USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Weymouth > Town annual report of Weymouth 1963 > Part 25
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U.S. Grant 144, 782. 74
N. D. E. A. 22,283. 13 G. Barden 12,385.78
$826, 943.14
TOTAL NET COST TO TOWN
$3,814, 153. 72
As noted above, State Aid totalling approximately $73, 000. 00 which was due in 1963 was not received that year.
385
FEDERAL FUNDS RECEIVED UNDER PUBLIC LAW 874
Balance from 1962
$ 158,261. 14
Receipts:
April 18, 1963 November 14, 1963
$103, 654.00 5,365.00
109,019.00 $ 267,280. 14
Plus refunds in 1963
480. 72
$ 267,760.86
144, 782. 74
Expenditures in 1963
BALANCE - January 1, 1964
$ 122, 978.12
FEDERAL FUNDS AVAILABLE FOR VOCATIONAL DEPARTMENTS IN 1964 George-Barden Fund: Distributive Education $ 4,350.00
Respectfully submitted,
EDWARD J. HOWLEY, M. D., Chairman EVELYN C. HARRINGTON (Mrs. ), Vice Chairman and Secretary
WALLACE H. DRAKE, M. D. THEODORE L. HANABURY
HENRY HOFFMAN
HAROLD B. NASH
THOMAS F. SHIELDS
386
REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS
I respectfully submit my nineteenth report as Superintendent of Schools, the seventy-eighth report since the office was established.
Excerpts from the reports of directors, supervisors and special teachers follow:
1. ART
In this, my first annual report as Director of Art, I would like to pay tribute to my predecessor, Miss Evelyn Silvester. In June of this year Miss Silvester retired after serving the youth and the community of Weymouth for forty-five years. The eternal values in art and in living which she so gently instilled in her students stemmed from a background both rich and varied. She was a teacher of whom all Weymouth may be proud.
During this year, the art department has had many changes. One was the move to the new high school with its studio-like art rooms. Furthermore, the renovation of the art room and old library in the annex into attractive and highly workable art rooms have provided the students there with the proper atmosphere in which to create.
Miss Miriam Gourley, who did an excellent job with sophomore art and with seventh grades in the elementary buildings, left in June to teach at the Woodward School. Mr. Stephen Chop was transferred from South Junior High School to the high school and Mr. Brian Doherty was transferred to the Annex from Central Junior High School. Both are fine teachers and their work at this level produces art of high quality.
The new members who were added to the staff, bringing its total to eleven, are Mrs. Ruth Barry, art teacher at East Junior High School and Junior Manual Arts; Miss Jean Beardsley, art teacher at Central Junior High School and Mr. Philip E. Dolan, art teacher at South Junior High School. The new members of our staff came highly recommended; and from your Director's observation, each one is a gifted teacher capable of carrying on the tradition so long established in our junior high art program.
It is always gratifying to have former Weymouth graduates come back to do their practice teaching. This past spring, two of our alumni, who were then juniors at the Massachusetts College of Art, successfully completed practice teaching at the elementary level. In the school year 1963-1964 five student teachers will do practice teaching at all levels.
In the 1963 Scholastic Art Awards Exhibition, Weymouth was well represent- ed. All junior highs and the high school participated and many Awards of Merit, Gold Keys and Blue Ribbons were won by our students.
In September a new course was offered to juniors and seniors with marked ability and interest in art. The new course, Advanced Art, is a five credit course taken as a fifth major. The course. includes Color and Design, Drawing and Painting in Various Media, Lettering and Commercial Design, Graphic Arts, Sculpture and Construction, Structural Design and Crafts. The crafts include Ceramics, Jewelry, Stained Glass, Glass Fusing, Enameling on Metal, Textile Printing, Weaving, Tapestry and Creative Stitchery and Wood Projects. Research
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in Art History ir ne form of a handbound book is a required project in the course. The seniors from the Advanced Art course who are attending Saturday classes at the Massachusetts College of Art are Betsey Giles, Gail Cosman, Carol Dawes, Gloria Popken, Pamela Lund, David Holbrook and John Grossi. Most of these students plan to further their art education and the experience gained in the Saturday classes is invaluable.
