USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Saugus > Town annual report of the officers and committees of the town of Scituate 1952-1954 > Part 31
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Throughout all these meetings was the awareness of the need for a guidance program.
To that end, I secured the permission of the Commissioner of Education for Dr. Warren E. Benson, Senior Supervisor of Guidance and Placement in the Massachusetts Department of Education, to conduct two surveys in the high school: first, of the opinions of former students (graduates and drop-outs) on the education pro- gram offered in the high school; and, second, an inventory of the pupils now in the high school, showing their needs, aptitudes, and desires in education. Two committees made up of junior and senior high school teachers have been working with Mr. Benson since September. On the results of this survey will be built the guidance program for the high school. We are almost ready to set up a department which will aid the boys and girls not only in choosing courses of study, and colleges, but which will aid them in study problems, life adjustment, and job placement. It is inter- esting to note that from 100 replies from former students, over 70 stated that they wished they had had more guidance in school, while only 29 felt that the guidance they had received in high school had been satisfactory.
Three committees worked in the area of elementary education. These were: Arithmatic headed by Mrs. Doris Reddy; Science headed by Royal Graves, and Health headed by Margaret O'Don- nell. Twenty-six teachers worked on these committees. Great strides were made in integrating subject matter between grades, and set- ting up courses of study in the elementary grades. Mr. Graves pre- pared an outline for a guidance program in grades one through six.
OUR BUILDING PROBLEMS
The High School: The High School Addition is nearing com- pletion. Counting the sub-divided gymnasium as two rooms, we
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shall add to the present building 17 new classrooms, most of which are specialized. We shall gain two complete laboratories, a fine library, two home economics rooms, two general classrooms, one corrective exercise room, one art room, three business education rooms, one mechanical drawing room, one shop, and one small general purpose room, plus two gymnasiums, one for girls, and one for boys. In addition, we shall gain excellent locker rooms, a dark room, two science preparation rooms for equipment, a medical suite, four conference rooms, and several storage rooms.
It is hoped that we can move into the building by March 1, or during the winter vacation. There seems little hope that we can use the Cafeteria until a later date, but pupils can bring lunches and eat in the classrooms. During the month of December, follow- ing my article in the local papers. work speeded up considerably. Many more men were assigned to the job. This fact corroborated my contention that more hands always make for a job completed more quickly.
Just how long it will be before from four to eight rooms, omitted from the original plans, need be restored, I cannot accu- rately predict. Much depends on the holding power of the new curricula. Statistics show that between the 7th and 12th grade many pupils leave Scituate High School. With added courses of study, these pupils may stay in our school rather than leave to attend private schools. If this happens and when the large (at least 220) primary grades move up to the high school and the enrol- ment nears the 1000 mark, then more rooms will be needed. Dr. William K. Wilson, our educational consultant stated: "Studies looking toward the extension of the high school building should be initiated about 1956."
Certainly, the present addition will give us facilities which are presently adequate and commodious.
The Jenkins School: The new Jenkins School will be com- pleted in June or July. Costing only $430,227.00 complete, it will be completely fire-resistive and inexpensive to build, to operate and to maintain. It will give us twelve more elementary class rooms in grades 1, 2, 3, and Kindergarten. However, when schools open September next, every room in the Central, Hatherly, and Jenkins Schools will be in use. True, we shall not be cramming 35 to 38 in each room. Actually, there will be but 29 to a room, but the lower grades get larger each year and the children in them move upwards each year! Which brings us to the Hatherly School.
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The Hatherly School: The Hatherly School, built in 1896, is all wood (even the fire escapes) , it has but six rooms, two on the second floor, and has basement toilets. It has no cafeteria, no health office, no indoor recreation room, and is expensive to heat (with its six rooms it costs in dollars and cents about 50% of what it costs to heat all the 23-room Central School!). Its one saving grace is its good state of repair.
The land at the Hatherly School is inadequate for expansion. Unlike the Jenkins School, where land is available, the land near the Hatherly School is not for sale and must be taken by eminent domain which would certainly cause unpleasantness.
Dr. Wilson stated in his report to the Town that the new "Hatherly building will be needed no later than the fall of 1955, and possibly by 1954."
