USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Wakefield > Town annual report of the officers of Wakefield Massachusetts : including the vital statistics for the year 1916 > Part 7
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TEACHERS' SALARIES
The committee this year has again seriously considered the ques- tion of salaries and decided to recommend that the town appropriate a sum sufficient to increase the salaries of all women teachers fifty dol- lars and the men teachers one hundred dollars from January 1, 1917. This would raise the salaries of the women teachers in the grades now receiving the maximum to seven hundred dollars and in the High School to eight hundred and fifty dollars.
The Committee appreciates the fact that many places the size of Wakefield or larger and some towns smaller, pay salaries consider- ably in excess of those proposed, and if the town were in a better finan- cial condition the committee would gladly recommend a more substan- tial increase believing that it would be justified in so doing.
Since the budget was prepared a petition was presented from the grade teachers asking for one hundred dollars increase January 1, 1917 and fify dollars increase January 1, 1918.
The committee has prepared and presented to the Finance Com- mittee an estimate showing the additional amount needed to carry this into effect and also to give a like increase to the women teachers in the High School.
99
REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE
APPROPRIATIONS
We recommend the following' appropriations .
Salaries
$ 76,659.00
Contingent
7,000.00
Supplies
4,000.00
Fuel
6,000.00
Evening School
1,100.00
Practical Arts
900.00
$ 95,659.00
The receipts are estimated to be $3000.00.
For a more complete account of the work of the schools, we would refer to the reports of the Superintendent and of the Principal of the High School and urgently invite a careful reading of the same.
A. H. Boardman
Mrs. Ida Farr Miller
J. Lowe McMahon Mrs. Eva Gowing Ripley
E. E. Lee
Dr. C. E. Montague
REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT
To the School Committee.
Ladies and Gentlemen :- I hereby submit my sixth annual report, the twenty-third in a series of such reports.
CROWDED CONDITIONS
Last year I reported that in some districts the buildings were badly overcrowded. Conditions have not improved any, but are worse.
The Woodville building has room enough upstairs because we took the fifth grade from there and divided it between the Lincoln and Franklin Schools. We felt compelled to do this because of the large numbers at Woodville and because there were three grades in the room. The lower room has about fifty pupils. Nearly all of the entering class are non-English speaking, making the work here very hard. Some assistance should be given the teacher for full time.
In the Franklin buildings the rooms accommodating the first four or five grades have more pupils than they should, and this is in spite of the portable building which has been in use for some time. No teacher should be compelled to teach fifty pupils, but two or three teachers in this building do. The sixth, seventh and eighth grades are not at all crowded, the congestion coming in the preceding
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TOWN OF WAKEFIELD
grades. It looks, now, as though it is only a short time before we shall have to have added accommodations here. Until such are fur- nished by the town we should employ an extra teacher to help, par- ticularly in grade one and in others if occasion permits.
In the Lincoln building conditions are very bad. The first grade is still divided, one-half of the class attending mornings and the other half afternoons. Some of the other rooms are badly over- crowded, having fifty or more pupils enrolled. We have a teacher here who does individual work with the slow and backward pupils and she is doing the work well. ,
The three central districts, Woodville, Franklin and Lincoln are in the poorest shape for accommodations and urgently need relief.
The other buildings, with the exception of the eighth grade room in the Warren School, are comfortably able to take care of the pupils in their respective districts. It may be possible to re-arrange the Warren and Hamilton districts and add one or two grades to the Hamilton school to more easily take care of the situation on the West Side. ,
FIRE-PROOFING
During the past year the committee did considerable work in fire-proofing the buildings. The High, Lincoln, Hurd and Hamilton schools are now well protected. There is some work still which should be attended to. Every building in town now has self-closing doors leading to the basements covered with metal, and orders have been given to have these doors closed all the time school is in session. Every exit is thus guarded against fire breaking out into the corri- dors from the basements.
