USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Plymouth > Town annual report of the officers of the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts for the year ending 1910 > Part 8
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The whole number of children enrolled in the schools at present is 2,144. Of this number 1,123, about 53 per cent. of the total number, are in the primary schools, grades one to four, inclusive, distributed in twenty-nine school rooms. The small- est number in any one room is thirteen, and the largest, forty- eight.
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These 1,123 pupils are enrolled in the four primary grades as follows :
Grade I,
334
Grade II,
246
Grade III, 310
Grade IV,
233
1,123
It was hoped that when the new school building at the north was ready for use there would be available room to open a school to which over-age pupils who know no English, and others for whom such a school would be adapted, could be sent. But the large number of pupils who had to be sent there left no opportunity to provide such a school. Yet the need for a school of this kind is urgent, as much for the sake of those children whose special needs could there be provided for as for the sake of those schools which these children now attend, and the work of which is hindered by their presence.
The work of the first year is being carried on at present on a somewhat different basis and on a modified plan. It has been found that the large majority of children at the age of five years-the age at which they are admitted to school here-are not strong enough mentally or physically to do the work as it has been arranged heretofore. Only those who were admitted at an advanced age, six years or more, and the exceptional child, have met the requirements of the ordinary first grade. The attempt has now been made to arrange the work to meet the needs and capacities of the average child of five years. None of the formal work of the school course is required ex- cept reading. There are given to these children such exer- cises and tasks suited to their capacity as may fit them for the more formal work of the next year. This means that a school of the second year will take up the work heretofore at- tempted by the first grade, and will be regarded as a first grade school. The first year of school will therefore be sub-primary,
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and the work of the next eight years will cover and complete the formal course of study below the High School.
GRAMMAR SCHOOLS.
The grammar schools include grades 5 to 9. The number enrolled in these schools at present is 774, about 37 per cent. of the total school enrolment. They occupy eighteen school rooms, making an average of forty-seven pupils to each teacher.
These 774 pupils are enrolled in the five grammar grades as follows :
Grade V,
201
Grade VI, 209
Grade VII, 168
Grade VIII, 132
Grade IX,
64
7774
Promotions are made in each school by the regular teacher at the end of the school year in June. In doubtful cases the Superintendent is consulted. These promotions are based on the estimate of the pupil's daily work made by the teacher, and recorded at the end of each month, in the grammar schools, on report cards sent to the parents. When conditions seem to justfy it, a pupil may be promoted on trial for a month. In such a case, the parent is notifed by written form of the intended conditional promotion, and the promotion in this form is made only in case the parent gives written consent thereto. If, at the end of the probationary period, the pupil's work warrants it, the promotion is made for the rest of the year; but no pupil is expected to be retained in any class when his interests are best served by his going to a higher or lower one.
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This year an attempt is being made to have the manual training work, including drawing, less formal and more prac- tical, of a kind that appeals to the pupils engaged in that work, because of its useful and practical nature. The chief aim is to make articles which are useful in themselves and to which constructive and decorative design can be applied. Some of this work is being attempted in every grade. Paper folding and cutting, box construction, book-binding and mak- ing, wood and metal work of a simple sort; sewing and gar- ment cutting and making, all of these with the large variety of exercises which proper construction and decoration involves, afford an interest and a meaning to pupils' work in other related and dependent subjects which are of real value. This manual training, suited to the capacities of the children of the different grades, and chosen because of its variety of use- ful exercises, as drawing to scale, selection of proper material, measuring, estimating, cutting and constructing to pattern, and describing, furnishes practical work and definite knowledge in arithmetic, drawing, decoration and language which the pupil can appreciate because he sees its purpose and need.
Lack of time on the part of pupils is the chief obstacle to giv- ing work of this kind a fair test. From two to two and a half hours each week is the most that can be given at present to this form of training, and that is not enough to secure the best re- sults.
Certain phases of this work appeal strongly to some children, both girls and boys, who are uninterested and slow in the or- dinary tasks of the school. It is at least probable that such pupils would gain much more from the last two years of their grammar school course,-that is the eighth and ninth years, if during that time they were given a six-hour school day, and then were allowed to divide that time equally between manual training and the ordinary literary work of the school. They would certainly gain much from the chosen work in manual training, and it is most likely that their progress in the regular
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school work would not be lessened because, under this arrange- ment, only three hours a day, instead of five hours, were given to it.
In the change and modification of the course of study neces- sary to adjust it to an eight year course, it may be possible to make a larger provision of time for some pupils in manual work.
HIGH SCHOOL.
