USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Saugus > Town annual report of the officers and committees of the town of Scituate 1955-1957 > Part 30
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Do you see what we face?
This problem is not just one of housing. New schools mean more teachers, more books, more pencils, more busses, more fuel and electricity, and more money to pay for these things.
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SCHOOL COMMITTEE REPORT
A long-range program through 1963 includes a new Junior High School for grades 7, 8, and 9, a second addition to the present high school (grades 10, 11, and 12) and one more elementary school. Not all at once, to be sure, but we begin active thinking about the Junior High School by March 1958.
The old Hatherly School does not make our problem any easier. Built in 1896, having four ancient furnaces to heat its six rooms, having steep wooden stairs with no fire doors, a steep wooden fire escape, catacomb-like basement toilets, this building does not fit into a modern educational plan. First it is too small. Six-room schools will house six sections of one grade (as at present), or one section each of six grades. Neither plan is too successful. There is no lunch room (much less a cafeteria), nor is there a room for sick pupils. There is no place for indoor play and the terrain is such that the rear part of the land is wet and the front part muddy. The ash pile, accumulated through the years, makes a wonderful place to gain skinned knees, barked shins, and torn clothes.
However, the six rooms in old Hatherly School constitute a vital part of our 60 room total. Take these six rooms out of circula- tion and where shall we put the 200 boys and girls who go to school there?
During the January 1957 record cold spell, we could not keep some Hatherly rooms warm. The heating system is such that there can be a temperature variation of 60 degrees in rooms side by side. When the weather becomes warm, the heat then floods the build- ing. Windows must be opened, drafts sweep across the rooms, and the health of the children is further jeopardized.
We heat our modern schools at about $150.00 per room. We pay $350.00 per room to heat (when we do) the Hatherly School.
We can, of course, tear out these ancient furnaces, and replace them with an oil-fired boiler, hot-water heat, and modern univents. This will cost the taxpayers $20,000. We can spend another $20,000 painting the building (have you seen it lately?), modernizing the basement so that pupils can eat and play there, and replacing the lining in the chimney which fell in this fall. But what is left?
No health room. The same very poor toilet situation. The same wooden stairs. The same wooden fire escape. The same win- dows which are likely to fall apart when you try to raise or lower them. The same blackboards on which white chalk is hardly dis- cernible across the room. The same unvented teachers' toilet. The same poor play areas.
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We could spend much more than $40,000 trying to correct these faults.
What have we left? An ancient school into which we will have poured $20,000, $40,000, $80,000, or more, a school which will burn like a torch, and which will still be expensive to maintain.
So, the housing problem has three parts: (1) The elementary school part, (2) The high school part, and (3) The Hatherly School part.
Just to illustrate how fast our rising population changes our predictions, I have just re-read a letter dated May 9, 1956 written to various town organizations requesting the formation of a site- finding committee for a new junior high school. In it, I said then: "Realizing that our present school population of 1849 boys and girls has risen from 1283 in 1951, and will rise to at least 2945 by Septem- ber 1963 . . . ". Our school population today numbers 2126, our estimate for September 1963 is now 3635!
LONG-RANGE PLANNING FOR SCHOOL HOUSING: Next fall the present sixth grade will attend the Central School as the 7th grade. Only Grades 8 through 12 will attend the high school. The Hatherly School will be closed unless the new Wampatuck School cannot open in September in which case it will reopen and remain open until the Wampatuck School is ready for occupancy. At this writing in January it would appear that the Wampatuck cannot possibly open in September. December 1957 or January 1958 would seem to be a more probable date. This is the fourth piece of construction under my tenure. None has opened on time.
When school begins in September 1958, either the Hatherly School must be reopened full time or double sessions somewhere along the line must be effected.
One possibility is to operate all first grades on a half-day ses- sion much as kindergartens are now operated. Parents have asked for shorter sessions for first graders and, in truth, the day, from the time the little ones leave home until they are left at their doors, is long. So double session first grades should not be too objectionable.
