USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Plymouth > Town annual report of the officers of the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts for the year ending 1944 > Part 13
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49
-
-16-
dents of Plymouth or were former teachers in Plymouth. We cannot be confident that we shall be able to fill many additional vacancies by drawing upon local talent. As salaries of competent, experienced teachers in eastern Massachusetts towns either equal or outmatch ours, it may become necessary for us to turn to other localities or states where the salary schedules are less adequate.
By the sudden death of Miss Florence B. Corey, teacher of grade four at the Hedge School and a teacher in Plym- outh for twenty-five years, we lost a faithful and com- petent worker. Miss Madeline Johnson from Attleboro, a teacher of experience, was appointed to fill this posi- tion.
Three teachers of marked ability were lost to school systems in the Boston area where salary schedules are higher and opportunities for continued study are near at hand. Miss Lemira Smith, who had taught mathematics in the Junior High School for six years, went to Brookline. Her successor here was Miss Beatrice Arthur of this town and formerly head of the commer- cial department in Portsmouth, N. H., High School.
Mr. Reginald Steeves who for two years had been sub- stitute for Lt. Com. John W. Packard as head of the science department in the High School went to Wellesley as head of the science department there. Mr. Steeves' successor in Plymouth was Mr. Claiborn H. Young of Wilton, N. H. and formerly instructor at Wentworth In- stitute.
Miss Edna Denault, who for two years had taught third and fourth grade at Oak Street, went to a grade position in Newton. Her successor was Miss Florence Giberti of Middleboro who had been principal of the Halifax Ele- mentary School.
Mr. Richard Smiley returned from the Pacific coast to teach biology as a substitute for David Kingman now on leave and to succeed Mr. J. Clifford Geer who was made principal of Marshfield High School.
----
1
r
-17-
Because of a substantially larger enrollment of Plym- outh pupils in the Junior High School in the fall of 1944 and the forming of a new group of slow-learning children, additions to the teaching staff were made. These new teachers are Mr. Lawrence Bongiovanni of this town, a graduate of Boston University with master's degree, Mrs. Doris G. Smith now of this town and formerly teacher in West Bridgewater, and Mrs. Mary Foley of this town on part-time service. Mrs. Foley was formerly teacher in the Plymouth High School.
Due to the inclusion of the seventh and eighth grade pupils from Plympton, one new teacher was added, this being Mrs. Jean W. Patenaude of this town and formerly teacher of English in the Plymouth Junior High School.
Mr. Joffrey Nunez was transferred from a military- substitute position in seventh and eighth grade science to a regular position in ninth grade science. Miss Bella Madow, valedictorian of her class in Salem Teachers College, was appointed to the position vacated by Mr. Nunez.
IN AID OF THE WAR EFFORT
Pre-Induction Courses
As time goes on, our work in the pre-induction courses for high school students has become more clearly out- lined and the goals more definitely established. Some improvement is made in our equipment from time to time. Through the good offices of Lt. Com. John W. Pack- ard we have secured a used Link trainer for use of the students in the elementary aeronautics course.
War Bonds and the National War Fund
Pupil purchase of war bonds and stamps through the schools in 1944 amounted to $24,122.63-an increase of more than fifty percent over the preceding year. Teach- ers and other school employees invested $11,586.26 in bonds and stamps-nearly twenty-five per cent more than in 1943. Total purchases by pupils through the
-18-
schools since Pearl Harbor amount to $72,340.94 and by school employees in the same manner to $23,724.89. The combined sales through the schools to pupils and other employees to date is but a little short of $100,000.
The School Department was asked to head the National War Fund Drive of 1944 for all town employees. Ninety- seven members of the school staff and other school em- ployees contributed a total of $274 to this purpose.
Junior Red Cross
Under the general direction of Miss Mary Cingolani of the Junior High School faculty assisted by at least one teacher sponsor in each school, the Junior Red Cross has been functioning effectively to meet community, nation- al, and international needs. In carrying forward the pro- gram for 1944, generous assistance was given by the fol- lowing school departments: art, practical arts, wood- working, and physical education.
