USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Plymouth > Town annual report of the officers of the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts for the year ending 1924 > Part 28
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7. School Orchestra played at the Teachers' County Convention in Brockton.
8. Participation of the Band in the National Music Week contest at the Arena in Boston. Prize won.
9. School paper under the direction of the English teachers, increased the interest of the class room work.
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10. The Field Day events brought out the fine team play of both boys and girls under the direction of the physical training teachers.
11. Articles from the woodworking department con- sisting of lamps, tables, bookcases, piano stools, medi- cine chests, and tip tables exhibited in High School Hall.
12. Dresses and ties worn at graduation made by the girls themselves.
13. Pageant "The Light" giving the development of education through the ages, produced at graduation.
14. Parents' Day which brought the school and par- ents into closer relation.
Recommendations for consideration are :
A Gymnasium.
A Program Clock.
Furniture for Teachers' Room.
In conclusion, I wish to thank you, the members of the School Committee, and the teachers for the co-oper- ation and assistance given me the past year.
Respectfully submitted,
KATHARINE A. O'BRIEN,
Principal.
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Report of School Physician
-
Mr. Horace F. Turner,
Superintendent of Schools,
Plymouth, Mass.
Dear Sir:
I hereby submit my nineteenth annual report as school physician.
Herbert Hoover has said: "There should be no child in America who is not born under proper conditions; does not live in hygienic surroundings ; ever suffers from malnutrition; does not have opportunity for out-door play ; does not have prompt and efficient medical inspec- tion and attention : does not receive primary instruction in the elements of hygiene and health."
Burnham in his masterly work: "The Normal Mind" says that a former Commissioner of Education of Mas- sachusetts has stated that there is no consensus of opinion among educators as to the aim of elementary education and that he does not know what that aim is himself. The writer's comment on this observation is that, "to this, hygiene naturally answers that if pedagogy does not know the aim of elementary education that pedagogy should give place to hygiene; for hygiene does know the aim and can state it definitely. In a'word the primary aim is the conservation of a child's health and the de- velopment of habits of healthful activity, physical and mental."
HEALTH TEACHING
The large and increasing number of school hygiene and health publications which are now flooding the mar-
Plymouth Ninteen
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ket show that at last there has been a very sudden and a very general awakening to the lack of up to date in- struction of this kind in the public schools.
In looking over what is being offered by the publishers we are impressed by the almost complete absence of ma- terial which covers the ground in anything like a com- prehensive manner in the primary grades.
In order to find out just what instructions and train- ing in hygiene was being given in our schools a survey was made last spring. This showed that in the first three or primary grades hygiene was included in the school program in all schools but one, but that no definite time was allotted to the subject and that it varied any- where from none at all up to fifty minutes a week accord- ing to the conception which the teacher had of the impor- tance of the subject. In all but two schools the material contained in a book published by the Massachusetts Tu- berculosis League, entitled "Health Teaching in the School" was the basis of instruction although this was supplemented in some cases where the teacher was inter- ested in the subject, by other material. In only three schools was credit given the pupil for work in this sub- ject. All the schools visited gave a definite period to in- spection, instruction in and checking up on personal hy- giene the time varying from ten to seventy-five minutes a week. No credit however is given the pupils for suc- cess in personal hygiene but in the first and second grades a "Health Card" devised by the school nurse and similar to the Score Cards used in the Health Crusade in the higher grades is taken home by the pupil at the end of a period of ten weeks for the signature of the parent in the same way that the ordinary scholarship report is taken home for the approval of the parent or guardian.
Feeling that the importance of the subject of hygiene demanded an effort to make the teaching of it more uni- form and effective an Outline for teaching Hygiene in the primary grades has been prepared.
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Six essential elements of practical hygiene have been selected and made the basis of instruction, each element being developed by several topics, expressed in terms of what the pupil should know about it, the idea being de- veloped by various means such as songs, stories, pro- jects, etc. With a view to stimulating an interest in the subject among the teachers and for the purpose of col- lecting all the valuable material, now used in part by many teachers, for the use of all, the outline was dis- tributed with the request that each teacher add what material she could from her own knowledge and experi- ence. When the outlines are returned and the material submitted, reviewed and compiled we hope to have a col- lection of material so arranged that it will be immediately useful and can be further improved by the addition of new matter each year.