WIDER USE OF BUILDINGS
The town has a valuable plant in the school property and it seems a pity that this vast plant cannot be utilized to a greater extent. At present all but two buildings are used some, though not as much as they might be.
The High School is the most widely-used school building in town. During the fall, winter and spring for four nights per week some parts of this building are in use from eight o'clock in the morning to nine-thirty or ten at night. The High School students use it from eight to five o'clock, and the Evening School from seven-thirty to nine-thirty at least, often for more than this time. Different organ- izations of the High School also use it during the winter, as well as the Parent-Teachers' Association and the Wakefield Improvement Society.
The Franklin School while well situated is not used as much for a civic center as it should be. Besides the Parent-Teachers' Association meetings, the Kosmos Club is conducting classes for the
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REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE
mothers of the district, making provisions for taking care of the little children whom the mothers may bring with them.
The only extra use the other buildings have is the meetings of the Parent-Teachers' Association or Improvement Association of the re- spective districts.
TEACHERS' SALARIES
The question of adequate salaries for teachers is ever present, and it seems to be more pressing than ever just now. There is no need of giving any arguments on the high cost of living. We all know it is here and we know that it affects all alike. Industries are giving their employees substantial increases in wages with a result in many cases, that unskilled labor is receiving more than the teach- ers of our town. The teacher has many demands both for time and money, and after these have been satisfied together with the actual cost of existence, a teacher has very little chance to lay anything aside for a rainy day or for old age. I know that both the tax rate and assessed valuation of property are high, but I sincerely hope the town may see its way clear to make a sufficiently large appropria- tion so the committee may grant a substantial increase in salary to each teacher.
DENTAL WORK
Last year I reported that the dentists in town had freely and voluntarily offered their services to examine the teeth of the school children in the first five grades. They have continued their work this year adding the pupils of the sixth grade. The dentists find that since the last inspection many children have had work done on their teeth. Last spring many children whose parents could not afford to pay for dental work were given treatment gratis. I cannot speak too highly of these busy men who have so generously given of their time for the benefit of the children. They have eased much pain and increased the efficiency of the boys and girls.
SCHOOL NURSE
Nearly every principal reports that the school nurse is doing a valuable work in the schools in conjunction with the school physi- cian. Her following up of the parasitic diseases and skin troubles saves many children considerable time that they would otherwise lose. I hope we may add a nurse permanently to our staff.
NEW FORM FOR REPORT CARDS
Believing that a new style of report card would better meet needs of this line of school work, we have adopted new forms. Now, instead of giving a letter or figure indicating the kind of work a pupil is doing, the teacher tells in plain English in a few words
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TOWN OF WAKEFIELD
what the weakness or strength of the pupil is. At the end of the half-year and at each report thereafter she also states the chances of promotion of each child. The parent thus has plenty of time to know what to expect and to assist in the work to make up the deficiencies. The parent is requested to sign the card, not as an indication of ap- proval but to show that he has read over the report. Judging from comments that I have heard, I believe that parents generally like this new form of report card.
MANUAL TRAINING
When the Manual Training Department was first established it did what was called Sloyd work. This has been gradually changed and broadened and work has been made as practical as possible under the present housing conditions, for we are badly handicapped for room. I feel that the time has come to branch out still more by in- troducing printing and bookbinding. The first thought is that we have not room enough for the apparatus necessary for these subjects. We haven't if we add the equipment to that which we already have in the room. We can introduce these two subject if we remove some of the benches now in place. This will not give us all the room needed, but it will enable us to make a start, and in due course of time when we have a new building we can make proper preparations. The only way we can accommodate them now is to take out one row of benches and put in their place a small equipment for printing and bookbinding and divide the classes into divisions, each working at one of the three kinds of exercises.