The accomplishments of the Plymouth Junior Red Cross during the past year may be summarized briefly as follows: (1) One hundred kit bags for members of the armed forces were filled by girls. (2) Twenty-one girls knitted garments for the armed forces. (3) Sixteen girls successfully took the course in home nursing. (4) A large number of members attended the life-saving classes held at Stephens Field and Nelson Street during the summer vacation. (5) Over 11,000 surgical dressings were made by high school girls under the direction of Mrs. Harrison Chamberlain. (6) Books were collected for the library corner at the servicemen's center. (7) A total of one hun- dred sixty-one articles were made by knitting, sewing, and woodworking groups and sent to the distribution center in New York. (8) One thousand nine hundred sev- enteen articles were made by the art classes in all schools and given to the camp and hospital council, which in turn distributed these articles to nearby station hospitals. (9) During the enrollment period, the total dues collected
...
-19-
amounted to $358.75. Further receipts of $42 were ob- tained from a sale of articles including stuffed dolls and handbags made by the children.
Salvage Collection
The pupils of the Junior and Senior High Schools have had an important part in the local salvage collections. Instructions to householders as to time of collection and the proper method of packaging have been regularly dis- tributed throughout the town. The senior high pupils have covered the southern portion of the town and the junior high pupils the northern portion delivering a copy of instructions at each door. The local salvage committee has evidenced its appreciation of this help by alloting $100 from the proceeds of the year's sales to the schools for some worthy school enterprise.
Clothing Collection
In December a collection of used clothing for children in the war-devastated countries was made through the schools in response to an appeal from the "Save the Chil- dren Federation, Inc.". It was clear that 1945 would bring clothing needs such as the world had never known. The earnestness with which the Plymouth pupils resond- ed to the need is evidenced by the fact that approximately one ton of used clothing was gathered and forwarded.
Milkweed Floss Collection
In view of the fact that our ordinary sources of kapok had been cut off, a country wide appeal was made to school children to collect milkweed floss as a substitute. This material is necessary for life preservers, life rafts, and certain insulation in airplanes. Plymouth school children suceeded in gathering, drying, and forwarding 131 bags of pods. This amount would meet the require- ments for 65 life-saving jackets.
1
-20-
AMERICANIZATION CLASSES
The additional work in wartime carried by persons who remain on the home front has made it impossible for many non-citizens to attend the Americanization classes. The enrollment this year is reduced by about fifty per cent. The work, however, has gone forward with small- er class groups. Graded classes including beginning, in- termediate, and advanced pupils are being held twice a week at the Cordage Auditorium and at the Cornish School. Undoubtedly the needs of the individual class member can be better met when class groups are small and faster progress can be made.
The number of persons interested in the Americaniza- tion classes has in the nature of the circumstances stead- ily declined during recent years. The elimination of im- migration by Congress in 1921 with the exception of small numbers admitted on the quota basis, has largely limited the task of naturalization to those aliens who were already in Plymouth in 1921 and who have re- mained here. The federal census for 1920 reported about 4000 aliens in this community. This number had de- clined to 730 in 1940. The special alien registration made in 1942 as a war measure reported a few more in Plym- outh than the 1940 census. A careful check of the names by the School Department made within recent months shows that the number is now substantially less due to various causes, such as death, removal from town, natur- alization, and the inclusion in the registration of some persons who live in nearby towns. It is our estimate that the number of aliens in Plymouth does not now exceed 500. This marked reduction from about 4000 to about 500 during the past twenty-five year period has been due mainly to the fine work that has been accomplished by the teachers of our Americanization classes under the leadership of Mr. William I. Whitney, Director. It is our hope that this good work may be continued until all who can reasonably be expected to qualify for citizenship will do so. The financial expense of this work to Plymouth
. ... .. ... ... . . ..
:
-- 21-
is not large in view of the fact that a state subsidy of one- half the cost of instruction reduces the local cost. On the other hand the satisfactions brought to those aliens who are desirous of American citizenship are large indeed.