Graduates from the grammar schools are admitted to the High School by certificate. No formal examinations are required, ex- cept in the case of those from other places who apply for ad- mission. There were 50 who received certificates from the ninth grade last June, and 46 of these entered the High School. In addition to those entering from the ninth grade, 29 from the eighth grade who were regarded as ready to do the work of the High School, were admitted on trial. This with one pupil en- tering from another town made the total membership of the entering class 76.
At present there are 278 pupils enrolled at the High School building. Of this number 64 are members of the ninth grade, who in all respects save subjects of study, are a part of the High School.
The present current expenses of the High School are :
Teachers' salaries,
$7,000 00
Janitor,
550 00
Fuel and light,
800 00
Books and supplies, 1,000 00
$9,350 00
This makes the current expense for instruction of each pupil in the present total membership of the High School $43.70
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The present membership of the High School is 214 pupils, with eight regular teachers. The work of the school is carried on in four courses, as follows :
Boys.
Girls.
Total
Classical Course,
6
34
40
Scientific Course,
30
10
40
Literary Course,
4
32
36
Commercial Course,
26
72
98
66
148
214
Each of the four courses named above ordinarily requires four years for its completion. The student can prepare for college or technical school in four years. With a few restrictions such as seem necessary to prevent waste of time by injudicious or careless selection of subjects, any student for whom a full course is unnecessary or impossible may ordinarily take a special or partial course suited to his purpose. In this way, too, pupils who wish to take a full course, but who, for reasons of health are not able to do so, may make the work of each year easier by doing it more leisurely, taking five or more years to complete the regular four years' course. By such an arrangement the advantages of the school are offered to some who would other- wise be barred from them, while the number of classes and the teaching work of the school are not materially increased there- by.
The High School is being hindered in its work because of insufficient room. Every year its classes are increasing in num- ber and size. The school has only four class rooms. The com- mercial work needs at least two of these, and the Ninth grade ' is occupying the other two. This leaves the two Science laboratories and one small room, never intended for school pur- poses, for other classes. The accommodations are wholly inade- quate to the present needs of the school. Enlarging the build- ing would seem the proper remedy, and if it should be found possible to do that at a reasonable cost, an addition of four
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rooms would give ample accommodation for all who are there at present. If this addition can not be made, then a four room building elsewhere is needed at once.
The graduating exercises of the High School class of 1910 were held Tuesday evening, June 21, with the following pro- gram :
PROGRAMME.
Music. Now the Music Soundeth, Hosmer
Essay. " They !" 1 School Chorus.
Valborga M. Hokanson.
Essay. " Our Friends the Books,"
Margaret Kyle.
Music. The Morning Ramble, School Chorus.
Veazie
Essay. " An Appreciation of Lady Macbeth." Janet Wallace Carr.
Essay. " The Place of Domestic Science in the Schools."
Marjorie Sutcliffe.
Music. Wiegenlied (Cradle Song), School Chorus.
Frank
Demonstration of Wireless Telegraphy.
Its History-Emery St. George. Its Method-Fritz John Bittinger.
An Original Story. " What the Frogs Told Mariana," Esther Barrows. Rich
Music. March Song of the Flag, School Chorus.
Presentation of Diplomas.
Class Song.
Musical Director-Alice C. Persons.
Pianist-Benjamin Macomber, '11.
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Class Motto : Per aspera ad astra. Class Color : Purple and Gold.
GRADUATES.
George Joseph Anderson Herbert Kneeland Bartlett Fritz John Bittinger Mae Alice Burgess
Dorothy Southworth Bradford Gertrude Sumner Carleton Clyfton Chandler
Hadley Cole, Mary B. Forstmeyer *Catharine Nelson Hathaway Edgar Gordon Howland *Margaret Kyle, Annie Whiteley Loft Robert Wendell McCosh Lawrence John Savoy Emery St. George,
Leslie Burton Torrance,
Esther Barrows William Howard Beever *Grace Blackmer Lilian Frances Burke Warren Elliot Carleton *Janet Wallace Carr Deborah Doten Clark Marion Hazel Dunbar *Helen Sherman Harlow *Valborga M. Hokanson Mary Frances Hoxie Susan Thomas Leach Joseph W. Magee Frances Evelyn Sampson *Helen Davis Stranger *Marjorie Sutcliffe Alice Winslow Watson
Emma Dora Wixon.
*Honor pupils.
CLASS SONG.
Raise high our voices ! Praise of our school days tell ! And let no sorrowing tear Mar our farewell.
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Our motto o'er us flies, "By valor to the skies," So may we ever strive Upward to climb.