The immediate future calls for a three day art workshop for elementary teachers in February, 1964, and a comprehensive art exhibition to be held in conjunction with the Weymouth Teachers Association convention in the spring. The exhibition will feature the development of figure drawing from first grade through high school, the individual and his environment and the individual and his creative use of materials. The exhibition will be visual evidence of the guiding philosophy of art education that is basic to the whole art program.
2. MUSIC
Music plays an important and growing part in the educational life of Weymouth students. For some the increased opportunities mean enrichment only - enrichment through understanding and appreciation; for others, it means opened doorways to musical vocations.
The instructional program at the elementary level continues to move in the direction of a broadened scope of experiences and activities, both vocal and in- strumental. The supervisory schedule for elementary vocal music remains much the same as in other years. The classroom teachers have been greatly aided by the annotated editions of the Music For Young Americans series. It is difficult to follow and implement the revised course of study when the books are not avail- able in every classroom.
Miss Elizabeth Swist joined the music faculty in September, and has been assigned to East Junior High School. She is supervising vocal music at the Jefferson School and also brings music to the Junior Manual Arts classes periodi- cally.
More than one hundred beginner instrumental classes were taught on a weekly basis in the various elementary schools, and in addition to these classes, ensembles were organized in nearly every school to provide group experience for those students who were beyond the very beginning stages. Programs of a special or seasonal nature gave opportunity for both vocal and instrumental performances in all schools.
Two town-wide events offered musical high points to all elementary instru- mental students. The Weymouth Solo & Ensemble Festival in February attracted nearly three hundred participants, a large number of whom earned awards. The All-Town Elementary Band and Orchestra reached a new high in musical achieve- ment and also averaged close to one-hundred thirty in weekly after school attend- ance. These two annual events provide a great incentive for individual effort and study.
The junior high choruses, bands and orchestras were once again very active in both school and community programs. The assemblies, parades, P. T.A. meetings, concerts, plays, talent shows and dances at which they performed were greatly enhanced by their efforts. Each school takes great pride in the accomplish- ment of these young musicians.
388
A facility and space problem exists in the three older junior high schools. Increased enrollments, as a result of growth and expansion, are causing ex- tremely crowded conditions. Indications are that this growth will continue.
The High School Chorus, Band and Orchestra are functioning very well in the new music suite. This fine facility allows for an expanded program of music education at the high school level. Plans are under way to initiate additional course offerings in music, so that a wider range of musical study opportunities will be available.
All three groups performed at the Spring Concert which was attended by the largest audience in many years. They also took part in the District Audition Festival at North Easton, where the Chorus received an honorable mention certificate.
Members of the Chorus and Band participated in the dedication ceremonies for the new high school. The Orchestra provided suitable music for the senior play. Membership in all three groups has increased, most notably in the chorus, perhaps as a result of the "Choral Fest" held in the spring. A chorus from each junior high was invited to participate in a concert where each group presented several selections, and then joined together with the High School Chorus in a finale of nearly three hundred voices. In addition to assisting at assembly pro- grams and opening exercises, the Chorus was heard over local and Boston radio stations and at the South Shore Hospital during Christman vacation.
The High School Band was seen and heard at football games, Weymouth Teachers' Convention, junior high assemblies and at the State Audio-Visual Convention, where it was highly complimented by the Commissioner of Ed- ucation.
A large number of our students qualified by individual competitive audition for one or more of the very selective area-wide Festivals and Concerts. These special events and the number of Weymouth students participating were:
Southeast District Concert (Randolph) 19
All-State Concert (Springfield) 5
New England Solo & Ensemble Festival
(Boston) 30
New England Concert Festival (Rutland, Vt. ) 21 Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra
3
Greater Boston Junior Youth Symphony Orchestra 3
The winner of the John Philip Sousa Band Award for 1963 was Warren Smith. Scholarships for further study in music were awarded.by the Music Parents Association to Priscilla Seabury and Warren Smith.
