for the previous ten years have been as follows: 7.8%, 6.6%, 8.6%, 10.8%, 10.8%, 14%, 15.4%, 10.2%, 10.2%, 17.7%.
The 1963 estimates show a big increase in the costs of operation due primarily to the opening of the new high school; the 1962 appro- priation was $397,833; the 1963 budget allowance is $462,157. This account includes custodians' salaries and supplies, fuel, light and power, water, and telephones. The vocational school estimates also show a large increase due to the expanded shop program with the need for more teachers and supplies plus the vocational wing's share of the increased operating cost of the new plant; the 1962 appropriation was $185,129, the 1963 budget allowance is $221,095.
The budget under administration provides for a second full-time attendance officer starting with the school year 1963-64, to be paid from school funds. Our present attendance officer, a police detective paid by the Police Department, has been unable to give sufficient time to this work in recent years.
Each year the Appropriations Committee is furnished with an estimate of receipts that come to the Town to help offset school ex- penditures such as State aid, tuition, and miscellaneous cash receipts. A recent check of these receipts over a six-year period showed they had increased from $481,904 in 1958 to $702,477 in 1963. And curiously enough, as school budgets have gone up in amount each year, receipts
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have kept an even pace with the percentage ranging from 15 per cent to 15.7 per cent. In addition to these receipts that are subject to re- appropriation by the Town Meeting, the School Committee receives each year a number of payments from the federal government which are not subject to re-appropriation by the Town Meeting, but which are used to decrease the town appropriation needed for the support of schools. These funds totaled $153,343 in 1961, $188,626 in 1962, and an estimated $161,497 in 1963.
NEW PROGRAMS
I would like to call especial attention to the new programs and new teaching procedures which are outlined in more detail in the reports of the Director of Instruction and the Director of Audio-Visual Aids elsewhere in this report. Among these new departures are: the new modern arithmetic in the elementary grades; modern mathematics in the junior high aud high school, with algebra introduced in the 8th grade; televised instruction continued in the elementary grades, includ- ing French in the 4th, 5th and 6th grades; instruction in French begun in the 7th grade in 1962-63, to be continued in the 8th grade in 1963-64 and the 9th grade the following year; and for junior high pupils not electing French, a developmental reading program to improve the pupil's ability to achieve at a higher level in all school subjects.
Public speaking and speech instruction was begun in the high school in the fall of 1962. This program will be required for juniors in September 1963 and it will be integrated with the English program of instruction by a team teaching arrangement. Team teaching in senior college preparatory English classes will be inaugurated in 1963 to provide smaller classes for composition work. The English lecture room in the new high school, seating 90 students, will make this new type of organization possible. The program in developmental and speed reading in the high school will be expanded and improved with the ad- dition of a second teacher.
Workshops for teachers to plan and prepare for the new elementary arithmetic program and for changes in the secondary English curriculum and in teaching procedures will be held in the summer of 1963.
Future improvements in curriculum and teaching methods and pro- cedures should result from the adoption in September 1962 of a new policy extending the responsibility of department heads in the senior high school to include the junior high school grades. In September, 1963, the teaching loads of these department heads will be reduced in' order that they may have more time for supervision. One of the primary concerns of the "Heads" will be to insure greater articulation between the junior high schools and the senior high school and to plan, with the help of the teachers in their department, for the re- duction or elimination of the repetitive teaching of the same topics at different grade levels unless it can be shown that the repetition leads to the reinforcement of learning.
CONCLUSION
I should like to express my appreciation to teachers and all mem- bers of the staff for their co-operative spirit, their work on curriculum and other committees, and their general devotion to duty. To the office
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staff, I express my thanks for their wholehearted co-operation and hard work. To the School Committee for its friendly counsel and sup- port and for its conscientious devotion to its civic responsibilities, I extend my full appreciation.
