USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Fairhaven > Town annual report of the offices of Fairhaven, Massachusetts 1883-1884 > Part 2
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SALARIES OF TOWN OFFICERS.
Amount appropriated. $1,200.00
Amount from Incidental Account to
balance, .
293.82 $1,493.82
23
*
Paid Eben Akin, Jr., treasurer. $250.00
George Jones, collector, 250.00
George A. Briggs, selectman, 85.00
D. W. Deane, selectman, 85.00
R. E. Leavitt, selectman,
50.00
Job A. T. Eddy, assessor,
III.OO
Joseph Millett, assessor,
50.00
William M. Stetson, assessor,
90.00
George E. Fuller, school com- mittee,
35.50
Lucy M. Davis, school commit- tee,
16.25
C. C. Cundall, school committee,
91.50
A. B. Collins, school committee,
54.25
Job C. Tripp, school committee,
69.05
George A. Briggs, road commis- sioner,
25.00
Russell Hathaway, road commis- sioner, 12 00
D. W. Dean, road commissioner,
20.00
Phineas W. Record, constable,
91.75
John M. Hammond, constable, 38.85
Benj. F. Tripp, special, 8.50
Phineas W. Record, truant officer,
2.25
Joseph B. Peck, truant officer,
1.25
Hervey Tripp, census,
20.00
Susan H. Wilcox, com's. on school books, 36.67 $1,493.82
TOWN DEBT.
Town debt, February, 1883, $30,900.00
Town debt, February, 1884, bonds,
23,000.00
Town debt, New Bedford Institution
·for Savings, February, 1884,
2,900.00
Present debt, $25.900.00
2.1
TOWN PROPERTY.
Almshouse and farm,
$6,000.00
Nine school houses and seven lots,
Watch house and lot,
9,500.00 350.00
Hook and ladder and shed,
125.00
Two engine houses and lots.
700.00
Steam fire-engine and hose,
1,000.00
Hand fire-engine and hose,
1,000.00
Three safes and office furniture,
300.00
Weights and measures,
25.00
Stock and produce at town farm.
1,198.00
Farm tools.
447.00
Burial lot,
50.00
$20,695.00
Amount of balance to the credit of each department ; School account, $393.18
Incidental account.
1.164.69
Cash in hands of Treasurer,
$1.557.87
SUMMARY OF APPROPRIATION FOR 1883.
Repairs of highways. $2.000.00
William street sidewalk.
50.00
Washington street sidewalk.
50.00
Privilege street sidewalk.
100.00
Lights for Fort street,
25.00
Streets accepted.
1000.00
Support of poor.
2,500.00
Public schools.
4,800.00
Liquidating town debt and interest.
5,000.00
Salaries,
1,200,00
Fire Department.
1.500.00
School incidentals.
500.00
Lighting streets,
275.00
Incidental expenses.
800.00 $19.800.00
Respectfully submitted. GEO. A. BRIGGS, Selectmen Fairhaven.
DANIEL W. DEANE. of
I have examined the foregoing account and believe it to be correct. HERVEY TRIPP, Auditor.
REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
TOWN OF FAIRHAVEN.
1884.
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
To the citizens of Fairhaven :
Your committee in presenting its annual report, has no hesitation in stating that, in the main, our schools are in good condition, the scholars punctual and enthusiastic, and making commendable progress.
The teachers have ever been found willing to cooperate in all measures suggested for the improvement of the schools, and have generally made their schools creditable, both to themselves and the town. It seems to your committee that the schools of the town to-day, as compared with those of former years, are much improved, both in discipline and moral tone, and that the children themselves appear to be infused with higher aims. Fairhaven has excellent ma- terial for the formation of noble men and women, who, if properly educated, will make their influence felt for good in the future. Let us all do our part to bring about so de- sirable a result.
Your committee does not propose in this report, so much to extol the schools as to point out the more marked hind- rances to a complete success of our present school system.
Firstly. It will be noticed that some of our schools have been subjected to frequent change in teachers. The removal of faithful teachers, who understand their work and have the love and confidence of the scholars, must ever be injurious to the best interests of the schools. Your com- mittee, confined as it is to the school appropriation, is pow-
4
erless to prevent such results, and must let Fairhaven re- main, to a large extent, a training school for teachers, who, inspired by offers of increased salary from other towns and cities, feel compelled to leave us ; and in consequence, it is often obliged to fill their places with inexperienced teachers. Of this we make no complaint, but simply state the fact.
Secondly. Much time is lost, work done at a disadvan- tage, and hard labor performed in teaching many different grades in one school, when the whole matter could be simplified, and vastly better results obtained, if the schools could be thrown together, and all the pupils, qualified for each grade, kept together in separate rooms under compe- tent teachers. This problem, fortunately, will be solved by the occupation of the " Rogers " School building.