389
3. PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND ATHLETICS
Since 1959 the Elementary Physical Education Program has concentrated its efforts on body building activities. During this time there has been a steady improvement in the physical fitness of the pupils. The Kraus Weber Test of muscular fitness has been the chief yardstick to evaluate this improvement. In 1960, 21% of the elementary school pupils failed to pass the test, whereas in 1963 only 8% failed. This is considerable improvement, but still not enough as this is a test of minimum fitness. Every child who is not physically handicapped should be able to pass the entire test. While keeping this concept of fitness in the forefront we are at the same time attempting to provide each child with those skills, both social and physical, that he will need in junior and senior high school.
The Elementary Schools Sports Program during 1963 was carried on at fourteen schools in grades five and six. The schools were divided into three divisions and the division winners during the past year were: Pond, Talbot, Pratt, McCulloch, Hunt, Pingree and Homestead. The large number of win- ners (due to first place ties) indicates a balance among most of the schools involved. For the year, the Johnson School won the trophy for the outstanding performance in all sports. Approximately 300 boys took an active part in each of the three programs of basketball, touch football and baseball. This has been the second year of Flat Tag football and greater interest, enthusiasm and enjoy- ment has been very evident since its inception.
The Junior High and High School Physical Education Program continued to follow the procedure as set up in the newly published manual prepared by this department. Copies of the manual were distributed to all principals to be used as a guide by all elementary school teachers and supervisors.
The construction of the girls' locker room facilities and showers in the East Junior High School has greatly enhanced the program at the school.
A Junior High School Hockey Program with a composite team playing in the South Shore freshman league was initiated. The four junior high schools are now playing five interscholastic sports: Football, Basketball, Baseball, Track and Hockey.
The Senior High School Physical Education Program in the past year has become a compulsory program for the first time for all students, including the Vocational School boys.
With the return to the one session plan all the athletic teams have returned to normal practice procedures. The boys' gym team and also the girls' gym team have scheduled their first interscholastic dual meets. The facilities in the new high school are being extensively used with practice being carried on each after- noon at the same time by Basketball, Wrestling, Boys' Gym Team, Girls' Gym Team, Indoor Track and Body Building.
4. GUIDANCE
The Guidance Department is now completing its twenty-first year of service to the schools of Weymouth.
390
One of the major forward steps of the 1963 fiscal year was the establishment of a guidance services center in the East Junior High and High School Annex building which formerly housed the high school and which now includes Grades 7 through 10. This center, located in the guidance offices formerly used by the high school, is fully equipped to carry on all guidance functions including the fol- lowing basic services; namely, (1) the keeping of individual student inventory records, (2) the administration of tests, (3) the collection of educational and vo- cational information and the communication of this information to students, (4) counseling, (5) educational and vocational placement, (6) the follow up of gradu- ates.
Two full-time counselors staff the East Junior-Annex guidance office. However, the number of students in this building is 1, 212, a number which is greater than the minimum established by the National Defense Education Act standards for two counseltors. The minimum ratio is 400 students to one counselor. This ratio would be achieved by the addition of a third full- time counselor and thus make this building eligible for Federal reimbursement for guidance services. The Central Junior and Bicknell Junior High Schools also have a counselor-pupil ratio which is well above the required 400 ratio.
During the past year, the number of "news" services to which the guidance department subscribes was increased from eight to ten. These services pro- vide current data on educational and vocational information, and this information is available to all students and teachers in the junior high buildings and the high School and to all other individuals in the school system and in the town. A list of these services is as follows:
Bellman Scholarships, Fellowships and Loans News Service B'Nai B'rith Vocational Services The Chronicle Careers Guidance Services The Careers, Inc. Guidance Services Lovejoy's Monthly College Guidance Digests Science Research Monthly Guidance Service Programs
The Student Admissions Center College Reports
The Guidance Information Center College Admissions .
News Reports and News Letters The Monthly Reports of the Association of College Admissions Counselors The College Entrance Board Quarterly Reviews
The above listings provide complete, comprehensive and up-to-the minute facts about colleges, occupations and scholarships. There is no duplication of material.
