USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Plymouth > Town annual report of the officers of the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts for the year ending 1949 > Part 16
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157.00
14,145.24
Furniture and Furnishings
Window shades
$271.23
Filing equipment
97.20
Blackboard
35.20
Typewriter for Office
114.25
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Bioscope
89.88
Filmstrip projector
81.69
Motion picture screen 25.08
Part-payment on motion picture projector for Man- omet School 100.00
Miscellaneous radio equipment
73.85
Dental Clinic light
25.00
Transportation costs on free equipment from Camp Devens 135.26
1,048.64
Medical Inspection
Dental health
$692.53
Medical supplies
160.67
Nurse's car expense
621.85
1,475.05
Diplomas and Graduation Rent of Memorial Hall
421.22
280.00
Total
$63,431.01
Balance to Excess and Deficiency
$1.33
RECEIPTS
Appropriation, Fuel, March 1949
$11,000.00
PAYMENTS
Coal, wood, oil
10,989.77
Balance to Excess and Deficiency $10.23
REIMBURSEMENTS AND RECEIPTS
From the State on Account of : State Aid for Public Schools $34,687.39 Americanization Salaries 257.50
-
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Vocational Tuition 1,195.14
Vocational Pottery School
19.37
State Wards
2,506.84
Transportation
11,807.25
Tuition, Out-of-town Pupils :
Carver (Town of)
11,104.20
Plympton (Town of)
7,126.30
Summer School
4.00
Miscellaneous Receipts
795.29
Total
$69,503.28
FINANCIAL SUMMARY
Balance to Excess and
Appropriation Expenditures Deficiency
Salaries $345,979.00 $343,835.01
$2,143.99
General Incl. fuel 74,432.34*
74,420.78
11.56
Totals $420,411.34
$418,255.79
$2,155.55
Reimbursements and receipts
account of schools
$69,503.28
Net expenditures for Schools $348,752.51 (from appropriations to School Dept. for salaries and general)
*Including Trust Fund Income
VOCATIONAL EDUCATION TRUST FUNDS U. S. GRANTS
George-Deen Fund for Teaching Pottery Classes Balance for 1948 $86.00
No payments
Unexpended balance
$86.00
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George-Barden Fund for Teaching Pottery Classes Balance from 1948 Cash from State
$176.00 918.00
Total
$1,094.00
Payments :
Salary of pottery instructor 918.00
Unexpended balance $176.00
JEEP TRUCK
Appropriation from E & D, 1949 Payments :
$2,100.00
Willys 4-WD Truck less trade-in
$1,648.00
Snow plow, accessories
317.36
Total
1,965.36
Balance to Excess and Deficiency
$134.64
NEW HEATING SYSTEM AT HEDGE SCHOOL
Balance from 1948
$1,904.13
Payments : Outside Weatherstat
378.11
Balance to Excess and Deficiency
$1,526.02
GRADING AND FENCING HEDGE SCHOOL PLAYGROUND
Appropriation, 1949
$5,000.00
Payments: Excavation and Embankment $1,975.00
Loaming and Seeding 1,565.00 Engineering Services 185.00
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Chain Link Fence
1,184.00
Miscellaneous 91.00
Total $5,000.00
COLD SPRING (Cornish-Burton) SCHOOL PLANS
Balance of Federal Advance from 1948 $5,140.00
Final Installment of Fed-
eral Advance 5,235.28
Total
$10,375.28
Payments:
Cold Spring School Plans $9,890.00
Topography and Survey 485.28
Total $10,375.28
VOCATIONAL SCHOOL PLANS
Balance from 1948
$1,403.25
Federal Advance 3,596.75
Total $5,000.00
Payments :
Vocational School Plans from Federal Advance 4,000.00
Balance Remaining (Town Funds)
$1,000.00
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL LUNCH RECEIPTS
Appropriation, Salaries, March 1949
$5,700.00
PAYMENTS
Salaries 5,603.68
Balance to Excess and Deficiency $96.32
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RECEIPTS
Appropriation, General, March 1949
$10,500.00
PAYMENTS
Provisions
$8,623.93
Transportation
708.00
Gas
357.85
Equipment :
Thurmaduke Hot Table
367.00
Miscellaneous equipment
113.68
Total 10,170.46
Balance to Excess and Deficiency $329.54
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL LUNCH ACCOUNT
SCHOOL LUNCH RECEIPTS-To Town Treasurer
Sale of Lunches $10,888.00
From Federal Grants
4,849.24
Total $15,737.24
SCHOOL LUNCH PAYMENTS
Salaries
$5,603.68
General
10,170.46
Total
$15,774.14
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REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE
To the Citizens of the Town of Plymouth :
Our report of last year stated the two major prob- lems that confront the public schools, namely, the prob- lem of teacher supply and the problem of school housing. These problems are nationwide in their scope and are the immediate outgrowth of war conditions. Their solution in Plymouth as elsewhere is requiring much time, effort, and increased expenditures.