LIGHTING
Without the sense of sight the accepted methods of in- struction in the public schools would be useless. In whatever degree then we allow anything to interfere with an adequate supply of light in the schoolroom we tem- porarily impair the vision of pupils and teachers and render the teaching to that degree ineffective.
Burnham says, "Extended investigations have shown an appalling number of failures in our schools. On the basis of studies made some dozen years ago, Strayer in 319 cities and other investigations since, he estimates that 25 percent. of all children in the schools are retarded one year. The money cost of these repeaters is serious." If these figures are true in Plymouth we have annually 650 repeaters in our schools and as the estimated cost of educating one pupil for one year is $90.00, the annual bill is $58,500.
1
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If it is shown then that for much of the school day during three or four months in the year all pupils ex- cepting those whose rooms are artificially lighted are working under the handicap of poor light would it not be reasonable to assume that with adequate lighting re- peating would be appreciably reduced and a correspond- ing sum of money saved?
In 1922 the school physician constructed an appartus which though crude showed how greatly the light varied with the time of day and weather conditions. The results were published in the report of the School Committee for that year.
Through the courtesy of the Plymouth Cordage Com- pany an instrument called a foot candle meter which ac- curately measures intensity of illumination has been placed at the disposal of the school physician and tests have been made with it in mid-December which are pre- sented herewith.
The tests were made between 11 and 12 o'clock in the morning and about closing time in the afternoon, i. e., between 3:30 and 4 o'clock and the seat and desk having the poorest light in the room was selected for the test on the assumption that every pupil in the room has a right to sufficient light in which to do his work.
CORNISH SCHOOL
Cloudy
Fair
2nd Floor Rooms
A.M.
P.M.
A.M.
P.M.
SOUTH
2.
0.1
10.
0.4
CENTER
3.5
0.1
10.
0.8
N. W.
0.1
10
0.8
N. E.
4.
1
1.
14.
0.8
1st Floor Rooms
CENTER
3.5
0.25
15.
0.35
N. W.
2.75
0.2
10.
3.
N.E.
3.5
0.35
6.
1.
BURTON SCHOOL
Cloudy
Fair
2nd Floor Rooms
A.M. P. M.
A.M. P.M.
NORTH
5.
0.3
14.
0.35
SOUTH
8.
0.3
14.
0.6
1st Floor Rooms
NORTH
8.
0.4
25.
0.25
SOUTH
9.
0.6
20.
2.5
TABULAR VIEW OF TESTS AT CORNISH AND BURTON SCHOOLS
E.R.N
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The figures represent the intensity of illumination expressed in foot candles or lumens one lumen being the degree of illumination obtained on a white surface one foot square by means of a standard candle held one foot from it. It should be borne in mind in studying the fig- ures that eight-foot candles is the degree of illumination recommended for school rooms.
It will be noted that even in the morning of the cloudy day no room in the Cornish building was getting more than half enough light and that at the close of the school day the illumination had dropped to from one-tenth to one foot candle, i. e., to from one-eightieth to one-eighth of what it should be.
On a fair day there is sufficient light in all rooms in the morning but by the time school closes in the after- noon it has dropped down to anywhere from one-twenti- eth of the normal in the room with the poorest light (the center room on the first floor) to three-eighths of the normal in the best lighted room (the northeast room on the first floor).
A glance at the figures for the Burton school will show that the illumination is distinctly better than that of the Cornish building in the morning both on the cloudy and on the fair days but that it has little advantage at the closing hour in the afternoon. In mid-December the light fails very' rapidly after three o'clock in the after- noon as is well shown in the following graph :
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GRAPH SHOWING CURVE IN P. M.
Graph of the rapid loss of light in a school-room after three o'clock in the afternoon of a December day
2:00 P.M.
..
2:15
2.30
2:45
3:00
3:15
3:30
3:45
4:00
10
10
9
9
8
8
1
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
0
0
The figures to the right and left of - the " Graph" indicate the light units or lumens. The arrows point to eight as the number of lumens deemed suffi- cient for the school-room .
