USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Fairhaven > Town annual report of the offices of Fairhaven, Massachusetts 1915 > Part 4
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$20,807.15
$21,982.84
$22,719.37
$25,908.13
$ 5,100.98
TABLE II. PER CAPITA COST OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION, 1912-1915.
Total
Membership
Average
Membership
Instruction
Supplies
Books
Repairs
New
Equipment
Conveyance
Fuel
Janitors
Supervision
Miscellaneous
Total cost
per
Grade Pupil
1912-13
838
726
17.24
.63
.36
.94
.01
2.18
1.54
2.36
2.04
1.34 28.64
1913-14
829
703
18.13
.79
.63
1.26
.56
2.69
1.24
2.57
2.07
1.31
31.25
1914 [11 mos]
893
775
16.17
.69
.37
1.70
1.17
2.49
1.05
2.23
1.84
1.61
29.32
1915
968
832
18.87
.63
.39
1.50
21
1.91
1.56
2.31
1.92
1.84
31.14
Increase
130
106
1.63
0
.03
.56
.20
.02
.50
2.94
Decrease
0
.27
.05
.12
.44
Net increase per pupil
2.50
membership, of each class of expenditurers
grade schools during each of the years under consideration, and exhibits also the cost per capita, based on the average
Table II shows the total and average membership in the
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Some facts from the above tables are :-
Expenditures for grade schools in the fiscal year just closed have been $5100.98 greater than in the year ending January 31, 1913, an increase of twenty-four per cent. It is just to state, however, that the cost of schools in 1912-13 was ab- normally low. In each of the three preceding years it was higher by nearly one thousand dollars.
While the cost of schools increased twenty-four per cent, the average membership increased fifteen percent. It cost$2.50 more to educate each child in the average membership in 1915 than in 1913, a per capita increase of about nine per cent.
What has been done with the additional money expended? Sixty-two per cent of the total increase went for instruction; fourteen per cent for repairs and new equipment; seven and one-half per cent for fuel and janitor service; the remainder for conveyance, supervision and miscellaneous purposes such as lighting, water, medical inspection, census taking, office ex- penses, enforcement of truancy law, etc. etc.
Is the increase in cost of schools justified?
Much of it has been absolutely necessary. The increase in the number of pupils caused the opening of three new rooms, larger expenditures for fuel and janitor service, greater ex- penditures for books and supplies. It contributed indirectly to higher cost also along other lines. Teachers' salaries might have remained the same but in view of higher wages everywhere else the standard of the schools could not have been maintained. We are paying only moderately good salaries today. Less might have been expended for repairs but the buildings had been neglected for several years and further postponement would have meant ultimate loss to the town. Some of the results of increased expenditure
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may be found in the increased efficiency of schools through the employment of teachers with some experience, and in the improved condition of your buildings and equipment.
In 1914 when money from the new funds became available for the first time, the Committee asked the town for an appropriation of $19,000 instead of the customary $20,000. At the end of that year, owing to the closing of accounts on December 31, instead of January 31, a considerable balance remained. With the aid of this balance the Committee has been able to maintain its higher scale of teachers' salaries and provide for the increased needs of the schools in other ways for a second year. If the present schedule of teachers' salaries is maintained it will be necessary to ask the town to return next year to its former appropriation of $20,000.
Attendance.
Statistics of membership and attendance for the school year ending June 1915 may be found in the table appended to this report. The percentage of attendance was 95, the highest in ten years.
Table III shows the enrollment, average membership and percentage of attendance of all the schools for the last five years
TABLE III
Year
Enrollment
Average Membership
Percentage of Attendance
1910-11
1028
845
94.
1911-12
1002
879
92.
1912-13
1004
870
93.8
1913-14
1081
947
94.2
1914-15
1167
1013
95.
The actual membership in Fairhaven schools on December 24, 1915 was 1107. The membership at a similar date last year was 1032.
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Buildings.
The population of Fairhaven was 5,122 in 1910; according to the census of 1915, it is now 6,277; an increase of about 20 per cent. Judging from the number of pupils in the schools, growth has been most rapid during the last three years. If this growth continues, further school accommodations will be necessary in the not-far-distant future.
