USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Medfield > Town annual reports of Medfield 1940-1949 > Part 15
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84
Martin L. Olson
8.00
Horace Partridge
57.40
Royal Typewriter Co.
100.00
H. M. Sanders Co.
420.25
Shepard, Clark Co.
128.89
Sears, Roebuck Co.
169.95
South Bend Lathe Works
242.65
Singer Sewing Machine Co.
171.60
Springmeier Shipping Co.
3.23
Weike 's Express
1.00
Total Equipment
2,673.95
Total Expenses of School Dept.
$34,408.72
Summary of Receipts and Expenses of School Department
Receipts: Town Appropriation
$34,600.00
Expenditures:
General Control
$ 1,178.65
Instruction (Salaries, books, supplies)
23,495.17
Operating (Janitors, fuel, light)
3,602.06
Auxiliary (transportation, library, miscellaneous)
3,458.89
Outlay (new equipment, etc.)
2,673.95
Total (cost of schools)
$34,408.72
Unexpended balance
$ 191.28
Reimbursements to Town Treasurer (not available to School Department):
School Fund, Part I
2,820.00
School Fund, Part II
2,356.31
On account of Superintendent's salary
483.33
Tuition, transportation of pupils-State
694.23
Tuition-Vocational pupils
204.24
Total Reimbursement 6,558.11
This is over 19% of the cost of schools and reduces that cost to taxpayers to
$27,850.61
97
REPORT OF THE MEDFIELD SCHOOL COMMITTEE
To the Citizens of Medfield:
The School Committee submits the reports of the following heads of Depart- ments, for your information.
This has been a difficult year for all,-parents, teachers and pupils-a year of hopes, anticipations, disappointments.
It has been an anxious and difficult year for your School Committee, which has found its greatest help in the understanding attitude of most of our citizens and of our teachers.
The Committee has urged our teachers to try to have our pupils realize what it means to live in a world at war and to help them understand some of the prob- lems of the future.
Mr. Hartford as an Assistant Air-raid Warden has worked out plans with all the teachers, with certain of the older boys and girls and the janitors for the pro- tection of the pupils in case of any emergency.
Within a few months we hope to be occupying our new high school, the delay in the completion of which everyone will realize has been due to unusual war conditions.
Respectfully submitted,
HAROLD R. STEVENS, Chairman RODMAN C. NOWERS, MIGNONETTE S. MORTIMER, Secretary
98
-- -----------
REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS
To the School Committee of Medfield:
In consequence of the uncertainties of both the world-war situation and our own building situation there is little to be reported for 1941. Throughout the year we have continued to work under the thoroughly unsatisfactory but unavoidable conditions that were reported last year. The new buildings, expected before winter, still loom tantalizingly incomplete-delayed for material and workers. We continue to have the two schools use the one building with sessions too long and fatiguing and running too early or too late (7:40 to 12:25 for the High School and 12:30 to 4:30 or 4:15 for the grades); furniture does not fit the grades and the high school lacks place for activities of vital importance; opportunities for indi- vidual instruction and extra-curricula activities are still difficult, even though teachers remain for extra hours in the afternoon, with little lunch. In spite of it all, teachers and pupils are working well and in excellent spirit. Most parents understand the situation and they rarely enter complaints. All anticipate the completion of adequate quarters and we are ready for quick transition when the Building Committee can release the new building to us and we may know what it provides.
The enlarged facilities of the new building will permit the introduction of in- dustrial arts in the well-equipped shop and expansion of our work in household arts-both long and eagerly awaited. These changes required the addition of but one teacher to our force, since only six were elected to the elementary grades. Mr. Thomas Aykroyd, graduate of Fitchburg Teachers College with experience in teaching, has undertaken the shop work; Miss Lillian Gendron, Framingham Teachers College, is in charge of the household arts. Although seriously handi- capped, both have done very satisfactory and successful work under the limita- tions of the present building and hours. They are working full-time with the full number of pupils and are accomplishing all that could be expected. They are assembling equipment and making plans ahead for the larger opportunities to come. Their reports, in substance, follow.
