USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Wakefield > Town annual report of the officers of Wakefield Massachusetts : including the vital statistics for the year 1882-1886 > Part 20
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CHANGES.
At the close of the summer term Miss Lucy P. Greenough, who for several years had rendered faithful and valuable service as an Assistant in the High School, tendered her resignation. Her punctilious attention to every detail of her duty and her sincerity of purpose always won the respect of those associated with her, and the commendation of the Committee.
The advent of a large class in September, together with the feeling that the physical sciences should receive a larger share of attention in this school, led to the employment of a sub-master. N Mr. Frederick B. Richardson, a graduate of Amherst College, and formerly an Assistant Teacher in the Kimball Union Academy at Meriden, N. H., was elected to that position. The wisdom of that choice has been clearly demonstrated by the increased interest developed among the scholars in studies of a scientific and practical nature. The other teachers in this school, the Advanced Grammar, the First and Second Grammar Schools, remain the same as last year. The vacancy in the Third Grammar School occa- sioned by the transfer of Miss Warren to the New Second Grammar, was filled by the transfer of Miss Clara E. Emer- son from the Second Intermediate, and that vacancy was filled by the choice of Miss Lucy E. Evans of this town, formerly an assistant in the Second Grammar under Mr. Gay, and she still has charge of that room.
During the month of January Miss Currier, the very suc- cessful teacher of the Third Intermediate School, resigned to take effect on the first day of February. She did not
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afford the Committee any reason for this course, but we have heard well authenticated reports, and we tender her our best wishes and congratulations.
To fill this vacancy Miss Mansfield was transferred from the West Ward Primary, at her own request. The Commit- tee felt that her meritorious services for twelve years entitled her to a ready compliance with this request.
In October Miss Brown resigned her charge at Woodville to accept a situation in Milton, and Miss F. Adelia Bishop of this town was selected to fill that vacancy.
At the close of the school year in June Miss Susan S. Beebe renewed her resignation from the Greenwood School, which she had filed in April and which she temporarily with- drew at the request of the Committee. Having been appointed in April, 1881, she thus closed more than two years of efficient work in a large school in which the work was rendered more difficult by the number of classes ranging from the lowest Primary to the First Grammar. The char- acter of her work was sufficiently shown by the increased percentage of her scholars who were able to pass the exan- inations for promotion. Since the grading of the school Miss Sarah E. Wilkins of Lynnfield has been placed in charge of the Intermediate department, and Miss N. J. Thayer of Greenwood of the Primary. This arrangement has proved satisfactory to the people and the Committee.
In the West Ward Intermediate the results of the exam- ination at the end of the year showed that the scholars must be promoted, if at all, upon the teacher's mark, and it only satisfied us of what we had for some time feared, that satis- factory work was, not done in the school for some reason. The teacher was an accomplished lady and as sincerely desirous of doing her full duty as any teacher ever under our charge. With a different school under different circum- stances we doubt not she will be successful. Some of the best teachers we ever had made failures elsewhere, and it is a well understood fact that one failure will not prevent fur- ther successful work.
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Miss Lizzie F. Ingram of Amherst, for one year an assist- ant with Miss Perkins, and one year with Mrs. Wentworth, was appointed to this school at the opening of the school year. She had a difficult situation to fill but she has com- menced her work with determination to do it well. Excellent results are already apparent, and from her character and training we are led to expect that this school will soon arrive at its old-time standing.
Miss Emma Thompson of Brockton was selected to fill the vacancy occasioned in the West Ward Primary by the trans- fer of Miss Mansfield to the Third Intermediate in the Centre. Her stay with us is of such short duration that we are unable to form any accurate or satisfactory judgment of her work, but certainly the outlook is promising.
The other schools of the town are under the instruction of the same teachers as at the date of the last report. We do not propose to speak of them individually ; the mention of the names of most of them is a sufficient guaranty of the character of the work they have done. Alive to whatsoever is new in educational thought and work, conservative enough to analyze new propositions and theories before adopting them, they have based their work upon the underlying prin- ciples which we have outlined, and the results have been correspondingly satisfactory. Disheartened at times by lack of sympathy and appreciation, exhilarated by kind words and trifling encouragements, they have pushed patiently but zealously forward in the civilizing and enlightening work to which their lives are consecrated.