This idea is not to turn out finished printers or bookbinders, but to give those motor-minded boys work along other lines than wood by means of which they may get some training. It will be somewhat meager pre-vocational work instead of any attempt at vocational. The bookbinding equipment will not be expensive. The manual training boys can make some of the apparatus needed. Accuracy is necessary for repairing a book as well as good judgment in selecting what can be rebound and in selecting cover material. The depart- ment can furnish plenty of books for practical experience. At
present our bookbinding bill is on an average about $110 per year. The boys could probably do all of the work saving a greater part of this amount. The work would not be done as well at first as is now done by expert binders but the result would be a strongly bound book, ready for further service even if it did not look as good as it might. It is seldom that we have as much material for practical experience as we have for this line of work.
A printing outfit will cost considerably more, but I believe the additional expense is fully warranted by the extra value to the boys. I know of nothing that requires more exactness, the exercise of more judgment than does printing. Here again the department can fur-
103
REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE
nish plenty of work for practical experience in the small forms needed and other kinds of work that we could use to good advantage but which are too expensive to buy.
I urgently recommend the adoption of these two courses.
HOUSEHOLD ARTS
At the present time we have no courses in the High School for those students who are motor-minded and do not take to the regular academic work. We ought to have something for such pupils both for boys and girls. The work for the boys would be an extension of the manual training in the grades with the addition of different kinds of material with which to deal. For the girls we should give in- struction in the household arts. This might be open to all girls over fourteen years of age regardless of whether they had finished the grammar school or not. The best workshop for this would be, not. a special room in the High School building, but rather an outside building, in other words, an ordinary house. This could be re- modeled by the boys who could also take care of the interior decora- tions. The girls could take care of the selection of furnishings as. 2. part of the regular work. Instruction in the care of a household would then be given in surroundings like those under which they would actually deal when they leave school. The classes would rotate, so one tenement or building would take care of several classes or groups of girls. Instruction should also be given in sewing, both by power and by the methods of the ordinary home. Cooking would also be given under normal conditions. Here also could be exemplified the preparing and serving of meals to meet the needs of families of different sizes. This same idea is being carried out in other places with good success. In regard to practical experience, I see no rea- son why the girls should not prepare and serve the lunches for the High School, where the food might be sold practically at cost. I also believe that different families in town would gladly send in lunches to b. prepared for social functions in the home. They could state the number of guests to be served and the amount they wish to pay. It would then be a problem for the girls to prepare the food for the given cost. Many families do not keep a maid for full time but wish to secure help at stated times. I see no reason why the girls should not go into the homes to render this kind of service. I commend this. idea for the serious consideration of the Committee.
LONGER SCHOOL DAY
I have expressed a belief before that the length of the school day for high school pupils should be extended, and have also shown that it is physically impossible to do so with the present equipment. Indeed we are compelled to shorten the day for instead of the common five hour day, the upper classes have only four and one-half hours and the
104
TOWN OF WAKEFIELD
freshmen class only four and one-quarter hours. A longer day for the upper grammar grades also would give the teachers a chance to teach the pupils more how to study. Much of the home study today is more or less haphazard with a resultant loss of time. Conditions in the home are not usually adapted for intensive study. The regular routine of the family disturbs more or less. Coupled with not thoroughly know- ing how to study, the daily life of the family interferes so with the average pupil that he cannot secure the best results from home work. A longer day would give the child more chance to study in an atmos- phere of study where he could accomplish more in a few minutes than in an hour at home. I belive that after a thorough trial, a majority of parents would much prefer this plan.
JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Last year I wrote somewhat at length upon the subject of Junior High School. It is not necessary to repeat all the material this year. I will however call to your attention again the fact that two central high schools, a junior and a senior would leave the present grammar school buildings able to take care of the first six grades for some time to come. I realize that we cannot do anything until we have a new high school building, and while almost everyone knows we sadly need new quarters for the high school we probably cannot have a new build- ing until the finances of the town are in better condition and the tax rate lowered, If this doesn't happen soon we shall need increased ac- commodations for at least three districts.
