USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Wakefield > Town annual report of the officers of Wakefield Massachusetts : including the vital statistics for the year 1913-1916 > Part 46
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Most of the other grammar buildings are full and some action must soon be taken to relieve the situation.
A slight change has been made in the schedule at the High School, the three upper classes, attending from 8 to 12.32 and the first year class from 12.45 to 4.54. Some complaints have reached the committee regarding the lateness of the afternoon session, especially for girls living in the outlying sections of the town, but we feel that a shorten- ing of the session would seriously affect the efficiency of the school. This condition of double sessions must continue until a new high school building is erected.
PERMANENT IMPROVEMENTS
Since the erection of the Franklin School the grounds have been gradually filled by ashes and street cleanings. A considerable area was added to the grounds by these means, but it was a comparatively slow process and the committee had been watching for several years for a chance to fill in the land at a low cost. Advantage was taken of the opportunity offered by the building of the new block on the Rich- ardson land on Main street and eight hundred double loads of sand and gravel were purchased with which most of the low land has been made available for a playground. Considerable grading remains to be done.
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Thanks to the public spirit of the people in that district who contem- plate further improvements in the grounds and the purchase of suit- able equipment, the school will soon have a good play ground.
At Montrose concrete walks have been built on both sides of the building.
At the Hurd School gas lighting has been put in the corridors, one class room and teachers' room, thus providing a suitable place for gatherings of the Parents' Association in that district. Electric light- ing has been put in three of the rooms at the Warren School to im- prove the light on dark days.
In the typewriting room of the High School gas has been replaced by electric lights which give a very much needed improvement.
FIRE PROTECTION
All the doors in each building leading from the basement to a corridor have been covered with metal on the side toward the basement, and the glass in the doors and transoms has been replaced with wire- glass, and these doors are self-closing.
At the Woodville School the walls and ceilings under the stairs have been wire lathed and plastered.
At the Franklin School brick walls have been built about both basement stairways and standard self closing fire dours installed, thus the basement is shut off from the corridors and exits by these walls and fire doors.
At the Hamilton School the ceilings under the front corridor and stairways have been wire lathed and plastered.
At the Lincoln School the ceilings under all the corridors and stairways have been wire lathed and plastered, the partitions separ- ating the Manual Training room from the toilet and stairways have been bricked up, and a brick wall has been built between the book room and the main basement. The basement has been shut off from the corridors and exits by brick walls and self closing fire doors in the same way as at the Franklin School. The boiler room has been shut off in a similar way from the main basement, and the main basement has been divided from east to west by a brick wall in which there is but one opening and this is guarded by a self closing fire door. The gas in the Manual Training room and throughout the basement has been replaced by electricity. An outside exit has been built so that the pupils can go from the Manual Training room directly to the yard without passing through the basement.
Twelve additional fire extinguishers have been purchased for dis- tribution among the different buildings.
As a result of these improvements the buildings are now much bet- ter protected against fire. The committee propose to make other changes to improve further the conditions.
At the High School it is proposed to install a sprinkler system in the
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basement and chemical laboratory with standpipes to the top floor with two outlets on each floor with fire hose. The building has been con- nected with the street water mains by a six inch pipe to take care of the sprinkler system.
DENTAL INSPECTION
All the dentists in town have co-operated with the School Depart- ment in introducing dental inspection in the schools. The Depart- ment furnished two portable headrests and a few necessary instru- ments. An examination has been made in the first five grades and general advice given to the pupils.
The department has sent cards to the parents notifying them of cases in which their children's teeth need attention and recommend- ing that they consult their family dentist. Another examination will be made later.
The thanks of this department is extended to the dentists for their valuable services.
TEACHERS' SALARIES
The committee again express the hope that the town's financial condition will soon permit of a further increase in the maximum salar- ies of the teachers, and a schedule was submitted to the Finance Com- mittee showing what the increase in appropriations would be for three years if the maximum should be raised fifty dollars.
APPROPRIATIONS
We recommend the following appropriations:
Salaries
$69,207.00
Contingent
7,000.00
Supplies
3,700.00
Fuel
5,000.00
Evening School
1,100.00
Practical Arts
600.00
$86,607.00
The receipts are estimated to be $2500.00.
In the reports of the Superintendent and of the Principal of the High School, a detailed account is given of all the departments of the school system and we request a careful reading of their reports.
ARTHUR H. BOARDMAN IDA FARR MILLER J. LOWE McMAHON EVA GOWING RIPLEY DR. CHARLES E. MONTAGUE EDWARD E. LEE
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TOWN OF WAKEFIELD
REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT
To the School Committee.
