USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Acton > Town annual reports of Acton, Massachusetts 1911-1915 > Part 10
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For stationery and supplies :
High school 25.00
Elementary schools 460.00
For expenses of operating school plants : Wages of janitors 1,050.00
Fuel 900.00
For miscellaneous expenses 50.00
For maintenance and repairs upon school buildings and grounds .... 375.00
For auxiliary agencies :
Health 115.00
14
Transportation of scholars:
High school
1,750.00
Elementary schools
1,750.00
$16,100.00
In addition to the above appropriations we ask the town to vote to allow us to transfer any unexpended bal- ance of any appropriation to any other which may become exhausted and have proven insufficient.
RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES ON ACCOUNT OF
SCHOOLS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 1911-1912.
Receipts.
For common schools $6,000.00
For high schools
5,800.00
For school supplies 550.00
For transportation of pupils 1,600.00
For salary of superintendent
135.00
For medical inspection of pupils
75.00
For repairs upon school buildings and grounds 300.00
For erection of fire escapes
400.00
For miscellaneous.school expenses
100.00
From Massachusetts school fund
1,084.47
From state treasurer for supervision of schools
312.50
From county treasurer on account of
dog tax 342.80
From rebate on school tickets
13.33
$16,713.10
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EXPENDITURES
General Expenses
School Committee
Salaries :
Paid Allen Brooks Parker, chair-
man
$75.00
Paid E. Faulkner Conant, taking school census 15.00
$90.00
Other Expenses :
Paid Allen Brooks Parker, tele- phone, postage, stationery, etc. $11.30
Paid Samuel A. Christie, tele- phone, postage, stationery, etc.
2.67
Paid The Enterprise Company,
printing 2.20
Paid The Brookside Printing Company, printing 8.25
Paid Wright and Potter. state printers, blanks .50
ยท
$24.92
Superintendent of Schools and Enforcement of Law.
Salaries :
Paid Frank H. Hill, superintendent . $565.81 Paid Asaph Parlin, truant officer, 3.00
Paid Thomas Scanlon. truant officer 1.00
$569.81
16
Other Expenses : Paid Frank H. Hill, telephone, postage, stationery, etc. ... $15.48
$15.48
Expenses of Instruction
Salaries
High School :
Paid Town of Concord, tuition of
high school scholars
$2,924.00
Paid Elizabeth K. Paine 580.00
Paid F. W. Brackett (1-11 of whole salary), drawing . .
21.70
Alice M. Genthner (1-11 of whole
salary), music
18.20
$3,543.90
Elementary Schools :
Paid E. Sophia Taylor, West
Grammar $488.80
Paid Ethel G. Evans, West Inter- mediate 484.50
Paid Harriet H. Gardner, West
Primary
570.00
Paid Bertha B. McLean, South Grammar 532.00
Paid Jennie E. Stowell, South
Intermediate 503.50
Paid Julia L. McCarthy, South Primary 484.50
Paid Elizabeth A. Hinkley, South Primary 484.50
Paid Eva E. M. Gray, South
Primary 126.00
17
Paid Minnie Gamble, Center
Grammar 426.50
Paid Ella F. Miller, Center Inter-
mediate
503.50
Paid Martha F.
Smith, Center
Primary
503.50
Paid Lena F. Loker, Center
Grammar, substitute 19.25
Paid Eva T. Fuller, Center Gram- mar, substitute 81.00
Paid F. Ward Brackett (10-11 of whole salary), drawing 228.30
Paid Alice M. Genthner (10-11 of whole salary), music 181.80
Paid Town of Carlisle, tuition of George Kerrigan 3.50
$5,621.15
Text Books
High School :
Paid Ginn & Company $37.70
Paid J. L. Hammett Company .. 24.12
Paid Edw. W. Babb & Company, 9.59
Paid Globe Book Company . ..
5.34
Paid Fred S. Glines, trucking books 1.50
$78.25
Elementary Schools :
Paid Edw. W. Babb & Company, $146.97
Paid Silver, Burdett & Company, .44
Paid Samuel A. Christie, freight and express on books 1.25
Paid C. C. Birchard & Company. 1.28
Paid Ginn & Company 38.61
18
Paid O. E. Houghton, trucking books 2.40
Paid J. L. Hammett Company . . 18.31
Paid Fred S. Glines, freight, ex- press and labor on books .. . 10.11
Paid American Book Company .. .90
Paid Benjamin H. Sanborn &
Company 3.35
$223.62
Stationery and Supplies
High School :
Paid J. L. Hammett Company ... $23.70
Paid C. C. Birchard & Company, .64
Paid Fred S. Glines, trucking supplies 1.25
$25.59
Elementary Schools :
Paid J. L. Hammett Company .. $368.68
Paid Edw. E. Babb & Company. . 72.27
Paid Fred S. Glines, trucking supplies 6.10
Paid Milton Bradley Company. . 3.40
Paid F. Ward Brackett, supplies, .80
Paid C. H. Persons
2.00
Paid O. E. Houghton, trucking supplies 2.40
Paid Samuel A. Christie, express and freight 1.50
Paid Allen Brooks Parker, express .40
Paid Bernstein Cowen, trucking supplies 1.50
$460.05
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Expenses of Operating School Plants
Wages of Janitors, Etc.