Mr. Aykroyd (Industrial Arts) says:
"Although seriously handicapped as yet by the lack of any shop or even any room in which to use tools, much has been accomplished. The first activity was the sanding and refinishing of desks which were damaged when the Ralph Wheel- ock school was burned and which will be used by the elementary school when in its new location. Several boys learned to use the sanding machine and all learned much about refinishing furniture. Industries relating to this were studied, also the use of abrasives and plastics. Talks, visual material, and samples were of great help.
"Another activity was designing articles they intend to make when the shop is ready. Selections varied with interests and abilities and many designs appear satisfactory. The boys came to realize there is more to planning a project than at first appears.
"Pupils above the seventh grade then began mechanical drawing problems.
99
They learned much of drawing tools, their use and care; of the meaning of a three-view drawing and the visualization of objects through drawings; of scale drawing and the reading of blue prints. This drawing will be continued along with the shop work when we get into the new building. We shall then have in- valuable experience in setting up a new shop; pupils can help organize and place material and supplies and machines; cabinets must be made and benches as- sembled. Only after that can we begin work on projects in wood and metal. Before they are allowed to use machines, such as saw and lathe, explanation, demonstration, safety factors, and careful testing will be required. Rightly used such a shop as we anticipate should be of great value in helping boys discover their aptitudes and prepare for further work in higher institutions or in industry."
Of the work in Household Arts, Miss Gendron writes:
"Most girls must at some time in their lives organize and manage a home and it is important to have adequate training for this profession, just as it is necessary to have training for the work of librarian, teacher, doctor or nurse.
"In the seventh and eighth grades of Junior High School, all girls are required to take Household Arts. Through the opportunities offered for participation in as many home activities as possible, all pupils should gain a wholesome interest in the home and the ability to perform home duties in a cheerful, cooperative, and efficient manner. The relative importance of cleanliness, orderliness, thrift, artistic appreciation, health, and sanitation should be acquired in these grades. A major part of the time must be spent in food study and clothing construction processes in order to give adequate training to those who are not to continue with this study and also, to those who do continue, a foundation for later courses.
"Household Arts for the High School girl is somewhat different. Here we have an elective course, thus including those who have special capabilities which can and should be developed. These courses are planned to include such activities as: foods, clothing, textiles, home care of the sick, budgeting, grooming, social rela- tions, getting and holding a job.
"The facilities this year being as they are have limited us considerably. How- ever, the prospects of the future have kept our spirits high."
It should be added that 34 girls of seventh and eighth grades have had the required work mentioned; while 45 of the four High School classes have elected, in spite of the fact that we as yet have no accommodations for instruction in cook- ing. Aside from sewing, with considerable machine work and real dressmaking, there is instruction in home-nursing, note-book work, and development of stand- ards of judgment and taste.
The work in music and art has progressed steadily under strong leadership. Choral work in the high school is conducted in three groups, while classes in the grades work with the regular teachers under the supervision of Miss Goucher, who visits each room weekly. She plans the development of the work and the room teachers cooperate heartily with her. Mrs. Judd has two days per week, which she finds inadequate when classes become as large as grades VII and VIII. One period a week with them on material suited to their ability takes too long for completion to be an incentive to worth-while things. More is being done than ever in integrating drawing with the other school subjects and in this all teachers are cooperating increasingly. More than ever has been done also, through posters and otherwise, to meet the needs of local activities. At least one pupil has been
100
aided through Saturday morning courses at the Massachusetts School of Art, which will lead toward a career. It is important to help those who are fitted to make preparation for courses in Art schools.