Ladies and Gentlemen :- I hereby submit my fifth annual report as Superintendent of Schools for Wakefield, the same being the twenty-second in a series of such reports.
In this report I wish to call your attention to some things which we have done during the past year, bring some things before your attention for future consideration, and to recommend some things which would seem to be for the benefit of the schools in town.
I am happy to report that things have gone on with their accus- tomed smoothness in all departments. There has been a pleasing co- operation on the part of the principals and a ready response from the teachers. Only when these things are present can we have progress in our work.
In spite of the set back last winter caused by an outbreak of measles and whopping cough, our schools are in a flourishing condi- tion, and all the teachers are working with the idea of progress in mind.
CROWDED CONDITIONS
Last year I reported that some of the buildings were rapidly filling up and that it would be a matter of only a short time before we would have some difficult problems ahead of us. We expected then that we would not be able to accommodate the registration at the Lincoln School. Our fears were realized. This fall we found it necessary to give up the room which we had been using as an un- graded room. In this, we placed those children who were consider- ably over age for their grade, either because of lack of knowledge of the English language or for other reasons. We found it very valu- able in that those pupils who were registered in the special class because of lack of ability to speak English were able to make much more rapid progress due to more individual attention. I wish we could have kept this room for we sadly need it. Even using this room for a regular grade we were not able to take care of all the children without dividing the first grade into two sections, one of which attends in the morning, and the other in the afternoon. While this is not wholly desirable it has taken care of the situation this year.
Next summer we shall have about fifty-five or sixty leave the 8th grade and about ninety enter the 1st grade. This will leave a net gain of about thirty pupils. What we shall do with them becomes a serious proposition. It looks now as though we shall need another room next fall to take care of the increase in attendance. There are two ways in which we may do this: we can divide the first two grades and have morning sessions for a section of each and afternoon sess- ions for the other section; or we might have a portable building with
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two rooms to take care of the overflow. Of these two solutions I re- commend the latter as being better for the children although the former would cost less. In either event we shall need an extra teach- er. A new building, equipped, would probably cost about $3500. The portable building at the Franklin school cost about $1700, but we were able to use some old furniture. Now we have no old furniture available, of the size needed, so we would have to add to the price of the building itself the cost of complete new equipment.
The lower room at the Woodville school has more children than a teacher can readily handle. This fall we installed some extra chairs, making the seating capacity fifty-two. When we consider that the teacher has two grades and that by far the largest portion of the children are non-English speaking, we can realize the difficulty she has in handling the classes. It looks now as though next year conditions will be even worse. We have no available room near at hand to accommodate any transfers. If we should have a two-room portable building at the Lincoln School it might be possible to transfer a few children from the Woodville school taking those who live nearest the dividing line of the two districts. We could probably take away enough pupils to relieve the serious congestion at Woodville.
We found it necessary to make a few transfers from the Pros- pect school particularly to relieve grades three and four. I do not see how conditions are going to be any better there next year.
The Warren school takes the children above the fourth grade in the Prospect District and above the fifth grade in the Hamilton. Tak- ing these, together with the regular registrations in the Warren District, we find the upper grades well filled. One room has grades three and four together. We found it necessary to transfer several children from this room to the Hamilton school. At that time we hoped the transfers would be for this year only, but as time goes on I do not see much chance for putting the children back next fall.
The capacity of the other buildings is not unduly taxed, al- though practically all are well filled.
The town should be looking forward to increased accommoda- tions in the near future.
HIGH SCHOOL
I have said in previous reports that the high school has more students then we can take care of in a single session. Last year the freshman class had to meet in the afternoon. Then we found it pos- sible to have a short overlapping with the time for the three upper classes, but this year it did not seem at all feasible. Consequently we had to change the school hours for each section. This scheme is neither desirable nor worthy of commendation other than being a means of accommodation.
Some of the students who attend the morning session have to
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leave home almost before daylight during the short days. Some of those who attend the afternoon session do not get home until about six o'clock. During the winter months all go home after sunset. Not only this, but the first year's class has to work in artificial light during the latter part of the day. I am not opposed to a two session plan in the high school, but I am not in favor of such hours as we have at present.
I believe a long school day for high school students is desirable and I hope that the time will come soon when we may have it. I believe high school students should attend school all day. This would mean more intensive work by the students, more thoroughness in their studies and perhaps it would give a chance for physical training. Laboratory periods also would be longer and of more value. Study periods would be supervised, and good habits of study developed. Then practically all the work, except the reading for reference and outside reading in literature, would be done during school hours.