Hang high the banners ! Purple and blazing gold. Hail' to class 1910! Long may it thrive ! As here for many a day We've passed the hours away ;
True to our school we'll be
Till life depart.
Catherine N. Hathaway, '10
UNGRADED SCHOOLS.
At present there are thirty-five pupils enrolled in the three schools, and an average membership of twenty-nine; the present cost of support is about $1,650.00, or something over fifty dol- lars per pupil in the average membership. The cost per pupil here is considerably more than twice the cost for each pupil in the Elementary schools in the center of the town, and there is no question that this larger cost fails to give these schools the qual- ity of work and opportunity provided the larger schools. To make equal the quality of instruction and frequency of supervision would double the present cost of the ungraded classes.
EVENING SCHOOLS.
The school census taken last September reports thirty-one girls and sixty-four young men as illiterate. Only one half
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that number are at present in the Evening schools because they are not employed in the mills. A large part of those who are in attendance at the evening schools are either over eighteen years old, or being under eighteen, are literate. All of these are most earnest in their work and interested in getting all they can from the school. The attendance at present is somewhat less than last year, but this is working to the advantage of those who attend, as it reduces the size of the classes, and makes it possible for each to receive more individual attention.
The record for the year is as follows:
Number of boys enrolled, 84
Number of girls enrolled, 62
Average number belonging, 115
Average evening attendance, 92
Percentage of attendance, 80
The current expense of the evening schools, exclusive of light and heat, was $414.00, an expenditure of $3.60, for each pupil in the average number belonging to the school for sixty sessions.
EYE AND EAR TEST.
The table given below shows the result of the annual test, made by the teachers, of the eye sight and hearing of the pupils in school. The State Board of Education furnishes the neces- sary appliances with directions for their use for these tests; and the teachers have received valuable help and suggestion from the School Physician in difficult or uncertain cases.
Number of pupils tested,
2,103
Number found defective in sight,
228
Percentage found defective in sight,
10.8
Number found defective in hearing,
32
Percentage found defective in hearing,
1.5
Number of parents or guardians notified, 154
-
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These figures do not differ much from those of last year. One hundred more children were examined and the percentage of those defective in sight or hearing, or both, is about the same. This fact is explained only on the basis that the large majority of those who were found afflicted last year, and whose guardians were notified, have received no effective help. The fact is that. many parents who receive notice that the eyes of their children need attention do not know what the notice means and many who do are in doubt what steps to take to remedy the trouble. This is true also in regard to many children whom the School Physician finds it necessary to send home for treatment. Most of these are suffering from ailments which some simple and well known remedy will cure. We need some one to follow these cases to their homes; describe the simple remedy necessary; see it properly and immediately applied, and the children returned to school as soon as they may do so safely. To send children home for treatment and have that treatment, if given at all, take days or weeks, when it could much better be done in as many hours or days, is depriving many children during the year of many weeks of needed schooling.
TEACHERS.
There are at present in service in the day schools sixty-three teachers, which number includes one teacher of music, and one of manual training, including drawing, and one assistant.
During the year covered by this report, seventeen teachers have left the service here, most of them to take positions paying larger salaries elsewhere. The High school has suffered most in this respect. Of the ten teachers now in that building, only two were there a year ago. That the School has been able to hold its own with such frequent and sweeping changes, is remark- able. Two men and six women comprise the High school teach-
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ing force. These six women are receiving an average salary of $700, the highest being $800 and the lowest $600. This average salary is not proving enough to secure and retain in the High school the kind of teachers we need.
Twelve changes have come in the Elementary schools during the year. Most of these changes were regrettable, because of the loss they entailed to the schools, as well as because of the ex- pense of time and effort necessary to find suitable teachers to fill the vacancies. But even in view of this attendant loss, it is difficult to try to influence teachers to stay here, even though they have contracted to do so, when to stay means to them a. financial loss or an apparent sacrifice of larger opportunity for advancement. It is only fair to say-and it is a pleasure to be able to say it - that some teachers have declined this year to consider opportunity to secure more salary elsewhere, because of their interest in the welfare of their schools here.
To speak of these changes and losses avails little. We want positively to make them unnecessary. At present there are fifty teachers in the Elementary schools. They receive an average salary of $54.60 for each of the ten months of the school year. If the yearly salary were paid in twelve equal monthly instal- ments, as many communities now pay, these fifty teachers would receive an average monthly payment of $45.50.