ACHIEVEMENT OF ELEMENTARY PUPILS
Although today's elementary schools look upon their task as more inclusive than that of providing basic train- ing in three R's, we nevertheless hold to the belief that it is of fundamental importance for children to acquire, by hard work if necessary, those elemental skills and the knowledge required for further growth. Those elemen- tary schools that are so much concerned with giving chil- dren free reign for the development of individual initia- tive that they neglect to condition children for an en- vironment that will make many stern demands upon them áre doing an obvious injustice to children. We, therefore, continue to hold that a grounding in the fun- damentals is an objective of major concern in the elemen- tary grades.
The standardized tests given annually in April or May indicate whether the schools are successful in helping children to lay these foundations. This year the Metro- politan tests were given in May to the pupils in grade one and the Stanford tests were given in grades two to six. The results showed grade one to be above test stan- dard in both reading and numbers. Grade two was at test standard in both these subjects. Grade three was two months below standard in reading and three months above in arithmetic. The average standing of grade four in reading, language, arithmetic, and spelling, was at or above test standard, and the average for grade five in these same subjects was at the standard. The results for grade six, the final year of the elementary school, were especially gratifying, the pupils being at grade in read- ing, a full year above grade in language and arithmetic, and seven months above in spelling. Supplementary standardized tests in the social studies and elementary
-22-
science were given for the first time this year in the mid- dle grades. In the social studies grade five was three months below standard and grades four and six were at standard. In science all three grades were at standard or above.
VOCATIONAL EDUCATION
In normal times one can count on there being in every high school a substantial number of pupils who are not gripped by the academic courses. They go through the paces of getting a high school education but do not suc- ceed because they lack interest in their work. Many of these pupils do find an appeal in vocational courses. In these courses it is customary to devote fifty per cent of the time to developing vocational skills and fifty per cent to academic work that is directly related to the voca- tional training.
Another group of pupils should be considered in this connection, namely, those who are able to do the work of the academic courses successfully but because of fam- ily circumstances cannot spend the time or money re- quired to graduate from a four-year high school and obtain thereafter the required vocational training in specialized schools. In the years directly ahead when so many young people will be returning from the armed services to take places in commerce and industry, our high school graduates who cannot go to some higher school to acquire some vocational ability needed in our peacetime economy will be at a much greater disadvan- tage than they are now.
Considerable numbers of young people returning from the armed forces who are not prepared for college work will doubtless turn to vocational schools in order to im- prove their peacetime skills. We owe it to this group to provide these opportunities in so far as we are able.
In addition to the several groups suggested above who need vocational training there are doubtless some adult
-23-
workers now in the civilian ranks who would be glad to have evening instruction as soon as the war-time demand for labor lessens.
The desirability of meeting the training needs of the several types of persons mentioned above seems appar- ent. To do so in Plymouth is not immediately possible. We can, however, see that our plans are in readiness so as to take early advantage of changing circumstances that may permit the development of a vocational school here and to take advantage also of any financial assistance that may be offered by the federal or state government for the promotion of vocational education.
GUIDANCE AND PLACEMENT SERVICE FOR PUPILS OF HIGH SCHOOL AGE
In every school system there is a manifest need for persons who can give ample time to the study of each pupil including his general mental ability, his specialized abilities or talents if any, his personal or social problems if any. Such persons should have special training in the field of educational and vocational and personal guidance so that they are in a position to give to pupils sane ad- vice as to courses of instruction they may wisely take and as to vocations for which they may wisely prepare.
As result of a state-wide study of Massachusetts youth in pre-war years the State Department of Education is recommending that high school guidance directors should go one step further than they have customarily, namely, to help boys and girls on graduation or leaving school to make contacts with positions which they are qualified to fill and to keep follow-up records of employment thus rendering a continuing employment service.