TEACHERS' SALARIES
The 1949 appropriation enabled us to take a third step toward adjusting salaries to the new schedule adopted in 1947. We thus made a significant improve- ment in our salary status, more than two-thirds of the salaries being completely adjusted from the old sched- ule to the new. However, an examination of the latest salary figures (October 1949) in the twenty-four Massachusetts communities with which we usually com- pare the Plymouth school expenditures reveals that those communities also substantially increased teachers' salaries in 1949. The result is that the Plymouth sala- ries, taken as a whole, are still below the going salaries being paid in Massachusetts communities within our general classification. We are, therefore, again in need of an increased amount for teachers' salaries in order to pay a comparable wage and to place our- selves in a more satisfactory position both for securing well-qualified teachers to fill vacancies and for holding such teachers in our service for a reasonable period of years.
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We are returning to the town from the 1949 salary appropriation about $2,000.00 because of the fact that a number of experienced teachers drawing the higher salaries left our service in 1949. The new teachers were in several instances younger teachers entitled to the lower salaries on the schdule
STATE AID
The State-aid law enacted in 1948 increased the Plymouth State aid for school support from income tax proceeds from $18,055.00 in 1948 to $34,687.39 in 1949. At the same time Plymouth's receipts from the state income tax in 1949 not credited specifically to schools were increased by the amount of $10,779.00. The new state-aid to towns having larger than average transportation costs further increased our receipts to the extent of $11,807.25. The Plymouth real estate taxes were in this way somewhat relieved.
NET COST OF SCHOOLS
Our total receipts on account of schools in 1949 from the State, from Carver and Plympton for tuition, and from miscellaneous sources amounted to $69,503 .- 28. These receipts on account of schools are estimated at the beginning of each fiscal year by the School Com- mittee and taken into account by the Board of Assessors in setting the tax rate. Our estimate for 1949 was $67,- 503.00 as compared with $69,503.28 actually received. Our estimate of receipts for 1950 totals $75,890.00. It should be borne in mind that these receipts are to be subtracted from our expenditures in order to arrive at the net taxation cost of running our schools. As shown in the statistical section of our report, the gross ex- penditures for salaries and general in 1949 amounted to $418,255.79. Our net expenditures amounted to $348,- 752.51.
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SCHOOL BUILDINGS
The second major school problem calling for prompt action in Plymouth as elsewhere is that of providing adequate housing for the present enrollment and for the promised increase in elementary school popula- tion. The report of the Superintendent of Schools, which follows, indicates that because of the increased number of births during and since the war period we are likely to have approximately 1,500 children in grades 1-6 by the fall of 1955. This is nearly 300 more than we now have in these grades. Furthermore there are indications that the increasing enrollment will not hit the peak until 1957 or 1958. At that time, we may have close to 1700 children in these grades, depending somewhat upon the balance as between the number of children moving in and out of town and upon the birth- rate in the next few years.
Unfortunately when the upward trend in elementary school enrollment is now making its first appearance we find ourselves at present ten classrooms short of the number we should have. Four of these ten rooms are needed to replace rooms now being used for emer- gency relief and rooms so poorly adapted to school use that they should be abandoned as soon as possible. Six of the ten rooms are needed to house properly the sur- plus of pupils now enrolled in thirty or more over- sized classes. We therefore begin our building pro- gram with an immediate need of ten additional rooms.
Cornish-Burton School
For sometime your committee had planned for the early replacement of the Cornish-Burton buildings. However, in view of the indicated school building needs totaling about twenty new elementary classrooms dur-
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ing the next five years, the probable need for enlarge- ment of the Junior-Senior High School building shortly thereafter, as well as the impending sewage disposal project confronting the town immediately, we have re- luctantly come to the conclusion that the Cornish-Burton must be kept in use for several years yet. In view of this decision, we are asking an appropriation of $20,000.00 to make needed repairs and improvements in the Cornish-Burton buildings, these to include new toilet facilities in the Burton, new floors in both build- ings, exterior painting of the Burton, and interior painting of both buildings.
