USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Acton > Town annual reports of Acton, Massachusetts 1911-1915 > Part 4
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By the wording of the article only the sum of fifteen thousand dollars will be expended in any one year by the state. The trustees recommend the town to raise and ap- propriate the usual sums: two hundred dollars for new books, and four hundred dollars for current expenses of the library.
Appended is the annual report of the librarian.
LUTHER CONANT.
84
TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL REPORT.
Accessions-Number of volumes in the library February 1, 1910, 10974; increase by purchase 163, of which 29 were obtained by binding magazines; increase by gift 64. Total increase 227. Number of volumes in the library February 1, 1911, 11201.
Circulation-Number of days the library was opened 103. Number of volumes circulated 6405. Daily average circulation 62. Largest daily circulation 105 on March 12th, 1910. Smallest daily circulation 28 on December 21, 1910.
Received for catalogues, fines, etc. $21.96
Expended for postage .57
$21.39
Gifts of books have been received from the following sources : U. S. Government, 5; State of Massachusetts. 23; Hiram Livermore, 11; Mrs. J. M. Brown, 8; E. S. Abbott, 2; V. C. Gillette, 2; E. G. Acheson, 1; Allen Arnold, 1; Mrs. A. E. Brown, 1; Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence. 1; J. D. Green, 1; Mrs. L. Edna Martin, 1; J. C. Melvin, 1; Mrs. Clara H. Nash, 1; A. C. McClurg, 1; Geo. L. Raymond. 1; Henry Segel, 1; Slason Thompson, 1; Henry E. Woods, 1.
Periolicals subscribed for and in the reading room, 22: Monthly-American, Atlantic, Century, Cosmopolitan, Cur- rent Literature, Everybody's, Harper's, McClure's, Mun- sey's, National, New England, Popular Mechanics, Review of Reviews, Scribner's, St. Nicholas. World's Work. World Today. Woman's Home Companion.
Weekly-Independent, Outlook, Youth's Companion. Scientific American.
Mr. H. B. Livermore has contributed the Literary Digest. for 1910.
.ARTHUR F. DAVIS.
Librarian.
ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
School Committee and Superintendent of Schools
OF THE
TOWN OF ACTON MASSACHUSETTS
For the Years 1910-1911
1911
RATED
R
OONI
1735.
ACTON.
HUDSON, MASS. PRINTED BY THE NEWS
1911
3
THE SEVENTY-FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE AND THE REPORTS OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS OF THE TOWN OF ACTON, MASS., FOR THE YEAR 1910-1911.
SCHOOL CALENDAR.
HIGH SCHOOL.
March 24. 1911. Winter term closes 15 weeks
Vacation One Week.
April 3, 1911. Spring term opens.
12 weeks June 23. 1911. Spring term closes
Sept. 5. 1911. Fall term opens.
Nov. 22. 1911. Fall term closes .12 weeks Nov. 27, 1911. Winter term opens.
Vacation from December 15 to January 1-Two Weeks.
March 22. 1912. Winter term closes 15 weeks
Vacation from March 22 to April 1-One Week.
April 1. 1912. Spring term opens.
June 21, 1912. Spring term closes 12 weeks
Total school weeks, 39.
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COMMON SCHOOLS.
March 24. 1911. Winter term closes 15 weeks
Vacation One Week.
April 3, 1911. Spring term opens.
June 16, 1911. Spring term closes 11 weeks
Summer Vacation.
Sept. 5, 1911. Fall term opens.
Nov. 22, 1911. Fall term closes
.12 weeks
Nov. 27, 1911. Winter term opens.
Vacation from December 15 to January 1-Two Weeks.
March. 22, 1912. Winter term closes 15 weeks
Vacation from March 22 to April 1-One Week.
April 1, 1912. Spring term opens.
June 14, 1912. Spring term closes 11 weeks Total school weeks, 38.
SCHOOL OFFICERS AND TEACHERS.
School Committee.
Edwin A. Phalen
Term expires 1911
Samuel A. Christie, Secretary
Allen Brooks Parker, Chairman
Term expires 1912 Term expires 1913
Superintendent.
Frank H. Hill, Residence, Littleton, Mass.
Teachers in Service February 1, 1911.