In this connection note the fact, that over nine-tenths of the scholars in town complete their education in the Gram- mar school. It may not be through any fault of most of them, that they do not attend the High School. It must. therefore, be apparent that our most important schools are the Primary and Grammar ; and we feel that it was a wise forethought in Mr. Rogers, in offering to provide with such princely munificence for this school. It is the intention of your committee to give more prominence to this department, and hereafter it will issue diplomas to all its graduates who shall obtain the requisite percentage of scholarship.
Thirdly. The school registers show too many black marks for non-attendance. A single day's absence may be a serious loss to the scholar. We fear that many parents grant them for too trivial causes.
Fourthly. Your committee cannot approve of the prac- tice, in some districts, of taking children out of school, be- cause the parent is not fully satisfied with the management of the school. The direct result of such a course is to rob the child, for the time being, of the educational advantages
5
which are legally due him. It demoralizes the school, breaks up classes, and discourages the scholar, who, on his return to the school, finds his class far in advance of him. He must then "jump ahead," or go into a lower class, or a special class be formed for him, when the teach- ers are overworked by reason of the already too great number of classes.
If parents have grievances, or are dissatisfied with the management of the school, they should present the matter before the school board ; and they may be assured of a re- spectful hearing, a careful consideration of their complaints. and that all errors or mistakes will be corrected at the earliest day possible, with justice to all parties.
Fifthly. Many of our schools are deficient in maps, dictionaries, books of reference, and necessary appliances for illustration. Some of the country districts have none whatever, while others have maps 30 years old, and are practically useless. We hope citizens will remember this when the next appropriation is voted for.
Sixthly. A better knowledge and practice of music in our schools would be most desirable, not only on account of the pleasure it gives the scholars, but on account of its humanizing and elevating influence on the schools. Our appropriations will not allow your committee to spend money for this object, and it must content itself with such help as the limited musical knowledge of some of our teachers and pupils can voluntarily give us. But the estab- lishment of a primary singing school under the auspices of the Town Improvement Association, which will probably be a permanent institution, with Mr. F. L. Diman, teacher of music in the public schools of New Bedford, as instructor, will, we trust, in part prove a remedy for this deficiency.
It is unnecessary to adduce arguments to show the ad- vantage and necessity of obtaining an education as an aid in fighting the great battle of life, but we desire to make
6
one or two quotations upon this point. Horace Mann, in 1846, after diligent investigation among capitalists, employ- ing many workmen, said : "In great establishments there is found to be an almost invariable rule that educated labor- ers rise to a higher and higher point in the kinds of labor performed, and also in the wages received, while the igno- rant sink like dregs, and is always found at the bottom." C. J. Mundella, M. P., of Sheffield, Eng., who employed about four thousand men, says: "My experience of workmen in the average is that the better a man is edu- cated, and the greater the intellectual resources he pos- sesses, the less he is disposed to sensual indulgence, or to any kind of intemperance or excess." Our State statistics show that a good common school education adds about fifty per cent. to the productive power of the laborer, and also, that a complete education, such as the best high schools give, adds one hundred per cent. ; also that an illiterate person is more than twenty times as likely to become a pauper as one who has an average education. But your committee is not unmindful of the fact that true education means much more than mere mental acquirement ; that the development of character is more important than all else. It will therefore at all times favor the manly man and the womanly woman for teachers, to those of more brilliant attainments, but who may be lacking in these essentials. It cannot too strongly impress upon the teachers, that we expect our schools to produce good citizens as well as good scholars.
As character building is the first object of education, and is affected for good or bad by the moral tone of the books and papers read, it becomes parents to know what their children read. In this connection, we desire to call atten- tion to the pernicious influence of bad books, and especially to such illustrated papers as the "Police Gazette," "News." and others of like character. These papers can be found
7
in town, and many of the school children are perusing them with avidity from week to week. Your committee has made investigation and finds the boys who are known to be habitual readers of these papers, to be among the most troublesome and untrustworthy element in our schools. Having no legal power in the premises, your committee has made personal appeals and requests that they might be kept away from the children, but with very little success. Probably few parents know that their children are thus familiarizing themselves with the pictured sight of crime and immorality, and this alone makes it our duty, as guar- dians of the moral purity of the children, to appeal to them, to see that their children are not among the class referred to.
Parents should stimulate the habit of reading at home- especially books of travel and history, of which a large number can be found in the public library-not forgetting such papers as "Youth's Companion," "St. Nicholas," " Harper's Young People," and others which treat of mat- ters of daily public interest in a clear. simple and at- tractive manner to both old and young.
Your committee may be thought prudish in these matters, and that its duties lie outside of them, but when it is con- sidered how closely the intellectual nature of the child is allied to, and dependent upon the physical, moral and spiritual nature, it feels it ought not to ignore the latter, even if it could.