"When God helps all the workers for his world,
The teachers shall have help of Him not last."
ATTENDANCE.
The average attendance has not been so high as in some years past. This result is partially due to a lack of a just appreciation of its value, and partially to the prevalence of
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contagious diseases in the town. We have reason to believe that the last named cause has been aggravated by a want of attention to the rules of the Committee, adopted several years ago, a substantial copy of which has been made the law of the State by the present Legislature, which we append for the guide and instruction of all.
AN ACT TO PREVENT THE SPREAD OF CONTAGIOUS DISEASES THROUGHI THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows :
Sec. 1. The School Committee shall not allow any pupil to attend the public schools while any member of the house- hold to which such pupil belongs is sick of Small Pox, Diphtheria or Scarlet Fever, or during a period of two weeks after the death, recovery or removal of such sick person.
Approved, March 2, 1884.
RECESSES.
Our school sessions, excepting the High School, have heretofore been three and two and one-half hours in length in the morning and afternoon respectively, including twenty minutes for recess during each session. The necessity for recesses has been for a long time a mooted question, and the experiment of dispensing with them entirely has been tried in several of our neighboring towns with apparent satisfac- tory results. After making some inquiries we determined to shorten our afternoon session to two and one quarter hours, and dispense with the recess in all the schools except the High and Primary (the High having but one session daily ) and the plan thus far has worked admirably, and so
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far as our information extends, no evil results have followed. The teachers have been instructed to use the utmost care and we have no doubt they have followed their instructions.
EXAMINATIONS AND PROMOTIONS.
It was perceived before the close of the school year that the rules for examination and promotion adopted last year would not afford that test of both teachers' and scholars' work that it was desirable the Committee should have in order to act intelligently, so a slight modification was made and the examinations and promotions made in accordance therewith. From the two changes made during the year there naturally arose some misunderstandings, and these grew wonderfully in cases of failure, and thus was given an opportunity for an unusual number of special cases with which we were obliged to deal as best we could. With a sincere desire to deal fairly and justly with all teachers and scholars we have formulated a plan of examination and pro- motion, varying slightly from that of some years past, which, if adhered to, will result in raising the standard of scholar- ship and dispensing with special cases. These rules are published in this report so that parents, teachers and scholars may have full knowledge of them, and we shall not depart from them except in very exceptional instances such as continued illness or compulsory detention from school on account of illness in families. The requirement of seventy per cent. to entitle a pupil to promotion is a low one, and ordinary application will enable every scholar in town to obtain it, and a failure to reach that per cent. is ample evidence that the scholar has not done his duty or is not qualified to advance. To promote such a one is not a kind- ness to him but an injury, and parents ought so to regard it, however great the disappointment of failure.
A movement has been made looking toward the promotion of scholars solely upon the recommendation of their teacher.
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This method undoubtedly has its attractions for a certain class of teachers and lazy committees and superintendents, but it does not afford the opportunities for testing the work of the schools which the spirit of our system contemplates ; it abolishes a powerful incentive and opens the door to grave abuses. The law intends that the Committee shall have the general charge and superintendence of the public schools, and this involves the transfer of scholars from one grade to another, and from one school to another of the same grade, and the grading of the schools, as well as their establishment and organization.
HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION,
The graduating exercises of the High School took place at the Town Hall on the evening of June 27th. Varied from the usual routine on such occasions, shorter in duration, they afforded gratifying evidences of solid work and accu- rate instruction to the friends of the school who crowded every part of our capacious Town Hall. The essays were thoughtful, the declamations and recitations well delivered, the music and calisthenics meritorious. Heretofore the honors in the High School have been bestowed according to rank and scholarship. Hereafter deportment will be consid- ered, and a knowledge of this fact has had, we think, a material effect upon the conduct of the pupils. The following is the programme of the evening and the names of those composing the graduating class :
$
PROGRAMME.
Chorus-"Morning Invitation." G. A. Veazie. Salutatory-"Shams." Alice B. Aborn.
Recitation. From Longfellow's "Morituri Salutamus."
Trio .- "Happy Wanderer."
Hattie M. Emerson· Abt.
Calisthenics.
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Mountains and their Associations.
Declamation -- "The Baron's Last Banquet."