Table IV shows the capacity of the present grade buildings, their present enrollment and the number of unused rooms.
TABLE IV. Grade Building Capacity and Membership
School
Number of Class Rooms
Capacity
Present Membership
Unused Rooms
Rogers
8
350
326
0
Wash. St.,
6
240
263
0
Old High
2
70
39
1
Oxford
8
340
262
1
Totals
24
1000
890
2
The Washington St. school is caring for more pupils than its seating capacity by giving only a half-session to first grade pupils. The four upper rooms are overcrowded. In Septem- ber a number of pupils had to be transferred from grade III in this buliding to grade IV in the Rogers School, being given double promotions in order to make seating space for the children enrolled. Another room for primary grades is needed now. An increase of one-hundred pupils would nearly ex- haust the capacity of the present grade buildings, and, at the same time, handicap the schools educationally. The degree of overcrowding would depend upon the grades and residences of the new pupils. If three-fourths of this number were located at the Center, it would be necessary to use the remaining room at the Old High building, which, on account of its cheerless, unsanitary condition, would be undesirable.
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The Oxford building will probably meet the needs of that section of the town for at least two years longer. At the present rate of increase one year will nearly if not quite ex- haust the capacity of buildings at the Center.
Organization.
Since some misunderstanding exists relative to the modifi- cations initiated in the school organization last year, the matter is again briefly discussed in this report. More complete information is to be found in the report of last year.
The changes initiated result as follows:
I -- Children entering school at the age of five become members of the sub-primary grade. By neither repeating nor skipping grades they can complete the elementary course in nine years and be ready for the high school at the age of fourteen.
II -- Children entering school at the age of six become members of the first grade, and, under the same conditions of progress as above, can complete the course in eight years and be ready for high school at the age of fourteen.
III -- Changes now operative will eliminate the ninth grade in June, 1917. In its place will be an eighth grade made up chiefly of pupils preparing for high school. The other divi- sion of the eighth grade will be composed principally of those whose formal education is likely to end with the grammar school. The division of the eighth grade will not be entirely on the basis of preparation or non-preparation for high school; the immediate capacities and needs of pupils will also receive consideration. Satisfactory completion of either course will enable pupils to enter high school Some pupils may require or prefer both courses.
Of the one-hundred-fifty-four pupils entering school for the first time in September, 1914, forty-six were finally assign- ed to the sub-primary grade. At the end of the year thirty- seven of these were promoted to the A division of the first grade and nine to the B division. At the Washington Street
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School the A division was seated this fall with grade II, thus securing a full-day session. At Oxford this division became a part of a new first grade formed in September. Some of the A division will undoubtedly complete the second grade at the end of the year; all of them will make better progress than un- der the old plan which would have left them as "repeaters" without giving the advantages of a different environment and the full-day session. The nine members of the B division began regular first grade work: The progress of the first grade, composed of the older or more mature children, is more rapid and satisfactory as a result of the new classification.
As an initiatory step in the process of changing from nine grades to eight, seventeen pupils were promoted in June from grade VIII directly to the high school At the end of the current year it is planned to advance about half of the eighth grade and in June, 1917, promotions of all eighth grade pupils to the high school may occur. The change to an eight grade course will then have been completed.
Teachers
Nine teachers resigned in June. Five of these accepted po- sitions elsewhere at higher salaries, three were married, and one entered upon a course of advanced training. Including the additional teacher engaged for the high school, ten vacan- cies have been filled since the last report.
Unassigned Teacher
Owing to the necessity of opening a new room at Oxford, the employment of an unassigned teacher to do substitute work when needed and when not serving in this capacity to do in- dividual work with exceptional pupils, was discontinued. Such a teacher is needed in Fairhaven. The waste of time and effort caused by lack of adequate means to accelerate the pro- gress of exceptionally bright pupils and prevent retardation of slow ones is considerable. Examination of the reports on re-
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tarded pupils prepared by the teachers each June indicates that about fifty per cent of the failures result from such causes as lack of preparation for the grade, slowness and want of application. Individual teaching of the right quality would eliminate many of these failures. The age and grade distribu- tion table in the appendix indicates a slight reduction of the percentage of over-age children in our schools. A marked re- duction could be brought about by the continuous employment of a trained unassigned teacher.