We should then plan to ask in the March 1958 Town Meeting for money for plans and specifications for a new Junior High School. Such plans and specifications would then be ready on a bid price by March 1959, and a new school could be ready for September 1961.
It would appear that a new 16-room elementary school should be ready for occupancy by September 1961 and an addition to the present high school by September 1963.
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SCHOOL COMMITTEE REPORT
THE TIME SCHEDULE: Placed on a time schedule, the long- range plan might be something like this:
March 1958: Appropriate money for plans and specifications for Junior High School
March 1959: Appropriate money on bids for Junior High School, and money for plans and specifications for new elementary school
March 1960: Appropriate money on bid for elementary school
March 1961: Appropriate money for plans and specifications for ten-room addition to present high school
September 1961: Open new Junior High School and elemen- tary school
March 1962: Appropriate money for addition to present high school
September 1963: Open new addition to present high school
With a new junior high school, a high school addition, and another 16-room elementary school, we should be able to accom- modate our increased enrollment through 1965 or later, depending on what happens to our population.
The National School Public Relations Association in TRENDS for January 9, 1957, states: "One of the major handicaps of school public relations is the widely-held misconception that the birth increase which has caused major school problems is something transitory ... It simply isn't true. A solid decade of boom birth years proves conclusively that we are not experiencing a temporary bulge in the birth rate as was the cause after World War I .. . America is becoming a bigger family and will get larger for years to come. Births hit another all-time high last year. All signs show higher in the future ... Young mothers are producing more babies that did their mothers. U. S. population, now 170 millions, will hit 221 millions in less than 20 years."
We are forecasting 300 pupils to a grade in 1963. We could be wrong again. We have raised our sights on estimates of maximum grade enrollment from 150 to 200 to 230 to 270 and now to 300! And still they come!
THE SCHOOL BUDGET: If you will look again at the Enroll- ment chart which heads my report, you will see there the answer to budget increases. Our enrollment increased by 291 pupils last year. Roughly that's an increase of 10 classrooms, ten teachers, 290
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SCHOOL COMMITTEE REPORT
sets of books, 290 desks and chairs, 290 sets of supplies, 290 more people crowded into our crowded busses. How can the budget go down in the face of this increase? Worse, we expected 2078 pupils last fall, and received 2126!
We expect 2394 next fall and we shall probably receive more. At the least we shall get 316 additional pupils when school opens in September. Again, ten more rooms, and so on! Naturally it costs more to run your schools. Now I shall give you a picture of our 1956 and 1957 budgets.
FINANCIAL STATEMENT - 1956
REGULAR APPROPRIATION
$599,144.00
SPECIAL APPROPRIATION (Transportation)
1,591.68
$600,735.68
RECEIPTS FROM FEDERAL FUNDS (Revolving Account)
Balance
$8,324.52
George Barden and Registration Fees
871.00
Public Law No. 874
11,628.12
20,823.64
TOTAL FUNDS AVAILABLE
$621,559.32
BUDGET EXPENDITURES
Budget
$600,121.55
George Barden and Registration Fees
$1,030.00
Public Law No. 874
4,479.17
5,509.17
TOTAL EXPENDITURES
$605,630.72
RETURNED TO TOWN (Unexpended)
614.13
FEDERAL FUNDS (In Reserve)*
15,314.47
TOTAL
$621,559.32
SCHOOL MONEY RETURNED TO TOWN (Not Available For School Use)
FROM STATE FUNDS
State Aid Chapter 70
$51,159.62
Transportation
23.056.80
Household Arts
3,872.36
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SCHOOL COMMITTEE REPORT
Vocational Tuition
151.90
State Aid Chapter 69
3,722.28
$82,661.92
MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS
614.13
TOTAL CREDITS
$83,276.05
TOTAL APPROPRIATION $600.735.68
TOTAL CREDITS
83,276.05
NET COST OF SCHOOLS TO TOWN
$517,459.63
* Will be used to lower 1957 Budgetary Amount to be raised by taxation.