Miss Beebe, Miss Conant, Miss M. B. Emerson. Green. Patrick F. Kalaher.
Chorus-"Damascus Triumphal March." Costa.
Valedictory .- "Step by Step We Gain the Heights." Annie E. Keefe.
Parting Ode. ,
5 Music by Miss Aborn, Words by Minnie B. Emerson. The day has come when we must part From those we love so well ; And sadness dwells in every heart, As sounds our last farewell.
The years have been to us a day, With all their fleeting hours ; As we have passed the time away Mid Learning's fragrant bowers.
And though our ways lie far apart In this broad world of ours, There will entwine around each heart Sweet sprays of Memory's flowers.
Bright pictures of that school-room dear, Our minds will oft recall, The pleasant scenes of many a year, Our teachers, class-mates, all.
Presentation of Diplomas. Benediction.
The following are the names of the Graduates :
CLASSICAL COURSE, FOUR YEARS.
Alice Bancroft Aborn, Annie Elizabeth Keefe.
ENGLISH COURSE, THREE YEARS.
Clara Jane Conant, Hattie Maria Emerson, Minnie Bentley Emerson.
BUSINESS COURSE, TWO YEARS.
Henrietta Hartshorne Beebe, Patrick Francis Kalaher, *La Roy Perry. *Excused from his part.
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The conduct of a portion of the audience in leaving the hall during the exercises and especially near the close, was an exhibition of ill manners which we trust will not be repeated. Thoughtless on the part of those who were guilty, it was very annoying to those taking any part, or desiring to hear, and mortifying to those who are jealous of the good name of the town.
MUSIC.
We have frequently spoken of this delightful part of our school exercises in terms of commendation. The experi- ence of the last year has been in harmony with that of preceding years. In June the pupils gave a concert in the Town Hall under the charge of their musical instructor, Mr. · Wilson ; all the schools being represented in a chorus of more than nine hundred voices. The selections sung were taken from the regular music studies used in the schools and the concert was so enthusiastically received that a repetition was demanded and given. The proceeds of the concert were devoted to the purchase of music readers.
A SUPERINTENDENT.
" Shall we have a Superintendent of Schools another year?" is a question we hear frequently. The law author- izes towns by vote "To require the School Committee annually to appoint a Superintendent who, under the direc- tion and control of said Committee shall have the care and supervision of the public schools." The compensation of the Superintendent shall not be less than one dollar and fifty cents per day for each day of actual service and shall be determined by the School Committee, and in every town in which a Superintendent is appointed and which does not provide otherwise by vote, the School Committee shall receive no compensation.
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Upon a subject of such interest we do not wish to speak with any uncertain sound. Our schools have not been cared for as they ought. No one is better aware of this than the Committee, and no one will criticize our work more rigidly than ourselves. We have kept the organization intact and had a general oversight of the work, but a multitude of details have unavoidably escaped us. The general trend of the work has been in the right direction, but with better super- intendence it could have been materially improved. The course of study could have been better adapted to the needs of the town, text-books could have been more carefully examined, school supplies more promptly procured, methods of teaching more intelligently criticized, examinations made more thorough and promotions and changes more satisfactory. These are some of the improvements which a better supervis- ion would give us. The difficulty lies in finding the man and raising the money to pay him. A good Superintendent should be a man of general intelligence, broad views, accur- ate scholarship, warm heart, agreeable manners, experienced and skilled in the management of children from the lowest grade of the Primary through the High School, and acquainted with the most approved methods of teaching through all these grades. He must be able to exercise sound judgment in the organization of his work and tact in its execution, and for the best results he must be able to adapt himself to all the various social elements of the community. Such men are rare, and valuable as they are rare, and when the town is willing to pay the price of such, we join most heartily and enthusiastically in the call for a Superintendent, and not till then. A poor Superintendent is worse than a poor teacher, because his capacity for harm is multiplied by the number of schools under his charge. No broken down political hack, teacher, lawyer, doctor or minister will fill the bill. Better by far continue our present method than have a Superintend- ent who will require more care than the schools themselves. Superintendence of schools is a profession by itself, and must
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be recognized, ranked and paid as such. Your Committee stand upon this ground. Will those who have written and spoken so vigorously upon this question meet us?