Retardation of pupils results in discouragement to those affected and lessens their efforts; it increases difficulties of discipline and in other ways injuriously affects the conduct of the schools; it frequently causes congestion of pupils in cer- tain grades and makes necessary the employment of additional teaching force, thus proving expensive to the town. Any agen- cy that can reduce materially the percentage of retarded pupils in a system economizes the time and effort of pupils and teach- ers and ultimately decreases the cost of education. The un- assigned teacher in a school system like Fairhaven is a good investment.
High School,
In June, 1916, the high school will have passed its first de- cade in the new building. The following table shows the growth in attendance during these years. It will be pleasing to Fairhaven citizens to note the general increase in enrollment, but of particular interest to them is the growth in attendance of Fairhaven boys and girls, for the improvement of whose ed- ucational opportunities the new school was primarily established.
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GROWTH OF FAIRHAVEN HIGH SCHOOL
Total
From
From
From
Year
From Enrollment Fairhaven Mattapoisett Acushnet Rochester
1906-07
142
102
22
14
4
1907-08
149
94
29
18
8
1908-09
135
81
30
18
6
1909-10
120
69
29
16
6
1910-11
154
91
39
13
11
1911-12
163
94
37
21
11
1912-13
176
111
36
20
9
1913-14
188
111
38
21
18
1914-15
193
120
41
21
11
Present
229
152
40
24
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The total enrollment of the high school has increased over sixty per cent; that from Fairhaven alone is fifty per cent greater than during the first year in the new building. The attendance from Fairhaven has not increased merely with the growth of the community. In 1906-07 slightly over ten per cent of the total local enrollment of pupils was in the high school; today fourteen per cent of it is there. This is the en- couraging fact from the statistics, that a larger percentage than ever before of Fairhaven young people are using the splendid educational opportunities bestowed so freely for their especial benefit.
The class graduating in June numbered 31 while the enter- ing class in September numbered ninety-seven. The increas- ed enrollment necessitated the employment of an additional teacher.
Among the noteworthy events of the year may be mentioned the teachers' reception to parents and pupils held in March. This was a very successful affair. A large number of parents were present. Selected pupils gave an interesting program showing the "Household Progress of One-Hundred Years," after which there were refreshments and a very pleasant social gathering.
The essential element of a successful school is the spirit of co-operation in teachers, parents and pupils. Such gatherings develop this spirit.
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In March the school was honored by a visit from/Ex- President William Howard Taft who addressed the student- body briefly and pithily in the assembly hall.
In April the first public recital of the Fairhaven High School Orchestra was held. Development to the point where such an event was possible has been in process several years. The playing of the orchestra was highly creditable and it is hoped to make the recital an annual affair. Success in doing so will be conditioned in some degree by the ability to secure funds for adequate training and the purchase of music. The out- look this year is promising.
The second annual declamation contest occurred in May. There is an increase of interest in this line of work and a grow- ing excellence in the results. The school is much indebted to Mr. Clifton A. Hacker for his generous financial support of these contests.
The Honor Point System, devised by Principal Kimball and made operative last year at the high school, deserves especial mention and commendation. Its greatest and rather unique merit lies in its breadth of application. It recognizes success- ful achievement in every department of school effort. Any worth-while accomplishment connected with the school work earns "honor points." Perfect attendance, scholarship, man- ual arts, reading, work in the school orchestra, home econo- mics, athletics-these and many other lines afford so varied opportunities of successful work that every pupil may secure recognition for something well done. The accumulation of one-hundred and fifty points is made the occasion of the pub- lic award of a certificate; when three-hundred points have been earned a certificate of a higher grade is given. Thirty-one per cent of the pupils of the school have already secured a first certificate and four a second one. It is estimated that many pupils will earn one-thousand points in the four years of their high school course and thus win public recognition of their progress five times. Bi-monthly reports are sent home and parents are urged to examine these carefully to the end
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that by recognition of a good record and by advice they may be of assistance.
Health Supervision.