HOME GARDENS
For the past few years the Wakefield Improvement Society has been conducting contests in flower gardens at the homes. I have felt that the vegetable garden should be recognized both for its discipline for the child and its economic value to the family. Last year I started a campaign for wider use of the back yards for gardens. ' I called a meeting of representatives from the different organizations in town in- cluding the Grange and Business Men's Association at which we out- lined a program for carrying on the work. At the time of organiza- tion we had no idea of doing anything except with vegetables, but the Wakefield Improvement Association asked us to take over the flowers. We secured several prizes which we offered by grades for both vegetable and flower gardens and general prizes of two gold watches for the boy and girl having the best flower gardens in town.
To secure the best results we enlisted the aid of the Parent- Teachers' Associations in each district to make three or four inspec- tions of the gardens during the summer. The visitors from these were enthusiastic and were of material aid to the success of the work. Several children became discouraged early in the summer and failed in their work. Just before the flower exhibition in the fall, an expert,
REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE
105
Mr. White, from the State Board of Agriculture, came to Wakefield and put in a day and a half inspecting and judging those gardens which the visitors had selected as the best in each district.
The success of these gardens depends largely upon the sympathy and encouragement of the home and as we are planning to continue the work this spring and summer I hope we may receive even greater help than last year.
We made several mistakes last year which I believe we may rec- tify, profiting by experience. We will begin the work earlier this year by calling together the general committee about the last of January, thus perfecting the plan much earlier. I hope we shall have the con- tinued support of the different organizations for the more pople we can enlist as friends of the cause the more encouragement we can give the children and the better results we shall receive.
Other places that have tried this work find that it is better to give several smaller prizes than a few large ones. We need a consider- able amount of money for these, something like $75 or $100. If we could have this amount we could give prizes by grades in each school throughout the town rather than a prize for each grade in town. The amount needed is based on the assumption that we shall have both flower and vegetable gardens for the contests.
Many of the children exhibited the products of their gardens at the Quannapowitt Fair last fall. The exhibits consisted also of work done in the home, particularly by the girls, such as canning, both fruit and vegetables, bread and cake making, jellies and needle work The total amount of prizes given for this department was $120.25, $66.90 of which went to the children from Wakefield. The largest prizes for Wakefield of $5.55 and $5.35 went to Everett Hellyar and Adelaide Boynton, respectively. I believe this is a fair indication of the success of our work and warrants us in continuing our efforts along this line.
ORGANIZED PLAY
Two schools, the Greenwood and Franklin, have been trying organized play. The Greenwood School has carried the work further along, backed by the interest and financial support of the Parent- Teachers' Association. They have paid for the services of an instruc- tor to give time at recess two days each week for the instruction of both pupils and teachers. I believe the results have more than justified the expense. The discipline of both the school yard and room has greatly improved since the introduction of this organized play and physical instruction. If the school day for the upper grades and high school should be lengthened, we could have supervised study periods, and supervised play or physical exercises for both sessions. As soon as the town feels as though it can afford this additional expense I recommend that the department secure the services of someone to take
106
TOWN OF WAKEFIELD
charge of this work in all the schools in town. I doubt if the same person could also serve as athletic instructor in the high school because of lack of time.
One of the high school teachers offered her services for a volun- teer class in physical exercise for girls. The only available space has been the front corridor. That the work is appreciated by the girls is shown by the fact that while the work has been entirely elective only one or two have dropped out after beginning the exercises.
PRACTICAL ARTS
We have omitted the course in cooking this year because there. did not seem to be a sufficient demand for it.
The enrollment in the millinery and sewing class is somewhat smaller than formerly. During the spring and fall we have held some afternoon classes in these subjects because this arrangement seemed to. meet with favor with many who found it rather hard to get out in the evening because of family cares. The work has been continued along the same general lines as I have before reported. Below is given the value of the work turned out by the classes. This is taken from a re- port submitted to the State for the school year of 1915-1916.
SEWING
Articles made :- 35 Undergarments
cost $34.40
av. cost, each .98
est. val., each .. 1.25
$43.75
36 Shirtwaists
cost
25.42
av. cost, each.