Respectfully submitted,
ELMER STEPHENS MAPES, Superintendent of Schools
SUPERVISION AND CURRICULUM CONSTRUCTION
Report of Joseph E. Killory Director of Instruction
Before submitting my first annual report, I should like to pay tribute to my predecessor, Mrs. Flora H. McGrath. Her devotion to her work combined with her boundless energy has been a credit to her and has developed educational standards for which Weymouth citizens can be grateful and proud.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE
Starting this year the various department heads in the Weymouth High School have combined with the Director of Instruction in assum- ing responsibility for curriculum development in the junior high schools. This form of organization will help make the transition from elementary to junior high to high school smoother for Weymouth students by providing a subject matter continuity from grade one through twelve.
GUIDING POLICY
It is my opinion that we should expend every effort possible to provide an up-to-date educational program for the children of Wey- mouth. We should be afraid of neither the new nor the old. We should not hesitate to be the first to try or the last to relinquish, if we are sincerely convinced of the value in either case. However, to be at either extreme continuously would indicate either educational imma- turity or educational senility. Weymouth has avoided and will con- tinue to avoid both of these positions.
SPECIALIZED PROGRAMS
: Before reporting on the specialized areas of Weymouth's educational program, I should like to comment on the excellent day-to-day work that is being done in our schools. Since we assume that the citizens of Weymouth are familiar with the work in phonics, reading, English, history, science, vocational subjects, physical education, etc., there is a tendency in a report of this type to describe only the specialized programs or new programs.
Remedial Reading is made available to children whose progress in reading is slower than we believe it should be or is slower than that of the other children, and therefore is interfering with the child's school progress. It should be emphasized that an excellent student whose
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reading is only satisfactory is in need of special help in reading as : much as the child who learns at a slower rate.
As in past years, immaturity, excessive absence, low verbal ability, and unexplained reading blocks are the major reasons enumerated by the remedial teachers for the various reading difficulties encountered by their pupils.
Children with apparent high ability who have trouble with reading are a major problem throughout the country. It is our plan to have a continuing attack on this problem of "underachieving" by using all facilities and personnel available for discovering and helping these youngsters.
Speech Correction has been continued this year with 169 children participating in this program. The major problem areas here are the articulation disorders (sound substitution, omission, or distortion) and stuttering; these account for about 85% of the cases handled by the speech therapist.
IN-SERVICE PROGRAMS
Each year it is anticipated that there will be a series of meetings for the staff to discuss and clarify various areas of teaching. This school year the topic selected was "Weymouth's Marking Policies." Six meetings were held throughout the town with fifty-five to sixty teachers at each meeting. Special emphasis was placed on the meth- ods of determining marking standards for children in selected classes. These meetings will be followed by a series of meetings at the primary, intermediate, and junior high school levels where the problems peculiar to each level will be discussed in more detail.
There will be in-service meetings for all third and fourth grade teachers in connection with modern arithmetic which is discussed in more detail under "Future Programs."
NEW PROGRAMS THIS YEAR
French has been introduced at the seventh grade and is being studied by those students who have indicated an interest and an apti- tude for it. The program started in the elementary grades with tele- vised lessons in grades four through six, and will be continued through the junior high and high school years by specialists. Two of these spe- cialists were hired this year.
Developmental Reading has also been introduced this year at the seventh grade level for those who could benefit more from it than from French. The program is designed to help pupils develop better reading and study skills, at whatever level they may have reached, by provid- ing many opportunities for supervised individual work. This program will be continued into grade eight.
Algebra is to be studied by all eighth grade students during the second half of the school year 1962-63. It will provide the opportunity for all students to investigate this subject area in order that they may understand and appreciate a more abstract use of numbers. It will also help students decide whether they wish to continue the study of this subject through their high school years.
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FUTURE PROGRAMS
Arithmetic and Higher Mathematics have been undergoing a tre- mendous change throughout the nation. These changes have led to the development of modern mathematics at the high school and college levels. They have brought about a very different approach to the study of algebra, geometry, and higher mathematics.
During the past year, We have experimented with a modern ele- mentary arithmetic program in the primary grades of three schools, and we shall expand it to all third and fourth grades next year. Mod- ern arithmetic in the elementary grades should serve two purposes: first, it should help the child learn arithmetic better by making it more meaningful; and second, it should use and develop terminology and procedures that are consistent with those used in higher mathe- matics. This is precisely what our new program will do.