Changes in the teaching personnel this year have been few. In June we lost, through marriage, two veteran teachers who have served us well: Miss Harlow taught in the upper elementary and in Junior High grades eleven years; Miss Crombie in third grade, nine years. To the latter's place Miss Arbuckle was transferred, while Mr. Gail Cosgrove resumed his teaching in high school after an interruption due to his health. At the moment of writing, the work of Mr. Welch is interrupted by his entrance into the Naval service; his place is being taken by Miss Dorothy R. Carroll, a graduate of Salem Teachers College. For him, as for others who may enter on war work, the Committee has expressed its intention to do all possible to assure him his position, if, after honorable discharge, he so desires and promptly applies. At present a shortage of teachers in the im- mediate future seems likely on account of war work.
The effects of the World War on pupils are different but no less marked. None have, as yet, left for service in our armed forces; we hope none will. If they should, it would raise the question of diplomas. To grant a diploma certifying completion of school requirements which have not been at least substantially fulfilled seems wrong, even for such a patriotic motive. We can, however, certify all work accomplished, give all future aid to further preparation, give future recognition to training received outside the school. This, moreover, raises a larger question. Whenever a pupil of 16 or over gets to the place where he will not profit by continued attendance at school, when he is ready to enter the serv- ice of the nation or of industry and will profit more eventually by it, he should be encouraged and commended in going. A statement of what he has accomp- lished in school is due him. There is no reason for him to go four years for a diploma if two years or five years of growth through school guidance is his need. As much school as he wants, needs, and utilizes (and no more) should be the aim. The army calls; industry calls; college calls; what does he need? what will he use to make himself most serviceable in the world?
This conception, enforced by present world-war conditions, will modify our subject offerings. Our teachers are studying the meaning of democracy and of those contributions to it which only education can make. They are studying their responsibility in the protection of their pupils; their opportunities in meeting war-time situations and problems; they are planning drills for possible air-raids and probable air-raid test warnings. They will have the confidence born of know- ing just what they will do when those warnings come.
Attention is hereby asked to the following reports of the High School principal, and the Health officers. For all the earnest efforts and hearty cooperation of my fellow-workers, officials, teachers, and pupils, and of the community in general I offer sincere thanks.
Respectfully submitted,
LYMAN R. ALLEN
101
REPORT OF HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL
To the Superintendent of Schools:
I submit the following report as principal of the Medfield High School for the year 1941.
At the close of the school year in June, a class of 23 was graduated. At the graduating exercises, the following awards were made: The Hannah Adams Club Scholarship to Ada Young, the Parent-Teacher Association Scholarship to Char- lotte Rogers, the Washington-Franklin History Medal to Katherine Blood, the Harvard Club Book Award to John Newell, Jr., and the Daughters of the Ameri- can Revolution Good-Citizenship Pin to Elizabeth Mahoney. Four members of this class are continuing their education at full-time schools, six are attending evening or other part-time classes, two are married, one has enlisted in the Marine Corps.
The school membership at present is 212, the largest enrollment we have ever had. The present senior class has 24 members and the sixth grade has 27, so next year's enrollment should be practically the same as the present.
At the start of the present school year, we went back to the seven period day which we expect to use in the new building. This makes our periods somewhat shorter than they should be, but we expect that the average length for the year will be sufficient to cover the college preparatory requirements. Under very un- satisfactory conditions, we have started our classes in Shop and in Household Arts. These classes are proceeding really better than we have any right to expect under present conditions and should prove very satisfactory as soon as we are able to get into the new building.
With the able assistance of Miss Gray, we have started Guidance Work in the four upper classes. This means a considerable amount of work with each indi- vidual pupil, to find out in what kind of work each is interested and to help each one plan the high school course and any future school courses in order to prepare properly for that kind of work. At the close of school last year, some of our pupils joined up with the Job Hunters in Boston and were able to obtain very good permanent positions through this organization. This year, with the help of a Vocational Committee of the Parent-Teacher Association, we hope to do more of this work than we have been able to do before. Assistance given to us by Mr. Orrin Wilkins and by the Johnson Bus Company is greatly appreciated and we wish to thank them for their help. We find here in school, that, through guidance classes and personal talks with Miss Gray, most of our pupils choose their courses more wisely and take their school work more seriously than they did before.