.70
est. val., each. . cost
1.50
54.00
76 Skirts
94.92
av. cost, each.
1.24
est. val., each. .
3.00
228.00
42 Waists
cost
30.53
av. cost, each.
.72
est. val., each ..
2.00
84.00
Total value
$409.75
MILLINERY
Total number of hats made
155
cost
$452.48
average cost, each
2.91
average value, each
6.02
Total value
$934.00
Totals
REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE
107
Notes. Many of the waists were joined to the skirts to form a dress. Several skirts were made of woolen materials, which made the estimated average value higher.
Each student passed in the actual cost of her hat and also her estimated value of the same. In some cases where the cost seems low, old materials were used, and in a few instances when the cost is very high, ostrich plumes or expensive materials were used.
SCHOOL SAVINGS BANKS
In previous reports I have explained in detail the workings of the School Savings Banks. The efficiency of these depends largely upon the enthusiasm of the teachers and principals for children need a constant stimulus for an extended period to form good habits. I feel that we are accomplishing good work along this line, for as you see by the fol- lowing report the children of the three schools having the School Sav- ings Banks have a considerable sum to their credit in the Bank, a com- paratively large number having bank books of their own.
SCHOOL SAVINGS FOR YEAR 1916
Gr'nw'd
Active Account
300
Lincoln 169 1898
Franklin 133
Totals. 602 5104
Withdrawals
$ 21.39
$ 95.97
$ 41.84
$ 159.20
Amount of Deposits
684.06
549.08
298.47
1531.61
Amt. transferred to
pupils' acc'ts
624.00
394.47
213.00
1231.47
Bal. in custody of
Trustee
146.52
75.21
75.66
297.39
No. of Savings Bank
Books issued
49
19
19
87
SUMMARY FOR FOUR YEARS
Number Deposits
.7525
6671
5620
19816
Amount of Deposits .. $ 2271.78
$1769.96
$1302.55
$5344.29
Amt. of Withdrawals
149.25
322.53
340.41
812.19ยท
Amount tranferred to
pupils' accounts
2030.68
1357.21
772.00
4159.89,
Number of Savings Bank
Books issued
276
152
171
599
No. of Deposits
2139
1067
108
.
TOWN OF WAKEFIELD
HIGH SCHOOL
The High School continues to increase in number with each suc- ceeding year. Thirty-nine more pupils have enrolled to date than were registered for the whole of the last school year. As the number of pupils increase so we have to add a teacher to the corps to take up the extra classes thus formed. There is a limit to the accomodations of the building for the actual housing of the students. The efficiency is diminished now by conditions as they are, but by the time we meet with the full capacity of the building the efficiency will be at a low ebb.
I wish to commend the spirit of the teachers in the High School for they do their work under adverse conditions without com- plaining. The esprit de corps is noticeable, and take this with better equipment the work would be much better than it is now.
I have spoken in another place of a small beginning in physical culture. I hope this will be given soon for all the girls.
For a more particular report of the High School, I refer you to the report of Principal Howe.
EVENING SCHOOL
There has been a decided decrease in the attendance in the Even- School due prebably to a restricted immigration because of the war in Europe. We have had a smaller enrollment than for several years.
Our class in citizenship which we started last year has been con- tinued. While we did not have as many attend as we wished, it seemed as though we secured very good results. The course is arranged with the idea of giving aliens knowledge of American History, the govern- ment of the municipality, state and nation, and the ideals of American citizenship.
Mr. Raymond Dellinger, the instructor, has been in close touch with the naturalization authorities and has secured helpful co-opera- tion from them. Mr. Dellinger escorted to the naturalization court in Boston those who desired help and assisted them in taking out the so called first papers and also the final ones. There were twenty- seven who made declaration of intention and eleven who secured certi- ficates making them citizens of this country.
CHANGES IN THE TEACHING FORCE
During the year we have had the following resignations.
HIGH SCHOOL
Amy Butterfield, Drawing, to be married.
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