This year for the first time in Fairhaven the legal require- ment of an annual, individual physical examination of the children in the public schools has been met. While the work was done much more thoroughly than respect for remuneration alone would require, only the more obvious and certain conditions were discovered and reported. The results of the examination have been recorded on the cumulative record cards kept for each pupil. A partial summary of these results, with those also of the eye,and ear tests made by the teachers, follows :-
Number of children having defective teeth . 466
Number of children having enlarged tonsils. 88
Number of children having adenoids 16
Number of children having enlarged glands. 20
Number of children having defective eyesight 86
Number of children having defective hearing. 26
Number of children having pediculosis [lice] 157
Number of children having impetigo. 5
As required by law, parents of the above children received written notifications of the results of the examinations.
Medical inspection is not a passing fad. School authori- ties everywhere are giving increasing attention to the ques- tion of health supervision in the schools. Why? Because it is an important element in the efficient conduct of the schools. This is not a theory; it is a fact. As a result of ex- tensive investigations made under the auspices of the Russell Sage Foundation, it is known that "sixty per cent of American children are handicapped by removable physical defects, and that, as a result, they are making nine per cent slower progress in their studies than they should."
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These investigations show that children having seriously defective teeth require six months more than well children to complete the eight year elementary course of study. Ade- noids lengthens the time one year and one month; enlarged glands retards the child who has them one year and two months. Such facts as these explain the growing apprecia- tion of the importance of medical inspection. If it is worth while to develop the best methods of directing the minds of children, it is also important to "find out whether the avenues to their minds are open; whether their eyes and noses and mouths and ears and brains are in shape to do business."
A recent newspaper paragraph puts it this way, "Why spend the money in a well-nigh hopeless endeavor to teach children with defective eyes and ears when at a slight ex- pense each child could be put in the best possible condition to receive and profit by instruction? Do the tax payers of a community wish to put their children in good physical con- dition in the same way in which they would improve their school grounds, building and equipment, or do they prefer to spend their money on school equipment and leave the child defective and unable to profit by the instruction offered?"
How can medical inspection in Fairhaven schools be im- proved? The employment of a school nurse would increase its effectiveness immeasurably. During the Child Welfare Week held recently under the auspices of the Board of Health, the employment of a District Nurse who could be engaged for part-time work in the schools was suggested. Several or- ganizations have become interested in the matter and some money has already been pledged. The movement ought to succeed. In what directions would a school nurse be of value?
1-A school nurse, possessing tact, force and persuasiveness, who would "follow up" the notifications of the school physi- cian by a personal visit to the home would greatly increase the number of children receiving remedial treatment, thus rendering much more valuable to the school the annual physical examination required by law.
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II-The school nurse would reduce the number of absences from school caused by exclusion of children having minor contagious diseases. In the cases of a large number of children a considerable section of each year's schooling is cut off be- cause some simple, contagious disease does not receive prompt and persistent treatment. Absences due to epidemics of the more serious diseases would also be diminished. By more frequent inspection than is possible to the school physician without much larger remuneration, by more immediate re- cognition of the symptoms of these diseases than the teachers, by the alertness stimulated in the teachers, more prompt ex- clusion of the children affected and therefore less exposure of the other children would be accomplished. This is not a theory ; experience has demonstrated it to be a fact.
The importance of preventing the spread of measles, scar- let fever, whooping cough, diptheria may be gathered from the fact that the mortality from these diseases as revealed by statistics "amounts every year to twice the loss of life on the field at Gettysburg." It has been proven that the school is an important factor is spreading these diseases. Is not then the following statement true? "When society forcibly brings children together in the public school it is morally responsible for the sickness and death which result from such contact."
III-The School nurse would develop better teaching of hygiene in the schools.
IV-The school nurse would stimulate in all connected with the schools a keener and more active interest in all its sanitary problems.
The chief reason that medical inspection, or health super- vision as it is often called, has a place of only minor importance in the minds of most people lies in the fact that as at present carried on it is often perfunctory and inadequate. This is because its development has been so rapid that people are un- informed as to its fundamental purposes and, as a result, the smallest appropriations possible are assigned for its support. Financed merely as a legal requirement, supported by no active
21
belief in its benefits, how can it fulfil its function? Public sentiment is awakening, however, and as one author states, "A little time hence we shall doubtless look back upon the marvellous intellectual education of the nineteenth century and its simultaneous neglect of the body, as one of the strange paradoxes of educational history."