Because of the increase in the enrollment we shall need another teacher next fall. Last fall we found it necessary to add an extra teacher to the commerical department because of the growth of the department.
Because of the large number of elections of drawing we found it necessary to engage a teacher for full time. Miss Amy L. Butter- field has ably served the town as supervisor of drawing in the grades besides giving a part of her time to the high school. She chose to take up full time in high school leaving the position of supervision to be filled by the election of another teacher.
For a report, more in detail, of the high school I refer you to the report of the principal.
JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
-
The present school course is really divided into two parts, the elementary school with grades, and the secondary or high school. Many people think of the elementary school as made up of three dis- tinct groups: primary, intermediate and grammar. These three divisions however constitute one branch of our public schools. The present system is divided according to what is comonly known as the eight-four plan, meaning a pupil gives eight years to the elementary schools and four years to the high.
There is a wide gap between the elementary and high schools. In fact, I am not sure but what this is the worst gap a child meets in his whole educational career. It is certain that the read- justment necessary for high school life is a severe tax upon many children. In the grades they have only one teacher with whom to become familiar. Someone divides the day for them and indicates to them to a large extent what and when they shall study. There is no
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passing in the corridors except at recess. When they get into high school all this is changed, and it is made worse by the present crowded conditions in our high school, for the day for each is really shortened because of our morning and afternoon sessions. The three upper classes have only four and one-half hours, and the first year class, four and one-fourth hours. There is little time for study during school time, consequently the students have to study a great deal at home, while, heretofore, he has not done very much at home. Again the student recites to several teachers instead of to one, and instead of remaining in one room all day he has to pass to different rooms for different recitations. Each individual thus is given more freedom, which at first some are disposed to abuse. The lessons are entirely different and each may "get" his lesson when he chooses instead of all study the same one at the same time. Again the method of teaching in the high school is usually different from that of the elementary due to the fact that practically all of the high school teachers are college trained, and colleges have begun only recently to take up teacher teaching. Practically all of the teachers in the grades are normal trained. This change in method of teaching adds to the con- fusion.
Many educators today believe that children over twelve years of age need a different kind of teaching from those younger, and they think that the schools do not take this enough into consideration, in the usual curricula and classes. They are recommending more and more that the division of school life be changed from the eight-four plan to a six-six or six-three-three plan, or at least that the work of the last two years in the grammar school should be differentiated. As I study the situation, I believe that the six-three-three plan is the one that will come into more general use. The six-three-three plan means that a pupil attends the elementary school for six years. These schools for the small children are located in the different dis- tricts in such a way that the little folks will be near their homes and will not have long walks. The high school life is six years, with three years given to the junior and three to the senior sections, and is in buildings centrally located. It is already rapidly spreading through the West, and is being taken up in the East by many cities and towns. It seems to me that this more nearly meets our modern demands than any other scheme we have at hand. The Boston Latin school has really had this plan for years and the city is now extending it to other schools. I commend the idea to the Committee for serious con- sideration.
Would a junior high school be of any benefit to the town as far as accommodations are concerned? The scheme presupposes one or more central schools to take care of grades VII-IX and a senior high school to take care of grades X to XII. If we could take the seventh and eigth grades out of the grammar schools we would have several rooms available for future growth. We would have the following
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ยท numbers of rooms released in each building: Hurd 1, Lincoln 3, Warren 3, Franklin 2, Greenwood 2. This would not give any per- manent relief in the Lincoln District for if we could put such a scheme into operation next fall we would probably need two of the three rooms immediately.
It might be possible to have another room at Greenwood to take care of grades I-IX or the entire elementary school and the junior high school. No child from Greenwood then would have to come up town until the second year of his high school career. I am inclined to think that such a scheme would be very acceptable to the residents of that section for it would mean that they would have another year to attend school in Greenwood without the long walk or car ride to the centre.
The amount of room given at the other buildings by taking out the seventh and eighth grades would be sufficient to take care of the dis- tricts for several years to come.
All this would require the erection of a new building, which must come soon anyway. This new building might be for either the junior or senior section and used in connection with the old building. In building we should provide extra room for future growth. We might place all the high school students and a part of the eighth grade in the new building, and the rest of the eighth and seventh grades in the old or present high school building. As our numbers increase the eighth grade would gradually be forced out of the new building and then the freshman class in turn would follow. At such a time another new building would be needed. This additional new building would take care of the junior high school students but the necessity for this build- ing would be postponed for a few years.