My suggestion is that the present Hatherly Building be re- tained as an Adult Education Center, and that a new 14-room Hatherly Building similar to the new Jenkins School be erected on a new site nearer both the Minot and West End areas. The Town Forest on Route 3-A would be an ideal site for a new Hatherly School. With the erection of a 14-room school, building problems on the elementary level would be ended until the 1960's at least.
Certainly, the present Hatherly building is unsafe for children. Another school on the lines of the Jenkins School would save us 50% of the cost of plans and would solve our problems for some years. Such a school was recommended by the Elementary Schools Investigating Committee and by Dr. Wilson.
Changes in Personnel: We lost four teachers last Spring. Miss Methyl Bates, Reading Consultant since 1951, accepted a position as as Director of Reading in the Oneonta State Teachers College, One- onta, New York.
Richard Hands, Social Studies teacher in the Junior High School, resigned in April to enter business.
Mrs. Editha Lawless, Fourth Grade Teacher since 1951, on leave of absence since April 1953, died in December.
Mrs. Patricia T. Cooley, Grade Three Teacher since 1951, re- signed because of transportation difficulties from Hingham. She later accepted a position in Norwell.
Miss B. Christine Anderson, First Grade Teacher, resigned to go to continue study.
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Mrs. Elizabeth M. Bassett, Duxbury, formerly a teacher in Attleboro, and Duxbury, and reading consultant in Marshfield, is Director of Reading in the Scituate Schools. Mrs. Bassett received her A.B. from Boston University, and has completed graduate study at Harvard, Rhode Island School of Education, and Boston University.
Raymond G. Biggar, graduate of Bowdoin College where he received his A.B., received his Master's Degree in Teaching from Harvard last June. He is teaching English and Ancient History in the Senior High School.
Charles E. Bordne, received his A.B. and A.M. from Tufts College. He has taught at Tufts, Navy Instructors' school at Great Lakes, and at Thayerlands School, Braintree. He teaches Mathe- matics and Science in the Junior High School.
Stuart E. Crapser, received his A.B. from Weslyan University, and his Master's degree from Springfield College. He has taught at the University School, Shaker Heights, Ohio; St. Paul's School, Gar- den City, New York, and the Loomis School, Windsor, Connecticut. He was an officer in the United States Navy Air Corps from 1942- 1945 and 1951-1953. He teaches science in the Senior High School and is assistant football coach.
Donald P. Drake, received his A.B. from Dartmouth College and his Master's degree in Teaching from Harvard. He has taught in the White River Junction, Vermont, Junior and Senior High Schools since 1949. He teaches English, Hygiene and Physical Edu- cation in the Junior High School.
Mrs. Elinor S. Manning is a graduate of the Worcester State Teachers College and Boston University. She received her Master's degree from Harvard and has done graduate work at Boston Uni- versity and Clark University. She has taught in Hopkinton and Framingham, as well as in Miami, Florida, the Bahamas, and An- napolis, Maryland. She teaches Social Studies and Hygiene in the Junior High School.
Judson R. Merrill, graduate of Bowdoin College and the Maine Maritime Academy, is completing graduate work at Suffolk Uni- versity. He is secretary to the Superintendent of schools, and teaches Modern History in the Senior High School. He is also director of the Practical Arts Evening Vocational School.
Ralph H. Merrill, graduate of Tufts, formerly taught in Plain- ville. He substituted the second half of last year in languages, social studies and English. He now teaches French and English in the Senior High School and is in charge of speech work.
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Mrs. Edith L. Fennessy, graduate of Hyannis Normal School, has completed graduate work at Boston University. She had pre- viously taught in Medford. She teaches a fifth grade in the Central School.
Miss Shirley Mann, graduate of Bates College. has completed graduate work at Wellesley College. She is a cadet teacher and as- sistant to the Reading Director.
Miss Margaret MacDonald, received her B.S. from Framingham State Teachers College. She has taught in Puerto Rico, and, since 1946 in Wakefield, R. I. She teaches a second grade in the Central School.
Mrs. Doris F. Mckinlay, graduate of Bridgewater State Teachers College, June 1953, teaches a fourth grade in the Central School.