GENERAL CONTROL
School Committee Expense
$603.31
Salaries: Administration
8,831.58
Travel: Administration
580.09
Clerk Hire: Administration
5,742.18
Attendance Officer and Census
400.00
Administration Supplies
567.57
Administration Equipment
400.81
Admin. Light. Heat, Phone, Water
834.73
$17,960.27
EXPENSE OF INSTRUCTION
High School Principal's Salary
$5,927.54
High School Office Expense
4,155.19
High School Teachers' Salaries
136,205.22
Elementary Principals' Salaries
11,843.11
Elementary Office Expense
4,119.39
Elementary Teachers' Salaries
186,671.18
Phy. Ed. and Athletic Salaries
11,713.62
Supervisors' Salaries
26.231.22
Principals' and Supervisors' Travel
332.79
Textbooks for Pupils
11,790.05
Audio-Visual Aids
116.59
Supplies for Pupils
10,138.65
Athletic Supplies
3.001.42
$412,245.97
PLANT OPERATION
Custodians' Salaries
$31,655.84
Fuel
13,436.85
Electricity and Gas
9,602.85
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SCHOOL COMMITTEE REPORT
Custodians' Supplies
4,431.47
Water
629.00
Telephone
1,200.00
$60,956.01
HEALTH
Medical Inspector's Salary
$1,300.00
Medical Supplies
262.59
Nurses' Salaries
8,419.23
Nurses' Travel
94.49
Nurses' Office Expense
15.00
$10,091.31
AUXILIARY AGENCIES
Cafeteria Salaries
$15,886.46
Cartage
405.62
Advertising
126.71
Pensions
267.50
Miscellaneous (Driver Ed., Graduation, etc.)
959.62
$17,645.91
VOCATIONAL EDUCATION
Director's Salary
$261.00
Educational Salaries
4,472.87
Travel Expense
43.30
Equipment and Books
112.37
Supplies
430.75
Transportation
440.40
Water. Fuel. Lights
767.65
Repairs to Equipment
38.43
$6,556.77
PLANT MAINTENANCE
(Repairs and Replacements)
Buildings
$5,427.43
Engineering Equipment
2,669.35
Educational Equipment
1,444.15
Office Equipment
286.04
$9,826.97
LIBRARIES
Library Books
$3,617.63
Library Supplies
421.87
TRANSPORTATION
Transportation (Within)
$44,270.53
Special Transportation
2,286.46
$4,039.50
$46,556.99
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SCHOOL COMMITTEE REPORT
CAPITAL OUTLAY
Alterations on Old Buildings
$1,634.00
Furniture and Equipment
4,819.45
$6,453.45
SPECIAL ITEMS
Tuition
$7,532.02
Overlay
2,307.51
Evening Classes
3,458.04
$13,297.57
TOTAL EXPENDITURES
$605.630.72
The 1957 budget will increase in these areas for the following reasons:
1. Salaries: Last year our new salary schedule paid dividends. Unable for three years to hire beginning teachers at our old low minima salaries, with new minima of $3400 and $3600, we are able to compete with other Massachusetts towns. For 1957-1958 we must hire eight additional teachers and effect normal increases to the others. Our new merit salary policy is not, as some seem to think, a means of saving money in salaries. Rather is it a means of encouraging better teaching of your children. Our salary scales are as follows: Bachelor's degree $3400-$5400; Master's degree $3600-$5700; Master's degree plus one extra year of college train- ing $3800-$6000. While comparable with scales in the Common- wealth, none of these scales is high. Massachusetts teachers are being siphoned off into Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania because these states pay more money.