While much worthwhile guidance service is now being given, in our high schools by principals and teachers, guidance is rapidly becoming specialized. The work of
-24-
giving expert direction to our junior and senior high school pupils is worthy of much more time than teachers now carrying a teaching schedule can give. One teacher in the junior and senior high schools who is both inter- ested in this work and adapted to it might well be en- couraged to take further training in the guidance field and thereafter be released from a portion or all of the class teaching schedule. The statutes now provide the same state reimbursement for such persons as for regu- lar classroom teachers.
PLYMOUTH SCHOOL COSTS
While the major responsiblity of the School Depart- ment is to provide Plymouth children and youth with adequate educational opportunities, we are concerned with another important responsibility, namely, that of furnishing such opportunities at a cost that is reasonable and well within the ability of the town. There seems to be no generally accepted formula for arriving at the amount of reasonable school costs for any community. We have to rely upon a comparison of Plymouth school costs with those of Massachusetts towns nearest the size of Plymouth and having the same general type of school organization. Such a comparison is shown in the table below. The comparable figures for the state are given also. It so happens that the twenty-four towns in the group with Plymouth are on the average a trifle larger than Plymouth in population but have lower property valuations both on the per-pupil and the per-capita basis. Plymouth's tax rate for school purposes as well as our school costs per pupil are shown to be less than the av- erage for the entire group of twenty-five towns and less than the state average.
-
-25-
COMPARATIVE SCHOOL COSTS (From latest available tabulation of State School Returns, 1943)
. 25 Towns* (Average)
Plymouth
State
Valuation per pupil
$10,523.24
$10,727.00
$10,935.00
Valuation per capita
1,573.24
1,654.00
Municipal tax rate
30.82
31.20
School tax rate
11.98
10.60
10.77
Expenditure per pupil
125.15
117.17
129.83
*Towns Included :- -
1 Watertown
9. Wellesley
17. Andover
2. Belmont
10. Natick
18. Reading
3. Framingham
11. Lexington
19. Marblehead
4. Milton
12. Webster
20. Stoneham
5. West Springfield
13. PLYMOUTH
21. Swampscott
6. Winthrop
14. Adams
22. Northbridge
7. Greenfield
15. Needham
23. Bridgewater
8. Norwood
16. Athol
24. Barnstable
25. Ludlow
GOOD-WILL A FUNDAMENTAL OF CITIZENSHIP
While we are fighting to preserve our freedom and democratic government from overthrow by tyrannical powers it is necessary to endow our youth with that knowledge and those attitudes that will not only safe- guard our freedom from insidious attack by forces with- in but will help our country on toward a more perfect realization of those satisfactions that life in a democratic society should bring to all.
One of the chief threats to our safety from within and a major barrier to our attainment of desirable social re- lationships is the existence of prejudices. These preju- dices are to be found among groups of differing racial stock, of differing religions, and of differing social and economic status. Such prejudices are thought to be so inimical to our well being that Governor Saltonstall ap- pointed the state Committee on Racial and Religious Un- derstanding with the State Commissioner of Education,
-26-
Dr. Julius E. Warren, as its chairman. This committee is directing the attention of school administrators and teachers throughout Massachusetts to the gravity of the problem and is urging that each community consider its local situation and take such steps as may be indicated to improve racial understanding and respect for religious differences.
The attention of Plymouth teachers is being directed to the need for helping our pupils cultivate the open mind and scientific attitudes. Mrs. Miriam Raymond of the Senior High School has recently made a special study of this matter at the Wellesley College summer school and is demonstrating to groups of our teachers on the various grade levels the most common ways in which prejudices arise. It is aimed to direct the attention of our teachers to the numerous opportunities in the school experiences of our pupils for conditioning their attitudes in favor of the open mind and of the truth in all situations so that fair play and justice to all concerned will become an actuating principle of everyday living. This can only be brought about through constant watchfulness and con- tinuous effort on the part of teachers and parents. Such efforts, however, if earnestly made and in a cooperative spirit give promise of a citizenry that will be freer from prejudices and more successful in living together hap- pily and usefully.
In closing this report may I express my deep apprecia- tion of the valued guidance of the School Committee as well as of the earnest and able efforts of the staff in carry- ing forward the work of public education in Plymouth.