Name
Position
Appointed
Educated
IIome Address
Martha Smith
Center Primary
1902
Lowell Manual
Acton, Mass.
Ella Miller
Center Intermediate
1899
Framingham Normal North Acton, Mass.
Minnie Gamble
Center Grammar
1905
Woburn Training
Woburn, Mass.
Elizabeth Hinkley Julia McCarthy
South Lower Primary
1909
Hyannis Normal
Hyannis, Mass.
5
South Acton, Mass.
Jennie Stowell
South Intermediate
1907
Fitchburg Normal
South Acton, Mass.
Bertha B. McClean
South Grammar
1910
Eastern College, Va.
Graniteville, Vt.
Harriet H. Gardner
West Primary
1889
Ayer, Mass.
West Acton, Mass. Lowell, Mass.
Ethel J. Evans
West Intermediate
1908
Lowell Normal
Eula S. Taylor
West Grammar
1909
Mt. Holyoke College
South Acton, Mass.
Elizabeth K. Paine
First Year High
1910
Smith College
Foxcroft, Me.
Alice M. Genthner
Supervisor of Music
1910
N. E. Con. of Music
Foxcroft, Me. Lynn, Mass.
Francis W. Brackett Supervisor of Drawing
1909
Fitchburg Normal
South Upper Primary
1906
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School Physicians.
Samuel A. Christie, M. D., Address, South Acton, Mass. Frank E. Tasker, M. D., Address, West Acton, Mass. Frederick K. Shaw, M. D., Address, Acton Center, Mass ..
Truant Officers.
Albert S. Bradley, Address, South Acton. Thomas Scanlon, Address, West Acton.
Asaph Parlin, Address, Acton Center.
Janitors.
Fred S. Glines, Address, South Acton. Thomas Scanlon, Address, West Acton. Asaph Parlin, Address, Acton Center.
STANDING RULES.
*Rule 1. Children under five years shall not be ad- mitted to the public schools.
Rule 2. Pupils shall be promoted from grade to grade and school to school, according to merit. Thorough and satisfactory work will be required of pupils in a lower grade or school before entering a higher grade or school.
Rule 3. Children who have not previously attended any school shall be admitted to the public schools only at the begining of the fall term.
Rule 4. Pupils shall be held responsible for books loaned to them until such books shall have been returned to the teacher.
Rule 5. No repairs shall be made upon the public pro- perty in the care of the school committee except by their authorized agents.
*When the birthday of a child falls on or before the 15th day of the month it is reckoned as falling upon the- first day of that month.
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THE TWENTY-FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE OF ACTON.
To the citizens of Acton :
The work of superintendency and teaching has gone on throughout the year successfully. In March of last year (1910), superintendent Webber resigned to accept the posi- tion of head of the schools of Stoneham. The District Com- mittee feel fortunate in having secured the services of Mr. Frank H. Hill to fill the vacancy and his efficient work has the hearty endorsement of the entire committee. At the be- gining of the school year Miss Elizabeth K. Paine, who taught the grammar school at South Acton last year, took the place of Miss Alice N. McIntyre as teacher of the first year in the high school located at West Acton, Miss McIntyre having resigned. Miss Bertha B. McLean, from the Eastern college in Virginia, took the South grammar school in place of Miss Paine.
There has been an increase in some of the salaries paid to the teachers. This course seemed warranted by the desirability of retaining efficient teachers instead of running the risk of losing them because of more inviting offers else- where and the consequent necessity of finding substitutes of perhaps less ability, who must needs take up partially ·completed work at disadvantage to themselves and what is worse, at great disadvantage to the scholars in those particular schools.