2 Textbooks: Last year we spent $11,790.05 for textbooks. With 316 additional pupils next fall, we shall need to increase our appropriation for texts. It is estimated nationally that it costs $18.95 to supply each new pupil and $6.30 to maintain each pres- ent pupil in Grade 3. These figures increase in higher grades. Like everything else textbook prices are increasing rapidly.
3. Supplies: Last year we budgeted $8,500.00 for supplies. We found this insufficient. The unexpected increase in pupil enroll- ment, the increase in prices made it necessary to expend $10,138.65. Hence, we are setting $11,000.00 as our budget item this year.
4. Fuel and power: We spent $13,436.85 in this category last year. We are opening a new school. We anticipate, in the face of rising oil prices, a budget item of $16,000.00.
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SCHOOL COMMITTEE REPORT
5. Electricity: We spent $9,602.85 here last year. We are budgeting $9,600.00 for 1957, as against $9,000.00 in 1956.
6. Cafeterias: We are opening a new school and, with it, a new cafeteria. We must hire more workers. Hence here, too, there will be an increase.
7. Repairs and Replacements will be less this year because last year we had to make major repairs to the heating equipment in the High School. This will evidently recur every three years.
8. Transportation will rise sharply. We must add at least two new operators next fall. Our busses are filled to capacity. We can- not accommodate any increase in them. Our own bus, never before used except for the Kindergarten runs and athletic trips, is now in daily use for elementary pupils. Hence, we have no bus for field trips to museums and landmarks or for athletic trips. We shall in- vestigate, as we did three years ago, the possibility of lend-lease vehicles and other means of lowering this cost. The Town is reim- bursed for all pupils who live over a mile and a half from a school.
9. Capital Outlay will increase because the old toilet rooms in the original high school building must be completely rebuilt. They are not fit for use. Further, at least temporary repairs must be made to the Hatherly School furnaces.
Through the efforts of your superintendent of schools, we will have a surplus of about $25,000.00 from Public Law 874. This amount will be used as a base for the 1957 budget, the difference being raised from local taxes rather than raising the whole amount from local taxation.
YOUR SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS: I recently read an article in the LEXINGTON MINUTE-MAN that John Blackhall Smith, Superintendent of the Lexington Schools "is boss of a multi- million dollar business." Perhaps your superintendent, too, is the head of a multi-million-dollar business!
Our school buildings are valued at $3,937,000. School furniture and equipment are worth another $1,000,000. We have 116 em- ployees and 2126 pupils. He is the head of the most important busi- ness in town because it is part of his job to choose the personnel which will mold the character and education of the youth of Scitu- ate. He must be a "cracker jack" accountant, able administrator, lawyer, troubleshooter, and general jack of all trades, and he never stops attending school.
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SCHOOL COMMITTEE REPORT
Your superintendent is a graduate of Brown University where he obtained his bachelor's degree. He taught at Brown and Norwich Universities, at the latter being in charge of all courses in journal- ism. He returned to Brown in 1933 to earn his master's degree, borrowing money and teaching in the University to do it. He has completed graduate courses at Brown, Rutgers, Norwich, and Teachers College Columbia University in addition to completing all work toward his Ph.D. at New York University. He has corrected College Board Examinations and served on high school evaluation committees.
He taught English at Brown and Norwich and High Schools in Albany, New York; Kearny, New Jersey; and Princeton, New Jersey. In the latter he was chairman of the department, assistant principal and acting principal. He went from Princeton to become Superin- tendent of the Lower Camden County Regional School District in New Jersey, a regional district made up of seven towns. After four years there he was called to Scituate to be Superintendent of your schools.
An expert in remedial reading, education for the "other 50% - the slow, the retarded, and reluctant", and academic education, he has set up outstandingly successful programs in all three.
Your superintendent is directly responsible to the School Com- mittee and, by law, is its executive officer. The School Committee is the legislative body, the superintendent the executive officer.