E.R.M.
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The figures at the right and left indicate the intensity of illumination expressed in foot candles, the arrows pointing to eight as the number of foot candles necessary for the proper illumination of the school-room. At the top of the diagram are the hours at which the records were made.
It will be noted that between the hours of two and three the light remained unchanged at eight foot candles but that in fifteen minutes after three o'clock it dropped four and one-half foot candles, to three and a half; at three-thirty it had dropped still further to two and a half foot candles ; at three forty-five it had dropped to one and a half foot candles and at four o'clock registered only one half a foot candle. This test was made on a fair day.
The logical remedy for the conditions demonstrated here, is artificial light. To put in more windows would entail a considerable expense, disfigure the building, destroy blackboard space which is needed and would still be far from providing adequate illumination on dark days or on any day in November, December and January between 3:15 and 4 o'clock in the afternoon.
With an approved type of lamp, properly placed with regard for the requirements of the various rooms and of sufficient candle power the school would be independent of outside conditions.
It is probable that artificial lighting would be unneces- sary unless for a short time under unusual weather con- ditions for more than three months of the school year and during these months only on very dark cloudy days and from three until four each day.
Assuming that the education of one pupil for a year costs the school department $90.00, then if with adequate lighting we save two pupils from repeating we have saved $180.00 which is approximately what it would cost to run the lights, to say nothing of the relief from eyestrain and all its attendant evils to which pupils and teachers in dimly lighted rooms are now subjected.
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FRESH AIR SCHOOL
The Fresh Air School in the Cornish building has now been in operation since September, 1924, with an enrol- ment which has naturally varied from time to time but has averaged about sixteen or seventeen pupils who are selected from the school population because their physi- cal condition is so unsatisfactory that the program of the ordinary school makes too great a demand upon them and they are in more or less danger of breaking down under ıt.
To such pupils the Fresh Air School offers an abund- ance of fresh out door air admitted directly through the windows which are equipped with an ingenious kind of cloth screen like an inverted awning which deflects the current of air upward, while coils of steam pipe running about the room under the windows temper the cold air in severe weather.
In this connection it is interesting to note the stand taken by the American Public Health Association on school ventilation at the annual meeting held in St. Louis last October. The November number of the Child Health Bulletin says: "The Association in a general session went on record as condemning state laws which are so worded as to prohibit all but mechanical ventilation."
The resolution on this subject did not mince matters at all. Here is one paragraph: "The use of ozone and other chemicals for treating schoolroom air has little or no scientific justification and little or no practical value."
The resolution favored the ventilation of school-rooms by fresh, untreated air admitted at the windows, with gravity exhaust ducts to further air circulation through the rooms, evidence being available that this arrange- ment produces a healthier atmosphere than is obtained with mechanical ventilation.
The program is modified so that the pupils are not under the necessity of making the trip from the school
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· to their homes and back at noon but arrive at 8:45 in the morning and leave at 2:30 in the afternoon.
A hot lunch is served at the school at the noon hour and each pupil gets one pint of milk which so far has been generously provided from a fund controlled by the teachers of the Plymouth schools.
The program includes rest periods which are spent lying down on cots which are provided by the School De- partment, the total time spent in rest varying from one hour and a half to two hours according to the gains in weight indicated by the weekly weighings. Blankets are provided for the cots and pupils are allowed to wear their out-door clothing whenever they wish to do so. For severe weather the Local Chapter of the American Red Cross has provided heavy woolen garments called "Es- kimo Suits" which completely envelop the pupils from head to foot leaving only the face and hands exposed. These suits are invaluable to the school.
In June after the first full year of the school, of the twenty-two children who had been members at one time or another seventeen had exceeded the expected rate of gain in weight for children of their age and height, one had just made the normal rate and four had made less than the normal rate of gain.
During the summer vacation all blankets and the "Es- kimo Suits" were laundered and packed away in covers to protect them from dust until needed.