In 1949 a number of changes were made in these two buildings following recommendations of the state building inspector. A direct exit was constructed from each of the first floor classrooms in the Burton and an additional exit from the basement of the Cornish. The cafeteria in the Cornish was transferred from the base- ment room to the all-purpose room on the first floor. With the changes already made and the completion of the improvements listed above, the Cornish-Burton buildings will be made much more satisfactory. It is the hope of our Committee that a satisfactory plan for providing new housing accommodations for pupils in the Cornish-Burton area may be developed later as our building program proceeds.
New Cold Spring Building
As the first unit in the building program, the School Committee recommends a new building consisting of not less than eight classrooms and auxiliary rooms to be located on town-owned land (formerly the Murray Lot) and adjoining land to be acquired. A building with eight classrooms would house pupils in grades 1-6 now living in the area north of Samoset Street to and including Hall Street. A building of this size would
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be designed for enlargement when the population in the area may require. We have also considered favor- ably the plan of building the larger design at the out- set. In this case, the additional classrooms would be used for housing transported pupils until such time as the school population living in the Cold Spring area should require their use. Such further growth in the area seems to us a probability but it cannot now be regarded as a certainty.
This recommendation for a new Cold Spring build- ing as the first new unit is based on the following considerations.
(1) The location is mid-way between the Hedge and Cornish. A building situated at this point would relieve both buildings of the fifth and sixth grade pupils now living in the Cold Spring area. The site recommended would be readily accessible from three streets, namely Court Street, Standish Avenue, and Alden Street.
(2) The present Cold Spring primary building is one of our oldest wooden buildings and should be abandoned at the earliest opportunity.
(3) The area of the town-owned land plus adjoin- ing land to be acquired is approximately seven acres and meets state recommendations as to size. The site has been given a total rating of 95 points as to general suitability by the representative of the Massachusetts School Building Assistance Commission.
(4) Plans have been prepared for this proposed building through an advance of funds from the Federal government. Bids could be sought on these plans and the building constructed in time for occupancy at the opening of school in the fall of 1951.
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Manomet School
The numbers at the Manomet School have so in- creased during the past three years that it has become necessary to make use of the small room on the second floor as a supplementary classroom for about fifteen of the first or second-grade pupils. It would appear that not later than the opening of the school year 1952-53 Manomet should have four additional classrooms and certain auxiliary rooms, including assembly-play room, lunch room, teachers room, and office.
The present building is so constructed that it does not lend itself to a contiguous addition. The alterna- tives seem to be either a new unit built on the Manomet School grounds near the present building and con- nected thereto by a corridor or a new unit on a differ- ent site. This matter requires further study and plan- ning. We are therefore asking the town for authority to make application for an advance of funds from the Federal government under Public Law 352 of the 81st Congress for procuring plans for this project.
Hedge School Playground
The special appropriation made in 1949 for improv- ing the Hedge playground enabled us to double the usable play area in the rear of the building and to fence off from the pond the entire distance from the present hard surfaced play area to the westerly bound- ary of the playground. This newly graded area now needs to be surfaced with several inches of loam and seeded.
A second much needed improvement is the comple- tion of the hard surfacing of the area immediately adjoining the building in the rear and bordering on Cherry Street. The present gravel surface is not only unsuitable for play purposes during certain periods
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of the year but the gravel is tracked into the class- rooms and corridors with disastrous effects upon the floors. It will be necessary to grade carefully this area in preparation for the hard surfacing and then to lead a drain to the pond. For these several purposes we are asking a special appropriation of $6,500.00.
In our report of last year we spoke of definite assur- ance of state aid toward new schoolhouse construction. The method of administering this new law and the plan of distribution of aid among different towns and cities have now been completed. We in Plymouth may look forward to a state contribution of approximately 26% of the cost of any new school building or addition including the built-in equipment, and fees. After the issuance of bonds for a school building project, the state funds will be received annually over the period of the loan as an aid in payment of the loan. In view of the prospect of a considerable outlay for school buildings during the next decade, this provision for state aid will serve to reduce substantially the costs chargeable to local taxation.
Later steps that are likely to be needed in the elementary school housing program as well as a de- tailed statement of the predicted growth in our elemen- tary school population and the additional number of classrooms necessary to house the predicted increase by years over a ten-year period will be found in the following report of the Superintendent of Schools.