This past summer for the first time, a schedule was adopted which made it possible for the director to maintain regular office hours in the high school guidance office during the month of August. This is in addition to the schedule of the guidance department secretary who has been available during most of the month of August in the past. The additional working time in the summer makes it possible to organize plans and policies for the coming school year, offers opportunities for consultation about programs and courses of study with parents and students of families moving to Weymouth, and also provides more time to work on individual programs of students who have attended summer school.
391
In accordance with the State Plan of the National Defense Education Act, each student in the junior high schools and in the senior high schools has at least one counseling interview during the school year. In addition, of course, many students have more than one interview. A summary of these interviews, along with other types of conferences which were carried on during the past year in the high school guidance office, is set forth in the following: There was a grand total of 8, 231 conferences and interviews. This included 3, 154 scheduled con- ferences for which the students were asked to come and 3, 590 voluntary con- ferences which were requested by the students themselves. Since students may come to the counselors at any time and as often as they desire, these totals are tabulated on the basis of each visit made by students to the high school guidance office. The grand total of conferences also includes 565 visits from parents and 922 other conferences involving veterans, graduates, employers, college admissions officers and others.
Last September, the fifteenth annual follow-up of high school graduates was completed. The purpose of this work was two-fold: to find out what our graduates are doing one year after graduation, including their placement in schools, colleges and jobs as well as the relative distribution between em- ployment and education, and to determine how well our services meet the de- mands of the educational, industrial and business requirements of the society in which we live. Guidance services to a certain degree are predicated on evidence of the performance of our students after graduation from high school, and these services are subject to modification and adaptation according to the needs of the times. Furthermore, follow-up results are not only necessary for the planning of guidance policy, but also results are helpful in connection. with evaluation studies being carried on this year by all the departments in the school.
Briefly, the follow-up plan includes making contact in April or May with those students who graduated the previous June. The results of this contact are analyzed during the summer months and the report is published in September. The following summaries, therefore, are those of the class which graduated in June 1962.
In order to set forth a longitudinal picture showing trends over a period of time, a comparison of the classes for the past fifteen years follows:
Class
Employed
Education
Armed Services
Unemployed
Misc.
Total
1962
46.6
40.3
10.2
.8
2.1
100%
1961
45.7
38.9
12.8
1.4
1.2
100%
1960
44.6
39.7
10.9
2.0
2.8
100%
1959
48.7
35.0
12. 5
. 6
3.2
100%
1958
51. 9
32. 6
10.2
.5
4.8
100%
1957
46.8
36. 8
11.0
2.2
3.2
100%
1956
48.1
33. 6
14. 3
. 3
3.7
100%
1955
47.9
30. 9
17.7
. 3
3. 2
100%
1954
51.5
34.0
11.1
. 4
3.0
100%
1953
50. 6
39.3
7.8
.0
2.3
100%
*1952
52.0
32.7
12. 5
. 3
2.5
100%
*1951
54.0
33.0
7.4
.0
5. 6
100%
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Class
Employed
Education
Armed Services
Unemployed
Misc.
Total
*1950
50. 2
32. 9
11.4
.0
5.5
100%
*1949
47.8
38.0
5.1
5. 6
3.5
100%
1948
55.3
32. 1
6.3
2.4
3.9
100%
*Statistics for these years, 1948 through 1952, included high school graduates only and did not include vocational school graduates.
The above summary shows a relatively stable distribution between educa- tion, employment and military services from year to year. The column under education refers to all types of schools including four-year colleges. Placement only in four-year colleges tends to fall within a range of between 20 and 23%. All figures since 1952 include both the high school and the vocational technical school. If we consider the high school alone, the four-year college placement for the Class of 1962 is 25. 5% and the estimated four-year college placement for the Class of 1963 is approximately 27%.
Turning specifically to employment, we find that the geographical location of employment remains about the same from year to year. For the Class of 1962, 55. 7% of the total number employed worked in Boston, 17. 4% in Quincy, 11. 9% in Weymouth and 4. 1% in Braintree. The remaining graduates employed (numbering 29 or 10. 9%) worked in eighteen other towns or cities.