In September six pupils after physical examinations were dismissed to such regular schools as were indicated by their standing in scholarship as follows:
T. G. dismissed to the Jr. High school improved in ap- pearance and nutrition. Diseased tonsils and "adenoids" removed.
M. T. dismissed to the Jr. High school on trial. This pupil had not improved in the Fresh Air school but had had deceased tonsils and "adenoids" removed and partial correction of dental defects.
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T. C. dismissed to the Hedge school improved in nutri- tion and posture.
A. B. dismissed to the Knapp school improved in ap- pearance and posture. Diseased tonsils and "adenoids" removed.
D. H. dismissed to Cold Spring school nervousness im- proved and dental defects corrected.
All these children are doing well but particularly striking is the improvement in M. T. who had not im- proved in the Fresh Air school. This pupil was am- bitious to get on in her work and was discouraged be- cause she could not take her place with her companions in the Junior High school owing to her physical condi- tion. When allowed to go, on trial, she was so anxious to remain that under the direction of the nurse she took ad- vantage of every possible means to improve her physical condition and made remarkable progress.
Of the pupils now attending the Fresh Air School ten have been in the school one year or more and of these four have improved in nutrition having made better than the expected gain in weight for their age and height. One of these who was reported as a "suspicious" case at the last school clinic has made her normal weight, is in perfect physical condition and will be dismissed, probably to the Junior High, where she will of course be kept under observation.
Of the remaining six one was of normal weight when he entered the school and has remained so and two show practically the same percentage of underweight that they showed on entering. The percentage of underweight of the remaining three although they have, of course, gained in weight since entering the school, is now greater than when they entered the school. Two of these if not all three should probably be given institutional care and treatment.
The greatest need of the school is to have the prepara- tion of the food taken off the teacher's hands. No human
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·being can pay sufficient attention to health instruction and training such as this school demands, prepare a midday meal, and teach five or six grades in a school of sixteen to eighteen pupils.
The next great need is for a better mutual under- standing and cooperation between the school and the home. This can only be obtained at the expense of a great deal of time and effort on the part of the nurse which she cannot give without allowing other work to suffer unless an assistant can be provided.
Wherever striking results have been obtained the con- tribution of the nurse or nutrition worker has been con- spicuous as in the demonstration in Kansas City where 112 pupils gained 278% in 9 weeks because a trained nurse devoted her whole time to the work.
The type of furniture has not proved to be ideal as their is a temptation to copy where pupils are working side by side at long tables as at present. School furni- ture of the Moulthrop type would be a great advantage in this respect and would provide a place for the books and papers of the pupils.
NUTRITION
In the report for the year 1924 the result of a general weighing of pupils in November indicated that 9.87% were ten per cent. or more underweight, and attention was called to the favorable comparison which this made with the average for the State which is 15%. Two thou- sand pupils were weighed and measured for the school clinic held in May, 1925 and only 120 or 6% were found to be ten per cent. or more below their average weight for height. The last general weighing for this year is not complete on account of an accident to the school nurse but it includes all the larger grade schools. Of the 1286 pupils weighed and measured there were only 66 or 5% ten per cent. or more underweight.
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A comparison of the results of three weighings in four of the larger schools covering a period of a year and a half is interesting.
Percentage of pupils 10% or more below the average weight for height in three schools on dates given :
May 1924 Nov. 1924 Nov. 1925
Mt. Pleasant
15%
12.9%
4.8%
Knapp,
6.2%
6.7%
4.2%
Hedge,
9%
8.5%
4.6%
Cornish,
8.2%
12.1%
7.3%
The Mt. Pleasant school which in May, 1924 had a much higher percentage of malnutrition than either of the others is now on a par with them, although they also have improved. No doubt the efforts of an active Parent Teacher's Association which has made it possible for the pupils to get milk at school has materially assisted in get- ting the very satisfactory result shown.
Improvement in nutrition in the other schools must be attributed to other agencies such as, primarily, the nu- trition classes which are maintained by the school nurse and consist of pupils who are ten per cent. or more below their average weight for height.
Other factors are undoubtedly the successful efforts of the teachers in health training and the efficient work of the dental hygienist.