Respectfully submitted,
E. HAROLD DONOVAN, Chairman SIGNE L. J. BORGHESANI, Secretary WILLIAM H. ARMSTRONG WILLIAM E. CURTIN DAVID A. CAPPANNARI RALPH C. WEAVER
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REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS
To Members of the School Committee :
In my report for 1949 it seems desirable at the out- set to restate and bring up to date the factual infor- mation supporting the needs, present and impending, for new elementary school buildings that was pre- sented in this report two years ago. During the brief interval of two years the need for a building program has become clearer and more imperative.
IMMEDIATE NEED FOR NEW ELEMENTARY BUILDINGS
The Plymouth birthrate during the war years was rather inconclusive as to its trend. There was an in- crease in 1942 and 1943 but a decline in 1944. This was followed by a new low in 1945 matching the low of 1939. However, during the first post-war year 1946 there was a marked increase, and in 1947 our records showed the largest number of babies born to Plymouth residents in several decades. The implications of these two successive years of high birthrates with reference to the immediate need for planning additional elemen- tary schools became perfectly clear. Though the births in 1948 and 1949 were 16% fewer than in 1947, they were substantially higher than during the pre-war years and further 'substantiate the impending need for new buildings. The first-grade enrollment this year was thirty-seven more than last year. We may antici- pate a sharper surge upward in the fall of 1952 and the prospects are that this increase will continue through 1957, after which a very gradual decline may be expected. The Plymouth elementary school enroll-
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ment curve during the next several years promises to parallel very closely the prophecy for the country as a whole.
There are given below several tables on which is based a statement of the number of additional elemen- tary classrooms needed now and during the next de- cade.
Forecast of Elementary Enrollments in Plymouth
1950 - 1959
TABLE I
Births For Two Six-Year Periods
Period 1938-1943*
Period 1944-1949 **
1938
190
1944
221
1939
176
1945
176
1940
201
1946
266
1941
202
1947
329
1942
226
1948
279
1943
252
1949
277
Total
1247
Total
1548
* Basis for enrollment in grades I to VI in 1949. Actual enrollment in December 1949 was 1212. Not now in Public schools, 67.
Basis for enrollment in grades I to VI in 1955.
The increase in the number of births during the last six years (1944-49) over the number during the pre- ceding six years (1938-43) would indicate an increase of about 300 children of elementary school age, or 24%, by the fall of 1955.
FACTORS OTHER THAN BIRTHS
Several factors other than the birth rate enter into the predicted number of elementary school pupils. A
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second factor is that of retardation. Certain pupils re- quire longer than six years to complete the elementary course. A third factor involves the pupils who are in public or private schools elsewhere or in institutions. In order not to neglect these factors in our prediction of future enrollments, a study (12 year period) has been made of the relationship of the number of pupils in each grade of the Plymouth public schools to the num- ber of births from six to eleven years earlier. This study necessarily takes into account both these factors as well as the birth rate. It was found (1) that the grade one enrollment was on the average 119% of the Plymouth births 6 years earlier, (2) that the grade two enrollment was 105% of the births 7 years earlier, (3) that the grade three enrollment was 101% of the births 8 years earlier, (4) that the grade four enroll- ment was 98% of the births 9 years earlier, (5) that the grade five enrollment was 96% of the births 10 years earlier, and (6) that the grade six enrollment was 92% of the births 11 years earlier. These three factors therefore have been taken into account in arriv- ing at the prospective enrollments given below.
A fourth factor, namely that of immigration of young families to Plymouth and their emigration from Plymouth, is one that could be important but cannot be predicted with any certainty. Over the past several decades our total population has been relatively stable. In 1948, we lost to other communities more pupils than we gained. In 1949, the numbers moving in almost exactly counteracted the numbers moving out. The factor of employment conditions in Plymouth as com- pared with those elsewhere is quite determining in this matter and cannot be foreseen. Under these conditions we cannot give special consideration to the factor of immigration and emigration.
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The opening of the Sacred Heart School in September of this year is a fifth factor that has entered into the forecast. It is expected that this new private school will afford some relief to our over-size classes and our housing problem. About fifty-six Plymouth elemen- tary pupils are enrolled there at present. It is under- stood that the enrollment of Plymouth pupils may reach three times that number over the next several years, though this cannot be determined in advance with certainty. An allowance for an annual increase in attendance there is made in our forecast.
For the forecast of enrollments beyond 1955, we have used the birthrate of Massachusetts following World War I. So far as Plymouth is concerned these figures are conjectural but they seem to harmonize very well with birthrate forecasts being made generally over the nation.
On the foregoing bases and with the explanations given we are presenting in Tables II and III below a forecast of elementary enrollments for the ten-year period 1950-59, and of the number of classrooms need- ed to meet the anticipated enrolllments. These tables show also the number of additional classrooms needed now.