Mrs. Anna E. Murphy, graduate of the Posse-Nissen School of Physical Education, Boston, has taught in Fairhaven, and Hingham. She teaches physical education in the elementary schools.
Miss Barbara Murphy, received her B.S. and A.M. from Boston University, the latter in guidance. She formerly taught in the Han- over High School, and, since 1951, in the Quincy High School. She teaches English in the Junior High School and works in guidance.
Miss Susan Stamler received her A.B. from the University of California. Since 1948 she has been an assistant in the Remedial Reading Clinic in the University of California at Los Angeles. She teaches a fourth grade in the Central School.
FINANCIAL
The Budget: What Will Scituate Schools Cost in 1954?
Everyone in these United States is tax conscious today, and rightly so. And as Town Meeting time approaches, we in Scituate are asking: "What about the tax rate? What about the Town budgets?"
I wish I could report to you that the Scituate Public Schools Budget for 1954 will show a decrease or will not rise. I, too, pay taxes, and I, too, am eager to cut mine. However, I was hired to superintend your schools, and I believe that you desire good schools.
You are well aware of the increase in population. Scituate in 1950 had less than 5000 population. Today we have more than 6500 When I came to Scituate, we had less than 1000 in the schools. We now have over 1700. We shall have 2000 in two or three years.
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I have never believed that you wished the Scituate Public Schools to stand still. Just as we could not cram the population into the old high school and the Jenkins and Hatherly Schools, just so we cannot cram 2000 pupils into the present high school, the new Jenkins, and the old Hatherly Schools. And just so, we cannot operate your schools with the same staff we had four years ago.
Next fall we shall open two new schools. We shall need 9 additional elementary school teachers. We shall need 4 additional high school teachers. We shall need three additional janitors and three additional cafeteria workers. We shall need two more bus routes and we shall probably bring the Humarock pupils to Situ- ate Schools thus saving about $2000. We shall need more electricity, gas, fuel oil, paper, pencils, textbooks, towels, chalk, soap, floor cleaners and waxes, telephone service, and tests in guidance
We shall need to waterproof the front wall of the Central School and caulk all the windows and paint all the trim. We shall need to paint water-damaged walls in that school. We shall need to paint two rooms in the high school on a yearly schedule (omitted last year because of the construction) , and make repairs on the leak- ing parapet walls. We shall need to continue maintenance on smaller things which may become large if neglected.
The nation is facing a tremendous shortage of teachers, partic- ularly elementary teachers. Some towns have had to take anybody who thought he or she could teach - people without training. Scituate thus far has not been forced to do that. Partly this is so because Scituate is a desirable place in which to live. Partly, it was due to our good luck in having excellent teachers move here.
But our luck may soon run out. The Teachers' Colleges cannot supply one-eighth of the demand for teachers. Three agencies told me as early as March last year that they had no elementary teaching candidates!
Our salary scale has showed two faults. First, our beginning salaries were too low. Neighboring towns took beginning teachers away from us because they could pay at least $200 more than we could. Further, the hiring salary for teachers with twelve or more years of experience, was too low. We lost outstanding candidates to neighboring Massachusetts towns.
The School Committee and I have considered these problems and the teacher shortage at length. We decided that if we upped the beginning salaries by $300, we could overcome the difficulties men-
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tioned above and could attract outstanding men and women teach- ers to our schools. We can, with this revised scale, attract the cream of the crop of the graduating classes in the teachers' colleges.
Obviously, this revision will cost a little more. But this increase is comparatively little when one considers that we shall have as teachers in our schools the men and women who will give our children the education which will best fit them for college, voca- tions, and life. Well-educated children are the best dividends one can receive for tax dollars.
The possible school budget increase is $64,866.00. We are opening two schools, we are increasing transportation, we are adding 13 new teachers, three janitors, and three cafeteria workers, we are buying more textbooks and supplies for more children. We shall have 13 of the best teachers available. Were we not opening two new schools, we could keep the budgetary figure much the same as last year. But we cannot give to our children the educa- tion we desire without increase.
We of the schools pledge economy in operation. We have saved thousands on supply and equipment bids. We saved money on fuel oil bids. We shall cut to the bone of economy where the wel- fare of the children is not jeopardized. We shall give you good schools at a reasonable cost.