In September, 1909, the state police, through one of its inspectors, ordered the construction of additional means of ·egress in both the South and West schoolhouses, or as is com- monly understood, fire escapes. Nothing was, however, done
8
until in July, 1910, when the matter was again called to the- attention of the committee by the inspector and duplicate orders were issued. On the same day orders were issued from the same source requiring the committee to provide additional means of ventilation in both the West and Center schoolhouses. These orders were issued after an in- spection of the buildings in which a chemical analysis of the air showed 'bad contamination.' It was apparent to the committee that these orders could not be lightly considered and accordingly plans and specifications were at once pro- cured and submitted to the state police. After their approval by that department contracts providing for the heating and ventilating of these two schoolhouses were let to The Stone & Underhill Heating and Ventilating Company, of Boston. This is the same concern which had the contract for similar work on the South schoolhouse a few years ago. In the opinion of the committee this company is one of the largest and most competent concerns engaged in this kind of business. Its work upon schoolhouses has been very ex- tended and successful The contract for the work on the West schoolhouse was for the sum of $1.350, and upon the Center schoolhouse $1,273. In both these cases the contract did not call for any carpentry. mason or painting work, as it was deemed by the committee that this class of work could be obtained for less money in this territory than by being furnished by the contractor from out of town. In neither case did the contract call for new furnaces. the old ones being deemed satisfactory. Necessary repairs upon the same were, however, included in the contract. Work did not progress to the complete satisfaction of the committee and school was somewhat delayed in opening and it was some time after school was opened before the systems were completed.
Upon the request of the committee the state police did not press the matter of the construction of the fire escapes on the South and West schoolhouses and the matter has gone over until summer. It will have to be done then. We ask
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an appropriation of $400 to accomplish this work. We are assured that no additional means of egress from the Center school will be required on account of the fact of there being two such means already.
As is common knowledge the three upper grades of the high school attend the Concord high school, where they appear to be doing good work and are ranking high. The number attending there now is about 56.
We call your attention to the report of the superin- tendent and reports following his.
We have been obliged to make some repairs upon the well at West Acton school and to dig an entirely new well at the South school to avoid sewage contamination.
:
RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES ON ACCOUNT OF SCHOOLS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 1910-1911.
Receipts.
Appropriation for common schools $4,750.00
Appropriation for high schools 4,200.00
Appropriation for school supplies 625.00 . Appropriation for transportation of pupils 1,360.00
Appropriation for salary of superin- tendent 510.00
Appropriation for medical inspection of pupils 100.00
Received from state treasurer for supervision of schools 375.00
Received from state treasurer income Massachusetts school fund 1,201.00
Received from county treasurer on ac- count of dog tax 345.00
$13,466.60
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Disbursements.
Expenditures for common schools .. $6,277.19
Expenditures for high schools 4,955.95
Expenditures for school supplies .
374.31
Expenditures for transportation of
pupils 860.40
Expenditures for salary of superin-
tendent 320.00
Medical inspection of pupils 75.00
$12,862.85
Total receipts
$13,466.60
Total expenditures
12,862.85
Balance unexpended $593.75
ESTIMATES FOR THE SUPPORT OF SCHOOLS FOR
THE FISCAL YEAR 1911-1912.
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 the erection of escapes
fire
(ordered by state police) 400.00
For miscellaneous school expenses .. 100.00
$14,960.00
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SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
Gentlemen of the Committee :
I herewith submit my first annual repor, it being the nineteenth in the series of such reports.
School progress is not always to be measured by radical changes in courses of study, text books, etc., nor by over- turning previous policies of administration; nor by the introduction of new subjects or departments. One or all of those changes may be made. but only when the demand for them becomes insistent, or conditions in the schools become such that the schools would profit by such changes. My predecessor left me a course of study well adapted to the needs of our pupils and text books which I have had no occasion to attempt to improve upon; the administration of the schools of Massachusetts is practically the same in all sections. crystalizing each year into greater uniformity and more definite proportions through the influence of the State Board of Education, Superintendents' and Teachers' Conventions, Normal Schools, Round Tables and Superin- tendents' Reports ; while the introduction of new subjects into the smaller towns usually comes only after they have been thoroughly tested in the larger places. All these are but changes in outward conditions which react favorably upon the inner life of the school only when teacher, pupil and community are ready for them. The real work of the school is done in the quiet of the school room, without ostentation. requiring not volumes for its expression, but the simple phrase : Our today has prepared us for a better tomorrow.
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Working for Thoroughness.