High School : Paid Thomas Scanlon (1/4 total for West school building) .. $89.31
$89.31
Elementary Schools :
Paid Thomas Scanlon (34 total for West school building) .. $267.94 Paid Fred S. Glines, South school building 478.90
Paid Asaph Parlin, Center school building 307.97
$1,054.81
Fuel
High School :
Paid George H. Reed, coal (1/4 total for West school build- ing) $68.54 Paid Samuel R. Burroughs, wood (1/4 total for West building), 4.50
Paid Hall Brothers, wood (1/4 to- tal for West school building) .67
Paid A. H. Perkins, cutting wood (1/4 total for West building), 2.12
$75.83
Elementary Schools :
Paid George H. Reed, coal (3/4 to- tal for West school building), $205.64 Paid Samuel R. Burroughs, wood (3/4 total West build- ing) 13.50
20
Paid Hall Brothers, wood (3/4 to-
tal for West building) . .
1.83
Paid A. H. Perkins, cutting wood (3/4 total West building) ... Paid South Acton C. & L. Co., coal, South school building . 310.88
6.38
Paid Thomas E. Downie, wood, South school building 10.25
Paid Anson Piper, wood, South school building 9.00
Paid Fred S. Glines, cutting
wood, South school building, 1.00
:
Paid South Acton C. & L. Co., coal, Center school building . 252.38
Paid Dexter Spinney, wood, Cen-
ter school building 15.00
$825.86
Miscellaneous
High :
Paid C. H. Mead & Co., (1/4 total
West building) $2.97
$2.97
Elementary :
Paid C. H. Mead & Co., (3/4 total West building) $8.92
Paid American Woolen Co., elec- tric current, South building. 13.17
Paid Fred S. Glines 8.20
Paid J. L. Hammett Co., desks . . 75.50
$110.04
21
Maintenance
Repairs, Etc.
High School (1/4 West School Building) :
Paid W. S. Kelley, painting and papering $41.71
Paid C. H. Mead & Company, incidentals 5.60
Paid George Decoster, repairing clocks 1.50
Paid E. T. Rice, repairs 2.52
Paid B. F. King, repairing bells, 1.00
Paid A. H. Perkins, labor .50
$52.83
Elementary Schools :
Paid C. H. Mead & Co., West school building (3/4), incidentals, $16.77
Paid A. H. Perkins, West school building (3/4), labor 1.50
Paid W. S. Kelley, West school building (3/4), painting and papering
125.14
Paid George Decoster, West
school building (3/4), repair- ing clocks 4.50
Paid B. A. King, West school building (3/4), repairing bells 3.00
Paid South Acton Coal & L. Co., West building 4.85
Paid South Acton Coal & L. Co., South building 28.31
Paid E. T. Rice, repairs, West school building (3/4) 16.98
Paid Fred S. Glines, repairs, South school building 2.85
22
Paid Tuttle and Newton, inciden-
tals, South building 14.34
Paid Finney and Hoit, inciden- tals, South building 4.00
Paid F. E. Harris, labor, South building 3.84
Paid Samuel Jones, labor, South building 5.16
Paid Thomas
Scanlon,
labor,
South building 8.75
Paid B. F. King, labor on bells, South building 4.00
Paid W. A. Snow Iron Works, fire escape, South building .. 152.00
Paid Anson Piper, sand, South building 2.50
Paid O. D. Wood, labor, Center building 2.63
Paid Asaph Parlin, labor, Center school building 9.65
Paid M. E. Taylor, incidentals, Center school building 22.62 . Paid W. S. Kelley, painting and papering at Center school building 131.05
Paid Andrew Edwardson, labor,
Center school building .