I have stated the facts so that you will know. I shall welcome your opinions.
WHAT THE SCHOOLS RETURN TO THE TOWN:
Because moneys returnable from the Commonwealth go into the Excess and Deficiency Fund rather than to the Schools, most taxpayers are unaware that the schools return almost $60,000.00 to the Town.
In most states, this money would be returned to the Schools (under Town control, of course) and would be the base on which the next year's budget would be built, thus reducing by that amount the amount to be raised by taxation. In Massachusetts, the money goes to the Town and may be used in any way the voters direct. But, the Schools do not get it and the whole budget for the next year must be raised by taxation, thus increasing the tax rate. Of course, the voters may decide, as they have almost every year, to use a portion of the Excess and Deficiency Fund to reduce taxes, but this scheme means that taxes are first increased and then decreased. If the money went to the Schools to be used as a base for the next year's budget, the taxes would not be increased by the amount returnable to the Town, this year by $58,336.66.
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SCHOOL COMMITTEE REPORT
SCHOOL MONEY RETURNED TO THE TOWN:
From State Funds
State Aid, Chapter 70 $ 21,564.62
Transportation of Pupils (over 11/2 miles) 24,896.19*
Maintenance of Home Economics Classes 2,968.65
Tuition of Pupils to Vocational Schools 464.05
School Assistance Grant, Central School 7,704.20*
Miscellaneous collections 625.88
Total credits
$ 58,223.59
Returned to Town (unexpended 1953 Budget)
113.07
Total Returned to Town
$ 58,336.66
APPROPRIATED (1953 Budget)
$385,500.00
RETURNED TO TOWN (1953)
58,336.66
NET COST TO TOWN
$327,163.34
Includes one-third of cost of school bus purchased in 1952. Two- thirds of cost now repaid; the balance in 1954.
Of course, if we are to present the complete picture, we should show the cost of school bonds and interest. (See Town Account- ant's Report.)
STATE BUILDING ASSISTANCE:
The assistance granted by the Commonwealth for school build- ing construction has been raised, for Scituate, from 22% to 24%. As- sistance will now come to the Town on a yearly basis one year fol- lowing the sale of bonds rather than after official acceptance of the school. Hence, the assistance for the high school addition should come to us in June or July (delay from January because of changeover in the Commission's office) and for the Jenkins School in June or July. The assistance is based on the approved cost.
TRANSPORTATION:
The cost of transportation has increased annually to a pro- jected $49,000.00 for 1954. Actually, because of the returns from the Commonwealth, in 1953, the $45,000.00 appropriation was decreased to $21,103.81.
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Many people say, "Why not require all pupils who live within a half-mile or a mile to walk? I walked five miles to school when I was a boy!" On first thought, this would seem to be sound advice. But then we remember that the high school and the Central School are located at the Junction of First Parish Road, Beaver Dam Road, and Branch Street, all main thoroughfares, all more heavily traveled than they were when you and I were children. We do not as one of my fellow superintendents stated it, "transport pupils if they live more than a bus length away", but we do transport over 90% of our boys and girls.
Possibly many more should and could walk. Doubtless many will be asked to walk next fall if there are no traffic hazards. The sidewalk on First Parish Road helps and so will the projected walk on Beaver Dam Road. The location of the new Jenkins School will help to reduce the number transported.
Many plans for next year are being considered. I feel strongly that busses which are 15 years old (and we have six of them) should be retired to green pastures. I feel that old busses should be re- placed with new ones, not with second-hand ones. I feel that all new busses should be of 60-pupil capacity and that there should be enough of them to reduce the number of standees to an absolute minimum.
Our contracts have become a patchwork. The State Education Department gave us permission to renew the three-year contracts for one year because of the unsettled condition in the high school and the elementary schools. Bids will be required in the spring on existing routes plus two additional routes.
The School Committee and I have considered bus rental plans and one-owner contractual plans. The cheapest operation is Town ownership of busses because the Commonwealth will pay for the purchase price of the busses over a three-year period. But then the Town has the collective headaches of maintenance, garag- ing and operation. We have had one conference with the operators. We shall have more.