The time of preparation and the attendant expense necessary to fit one to meet the requirements of the teacher's work today are considerable; the duties of the work and life are par- ticularly exacting and wearing; and the cost of a teacher's liv- ing in Plymouth,-such living as a teacher needs and should have, is above the average expense in communities paying to teachers an average salary equal to that paid here. It is not to be expected, therefore, that a good teacher-or any teacher, will be deaf to the call to a place offering a larger salary, or a lower expense, or a chance for a material advancement. We ought to be able to offer to every good teacher who comes to us a salary large enough to prove to her that it is worth her while, as it is worth ours, for her to stay here.
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No teacher should be continued long in a school whose service is not now, or does not bid fair soon to become, worth $600. That amount the present salary arrangements enable us to pay. But there are not a few in the fifty teachers of the Ele- mentary schools here who are notably worth much more than the maximum salary they receive at present. Superintendents who visit us from other places soon discover them. They are as keenly alive as we are to the fact that the best schools can be secured and maintained only by selecting and holding in them the best teachers. It is their most important business, as it is ours, to keep the best teachers at any reasonable cost, and to recruit the teaching force from the best available teachers found here and elsewhere. Superior inducements,-mainly larger salaries in our case, make such teachers available. With such inducements we must successfully compete if we would hold our own. It is earnestly recommended, therefore, that, if possible, the maximum rate of salary for the Elementary teachers here be increased ; or at least that enough money for salaries be avail- able to pay above the present established maximum salary, an amount sufficient to hold all the best teachers we now have, and to increase the number of such, as often and as fast as we can.
This brief report would be incomplete without special men- tion of the support and co-operation of the School Committee, and of the earnest and loyal spirit of the teachers and their devotion to the best welfare of the schools.
Respectfully submitted,
FRANCIS J. HEAVENS,
LIST OF TEACHERS
IN THE SCHOOLS OF PLYMOUTH, MASS., 1910-1911.
High School.
Leicester A. Williams, Principal, History.
Mary F. Stafford, Mathematics.
Elizabeth Mackenzie, Commercial Studies.
Elizabeth Hunter, Latin and English.
Fred S. Brock, Science.
Carolyn F. Cook, French and English.
Mary G. Thomas, German and French. Helen L. Barnes, Latin.
Annie D. Dunham, ninth grade.
Edith L. Smith, ninth grade.
Spooner Street School.
Grade. 1. Bertha M. McNaught.
Hedge School.
Grade.
1. Grace N. Bramhall.
1. Elizabeth H. Sampson. 2. Lucy L. Hildreth. 3. Bessie L. Barker.
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Allerton Street School.
Grade.
1. Lula C. Vaille.
Frederick N. Knapp School.
Grade.
7-8. S. A. Cragin, principal.
6. Lydia E. Holmes.
5. Zelma B. Lucas.
4. Maude H. Lermond.
3. Kate G. Zahn.
3. Rena W. Corson.
3. Etta G. McDonald.
2. Annie W. Burgess.
1. Bernice E. Paine.
Cold Spring School.
Grade.
2. Gertrude C. Bennett.
3. Mabel F. Douglas. 5. Susan C. Thomas.
Oak Street School.
Grade.
1. Agnes V. Eaton. 2-3. Clara W. Mayhew.
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Burton School.
Grade.
8. Katherine A. O'Brien.
7. Mabel C. Ray.
4. Teresa A. Rogan.
4. Nettie E. Knight.
Cornish School.
Grade.
Addie L. Bartlett, principal.
8. Frances I. Bagnell.
6. Sadie M. Morse.
6. Laura M. Whitney.
5. Nancy M. Bucknam.
6. Harriet J. Johnson.
3. Margaret M. Longfellow.
2. Marion T. Wholley.
1. Elizabeth H. Felker.
Mount Pleasant School.
Grade.
7. Augusta M. Morton, principal.
6. Alma L. Pommer.
5. Grace L. Knight.
4. Leella F. Barnes.
3. Annie M. Frost.
:
1-2. Lizzie E. Mitchell.
Mount Pleasant Primary.
Grade. 1-2. Grace R. Moore. 1-5. Charlotte Howland.
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Chiltonville.
Grade.
6-9. Maud R. Robinson.
1-5. Cora W. Gray.
1-5. Kate W. Sampson. 1-5. Mary A. Morton.
Manomet.
Grade.
6-9. S. Agnes Safford. 1-5. Grace L. Farrington.
Vallerville.
Ungraded.
Rebecca Robbins.
Cedarville.
Ungraded.
Louise L. Garcelon.
Long Pond.
Ungraded.
Jennie C. Powers.
Music.
Alice C. Persons.
Manual Training, including Drawing. Jennie F. Stratton. Sophie Fischer.