Great inconvenience has been experienced in the past in getting high school pupils weighed as there have been no weighing scales there. The need of scales became more apparent after the arrival of Mr. Brown, the phy- sical director at the High and Junior High schools until the Local Chapter of the American Red Cross came to the rescue with the loan of new scales of the latest and most approved pattern. To all intents and purposes this is a gift and is greatly appreciated.
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SCHOOL NURSE
The work of the nurse is personal service. She knows each child individually and the child with a weakness or defect enlists her watchful care until that handicap is happily removed. She brings the needs of the child to the parent and explains in untechnical language that can be understood, why Mary should eat certain foods and let certain other foods alone or why Johnny ought to have an X-ray taken of his chest. This sort of work takes time and in some cases many interviews are ne- cessary to get results but this is the kind of personal ser- vice for which the nurse is fitted and we must see to it that she is free to give it and is not tied up with too much writing of records and weighing and measuring which can be done by someone without her training and expe- rience. What we need, to get the most and the best ser- vice from our nurse is some one to take the mechanical · part of the work off her hands.
Just at the busiest time of the year when there was need of careful watching of pupils for contagious dis- ease, when a general weighing was in progress and with histories to be obtained for, Dr. Patterson, the visiting psychologist from the State School at Wrentham, Miss Macdonald, while making a call at the home of a pupil on Saturday morning, November 21st, fell and broke her right arm at the wrist. Through the kind offices of Miss Foley, the Executive Secretary of the Plymouth County Health Association, a substitute was finally obtained but could not begin work until December 2nd. After work- ing one week she was taken ill and we were again left without a nurse. On December 14th, Miss Macdonald with her arm still in splints resumed her duties and has been at work ever since.
The report of the School Nurse follows :
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Number of schools visits 609
Number of home visits 551
Number of pupils inspected in schools 4856
Number of treatments in school 913
Contagious diseases found in schools 97
Contagious diseases found in homes 39
Number of pupils taken to hospitals and clinics 56
Number of pupils operated for tonsils
and adenoids at Jordan Hospital 41
Number of pupils excluded 150
Number of pupils referred to physicians 36
The third year of the Health Crusade was completed in June. Eleven hundred and four pupils were enrolled, 954 doing satisfactory work and receiving honors. The Silver Crusade Cup which was presented to the Plym- outh schools by the Massachusetts Tuberculosis League for the year 1924 came to Plymouth again this year, and is now a permanent possession. Sixteen 100% class- rooms were awarded pennants by the National Tubercu- losis League. At the Health Poster Contest held in Bos- ton during the summer, the second prize was awarded to a pupil of the Cornish school and a third prize to a pupil of the Mount Pleasant school.
The work done by the pupils is due in large measure to the cooperation and interest of the teachers in health work. One fifth grade teacher has formed a "Good Citizenship Club," where good health and the prevention of disease are emphasized as being requisites of a "good citizen." The boys in sixth grade have built a "Health Home," where pure food, fresh air, cheerfulness, etc. are stressed. In all the grades by health stories, songs, dramatization, health slogans and posters the use of health dolls and films (loaned by the Mass. Tuberculosis League) sand table projects etc., the child's interest is
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maintained, the performance of the health chores becomes a pleasure and also-it is hoped-a life long habit. Respectfully submitted,
(Signed) SUSIE MacDONALD, R. N.
School Nurse
ORAL HYGIENE AND DENTAL CLINIC
As a result of instruction given in this department the pupils have come to take pride in a satisfactory condition of their teeth and feel shame if their mouths are in bad condition. It is, indeed, rare now to find one of those filthy mouths full of rotten teeth that were so common in the days before the coming of the dental hygienist.
In making my yearly physical examination it is often possible to predict an unsatisfactory condition of the teeth from the grudging, reluctant way in which the pupil opens the mouth with the lips drawn down tightly over the teeth as if to prevent the examiner from seeing them. This feeling is salutary and shows that a stand- ard of wholesome, well cared for mouths, has been estab- lished.
J. Ross Snyder, M. D., of Birmingham, Alabama, writ- ing in the Journal of the American Medical Association. says: "In every community in which oral hygiene has been introduced as a part of the school system not mere- ly satisfactory but brilliant results have followed. It has always meant cleaner, better, happier and more intelligent girls and boys."
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