24.25
Paid Finney & Hoit, incidentals, Center school building ... Paid South Acton Coal & L. Co.,
4.74
lumber, Center school build- ing 129.17
Paid E. A. Phalen, labor, Center school building 94.25
Paid E. Z. Stanley, labor, Center school building 23.50
23
Paid C. L. Chase & Son, floor
dressing 27.60
Paid H. C. Doughty, floor dress- ing 15.00
Paid Thomas
Scanlon,
labor,
West school building
2.00
$884.94
Auxiliary Agencies
Libraries
Paid Young Folks' League, books $15.44
Paid R. V. Towne, books 19.50
$34.94
Health
George B. Robbins Disinfecting Co. .. $120.00
Fred S. Glines, express on disinfectant, . 40
Paid Samuel A. Christie, school physician 25.00
Paid Frank E. Tasker, school physi- cian 25.00
Paid F. K. Shaw, school physician 25.00
$195.40
Transportation
High School :
Paid New York, New Haven and Hartford R. R. Co. $280.40
Paid Boston and Maine Railroad, 1,169.60
Paid J. Sidney White 130.00
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Paid Thomas Mccarthy 65.00
Paid C. H. Mead
12.53
Paid I. K. Mackenzie 11.80
Paid Mrs. Walter S. Young 12.65
Paid Fred Nagle
11.76
Paid George Hodgen 20.15
Paid Walter C. Hayward 4.10
Paid Edith Johnson 3.75
Paid Robert L. Randall,
5.25
Paid H. P. Nims
6.70
Paid Edward Burke
6.75
$1,740.44
Elementary Schools :
Paid Walter M. French, South
school
$325.00
Paid Andrew Christoferson, South school
256.50
Paid Jens Mekkelsen, Center
school
578.00
Paid Charles Edwards, Center
school
580.00
$1,739.50
Total expenditures for all purposes . . $17.459.64
ALLEN BROOKS PARKER,
For the Committee.
25
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
Gentlemen of the Committee :
Following is my second report. it being the twentieth in the series of such annual reports.
The schools of Acton entered upon the work of the school year of 1911-1912 with no change in the teaching force of 1910-1911. As those teachers add experience to training, and to both an intimate acquaintance with their pupils and their peculiar needs, it is hardly necessary to state that each vear ought to see better service and larger results.
In September Miss Hinckley's room at South Acton was so large-numbering 47 in grades 1 and 2-that it seemed necessary to give her an assistant. Miss Eva Gray was se- cured for the position and has been able to render valuable service.
SEWING AND RAFFIA-WORK.
Miss Gamble's pupils in Acton Center became interested in sewing projects last term and under the teacher's direc- tion an entertainment was given and a sewing machine pur- chased.
In Miss Hinckley's room a start has been made in braid ing and weaving with raffia.
Mrs. Gardner. at West Acton, has undertaken to teach her little ones some of the simple stitches in sewing.
These, and other projects of a similar nature, will be continued and undertaken as fast as sufficient enthusiasm on the part of teachers, children. and parents warrant a measurable prediction of success.
26
TEXT BOOKS.
Many of the geography text-books were in a really dilapidated condition, and a new edition of the Tarr & Mc- Murry text was introduced. It is not economy for children to use text-books that are dirty and dropping to pieces, for the constant handling of such books leads to carelessness towards other books, and the habit thus acquired is perni- cious in its influence upon the children's attitude toward all forms of public property. In the final analysis in any feat- ure of school activity, it is the child's training for future trustworthiness and efficiency that engage our attention every moment of the time.
COURSE OF STUDY.
We are using the work accomplished in the several sub- jects last year as the basis of the work this year. It is pretty definitely understood by the teachers and is followed as closely as individual classes and pupils permit. Between grades four and seven we are trying to do more than last year, in order that in the grammar rooms a more careful review of the work may be undertaken previous to entering the high school. On the whole, the work is consecutive, hangs together well, and provides a series of steps by which a child may advance from position to position with ever widening intelligence and ever extending horizon. Each year ought to make more plain the interdependence of the several subjects and their necessity and adaptability to the actual life of the child. The busy wheels of the school mill must turn; their hum of the machinery of arithmetic drills, etc., must go on; but in the midst of apparent con- fusion the teacher must stand unconfused, knowing the ma- terial she is weaving and the purposes to which the finished product is to be put. It is indeed only the real teacher who) can use a course of study as it should be used; that is,
27
as a chart to guide her in preparing and sending out into various walks of life capable, self-confident, efficient, clean- minded and trustworthy young men and young women.
EXERCISES RECOMMENDED TO VITALIZE COURSE.
I shall enumerate a few of the things that may be worked into the course of study in order to work out such products :
1. Exercises to make children acquainted with the use of their several senses. Hearing, sight, touch, taste, smell, must be quickened, that children may recognize, locate, iden- tify, compare, and finally approve and reject accurately.