We expect our teachers to require on the part of the pupils, cleanliness in both appearance and habits, and to impart to them some knowledge of the general laws of health. We also expect our scholars to be under such government, and to be pervaded by such a spirit, that the deeper elements in the child's nature may be recognized and his spiritual nature touched at some point. For this reason we require some form of devotional exercise at the opening of the morning session. We also look for the
8
constant lesson found in the fitly spoken word and ex- emplary life of the teacher. Our forefathers wisely sepa- rated the government of the church from that of the school, but the one was always intended to be the supplement of the other, although in no sectarian or denominational sense ; and both have contributed, more than aught else, to render New England a nucleus from which has radiated streams of intelligence, patriotism and piety over all the land.
Your committee has made no radical change in the course of study, and does not propose to do so in the future. The course adopted by a former committee, laying the foundation for thoroughly grading the schools, is resulting in good; and if the classes are held rigidly to the pre- scribed gradework, the good results will be increasingly manifest from year to year. Your committee intends that the diploma given to the graduate shall mean something, and therefore must insist upon the scholars obtaining the re- quisite percentage in their studies in order to gradnate. Parents can cooperate in this matter by carefully examin- ing the monthly school reports in regard to percentage of scholarship, as that determines his ability to advance to a higher grade, or the necessity for dropping to a lower class.
Have ambition for your child and stimulate him to in- crease his percentage, always remembering that this indi- cates his grade of scholarship.
Attention is called to the annexed tables relating to school statistics for the past year, terms for the new school year, and also of the financial statement of receipts and expenditures.
Our census of school children between the ages of five and fifteen shows the number to be 493 : an increase of 32 over that of the former year, and an increase of 73 in two years ; a number sufficiently large to form two new schools with the average membership of schools two years ago.
The Grammar and Centre Primary were crowded to
9
such an extent, that the employment of another teacher, to assist the Grammar during the morning, and the Primary in the afternoon session, during the last term, was found indis- pensable, and this necessity will become permanent for the coming year.
This increase will require a corresponding increase of appropriation for school purposes; and as the increase of population is a sure indication of the general prosperity of the town, we trust it will be cheerfully granted.
Your committee has taken special pains to see the law in relation to compulsory attendance of all children between the ages of five and fifteen strictly enforced, and its good results are manifest, as you will see, by placing Fairhaven, in its percentage of attendance, the first in Bristol county, and the seventeenth in the state.
Our Schools Compared with others in the County and State.
I. The average amount of money appropriated, in the towns and cities of the State, for the education of each child, between the ages of 5 and 15 years, is $131000. Fair- haven appropriates only $101000 + 567, and is below the average.
2. The average percentage of taxable property appro- priated for support of schools in the State, is 2-6,5 mills. Fairhaven appropriates 376 mills, and is above the average ; but, of the 346 towns in the State, 191 give more than Fairhaven, and only 154 give less.
3. The average ratio of attendance in the State to the whole number between ages of 5 and 15, is 73.35. Fair- haven is given at 94.29, in percentage of attendance; she is above the average, stands at the head in Bristol County. and only 17 towns do better in the State.
·
IÔ
School Book Agency.
DR.
To cash on hand February 15, 1883, $4.24
" books on hand February 15, ISS3, IS4.30
" books and supplies purchased, 299.34 $487.88
CR.
By books on hand February 15, ISS4, $174.56
" supplies on hand February 15, ISS4, 16.55
" books furnished teachers, 17.28
" books furnished destitute children, 16.21
" supplies furnished schools, 86.66
" cash paid Town Treasurer, 175.00
" cash on hand, 1.62 $487.88
Financial Statement.
Amount unexpended February 15, 1883, $289.45
Appropriation for salaries, care and fuel, . 4800.00
Appropriation for incidentals, 500.00
State fund, 197.54
Dog fund, 225.92 $6012.91
BILLS APPROVED.
Teachers' salaries $4462.00
Fuel,
298.89
Care,
429.00
Incidentals,
429.84 5619.73
Balance unexpended February 15, 1884, $393.18
II
TABULAR STATEMENT OF WINTER TERM, 1883.
Schools.
January 8 to March 29. Teachers.
Wages per
Month.
Number of
Weeks.
Whole Number
Enrolled.
Average
Membership.
Average
Attendance.
Percentage
Attendance.
Per centage
Number of
Tardinesses.
Number not
Absent once. fl
High,
L. R. Wentworth.
$105
13
53
51
46
90
10
53
6
Annie J. Fairchild,
50
Grammar, 66
Annie A. Shaw,
25
12
76
69
91
9
79
24
Centre Primary,
Myra A. Barney,
30
12
53
50
46
92
8
23
Green street,
Lena A. Chubbuck,
30
12
40
36
32
89
11
23
4
Spring street,
Ruth E. Sears,
30
12
43
39
31
80
20
64
3
Oxford,
Carrie E. Jenney,
30
12
41
37
31
84
16
118
3
Pease,
Lucy F. Winchester,
30
12
27
25
22
88
12
24
Naskatucket,
Elleu H. Akin,
25
12
23
23
18
80
20
52
Sconticut,
Mary E. Haney,
25
12
35
26
22
85
15
25
0
New Boston,
James D. Butts,
36
12
21
20
17
85
15
35
Number not
Absent once.