Finally, the type of work performed by those entering employment may be shown by the following summary:
General Clerical (Clerk, Teller, Cashier)
71
Typists
39
Clerk-Stenographers
13
Secretaries
18
Bookkeepers
10
Business Machine Operators
19
Store, Sales, Supply Workers
26
Trade (printing, building, etc. )
45
Technicians
6
Service Workers
10
Laborers, Machine Operators
11
Beautician
1
269
In 1961, a "College Clinic" for juniors was organized. This clinic has continued in operation since then and meets each week from February to May. The clinic provides an opportunity for juniors to discuss plans relative to college admission including examinations, applications, types of colleges, early decision plans, scholarships and other pertinent topics.
College placement at Weymouth High School, as outlined previously in this report, continues to be relatively stable and in line with the needs goals and characteristics of the community. The 1963-64 school year, however, pre- sents certain doubtful factors, This is the year of largest rate of increase in the number of high school graduates since the end of World War II and it follows that the number seeking admission to college will increase in proportion. At
393
the same time, it is a well-known fact that the expansion of college facilities has not kept pace with the increase in the numbers of high school seniors throughout the nation. Therefore, this will be the most difficult year of all relative to college admission.
Of the 507 seniors who graduated from Weymouth High School (not including the vocational technical school) in 1962, 131 enrolled in fifty-eight different colleges and universities. The Class of 1963 will show an increase over these figures when the follow-up of this class is completed. The Class of 1964 num- bers 719 students. The college bound seniors of this class will have to better previous records and surmount additional obstacles in order to maintain a standard at least equal to the previous two years.
5. SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGIST AND ELEMENTARY GUIDANCE COUNSELOR
Guidance at the elementary school level is an intelligent understanding of children and their individual differences. It embraces every activity and ex- perience in which a child participates. It is involved in curriculum planning, in the selection of instructional materials in the adaptation and modification of the techniques of teaching. It focuses attention on the individual child, his abilities and capacities, his needs and problems. It provides opportunities for each child to develop to the fullest his capacities and abilities, to develop an adequate self- image, to see himself as a good person, a capable person, a worthwhile person.
All school personnel who come in touch with children are guidance workers. The classroom teacher, however, has the key role in guidance. He is in daily contact with the child and sets the daily environment for him. He sees and ac- cepts each child as an individual with specific needs. He is aware of the many differences in the children in his class and should know the problems which bother many of them. The classroom teacher, however, cannot be all things to all children. There are within a class those children whose needs demand more time and attention than the teacher is in a position to provide. These children may be referred by the teacher or principal to the elementary guid- ance counselor or to the school adjustment counselor.
The relationship between intellectual growth, the first concern of the classroom teacher, and emotional growth is a very close one. Retardation in one area is accompanied by or leads to retardation in the other. Emotional patterns are formed in the early years and are influenced greatly by the manner in which a child participates in school activities and by the success or failure he encounters in his first learning experiences.
When the intellectual needs of a child are met, when opportunities to para- ticipate in activities appropriate to his ability and maturity are provided, the child senses satisfaction and gratification and begins to develop the positive attitude of self-confidence, security and responsibility. When a child is en- gaged in a learning situation for which he is not ready, a situation where the demands and goals are beyond his intellectual or emotional power, he meets with frustration and failure. Pressure on a child not ready to cope with mat- erial beyond his comprehension creates an emotional block which makes learn- ing more difficult. A continuous series of failures and frustrations leads to the negative attitudes of resentment, rebellion or withdrawal.
394
Guidance at the elementary level aims at the prevention of the development of deviant maladjustment. It is the child who by his behavior or non-achievement makes himself known to the teacher who in turn makes a referral to the guidance counselor.
The guidance counselor attempts to evaluate the problem. She gathers to- gether information that will help in the solution of the problem: data about school achievement, school attendance, mental ability, social and emotional maturity, health, home background. She confers with parents, acquainting them with the problem as seen by the school, and probing for the possible causes of the problem. She encourages and supports them in facing the problem real- istically. She makes recommendations and co-operates in a plan adapted to help meet the needs of the child.
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