That I might be better able to advise and assist the- teachers in their work, and to bring to their attention some of the things I consider of importance in a pupil's equipment if the work is to be well done and quickly done, I have personally conducted ten-minute tests in grades three, four five and six for proficiency in the fundamental processes of arithmetic, with the result that systematic work in the four operations is now being done in every school, orally, with quick, snappy. businesslike precision that will rob the problem work of the later grades of many of its terrors. Later I tested the pupils of grades seven and eight in the vocabulary of mathematics, the terms peculiar to the subject and without a knowledge of which pupils express themselves with difficulty, and sent tabulated results to all the principals for their consideration. I shall extend this work to the other subjects of the curriculum. I believe that if a thing is worth teaching it is worth retaining, and shall expect to find that not alone is the work of a certain grade well done, but that the work of the previous grades is remembered and that their terms are constantly in use. Only in this way can the work of one grade be preserved and utilized in succeeding grades; and no teacher should blame another for what a pupil has forgotten when five minutes each day devoted to systematic review of the work of previous years will go far toward correcting the condition.
Keeping Pupils After School.
The custom has been and is now prevalent in Massa- chusetts' towns and cities to keep pupils after school for periods varying from fifteen minutes to an hour and a half for one reason or another. I recently invited the teachers to express themselves in writing upon this subject. From those teachers who usually respond promptly I find that
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tardiness, slovenly work in the school room, the need of individual help and naughtiness in one form or another are considered good reasons for keeping a pupil after school. There are, however, in my opinion, real objections to this custom, and I will briefly state them.
1. Tardiness, in more than 75 cases out of 100, is due to the fault of the mother. I eliminate the father, because he is usually away from the house at work when the child prepares for school, and because the teacher herself has gotten into the habit of addressing all communications concerning the pupil to the mother. Why punish the pupil for the parent's fault ? The teacher, as the executive school room officer, records the tardiness in her register as a matter of permanent record. She is justified in admonish- ing a pupil against a repetition of the tardiness inasmuch as the habit of being always late at an appointment is one of the meanest of habits and one of the most insidious and menacing as it invariably leads to carelessness and dis- regard of all obligations. But the mother, who is usually at fault, should have as keen an interet in her child's wel- fare as the teacher who deals with all pupils alike, not from personal motives or from individual motives, but for the welfare of the community in which the child is later to be absorbed with all his faults and virtues to be an influence for good or ill, to uplift or pull down; yes, a keener interest, for it is the parents who are to be honored or disgraced by the child whose habits. good or bad, they are encouraging, by deliberately teaching him to disrespect the school laws and incidentally the teacher's authority, or carelessly allowing him to have his own way, trusting to luck that it will not lead him into serious difficulties. In this connection I suggest that it is as wrong to send a child off to school a half hour too early, in which case the opportunity to loiter and play and acquire a habit of saying "time enough" is given. as to give him scant time to get there before school opens. The parent should allow for only a few minutes more than sufficient time to reach the school house, thus.
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furnishing the child from his earlier years a compelling motive to keep moving, furnishing him a purpose which he can accomplish without hurry or fear but which, neverthe- less, admits of no interruption from any cause.
2. Slovenly work in school, in at least 75 cases out of 100, may be traced directly or indirectly to some teacher, usually the present one. I have seen many schools where slovenly work has been done, entirely transformed in a single term by another teacher. I have seen the opposite result: a school of careful, precise workers de- generated into indifferent and slovenly drones. It is another matter when the pupil is a mental or physical defective; but such a pupil should not be punished for what he has no power to correct. As for other children the correction of the habit of slovenly work lies within the teacher's power. For the fault of the teacher no pupil should be punished.
3. Occasional naughtiness can never be permanently corrected by keeping after school. Cases of incorrigibility should be dealt with more severely than by retention after school, and then only to save the school from the bad influences of one or two pupils. A word of kindly caution, at the time any disorderliness occurs, usually suffices to bring the pupil into working attitude, all in the correct spirit. The teacher who begins to keep pupils after school usually finds more and more in the room after school hours as the year progresses. This is proof, in my mind, that the custom has no permanently good results.
4. Some pupils ask to stay after school for help. They early learn to depend upon others and never experience the strong exhiliaration that comes from self reliance. Later on they either lose interest altogether in the work or join the army of those who know how to "work" their teachers for good marks.