2. Exercises to give children better control of the muscles of speech, of standing and sitting positions, of writ- ing and simple manual work, of breathing; and of the re- laxation of the muscles.
3. Exercises to give children control of the memory, the power of concentration, the ability to get the thought of the paragraph and to express that thought in his own words.
4. Exercises to teach the child the place he occupies in the world, his duties and his opportunities. In other words, his ethical and moral relations to the members of the family, the school, the social life of the community and the civic life of the town.
5. Patriotic exercises : study of men and periods of national history with the animating and underlying moral motives involved.
6. Exercises for developing responsibility and leader- ship.
7. Exercises in which recognition shall be given for real things, worth-while things, done in the home or any- where outside the school.
8. Exercises leading to the desire to be thrifty and the way to accomplish the purposes of thrift.
9. Exercises to develop an inquiring mind.
10. Exercises to develop habits of personal cleanliness.
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THE TEACHER'S PLACE IN THE COURSE.
When the teacher shall be filled with the spirit of these needs she will read into the course of study the truly vitaliz- ing principles whose absence is so universally deplored and so justly. She will see that it is possible to learn many things from the efficient men and women of the community, and the home and school will cooperate to a degree heretofore thought impossible. There is no such thing as an elastic course of study; but children are truly elastic. Note the fact that a dozen children having the same teacher for years, the same text-books, the same school environment and following the same course of study, will develop a dozen individualities and a dozen different degrees of proficiency and efficiency.
CHANGES THAT MAY BE EXPECTED.
That the course of study may be remodelled to give definite direction to the demand for industrial and voca- tional activities, not only in Acton but all over Massachu- setts, seems to be an assured fact. But at this writing it is too early to say just what will be recommended along those lines. It is safe to say that nothing will be proposed to narrow a child's selection of such opportunities as may be suited to his natural abilities. In a way, it is the hand, and the intelligent use of it, that differentiates the human from other animals and has made possible the tremendous prog- ress of the human race. The brain alone may conceive, but the hand must execute. It may be that the school has done its duty but partially toward the training of the hand. The school of the near future will demonstrate whether the school of the past has neglected an important duty.
29
DUTY OF PARENTS.
It is said that America means opportunity : but it is no less true that America is full of failures. Not to take the opportunity for self-improvement is to invite failure. The school, in spite of its shortcomings. has, in the past, proven to be the surest road to success. Parents who are indifferent to their children's attendance at school are morally respon- sible if those children prove dull and disinterested pupils and later fail to promotion ; and that they become indifferent citizens is, in general. true; while they who obey the law through fear of it are scarcely less accountable to the com- munity for acts of recklessness and violence that occasion- ally shock even our quietest and most peaceful towns. Par- ents share with school officials the responsibility of super- vision to the extent that cooperation, cheerful and whole- souled, may reasonably be expected of them in the enforce- ment of school laws.
THE FIRST YEAR HIGH.
In this school a very high standard. both in school work and in morals, has been attempted. There are some in the school who will not be fitted to go on into the Concord high school. It may be said they were not fitted to enter this school: Granted, but they are those few who would have dropped out of school altogether at the end of the gram- mar school course had I not felt that the single year in the high school offered opportunities for training and develop- ment that should not be refused in a school supported so lib- erally at public expense. The course in agriculture, with its investigations and experiments will awaken these children as nothing offered in the common school course can do.
CONCLUSION.
Tables appearing elsewhere in this report will present such statistics as the law demands as well as others of in- terest to the people of Acton. They are fully as important
30
as anything I have presented for they give summarized facts while this is more or less an expression of my own opinions and conclusions and deal with the unseen machinery of the school system rather than with the product of it.
Thanks are due the committee for their cordial support during the year. I shall endeavor to merit that support if intelligent and conscientious effort count for anything.
Respectfully submitted,
FRANK H. HILL,
Superintendent of Schools.
Acton, February 14, 1912.
31
REPORT OF SUPERVISOR OF DRAWING.
Superintendent F. H. Hill :
Dear Sir-I herewith submit the report of the supervisor of drawing for the town of Acton, Mass.
During the past year time has been spent on nature study as a means of creating a love for the beauties of nature, and as a step towards design. This work has been followed through in designs which have been applied to various useful articles, planned and executed by the pupils themselves. In the application of the designs to the various articles, the principles of color harmony, taught in the fall term, were brought into play and used in the practical working out of the problem. The above was the burden of the work for the spring term of last year, following my last report.