TABLE II Forecast of Elementary Enrollments 1950-1959*
Period 1950-1955
Period 1956-1959
1949
1226
1956
(1581)
1950
1248
1957
(1691)
1951
1227
1958
(1689)
1952
1295
1959
(1619)
1953
1426
1954
1482
1955
1513
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* Bases of forecast :-
1. Plymouth Births: 1944 to 1949 (Table I) for years 1950-55.
2. Massachusetts birth rate following World War I for years 1956-59.
3. Study of average retardation in the several grades of Plymouth schools and of average numbers of Plymouth pupils not enrolled in Plymouth schools.
4. Indications of Plymouth enrollments in Sacred Heart School.
TABLE III
Classrooms Needed Now and to Meet Anticipated Increase
Anticipated Enrollment
Year
Table II Above
Classrooms Needed (2)
Classrooms Needed Over and Above Present Number Suitable for Use (3)
1949
1226 (Oct. 1)
44
10
1950
1248
45
11
1951
1227
44
11
1952
1295
47
13
1953
1426
51
17
1954
1482
53
19
1955
1513
55
21
1956
(1581) (1)
(57)
(23)
1957
(1691)
(61)
(27)
1958
(1689)
(61)
(27)
1959
(1619)
(58)
(24)
(1) Enrollments from 1956-59, inclusive, are fore- casted on the basis of Massachusetts birth rate follow- ing World War I and are conjectural only.
(2) State regulations require two classrooms for our retarded pupils. Average enrollment in these classes is 15 pupils. For the so-called regular classes
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we have used the average of 28.3 pupils per teacher. This is the average in the elementary schools of 83 Massachusetts towns of over 5,000 population. (Many of our best school systems are working for a lower pupil-teacher ratio than this average figure, and the long-run tendency is undoubtedly toward a lower figure. This wholesome tendency unfortunately will be temporarily checked because of the impending short- age of teachers and buildings.) The method of com- puting the number of classrooms required is, therefore, as follows: (1) Subtract 30 from enrollment in Column 2 and assign two classrooms to these 30 pupils. (2) Divide the remaining number of pupils in the enroll- ment for each year by 28.3.
(3) The number of classrooms available for con- tinued use is 34, i.e., excluding 4 rooms that should be abandoned as soon as possible, namely, the 2 rooms at Cold Spring, the basement room at Hedge, and the small room at Manomet. See Table IV below.
TABLE IV
Available Facilities for Elementary Pupils
Enroll-
Class- Capacity ment
School
Date Constructed
rooms
(1)
(Oct. 1)
Hedge
1910, 1913, 1924
12 (2)
339
414
Cold Spring
1895
2
(3)
57
67
Oak Street
1902
2
57
58
Cornish
1840, 1904
7
197
238
Burton
1896
4
113
124
Mt. Pleasant
1905
6
170
199
Manomet
1911
3
(4)
85
124
36 (5)
1018
1226
(1)
28.3 pupils per teacher is average in Massachu- setts towns over 5,000 population.
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(2) Additional room in basement being used tem- porarily.
(3) The two classrooms in the Cold Spring School should be discontinued as soon as a new building can be made available.
(4) Small additional room on second floor being used temporarily.
(5) The elimination of the present Cold Spring School would reduce this number to 34.
Conclusions from Enrollment Forecasts
From the data given in Table III above, the following conclusions seem reasonable. (1) That 10 additional classrooms are needed now to enable us to provide the amount of teaching service now being provided boys and girls in Massachusetts towns over 5,000 population. (2) That by 1953 we shall probably need 17 class- rooms more than we have now and by 1955 this number is likely to be increased to 21. (3) That at the peak in 1957 and 1958 we may need as many as 27 rooms more than we have at present. Many communities will not build for the peak number but rather for the num- ber of pupils who are likely to be enrolled when the leveling off process begins a few years after the peak. If the Plymouth enrollment at that time approximates about 1,600, as Table III above suggests, we shall need about 24 more classrooms than we now have.
The need for 10 additional classrooms now is clear to one who accepts as a present standard the pupil- teacher ratio of 28.3 and examines the enrollment table on page 52 of this report. It will be observed that of the 35 regular classes now in operation, all but 3 have more than 28 pupils. Sixteen of our classes have 35
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or more pupils and a considerable number of these large classes have two grades. Over-size classes not only make the problem of class control more difficult but they make it more difficult for the teacher to do full justice to the needs of each individual child.
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