5. The most serious objection, however, to this custom is, that parents never know when to expect their children home from school. Now the schools, standing in the relation
15
of parents to the child from the time he leaves school until he arrives home, should recognize the possibility of danger, from a moral standpoint, in the child's dallying along over country roads with another child or other children. The parent should know, to a minute, almost, when to expect the child home. He could not then offer the excuse, if he came home late, that the teacher kept him after school for some indefinite time. I have known children to dally along and offer this excuse falsely. To the opportunity for wrong-doing is added the enormity of falsehood, and the child is soon on the downward road where it will be difficult to check him. The one moral function of the school that predominates over all others is to eliminate the opportunity to do wrong, and it should be held responsible for immoral acts only when it gives the opportunity for them.
I have been thus explicit in my presentation of this matter because I think that the parents as well as the committee and teachers should know how I feel concerning certain phases of school work and my reasons therefor. No hard and fast rules can be allowed to govern any case, however, each should be settled on its own merits and with all reasonableness, holding the ultimate good of the child in mind at all times.
Promotions.
At this point in the school year it is easy to predict what pupils will probably not be promoted in June. Here arises a most necessary cooperation between the home and the school. In order to reduce the number of such pupils, if possible, I am sending to the parents a special report showing the situation clearly and asking for their coopera- tion. I realize that about the only help the parents of first grade children who are likely not to be promoted can give is in the matter of regularity in attendance. But in the intermediate and higher grades the parents may assist
16
very materially. They may see that a little home study is done, that no other interests are allowed to interfere with the school work, that the teacher is supported in every endeavor to help the child, and that the child attends regu- larly. One result of such special notice will be to save us from the charge that the parents have not known the situation and therefore could not prepare for it. With the hearty cooperation of the home many of the higher grade pupils may vet get through with credit, who might otherwise fail.
I rather favor a system of partial promotion, where a child advances as rapidly as he is able in such subjects as he understands readily, taking as much time for his difficult subjects as will assure their being done thoroughly. This will necessitate work in two rooms in some cases, but so few pupils in a building would be taking the work in this way that no inconvenience would result. Pupils would thus advance by subjects rather than by grades, and when certain required work is finished admission to the high school would be allowed. There would then not be the temptation to pass a pupil on before he were thoroughly prepared for promotion. For instance, relying upon a system of averages, a pupil might drag a failure in arith- metic into the next higher grade through the sheer force of high marks in all his other subjects. The proper thing for such a pupil to do is to go on in all subjects except arithmetic and take that subject with the grade below.
Where a pupil is manifestly below grade it is a wrong to him, to teacher, superintendent and school committee to let him go on. He should repeat the work. To do other- wise is to menace the confidence of the community in the school. The community wishes the standards of the schools to be kept up and the only way to keep high standards is to have them and adhere to them. A grammar school graduate who is deficient in the common branches adver- tises to the community the lowering of the standards to let him by. It might have been the last year of his school
17
life, or the sixth or the fourth that the wrong against him was permitted-but the wrong against the school and against us, its executive officers, did not appear until his deficiences advertised it. We, who are directly responsible for the schools to the community, must be very careful not to risk our professional reputations by letting the lazy and the deficient through.
A request for a double promotion after the completion of the work of grade four should be granted only after the most careful investigation. The pupil's age, health, past record, present application and even his future plans should be carefully considered. Important principles underlie the structure of each grade and in the logical sequence of the grades cannot be omitted without serious consequences unless in the case of an exceptionally strong, able child, mentally and physically. Grades two or four might be omitted by many pupils who have been careful and efficient in grades one and three without serious loss either of material or power, but the average pupil requires all the grades in order to complete the work at the top satis- factorily.
Age and Schooling Certificates.
The age and schooling certificate was amended in 1910 by adding: "I further certify that in my opinion (or in the opinion of. the physician by whom said minor has been examined in accordance with section fifty-eight of the above chapter) he (or she) is in sufficiently sound health and physically able to perform the work which he (or she) intends to do."
We are using a transfer card system containing all the information necessary to be known about the child during the time he is in school, on one side of which it is designed to have the school physician's report of the physical condi- tion of the child each year, with the further certification, after the child has reached the fourteenth year that he is physically able to work, or not able, as the case may be.
1
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Upon this report, which is a part of the record of the school, the superintendent, or one appointed by him to issue the certificates, may base his opinion as to whether the child is entitled to the certificate, except when illness has inter- vened between the last school record and the demand for a certificate, when a special examination should be required.
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