Such points as bus stations rather than house-to-house stopping, required walking distances, consolidation of some routes to prevent overlapping, bringing the Humarock pupils to the Scituate schools (this will save at least $2000) , are being considered.
The two-platoon system in the elementary schools will be con- tinucd, but the length of the session for Grades 1, 2 and part of 3 will be shortened as soon as the high school addition is opened. This
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will satisfy practically all of the primary children's parents who are desirous of a shorter school day for the younger children. The projected route time schedule will be: Junior-Senior High School: 8 a.m. to 2:40 p.m., Grades 1, 2, and most of 3: 8:40 a.m. to 1:50 p.m., Grades 4, 5, 6, and a part of 3: 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Kindergarten (morning): 8:40 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., (afternoon): 12:40 to 3:30 p.m. (Kindergartens change over at mid-years) . The platoon system is the means of solving the forty-minute waiting periods, and lowers the cost of transportation by requiring fewer buses.
I shall be happy to confer with parents on the matter of trans- portation.
ACADEMIC PROGRESS
I shall repeat here what I said in my 1952 report.
Only fifty percent of our high school graduates go on to college or to other educational institutions such as business schools and schools of nursing. The question naturally arises: what happens to the other fifty percent? Unfortunately, we know too little. Some go into the armed forces. Others take jobs in the community or nearby. Some go to trade schools or take evening vocational courses. But what preparation for actual living in the community do we give these boys and girls who do not wish to go to college and who should not go to college?
Scituate High School has two courses of study: college prepara- tory and business education. The enrollment in business education decreases each year. A few others graduate with "general" diplomas. Such diplomas mean merely that the pupil has not completed the requirements of either course but has spent four years in high school taking the academic or business education subjects in a pattern which is not orthodox.
What do we do for the pupils who fit into the category of "the other fifty percent"? What do we do for the pupils who enter high school and who quit before they finish? Why do they quit?
We need a third course of study designed to give these pupils preparation for the lives they will live in the community, a curricu- lum which will contain such subjects as Family Living, Family Finance, Home Maintenance, Cooking, Sewing, Personal-Use Type- writing, Personal-Use Short-Hand (High-Speed Longhand) , Con- sumer Education, Salesmanship, Personnel Relations, Practical Prob- lems in Democratic living, Local Government, Home Nursing, and the like.
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We need, perhaps, to set up a fourth course in Practical Arts for Boys - a pre-industrial course with Shop Mathematics, Prac- tical Science, Wood-Shop and Metal-Shop Practice, Industrial Draw- ing and Blue-Print Reading.
These things we can do when we have the new addition and more room. Pupils who will live their lives as tradesmen, store- keepers, and the like will not benefit greatly from Latin, Algebra, Plane and Solid Geometry, Academic Physics and Chemistry, or French. In any community whether it be Scituate or Boston a large percentage of the boys and girls do not want college, nor do they want office jobs. Yet the high schools persist in making them take the Academic or the Business Education Courses.
Our Business Education course must be expanded so as to give the boys and girls who take it actual preparation for actual jobs. There should be no need for a graduate of this course taking a course in a business school. He should start his employment in the second half of the senior year, earning and learning at the same time. He should be employed before he graduates. Employer after employer has come to me pleading for names of boys and girls to whom he will offer good office positions. Yet we graduate fewer qualified Business Education pupils each year, and most of those whom we graduate evidently believe that further education is neces- sary before they take jobs.
Our college preparatory graduates do fairly well in colleges. I have studied the college marks of the graduates of the high school rather intensively. We suffer because we have hopelessly inadequate facilities. We have no laboratories for general science, biology, physics, or chemistry. Our pupils cannot meet the competition they meet in college. We have no library worthy of the name. Our library contains a collection of discarded sample textbooks plus a few good reference books and a few works in drama, history, etc. It just is not a library. When you stop to consider that the college freshman should have read at least thirty books a year for four or more years BEFORE he enters college, we wonder how our pupils can meet competition. Obviously, they depend on the Town libraries or family libraries - or they just are not prepared to meet the competition.
These criticisms are not aimed at our science teachers or our librarian. None of them can do better jobs with the miserable equipment at hand. We know that the new addition with its two laboratories: general-science-biology and chemistry-physics, and its full-time library will improve a bad situation. We must put more
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