In athletics, we had a fairly successful basketball season and a very successful baseball season during the winter and spring. In the fall we continued to play six-man football both in the senior and the junior high schools.
I wish to take this opportunity to thank the teachers for the splendid way in which they have carried on their work under the trying conditions necessitated by the loss of the grade school building. Each one has accommodated himself willingly to unusual class room conditions and such inconveniences. The pupils
102
also deserve credit for the way in which they have reacted under these same con- ditions. We are all looking forward to getting into the new building where every- one will have room enough to really do the kind of work that we are capable of doing.
On behalf of the faculty and myself, I wish to thank you and the members of the School Committee for your help and encouragement during the year.
Respectfully submitted,
ALTON H. HARTFORD
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL PHYSICIAN
To the Superintendent of Schools:
The annual physical examination of all pupils is complete and a listing of the conditions reported to parents shows a distinct decrease, particularly in the num- ber of those requiring attention to tonsils and adenoids. This should be attributed to increased cooperation at home with the efforts of our school nurse.
Defects reported are as follows:
Teeth
50
Tonsils 19
Posture
18
Adenoids
3
Head Lice
1
Enlarged Glands
15
Impetigo
3
Heart Conditions
10
Ears (impacted wax)
9
Feet and Spine
2
Eyes
19
Nervous Conditions
2
Where necessary, attendance at the proper clinics has been directed and en- couraged.
Since the re-opening of school in January a minor outbreak of mumps has been in progress. There have been no other contagious diseases so far this year.
Respectfully yours,
H. L. PARK, M.D.
103
.
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL NURSE
To the Superintendent of Schools:
In submitting my annual report to the town of Medfield, may I call to your attention the following quotation from an address made by Surgeon General Cummings at a recent school nurses meeting on Health and Defense. "Radiant and abundant health is the birthright of every young American."
My program has been as follows:
1. Daily visits to the school to check up health conditions of pupils, and dis- tribution of milk; home visits whenever the need has arisen.
2. Assisting school physician during his yearly physical examinations.
3. Planning for and assisting in clinics as follows:
a. Norfolk County Hospital Chest Clinic for detection of possible incipient tuberculosis.
Population of grades tested
56
Children tuberculin tested
32
Per cent tested
57
Number reacting to test
20
Per cent reacting to test
62
Number of children X-rayed
30
Number of children examined
1
Number of children examined by special request
9
Observation group (for an annual check-up by the clinic) One child sent to summer camp in Braintree.'
2
b. Audiometer test for hearing to every pupil, grades three through twelve.
Number of children with defective hearing
14
Number of reportable cases
4
c. Vision test (by Snellen Chart) of all grades.
Number of defective vision
19
Number of reportable cases
9
d. Pre-school clinic, held in June to see that prospective pupils were physically fit to enter school in September. Twenty children attended and had physi- cal examinations.
The usual Toxoid and Schick test clinics in May were omitted because of whooping cough and measles epidemics.
Money to buy milk for undernourished children was provided during the year by Medfield Salvation Army Fund.
In June, eighteen eighth-grade girls completed the course in home hygiene and care of the sick; because of lack of room in the high school building I have been unable this fall to continue this course. Also our dental clinic, sponsored by the Red Cross and District Nursing Association (which we usually begin in the fall) has been postponed, awaiting accommodations.
That we have not been forced to curtail services to a marked degree is due largely to the splendid cooperation of parents, school authorities, and children.
Respectfully submitted,
INEZ S. KERR, R.N.
104
ATTENDANCE RECORD, 1940-41 (Compared with preceding years)
1940-41
Ave.
Ave.
Ave.
Mem. Jan. 1942
Total Mem.
%
Att.
Ave. Mem.