High,
L. R. Wentworth,
$105
12
50
49
44
90
10
77
7
Grammar, 66
Amanda F. Sears,
50
11
74
72
66
92
8
62
17
Center Primary,
Myra A. Barney,
30
11
54
52
49
94 92
6
39
12
Green street,
Lena A. Chubbuck,
30
11
11
52
46
41
89
11
43
7
Pease,
Annie A. Shaw,
28
12
26
25
20
85
15
6
6
Naskatucket,
Ellen H. Akin,
30
11
24
22
49
86
:4
69
3
Sconticut,
Mary E. Haney,
25
11
29
26
22
85
15
25
0
New Boston,
Clara C. M. Gage,
25
11
26
20
16
80
20
36
1
1
TABULAR STATEMENT OF SUMMER TERM, 1883.
Schools.
April 16 to June 29. Teachers.
Wages per
Number of
Whole Number
Enrolled.
Average
Membership.
Average
Attendance.
Per cent.
Attendance.
Per cent.
Absence.
Number of
Tardinesses.
6
Spring street, Oxford.
Carrie E. Jenney,
30
11
41
40
34
85
15
49
4
Ruth E. Sears,
30
40
38
35
8
29
Lucy F. Winchester,
30
Month.
Weeks.
Annie J. Fairchild,
50
Amanda F. Sears,
50
Absence.
I2
TABULAR STATEMENT OF FALL TERM, 1883.
Schools.
September 3 to December 14. Teachers.
Wages per
Month.
Number of
Weeks.
Whole Number
Enrolled.
Average
Membership.
Average
Attendance.
Per cent.
Attendance.
Per cent.
Absence.
Number of
Tardinesses.
Number not
Absent once.
High,
L. R. Wentworth,
$105
15
51
49
46
94
6
55
13
Grammar, 66
Amanda F. Sears,
50
15
99
94
89
95
5
60
15
66
Ida E. Cundall,
25
Centre Primary,
Lena A. Chubbuck,
30
15
63
57
54
95
5
29
15
Green Street,
Mattie A. Boyden,
30
15
43
39
37
95
5
112
3
Spring Street,
Ruth E. Sears,
30
15
46
42
35
83
17
96|
6
Oxford,
Carrie E. Jenney,
30
15
39
35
31
89
11
102
?
Pease,
Annie A. Shaw,
28
15
31
31
26
84
16
11
4
Naskatucket,
Ellen H. Akin,
30
15
26
25
22
88
12
133
3
Sconticut,
Elenor Jackson,
25
15
29
26
21
80
20
101
0
New Boston,
Clara C. M. Gage,
25
15
24
19
15
80
20
47
TABULAR STATEMENT OF SCHOOLS FOR THE YEAR 1883.
Schools.
Number of
No. of Pupils
Average
Average
Attendance.
Per cent.
Attendance.
Per cent.
Absence.
Number
Tardinesses.
Salaries of Teachers.
High School.
40
51
49
45
90
10
185 $1550.00
Grammar, -
38
98
81
75
92
191
780.75
Centre Primary,
38
63
53
50
94
6
91
285.00
Green street,
38
43
38
35
92
8 . 164
285.00
Spring street,
38
53
42
38
84
16
203
285.00
Oxford District,
39
31
27
23
86
14
42
279.00
Naskatucket,
38
26
23
20
84
16
254
285.00
Sconticut Neck, -
38
35
20
23
83
17
151
237.50
New Boston.
38
26
10
16
82
18
118
270.50
38
41
37
32
86
14.
269
285.00
Pease District,
Lucy F. Winchester,
30
Annie J. Fairchild,
50
Weeks.
Enrolled.
Membership.
8
13
NEW SCHOOL YEAR.
Terms.
Commence.
Close.
Length.
Summer, Fall, Winter,
Monday, April 14, Monday, September 8, Monday, January 5, 1885,
Friday, June 27,
Friday, December 19, Friday, March 27, 1885,
11 weeks. 15 weeks. 12 weeks.
The High School, having 40 weeks, will close one week later in the Summer term, and commence one week earlier in the Fall term.
Your committee submits the following recommendations : Ist. That the town appropriate the sum of $5,000 for teachers' salaries, care and fuel.
2d. That the town appropriate the sum of $500 for school incidentals.
Respectfully submitted,
JOB C. TRIPP, C. C. CUNDALL,
School Committee.
A. B. COLLINS,
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