For some unknown reason, teachers as a whole have come to look upon drawing as an easy subject ; upon the drawing period as a time in which to make pretty things which will do to hang upon the wall at exhibition time, and which do not require a great amount of preparation. Teach- ers like the subject when it is of this character. The pupils like it, because they get a result that is pleasing to them, easily, and without any expenditure of mental energy. For this reason it is easy to teach, thereby pleasing the teacher. Such work as tricks of folding, cutting. or washing in color upon a wet paper and then dabbing in other colors, before the first is dry, and letting the whole mix as fate may decide, has produced, when mounted upon an appropriate mat, many pretty results. But, what good are these results? Have they a market value ? Has the pupil acquired a knowledge which will be of any practical use to him? Has the pupil even been required to think for himself? If we must have that kind of drawing in our schools, I for one say, "Out with it." The time might better be spent on some other study.
32
However, I believe that the subject has a very sound and practical educational value, when taught properly, and with the right point of view, or aim in mind. Drawing should and can be taught so as to stimulate the pupils to higher ideals, so as to create in the minds of the pupils a preference for all that is good in color and design, together with the power to discriminate understandingly between that which is good and that which is not, in these things. This applies, not only to pictures and vases, but more prac- tically to the furnishing of the home, with its carpets, rugs, draperies, pictures, and furniture; to the choice of colors, material, and design of an entire costume. This does not mean a desire to ape the rich; but instead, it means the wish and power to make the best of what one has. Good taste in these things is not necessarily costly. To continue : drawing should and can be taught so as to give the pupils skill of hand, or the power to make things. In the making of any one thing, if the work is properly taught. the pupils plan and reason out the construction of the object, therebv gaining the power to think and reason for themselves. In other words, they become resourceful.
What kind of employes do business men want in their employ ? The kind that must be told just how and when to do a thing, and more than that, be told it each time it is done, or each time the problem is in the slightest degree different ? or do they want the kind that is resourceful, and once under- standing the principles governing the problem, or work, are able to go ahead on all problems that involve these or similar principles ? To develop in the pupils the power to do these things, are some of the aims of the drawing course as planned for your schools, and if there is no pretty work to hang upon the wall at exhibition time, or to take home, we have done something at least for the future welfare of the pupils.
The establishing of a vocabulary of terms and forms, and the drawing of simple objects for control of the hand,
33
are the first steps towards these aims, and are taken up in the lower grades. This, I believe, when properly done, forms the best possible foundation for the pupils' future work. Naturally, discipline of any kind is not particularly interest- ing for pupils of the age which we find in these grades. Since the subject as outlined for these grades, is no more interesting to the pupils than the reading, writing, or num- ber work, it is just as hard to teach, and requires, on the part of the teacher. just as much and as careful preparation as any other subject, a most potent reason why teachers do not like drawing.
The work for the fall term in the lower grades has been. and will continue to be throughout the remainder of the school year, the establishing of a working vocabulary of terms and fornis and gaining control of the hand.
In the intermediate grades the work becomes more diffi- cult as the pupils' ability and knowledge advance. The vo- cabulary is gradually enlarged and the reasoning power in- creased, until, when the grammar grades are reached, the work is quite difficult and may involve many principles of color, design, representation, construction, and technique or the method of working out the problem. With the fore- going aims in mind, the pupils of the grammar grades have, besides other things, worked out problems in costume de- sign, and interior decoration. The various color harmonies are taken up in the grades, suiting the difficulty of the prob- lem to the acquired knowledge of the grade. All grades have done some construction work and will do more. In the upper grades, working drawings have been studied for an understanding of their use, value. and construction.
At the present time the subject is free-hand printing, and in connection with this the pupils will study the prin- ciples governing page design, or spacing. They will dis- criminate between good and poorly arranged advertisements and pages of printed matter. It is to be hoped that they will apply these principles of good spacing to all their written
34
work, and in so doing, improve greatly the tone of the writ- ten work.
Following the work in printing will come the study of the various forms of perspective, according to the grade. This work, besides giving the pupils the power to represent various objects, and, in doing so, gaining a new form of expression, offers an excellent opportunity for the training of the eye to judge distances and proportions. Here is where the early training in control of the hand shows, in proving the ability of the pupil to make the hand do what the mind dictates, i. e., draw a line of a certain length. For the spring term, nature study will be taken up for its bear- ing on design and decoration.
For the present school year I feel that I can justly say that some advance has been made. The advance has not been as strongly marked as I had wished, but it gives good grounds for expecting better work to follow.
In closing I wish to thank all those who have helped to. advance the work.
Respectfully submitted,
F. W. BRACKETT.
January 17, 1912.
35
REPORT OF SUPERVISOR OF MUSIC.
Mr. F. H. Hill, Superintendent of Schools, Acton, Mass. :
Dear Sir-I herewith submit my second report on music in the public schools of Acton.
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