Mem. 1939-40
Mem. 1935-36
Mem. 1930-31
Grade
1 Anna M. Daddario
37
39
89.0
36.2
30.3
48.7
38.5
2
Rose Pilibosian
34
34
86.9
31.2
36.9
38.2
35.1
3
Elizabeth L. Crombie
35
38
91.2
35.1
32.6
48.2
36.3
4
Elizabeth S. Buck
34
35
92.4
32.0
24.1
36.9
41.5
5
Madelyn L. Grant
33
26
92.8
23.9
44.1
40.3
32.4
6
Dorothy J. Brown
27
47
92.7
44.3
36.0
37.5
31.9
Total-Elementary
200
219
202.7
204.0
249.8
215.7
7
Elsie E. W . Davis
42
37
93.1
34.7
41.7
35.8
41.2
8
Estelle Harlow
37
41
94.3
39.0
37.0
30.2
28.3
9 John S. Welch
39
35
95.1
33.5
39.9
28.2
22.6
10
Clifford W. Baker
33
39
93.7
36.5
22.5
22.4
11
Mary E. Nichols
35
23
93.7
22.2
26.4
71.2
21.3
12
Anne H. Gray
25
24
91.4
23.7
25.6
-
22.9
Total-High School
212
199
189.6
193.1
165.4
158.7
Total-Both schools
412
392.3
397.1
415.2
374.4
105
- -----
SCHOOL CENSUS REPORT
(5-6)
(7-15)
Total
Boys
32
169
201
Girls
43
136
179
Total
75
305
380
Girls
Total
Boys (5-6) (7-15)
(5-6)
(7-15)
In Medfield Schools
18
160
28
126
332
In other public schools
1
1
In private schools
1
4
1
7
13
In vocational schools
3
3
In state institutions
1
1
Not in any school
13
2
14
1
30
Total
32
169
43
136
380
GRADUATING EXERCISES
Class of NINETEEN HUNDRED FORTY-ONE MEDFIELD HIGH SCHOOL Friday, June Thirteen
PROGRAM
Invocation
Music-"Chorale," Bach
School Chorus
"O Ship of State," Beethoven
Class President's Address of Welcome
Elizabeth Mahoney
"Philadelphia"
Katherine M. Blood
"Annapolis"
William F. Nourse
Music-"Estodiantina," Lacombe
School Chorus
"Washington" Ruth F. Willard and Rensforth W. Yeo
Music-"March of the Peers," Sullivan School Chorus "New York" Dorothy A. Morgan
"Entertainment Highlights of the Trip" Suzanne M. Morse
Music-"The Midshipmite," Adams School Chorus
Presentation of Harvard Club Book Award Superintendent Lyman R. Allen Presentation of D. A. R. Pilgrimage Award and S. A. R.
Washington-Franklin History Medal Principal Alton H. Hartford
106
-
"Mount Vernon"
Elva L. Murray
Presentation of Hannah Adams Club Scholarship Mrs. Fred Spear, President of Club Presentation of Parent-Teacher Association Scholarship
Mrs. Terrence Quarton, Chairman Scholarship Committee
Music-"The Heavens Resound," Beethoven School Chorus Presentation of Diplomas Mr. Rodman C. Nowers, School Committee Music-"A Perfect Day," Jacobs-Bond Benediction
Class Motto-"Nothing ventured, nothing gained." Class Colors-Maroon and Gold.
HONOR PUPILS
Nancy Heard, Rita L. Kreger, Elizabeth Mahoney, Edward W. Mckinnon, Dorothy A. Morgan, Elva L. Murray, Charlotte L. Rogers, James A. Sproul.
Katherine M. Blood, Teresa Cahill, Marie A. Horgan, Laverne B. Menard, Suzanne M. Morse, William F. Nourse, Charles P. Ofria, M. Elaine Rhodes, Aubrey N. Tibbets, Elsie D. Welch, Richard C. Werner, Ruth F. Willard, Rensforth W. Yeo, Ada L. Young, Mabel E. Yorston.
107
INDEX
Town Officers Elected
3
Town Officers Appointed 4
Selectmen's Report. 6
Civilian Defence.