VISITORS.
Our schools have been honored during the year by the presence of a number of distinguished educators, among whom was Mr. John T. Prince, one of the agents of the State Board of Education, who spent several days with us in January and addressed both the teachers and Committee. He made a very careful inspection of our schools, and to some extent tested the work by an examination. This revealed some serious defects which we shall do what lies in our power to remedy. As one of the main objects of his visit to our town was to show us the need of a Superin- tendent it is fair to presume that this examination would tend to disclose those deficiencies which a more careful. superintendence would supply rather than to enable him to form an accurate judgment upon the condition and worth of our schools. His visit was provocative of good in thought and expression among teachers and Committee, and we shall welcome him most cordially whenever the the condition of his public duties will permit him to visit us. Mr. Walton, also an agent of the State Board of Education, to whom we are always under a debt of gratitude for valuable sugges- tions, spent one evening with the Committee in company with Mr. Prince. To such men is the Commonwealth indebted for her high educational standard.
SCHOOL BOOKS.
For some years it has been optional with towns to furnish all the text-books used in their schools, but by a law which has just been enacted by both branches of the Legislature, and at this writing awaiting the approval of the Governor to
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take effect August 1, 1884, this will be made obligatory. It will entail a large expense upon the town of which we have had no time to make an intelligent estimate. It will also increase the work of the School Committee to an extent which they will be unable to perform without clerical help or the aid of a Superintendent. The following is a copy of the law :
AN ACT
To FURNISH FREE TEXT-BOOKS TO THE PUPILS OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled and by the authority of the same, as follows :
SECTION 1. The School Committee of every city and town shall purchase, at the expense of said city or town, text-books and other school supplies used in the public schools and said text books and supplies shall be loaned to the pupils in said public schools free of charge subject to such rules and regulations as to care and custody as the School Committee may prescribe.
SEC. 2. Pupils supplied with text-books at the time of the passage of this Act shall not be supplied with similar books by the Committee until needed.
SEC. 3. This Act shall take effect upon the first day of August, 1884.
It will be necessary to make provision for the execution of this law at some meeting other than the annual meeting.
EXPENSES.
To carry on the school department the town, at its annual and special meetings, appropriated for the regular fund, fifteen thousand three hundred dollars ($15,300.00), and twenty-seven hundred dollars ($2700.00) for incidental expenses. The amount received from the Massachusetts State School Fund, the amount received from tuition and
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a small rebate upon fuel transferred to the regular fond made an aggregate of fifteen thousand five hundred twenty- seven dollars and eleven cents ($15,527.11). Of that amount fifteen thousand four hundred seventy-four dollars and twenty-four cents ($15,474.24) have been expended, leaving a balance of that fund on hand of fifty-two dollars and eighty-seven cents ($52.87). One hundred'and forty- nine dollars and twenty-six cents ($149.26) of this expendi- ture was inherited as an over-draft from last year.
The amount expended for incidentals (so called) is three thousand six hundred seventy-four dollars and eight- cents ($3,674.08), showing an expenditure over the appropriation of nine hundred and seventy-four dollars and eight cents ($974.08). Of the amount expended five hundred eighty- four dollars and fifty cents ($584.50) has been used to purchase new furniture which can be transferred to the new school house, when completed, and save a like expendi- ture at that time. One hundred and forty dollars ($140.) have been paid for rent, and about one thousand dollars ($1,000) may fairly be ascribed to extraordinary repairs upon school houses and yards. This latter expenditure was inevitable and should have been made before, and we have no fear of the approbation of the town in regard to it. Still further repairs are necessary, and it is the part of wisdom to make them as permanent as possible. Money cannot be more, judiciously or economically expended than in concret- ing the walks and yards about our buildings. It is cheaper than gravel, floors and mats, not to mention the neatness and comfort which a clean smooth surface affords. By all means let a generous appropriation be made for its use. .
RECOMMENDATIONS.