Consideration is also being given to an advanced modern mathe- matics program for selected seventh grade students who have demon- strated proficiency in arithmetic from grade one to grade six. This program would provide & firm foundation for those who might be se- lected for an accelerated mathematics program in high school and would work with the "Set Theory" of modern mathematics.
Penmanship in the primary grades in Weymouth has always util- ized the cursive (writing) method rather than the manuscript (letter- ing) method. Most research indicates that lettering in the early grades will help reduce confusion in the study of reading by eliminating a "different" alphabet.
It is our plan to consider experimentation with the manuscript method in a few schools where there is an interest indicated by teach- ers and principals.
School "dropouts" have been a national problem for many years since the young people who leave school before graduating tend to lead less successful lives. An informal investigation of the relation of "dropouts" to marks has been started and it is hoped that a way may be discovered whereby the number of "dropouts" may be reduced.
GENERAL SUPERVISION
A program of making a formal visit to each classroom has been initiated. There will be follow up visits where a need for help is noted.
In closing, I should like to thank the Assistant Director of In- struction, Miss Helen G. McGovern; the School Psychologist, Miss Dor- othy E. Gallant; and the School Adjustment Counselor, Mr. John E. Riley for their help in this very involved task of helping children learn effectively.
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WEYMOUTH HIGH SCHOOL Report of Wallace L. Whittle, Principal
This year 1962 has been an extraordinary year for those who are connected with the High School. We have been anticipating the move to the new high school, with the uncertainty of when that move would be made. Because of this situation, it has been necessary to make many alternate arrangements so that the school could operate as ef- ficiently as possible regardless of the site occupied.
One of the main obstacles to overcome was the programming of , classes without sacrificing the attention to individual needs. By mov- ing the Vocational School to the new building in September, we were able to use the rooms vacated by them for the academic pupils, thus allowing the making of a program which could operate in either building. Double sessions were still necessary, but the number of soph- omores attending the afternoon session was cut to 350 while the morn- ing session had an enrollment of 1650. It was arranged for the morn- ing session to move intact to the new school and the present afternoon session to remain in the old building, but on a time schedule conform- ing as nearly as possible to the new building schedule. This arrange- ment kept to a minimum changes of teachers although it did necessi- tate some members of the staff teaching in both buildings.
I wish to congratulate and thank the pupils and teachers on the cooperative manner in which they accepted and helped to overcome the inconveniences which they encountered.
In the past, many subjects were offered for four periods per week. This year, these subjects were programmed five periods per week whenever possible. In addition, physical education is now re- quired of all pupils twice a week. The latter change is possible because of the increased capacity in the new gymnasia. While these changes were felt to be advisable, they do limit the flexibility and scope of the program, and increase the load of a majority of the pupils to a minimum of 27 periods in classes per week. The pupils, therefore, have less time to prepare their work in school and must necessarily do more studying at home if they wish to maintain the same standards.
At the time of writing, we have not moved to the new building, so it is impossible to speak of its operation from experience. We do feel that many areas have been greatly improved and look forward to increased efficiency in the operation of the school.
The various departments, under the supervision of the department heads, are working on an analysis and possible revision of the courses of study. Although all of these courses are subject to constant revi- sion, it is hoped that they can be made complete and semi-permanent by the end of this year so that they will be available for the school self-evaluation which must be done next year. The visiting committee evaluation will then follow in the Fall of 1964. These evaluations are required for accreditation of the school.
Driver Education courses have been re-introduced this year. The two high school instructors, each of who spends one-half of his time in driver education, have had full programs and are taking care of all pupils over sixteen years of age who are desirous of this training ..
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A teacher of speech and drama has been added and while this program, because of its late start, has not attracted the number of pupils that we should like, it will include next year training in public speaking for all junior pupils and those seniors who wish some train- ing in this field.
The awards in June were as follows:
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