8
Warrant for Annual Town Meeting, March 3, 1941
10
Town Clerk's Record
Vital Statistics
17
Marriages.
19
Deaths
22
Warrant for Annual Town Meeting, March 3, 1941
23
Results of Annual Town Election, March 3, 1941
27
Doings of Annual Town Meeting, March 10, 1941
28
Warrant for Special Town Meeting, May 23, 1941
32
Doings of Special Town Meeting, May 23, 1941
33
Warrant for Special Town Meeting, June 18, 1941
33
Doings of Special Town Meeting, June 18, 1941
34
Warrant for Special Town Meeting, September 24, 1941
35
Doings of Special Town Meeting, September 24, 1941
35
Departmental Reports
Library
39
Chief of Police
40
Sewer Department.
43
Water and Sewerage Board
43
Fire Engineers
44
Park and Planning Board
44
Cemetery Commissioners
45
Board of Health
45 46.
Dog Officer
Inspector of Slaughtering.
46
Sealer of Weights and Measures
47
Inspector of Animals
49
Public Welfare
49
List of Jurors
50
Annual Report of:
Assessors
51
Town Accountant
53
Town Trust Funds
71
Cemetery Trust Funds.
74
Town Debt
79
Tax Collector
81
109
Births
School Department Report
Organization
91
School Calendar
91
Teachers' Directory
92
1
Receipts and Expenditures.
93
Annual Report of :
School Committee
98
Superintendent of Schools
99
High School Principal
102
School Physician
103
School Nurse
104
Attendance Record.
105
School Census
106
Graduating Exercises, High School
106
1
1
110
1
292nd Annual Report
OF THE
TOWN OFFICERS
F
MOI
1645
16:51
TOWN OF MEDFIELD MASSACHUSETTS
Year Ending December 31, 1942
The Transcript Press, Inc. Dedham, Mass.
TOWN OFFICERS 1942
Moderator
Town Clerk
FRANK D. MCCARTHY
CHARLES W. KIERSTEAD
Treasurer
BESSIE L. HAMANT
Collector of Taxes AMOS C. KINGSBURY
Selectmen
CHARLES W. HAIGH
Term expires 1943
ROBERT H. FRASER, SR.
Term expires 1944
FRANK G. HALEY
Term expires 1945
Assessors
ROBERT H. FRASER, SR.
Term expires 1943
HARRY E. CONWAY
Term expires 1944
CARLTON W. KINGSBURY
Term expires 1945
School Committee
RODMAN C. NOWERS
Term expires 1943
MIGNONETTE S. MORTIMER
Term expires 1944
HAROLD F. STEVENS Term expires 1945
Water and Sewerage Board
ALFRED HEWINS
Term expires 1943
MYRON H. SMITH
Term expires 1944
IRA F. PENNIMAN
Term expires 1945
Trustees of the Public Library
G. STEWART BRAMAN Term expires 1943
THOMAS WHITESIDE Term expires 1943
FRANK H. CLOUGH, M.D.
Term expires 1944
ANNE C. DONLAN
. Term expires 1944
CLAIRE H. SMITH Term expires 1945
RICHARD W. LYMAN
Term expires 1945
Board of Health
GEORGE W. HINKLEY Term expires 1943
*A. RITCHEY STAGG, M. D. Term expires 1944
MADELEINE I. HARDING Term expires 1945
MARTHA WELCH Unexpired term
*Serving with U. S. forces under leave of absence.
3
Cemetery Commissioners
PETER PEDERZINI
Term expires 1943
JOSEPH A. ROBERTS, JR.
Term expires 1944
JOSEPH A. ROBERTS
Term expires 1945
Park and Planning Board
PHILLIPS DENNETT Term expires 1943
ANDREW D. EHNES
Term expires 1944
J. STANLEY KELLY .. Term expires 1945
JOSEPH L. MARCIONETTE
Term expires 1946
RICHARD E. HUEBENER
Term expires 1947
Board of Public Welfare
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.