The work of the ensuing year will require the services of at least twenty-six teachers, whose salaries, at the present rates, would amount to thirteen thousand nine hundred and
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five dollars ($13,905.) We estimate the care of school houses at nine hundred dollars, and the cost of fuel at fourteen hundred dollars, making a total estimated expense for regular school purposes of sixteen thousand two hundred and five dollars ($16,205,), and we recommend that the town raise therefor the sum of sixteen thousand two hundred dollars ($16,200.). An overdraft for incidentals for the past year must be provided for in the sum of nine hundred seventy-four dollars and eight cents ($974.08), and we recommend to meet this deficiency and defray the incidental expenses of the year ensuing that the sum of three thousand dollars be raised. We recommend the raising of such sum as the town shall deem prudent to be expended in concreting the walks and yards about the school houses.
If the town votes to require the School Committee to employ a Superintendent, we recommend that two thousand dollars be raised to pay his salary.
We recommend that parents should take a more lively interest in all that pertains to their children's educational welfare, and that they should exhibit it by more frequent visits to school rooms, a more free and kindly interchange of thought and opinion with teachers and Committee, a more careful scrutiny of the conduct of their children to the end that the work given them to do shall be done in the most thorough and satisfactory manner, and that more manly men and more womanly women may pass out over the threshold of our school room doors.
We recommend to teachers that they insist upon the strict performance of all school requirements on the part of scholars to be performed ; that they familiarize themselves with the home and social surroundings of their pupils ; that their intercourse with parents be pleasant, free and truthful to the end that harmony in views and union in action may be more readily obtained and preserved ; that they remem- ber that with the onward march of events, school-teaching
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must keep pace, and that they possess themselves of the best thought and practice of the period.
In the discharge of their duties your Committee have held forty-one meetings and made two hundred and seventy-one visits to the schools, and held almost innumerable consulta- tions with parents, teachers and scholars.
The foregoing, together with the rules and tables hereto appended, we respectfully submit as our annual report. Wakefield, March 24, 1884.
S. K. HAMILTON, Chairman, LUCIUS BEEBE, WILLIAM N. TYLER, Secretary, SELIM S. WHITE, EDWARD A. UPTON, MELVIN J. HILL,
School Committee.
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TABLE OF ATTENDANCE.
SCHOOLS.
Average number belonging.
Average daily attendance.
Average per cent. of atten-
Number belonging to School
Feb. 28, 1883.
No. belonging to schocl, Feb. 22, 1884.
High School,
80.
76.3
95.49
74
89
Advanced Grammar,
41.3
39.
94.2
64
30
First Grammar, No. 1,
41.5
39.3
95.6
49
44
First Grammar, No. 2,
19.
16.
84.
84
50
Second Grammar, No. 2,
51.1
47.6
93.
52
Third Grammar,
39.
35.7
91.5
45
42
First Intermediate,
44.
39.7
90.
45
57
Second Intermediate,
55.5
50.7
90.2
53
60
Third Intermediate,
46.5
39.9
85.8
50
49
Centre Primary, No. 1,
42.21
37.25
88.2
37
45
Centre Primary, No. 2,
47.98
41.05
85.76
63
57
Bank Building Primary,
41.5
33.8
81.4
40
North Ward,
43.3
36.9
85.2
43
45
East Ward,
35.23
31.31
88.6
36
32
Woodville,
43.1
35.2
82.4
43
40
Greenwood, Intermediate,
34.6
31.7
91.6
62
23
Greenwood Primary,
38.3
32.7
85.4
40
Franklin St. Intermediate,
63.8
58.7
92.1
71
63
Franklin St. Annex,
Included
in
Int. &
Prm
West Ward Intermediate,
42.3
37.9
89.5
46
51
West Ward Primary,
42.7
36.2
85.
65
40
1010.5 904.2 89.5
990 1,031
20
Second Grammar,No. 1,
61.13
57.45
93.93
65
58
Franklin St. Primary,
56.6
50.6
89.7
dance.
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NAMES OF TEACHERS FOR THE YEAR, SALARIES, AND DATES OF ELECTION.
Names of Schools.
Teachers.
Elected.
Salaries.
High
Walter C. Hill,
Dec., 1881.
$1650
Martha Keith, Ass't
April, 1878.
700
..
.
.
Lucy P. Greenough, “ Fred'k B. Richardson,
Sept., 1883.
800
Advanced Gram'r,
Mrs. M. E. Wentworth,
Mar., 1871.
750
Ctr. Gram. No. 1,
Abbie S. Perkins, Ella L. Prime, ·
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