STAFF CHANGES: LeRoy E. Fuller, Principal in Scituate's ele- mentary schools since 1926, retired in June after thirty years as teacher, friend, and leader in the Scituate Public Schools. A "This Is Your Life" Program was attended by his pupils, their parents and grandparents, who had gone to school under Roy. Over $2000 in cash was presented to him by the townspeople.
Raymond C. Biggar, instructor in English and Social Studies in the high school, resigned to enter college teaching.
Mrs. Ruth D. Allen, instructor in English and Remedial Read- ing, resigned to be nearer her home in Sanford, Maine.
Meldon E. Smith, Director of Curriculum, resigned to be nearer his home in Maine.
Miss Margaret MacDonald, 4th Grade Teacher in the Jenkins School, resigned to live at home and teach in Waltham. Miss Shirley R. Mann resigned to accept a position in New Jersey. Mrs. Shirley D. Olson resigned to leave teaching and to live in Springfield.
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SCHOOL COMMITTEE REPORT
Miss M. Beryl Rafuse, for many years a respected and loved 6th Grade teacher in our schools, retired in June because of ill health.
Miss Nancy B. Turner, 4th grade teacher, resigned to live at home and to teach near home.
Robert A. Wheeler, 6th grade teacher, resigned to re-enter the United States Navy.
Miss Madlyn Ann Crawford, 4th Grade teacher, resigned in the middle of the year because of marriage and moving to Delaware with her husband. She was replaced by Mrs. Olson at that time.
New teachers in the Scituate Public Schools, 1956-1957, are:
Thomas E. Abbott, Principal of the Manchester, Massachusetts, Elementary School, and formerly Supervisor of student teachers in the Gorham State Teachers College, Gorham, Maine, was ap- pointed principal of the Central School to succeed Mr. Fuller. Mr. Abbott received his bachelor's degree from Keene State Teachers College, Keene, New Hampshire, and is completing work for the master's degree at Harvard.
Edward J. Bielski, Graduate of Bridgewater State Teachers Col- lege, and teacher in the Halifax Elementary School since 1954, was appointed 4th grade teacher in the Jenkins School, a new position.
Guido J. Risi, graduate of Bridgewater State Teachers College, formerly a teacher in the Quincy Public Schools and recently in the United States Army, was appointed to teach 5th grade in the Jenkins School, a new position. Mr. Risi was formerly a life guard on Peggotty Beach, Scituate.
Mrs. Alice D. Merz, graduate of Simmons College, and with a master's degree from the School of Education, Boston University, formerly teacher in Chelsea, Revere, and South Boston, was ap- pointed 4th Grade teacher in the Jenkins School, a new position.
Mrs. Joan K. Sampson, graduate of North Adams State Teachers College, was appointed 5th grade teacher in the Jenkins School, a new position.
Leo F. Collins, graduate of Boston University School of Educa- tion, and formerly a teacher in the Quincy Public Schools since 1951, was appointed to teach 6th grade in the Jenkins School to replace Miss MacDonald.
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SCHOOL COMMITTEE REPORT
Mrs. Dorothy D. Kettell, graduate of New York University, with graduate work and practice teaching at Boston University, was appointed 4th grade teacher in the Central School to replace Mrs. Olson.
Charles Rathclement, graduate of Boston State Teachers Col- lege, with three years at Dartmouth College, and two years at New England Conservatory of Music, was appointed 6th grade teacher in the Central School to replace Miss Rafuse.
Mark A. Swift, graduate of Gorham State Teachers College, Gorham, Maine, with courses at Potsdam State Teachers College, Potsdam, New York, and formerly teacher in South Paris, Maine, and, since 1955, Manchester, Massachusetts, Elementary School, was appointed 6th grade teacher in the Central School to succeed Mrs. Russell who was appointed Co-ordinator of the Reading Program.
Miss Patricia E. Smith, graduate of Keene, N. H., State Teachers College, and teacher in Claremont, N. H. since 1955, was appointed Ist grade teacher in the Hatherly School to replace Mrs. Heffernan who returned to kindergarten teaching.