Respectfully yours,
BURR F. JONES,
Superintendent of Schools.
-27-
REPORT OF SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
It is not too generally understood that the first respon- sibility of a public school system is to the state; not to the child, the home, or the local community, but to the state. That this responsibility can best be met by focus- ing the major attention on the child is due to the nature of the governmental structure of the state in which we live. Were we living in Germany or Italy or any of the many totalitarian states, the exact opposite of this would be true. There the child is bent to whatever ends the state decrees; here the state serves the child, its citizen to-be. All of which merely emphasizes the school's first responsibility to the state.
What has this school done to discharge its responsi- bility, to the state?
At the close of the school year last June it granted diplomas to 135 boys and girls. These boys and girls have been taught the structure and functioning of our government on local, state, and national levels so that they may be efficient in the exercise of their rights and duties as citizens. They have been indoctrinated in the principals and practices of democracy in the hope that justice and fair play may become instinctive with them, and the Bill of Rights an integral part of their mental make-up. They have been given opportunities to learn within the different fields of human activity as much of. the accumulated knowledge of the race as they can at their age assimilate, so that their horizons may be ex- tended and their minds developed. They have been pro- vided with facilities to explore the areas within which they may later earn their living-and more than this, the opportunity to lay the foundations on which their later occupational training, whether at the professional level or lower, will be based. They have been led, taught, en- couraged, inspired to develop all their talents both for their own sakes and for their country.
-28-
That, in a general way, covers the work of the school.
The implications of the above carry so deep and so far that a report in detail would take volumes; a brief re- port should confine itself to but one or two pertinent points.
The traditional tools of education at secondary school level are history, languages, mathematics, and the natural sciences-or some modification or development of these. Not everyone, however, handles these traditional tools well or can gain a reasonable mastery of their use. There- fore constant watch is kept for material which may give promise of becoming a new tool (the pre-induction courses in "Machines," "Automotive Mechanics," "Elec- tricity," "Aeronautics" are examples), or of a new ap- proach to an old subject, so that in modern streamlined form its efficiency is enhanced. Teachers must constant- ly introduce new material, try it out in classroom con- ditions with pupil groups of different age and mental levels, evaluate it in terms of personal development and public usefulness. As world, national, or local conditions change, the content or emphasis of courses must change, too, in order that progress may not be impeded. As a case in point the problems of the peace to come are giv- ing added importance to such subjects as history, geo- graphy, and civics. The school is moving to meet these changes; and the program of studies some years hence will as a consequence be markedly different from that of a few years back. In fact, the changes already made are an earnest of the changes to come.
From the parents' and the pupils' point of view, pupil guidance is of even greater importance than the program of studies since through guidance an effort is made to determine what subjects will contribute most to the mental and moral development of the pupil, and at the same time serve as the foundation for those skills through which he will later earn his way in the world. That we have had an effective guidance system for some years
-- 4
-29-
and have been able to direct our pupils with intelligence, both educationally and occupationally, has been a matter of satisfaction and pride to us. But the limitations im- posed upon us by a meager testing program have fre- quently caused us misgivings and have always in difficult cases forced us to adopt time-consuming procedures be- fore we felt we could act. Now however, with the Boston University Testing Service to supply this former lack we should be able to do even more for the children in our schools.
No one can direct the activities of a high school in war time and fail to be impressed by the innate courage and courtesy of children. Careless they may be in many ways, and trying-even exasperating-in others; but they face a bleak and forbidding future with less complaint than do we, their elders, and they recognize reality clearlý enough so that we know their steadfastness is not founded on self-delusion. Almost daily they see on our Roll of Honor the nine hundred or more names of the boys and girls who were here before them, and who now serve their country; all too often comes news of an- other boy wounded or missing in action; and with crush- ing finality death is now and then announced. In such an atmosphere no more eloquent argument for democ- racy than is this Roll of Honor can exist; no greater proof of sound citizenship. The school is discharging its debt to the state, the town, and the child.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.