SCHOOLS
Total enroll- ment for year
Average Number
Belonging
Average Daily
Attendance
Per Cent. of
Total Days Absence
Number Cases
Number Cases Dis-
Number Cases
Truancy
Days Teacher was
Times Teacher was
Number Visits Made
Number Visits Made by
School Committee
Visits Made by Parents and others
High School
79
133
200.5
194.13
97.8 94.8
616.5 654 3747
441 70
197 42
0
3 0
5
65
11
60
Ninth Grade
31
40
64.47
61.11
95.36
342
79
14
42
8
198
5
207
No. Primary
73
67
134.27
125.38
93.37
1636.5
146
10
4
14
11
31
9
32
Cold Spring
58
67
119 80
114.25
95 37
1082
282
41
2
3
13
51
6
108
61
54
106 12
97.08
91.48
1754
151
53
0
0
42
58
12
168
' Cornish District Primary Cornish School Burton
190
177
337.82
317 01
93.84
4723
569
85
2
33
9
211
5
118
98
80
178.05
169.12
94 98
1717.5
250
46
6
20
7
119
4
144
Mt. Pleasant Primary
37
11
73.40
68.27
93.01
1020 5
156
48
0
4
0
43
4
56
Mt. Pleasant School
111
149
252.64
237.06
93.83
3046
527
146
10
3
3
130
3
140
Chiltonville
49
40
84.67
77.87
91 96
1377
126
69
4
8
10
29
2
49
Manomet
38
36
62.94
54.84
87.12
1553
518
38
1
3
4
13
3
26
Vallerville
7
5
11.4
10.65
94.30
268
12
0
1
4
0
3
10
Long Pond
7
3
8
.10
89.
285
22
7
0
0
0
3
14
Cedarville
10
5
12.08
11.21
92.84
158.5
28
8
2
0
0
18
Totals
1088
1097
2065.15
1944.67
94.16
23668.5
3640
869
49
137
112
1021
77
1154
0
49
5
4
Knapp
239
200
418.99
399 59
Attendance
Tardiness
missal
Absent
Tardy
by Supt.
Boys
Girls
2
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REPORT OF SCHOOL PHYSICIAN
FOR THE YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 1910.
The tabulated results of the work for the past year are sub- mitted with a comparison with previous years. This statis- tical record though but a skeleton, is significant and useful in giving a suggestion of the actual proportions of the work. To get any real idea of it, a row of figures however carefully prepared, is of course entirely inadequate.
Visits
Personal
Examina
tions
Permits
issued by
School
Physician
Permits
issued by
Physicians
Notices
sent to
Parents
Pupils
No. of dis-
eases and
diseased
No. of per-
under Em-
ployment
Law
Jan.
15
220
107
13
73
12
118
Feb.
17
198
103
13
62
11
120
March
14
146
69
1
33
00
65
April
17
206
73
3
50
15
108
May
16
253
148
00
55
19
103
June
17
206
84
2
82
9
134
Sept.
15
194
39
1
60
15
101
10
Oct.
22
311
116
4
73
33
, 139
5
Nov.
20
317
75
23
52
22
89
5
Dec.
13
221
116
7
64
12
86
4
Total, 1910
166
2275
930
75
604
156
1063
24
Total, 1909
137
1459
354
62
632
93
1023
Total, 1908
140
1285
469
79
313
125
616
.
The increased number of visits the past year is due prin- cipally to the building of the Hedge School, where some two
Excluded
conditions
mits given
other
1
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hundred small children are brought together. Where children are massed, especially small children, the need for careful medical supervision is proportionately increased, because the spread of all sorts of contagious and infectious diseases is much more disastrous in large than in small groups.
A wide spread epidemic of mumps was responsible for the large number of permits signed by the school physician.
It is exceedingly difficult to control an epidemic of a con- tagious disease like mumps, of which little fear is felt, every subterfuge being employed by parents, and sometimes I am afraid by teachers, to keep the children in school. The fallacy of this policy is evident, for by keeping one infected child in school many are later obliged to be absent. The school phy- sician found children coming back with badly swollen faces, having been out only three or four days, sometimes with cer- tificates, and the rule was finally made that pupils with mumps must remain out at least ten days before they should be ad- mitted and hereafter the time will be extended to two weeks, as in Providence, R. I.
During the year there have been three cases of infantile paralysis reported among our school children. In one instance a child became ill in school and was assisted home by other pupils. The children who had assisted the patient were kept under observation and about two weeks later the school phy- sician was notified that one of them had been taken sick. He immediately notified the physician of the Board of Health and together they visited the home of the pupil, but found nothing serious the matter. That this disease is not as transmissable as most contagious diseases, is evident.
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