I believe such a program would be for the best educational in- terest of the town although it probably might not be the least ex- pensive, financially. If we are to keep pace with the times we must provide more and better facilities for the upper grades, and I be- lieve such a scheme as I have outlined above would do this.
FIRE PROTECTION
During the last part of the year the Committee did something towards making the buildings more secure from fires. No building is more nearly fireproof than is the the inside work. Brick walls may protect the outside, but they do not insure the safety of the interior except from a fire that may originate from without the building. Statistics show that something like eighty per cent or more of fires in school buildings originate in the basement. This being so, outside brick walls afford scant protection to the average school house, especially if it is more than a few years old.
None of our buildings have a fireproof interior, although we have
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REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE
six brick buildings. Taking these things into consideration the Com- mittee felt that for the safety of the school children something should be done that would give them more protection in case of fire. Before beginning this work the Committee called upon the State Inspector of Public Buildings for this district for advice and suggestions.
Every school in town has well executed fire drills. Each has more then one signal to indicate the different exits which the pupils shall use depending upon the supposed location of the fire. The larg- est buildings are emptied within two minutes.
HOME GARDENS
We have no available space around any of our school buildings for garden work, so whatever we do along this line has to be home garden projects. I believe that we should give this more serious at- tention than we have heretofore done. Nearly all of our schools have done something with home gardens, but we should do a great deal more. To this end I shall soon call a meeting of the principals, lay out plans for the coming season, and try to interest a far larger portion of the pupils in raising garden truck. To make the work more effective, there should be some way of inspecting the gardens during the summer and some way of giving advice to the children when the teachers are away for the long vacation. I believe this is a good line for the Parent-Teachers' Association to take up, and I would earnestly urge them to make this a part of their activities.
The Greenwood school for several years past has done good work along this line and has had good results. Their work shows that this is well worth while.
I believe there are several benefits that the children receive from taking care of home gardens. It will do them good to be out in the fresh air working on mother earth. There will be a joy in having some certain thing to do, to attend to living things and watch them grown. Homes would be beautified by flowers and perhaps unsightly back yards would yield not only vegetables for the family table, but also enough to supply a small income for the young gardener. I be- lieve there will be an added benefit for the child if he will keep an expense account covering all his work and materials, especially for the vegetable garden. The flower garden is worth more for its ethical value.
Last fall we could not exhibit the results of the garden work at the fair, for just before the opening of the fair our schools were closed by order of the Board of Health because of a scarlet fever scare. We could not place on exhibit as a school but several individuals did show their products which were creditable, and won many prizes.
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TOWN OF WAKEFIELD
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES
For about five years we have had no such serious interruptions in our school work as during the past year. Last winter and spring there were a great many cases of measles and whooping cough. These diseases seemed to pass over the town in waves, going from district to district. There were so many cases, particularly in the lower grades that in many instnces fifty per cent or more of the classes were absent. It goes without saying that this handicapped us in our work but the teachers by earnest work and special endeavor partially overcame the difficulty.
Shortly after the opening of school in the fall there was a fear that many children had been exposed to scarlet-fever, and the Board of Health closed the schools for two and one-half days. Happily there were not enough additional cases to cause any alarm.
TEACHERS' READING CLUB
Last year the Teachers' Association formed a reading class, which met once a month, and chose as a subject for study, psycho- logy, with application to the class room. We continued the class this fall and while not so many attend as I wish, I feel that those who do are profitting by the study.
I believe it will prove of value to make this a regular affair and for the present have the attendance optional with the teachers. Dif- ferent professional subjects can be taken up each year. Later, after due trail, I suggest that a reading and study course be a part of each teacher's duty, with regular attendance of each teacher re- quired unless she may be taking up some regular work with a normal school or college.
DENTAL CLINIC
Early last summer every dentist in town became interested in dental inspection in the schools and after several meetings where they thoroughly discussed the matter they decided to take up the work.
The School Department bought two portable head-rests which could be easily carried from school to school, a few examination in- struments, and cards for recording the results of the examinations.
Shortly after the opening of school in the fall the dentists began the work of inspecting the teeth of all pupils in grades one to five. At this time they merely examined the teeth of each child as a preliminary move. They recorded the results and gave advise as it seemed to be needed.
These cards were then graded good, fair and poor. Notices were sent home to the parents of those who received a mark of either fair
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REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE
or poor, with the request that they consult with their family dentist as soon as possible. It is too early to record any results, but judg- ing from the experience other towns have had we shall see a great deal of good.
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