Mrs. Barbara G. Kelley, Scranton, Pennsylvania, graduate of Wellesley College, was appointed 4th grade teacher in the Central School, a new position.
Mrs. Eleanor Bailey Costello, Scituate, graduate of Boston Teachers College, and formerly teacher in the Boston Public Schools, was appointed 3rd grade teacher in the Central School to replace Miss Mann.
Miss Sally M. Donovan, graduate of Regis College, was ap- pointed instructor in Latin and English in the Junior High School to replace Mrs. Allen.
Miss Sally Ann Kennedy, Quincy, graduate of Swarthmore College, with a master's degree in education from Boston Univer- sity, was appointed instructor in English and Social Studies in the high school. She completed her practice teaching in Newton.
Mrs. Justine W. Cook, graduate of Pembroke High School and Connecticut College for Women, was appointed cadet teacher (teacher in training) under the supervision of Mrs. Russell.
Mrs. Gertrude L. Russell, 6th grade teacher, formerly principal in Marshfield, and authority in remedial reading, was appointed Co-ordinator of the Reading Program in the Scituate Public Schools to succeed Melden E. Smith.
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SCHOOL COMMITTEE REPORT
Mrs. Gertrude Timpany, formerly head of the Jenkins School Cafeteria, was appointed Supervisor of Cafeterias in the Scituate Schools.
Mrs. Florence Flaherty was appointed to the Jenkins School Cafeteria Staff, and Mrs. Giertrug S. McCarthy to the High School Staff.
Charles B. Jensen, Chester Gurney, and Richard Mahan, cus- todians, resigned during the year. Daniel E. Healy and Percy Mayo were appointed to the high school staff, and Francis W. Hartnett to the Hatherly School.
Front Street Sales and Service sold bus route A to Alfred Elliott, Merton Burbank sold bus route C to William Mays, and Raymond K. Olson sold bus route F to Richard S. Tibbetts.
EVALUATIONS: On January 22 and 23 an eighteen-member team of school people, principals, supervisors and teachers from as far west as Worcester and as far south as Fall River, came to Scituate to evaluate our high school.
New England has lagged behind other parts of the country in evaluating schools. Last year the New England Association of Sec- ondary Schools and Colleges, of which we are a member, voted to become active in evaluating schools. Hence, high schools must be evaluated once every ten years. Schools are not compared; rather is each school rated against, first, its own self-evaluation, and, second, against proven criteria. Evaluation is valuable because, through "outside" eyes, we gain a perspective evaluation of our educational methods, and because it affords staff members a golden opportunity to serve on such committees in other schools and to compare our methods with theirs. At this writing the final evalua- tion has not been submitted to the School Committee.
Principal Edward L. Stewart deserves high praise in guiding his faculty through the self-evaluation, which took all of the 1955- 1956 school year to complete, and for setting up the process of evaluation so that the outside committee could function smoothly. The faculty deserves high praise for their cooperation in evaluating themselves and for their gracious reception of the outside commit- tee. Our pupils evoked high commendation at all times from the evaluators, for their attitude and for their manners. No matter what the report, and it will be made public, we can be proud of our high school, its principal, teachers, and pupils.
The high school faculty states in its philosophy: "It is our belief that the Scituate Junior-Senior High School should provide
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SCHOOL COMMITTEE REPORT
for the educational, vocational, social, cultural, economic, and civic needs of the youth of Scituate.
"To meet these needs we should strive to: (1) Provide thor- ough preparation in the fundamentals necessary for furthering learning and for job competency; (2) Develop effective personality, social responsibility, and moral integrity; (3) Instill an appreciation for the finer things of life; (4) Train students to become coopera- tive, productive, and self-supporting members of home and com- munity; (5) Prepare for intelligent, responsible citizenship in our American democracy."
The elementary schools are completing their self-evaluation this year under the direction of Royal S. Graves, Jenkins School Principal.
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