Miscellany.
The No-School signal, the abolition of which was recommend ed in last year's report, has been continued. It will be limited in use to the most inclement weather.
The report of last year referred to the series of lessons in the use of the library being given pupils of the ninth grade.
The Librarian has now arranged a course of several lessons for each grade above the third. The pupils receive this in- struction at the library. The effect of the instruction must be a gain in the intelligent and purposeful use of the library which will result in a corresponding increase in its educational influence.
Through the financial assistance of the Improvement Asso- ciation and of Mr. D. W. Deane, it was possible to maintain supervised play for six weeks in the summer. This was the third year of playground activities. At the beginning of the season attendance and enthusiasm were greater than ever be- fore, but the long duration of rainy weather interrupted pro- gress and lessened enthusiasm so that the record for the sum- mer was not so good as that of previous years.
On February 12th the schools held an entertainment and sale under the auspices of the Educational Art Club. The affair met with the usual success of such undertakings in Fairhaven Citizens are very generous in their support of all related to the schools. Four school victrolas, one for each school building, were purchased with the proceeds.
In June a drawing exhibit was held in the banquet room at the Town Hall. In the same month an exhibit of the work in
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sewing and home economics was held at the high school. Both these exhibits were well attended and very highly commended.
The observance of Child Welfare Week in November includ- ed illustrated talks to the primary children, grammar grade children, and high school pupils. High School Assembly Hall was filled three times for this purpose. The talks were adapt- ed to the capacity of the children and undoubtedly much good was accomplished by them.
Maintenance of good schools requires the co-operation of many forces. The financial support of tax payers, intelligent interest of parents,fidelity to duty and wise legislation of the School Committee, skillful and devoted Principals and tea- chers, are among the essentials of success. The Superin- tendent of Schools acknowledges his good fortune in having had the privilege of laboring during the year just closed in a school system possessing these favorable conditions.
Respectfully submitted,
CHARLES F. PRIOR.
23
ROLL OF HONOR.
Pupils neither absent nor tardy for the year ending
July 2, 1915.
High School.
Everett M. Bradley
Dorothy L. Nye
Melissa H. Besse
Mildred P. Stetson
Ethel P. Brownell
Wellington H. Bingham
Evelyn H. Ellis
Arnold W. Fiztsimmons
Louise G. Freitas
Norman V. Haney
Catherine Shurtleff
Ernest M. Schiller
Mertice B. Shurtleff
Edford A. Seeley
Ruth H. Taber
Charles H. Sherman
Lucy E. Thatcher
William B. Studley, Jr.
William H. Davis
Henry R. Tomlinson Raymond P. Tripp
Albin Sylvia
Esther M. Achorn Esther A. Austin
Elizabeth S. Bushnell
Eva M. Card
Madeline B. Caswell
Annie E. Denson Doris Wilde,
Edna B. Corey
Beatrice E. Gifford
Richard H. D. Haydon
Alice C. Hammond
Harold D. Mahoney
Rodney W. Perkins
Ralph L. Rounseville
Marjorie F. Haskins Catherine H. Jordon Doris Maxfield Helen L. Newton
Earl S. Whiting Jennie E. Bennett
Louise S. Rounsville
Evyleen C. Bowles Marion M. Douglas Edna A. Dunn
Charlotte H. Stetson
Martha E. Thomas
Evelyn B. Frisbee Mary C. Howland
Madge K. Westgate Ruth A. Wheeler
Allen P. Stillman
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Old High School -- 9th Grade
Ellen Olson
Margaret Porter
Richard Kimball
Frank Almy
Allen Besse
Manuel Pacheco George Sylvia
Edward Besse
Mark Sullivan
William Bumpus
Russell Cort
Marchant Wilde Alexander Wilson
Rogers School
Grade 8 --- Edwin Allard Stillman Bushnell George Burke Everett Miller John Sheehan Leroy Swift
Grade 7 --
Albert Tomlinson Catherine Fleming
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