Town annual reports of Wayland Massachusetts 1960-1962, Part 40

Author: Wayland (Mass.)
Publication date: 1960
Publisher: Printed at the Middlesex Freeman Office
Number of Pages: 698


USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Waltham > Town annual reports of Wayland Massachusetts 1960-1962 > Part 40


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Education is not subject to revolution and it is doubtful if a revolution can be brought about in education. Education is, however, subject to the orderly processes of evolution and it is these orderly processes which must be speeded up if changes in education are to be made with sufficient speed to meet the complex requirement of a highly technical society which cannot wait for the one hundred years needed to bring about educational change as has been true in the past.


The very nature of education is a controversial process. It stands to reason that any changes contemplated in the schools, no matter how small, are almost certainly to become controversial. It may well be that education cannot grow without controversy - that little progress can be made in a vacuum, and that conflict is necessary for growth. There must be exchanges of contradictory ideas among faculties, the School Committee, and the community. The faculties, School Committee, and the community must bring inquiring and questioning minds to the functions of education if the product - the student who is produced by the educational process - is to have an inquisitive and inquiring mind brought to his own life and his own learning. The kinds of decisions School Committee members and school administrators must make today are subject to public scrutiny and must stand face to face with strong and vocal pressure groups who may or may not represent the broad public concern.


The School Committee and administrators, if they are to make proper decisions on any major questions, need to have the ablest guidance and the most complete information possible. However, in the process of educational change, when continuing needs and new problems arise, the School Committee, community, and the faculties need to


206


recognize that positive proof of the effectiveness of a proposal cannot be immediately guaranteed and indeed may take many years to determine. Clear-cut guide lines on which the administration and School Committee can make a decision may not be available. It is then up to the School Committee and the administration to arrive at a decision based upon subjective evidence and logic and if the decision does not violate the rule of prudence and fits into the logical parts of the evolutionary process, there should be every chance for its success and acceptance by the majority of the community and the faculties.


During recent years, because of the desire of the School Committee and the community for the continuance of improvement in the educational program and because the School Committee has taken a number of bold, imaginative, steps to find ways to implement the belief that all students have individual needs, Wayland has assumed a position of leadership in American public education. Decisions made by the School Committee are reported to be having a strong effect on the development and design of educational programs and facilities throughout the nation. Information concerning the Wayland schools has been widely disseminated not only through most school systems in America, but the world. Although Wayland is a relatively small community, it is indeed a privileged one for there is a desire on the part of a majority of its people for excellence in education. There is, in the community, an almost unlimited reservoir of human talent - men and women of stature who are willing to devote their talents and time for the welfare of the schools and the community. Many large cities would indeed be proud to bring together even a fraction of the human talents which the town of Wayland has available for use in its schools. It therefore can be reasoned that communities such as Wayland are obligated to provide leadership for the schools of the nation for unless Wayland and similar communities do provide this leadership then no one else will and the future welfare of the nation depends upon the progress of education. Therefore, the Wayland schools have no choice but to provide the intellectual resources to upgrade the quality of American education if the nation is to survive the present conflict based upon the intellectual qualities of nations.


Many members of Wayland's faculties have received wide recognition. They have taken an active part in national curriculum organizations. They have made speeches and engaged in selective workshop programs of wide interests. It is important that Wayland's faculties continue to take part and to expand their activities on a national level. This will require support by the School Committee and the community as time must be devoted to participation in im- portant educational developments and funds needed for travel ex- penses .


Much progress has been made in the development of Wayland's Public Schools but it should be clear to the School Committee and to the faculties and community that as progress is made new problems are uncovered and that the struggle to


207


individualize an educational program is one which is going to re- quire an all-out effort on the part of everyone concerned, as well as patience and understanding.


As one looks critically at Wayland, one sees that a con- tinuing series of problems are identified and efforts made to invent and innovate the technology needed to solve these problems. The boredom and sameness that so characterized our schools a few years ago has turned into the challenging excitement that can only come to people who ask questions and who are eternally seeking to design methods for meeting new problems and to whom a succession of new problems are important for progress can only be made after problems have been recognized and identified. One of the faults of education has been its inability to recognize and identify problems. This has been caused, in part, by the structure of the faculties and the restricted limits within which it works. In order to break the restrictive bounds certain things need to be done and in every case Wayland has made either a beginning or substantial progress toward this end. These areas may be classified as


1. Time for Thinking. Under the stress and strain of a teaching year, the classroom teacher has had little or no time for thinking. The pressure of meeting one group of students after another, hour after hour, day after day, denies to the teacher the possibility for creative thinking. Therefore, the school admin- istrator and the School Committee need to provide for teachers time away from students during the course of the school year and during times when students are not in school for this vital purpose. The teacher needs to be paid for this time for some of the most im- portant time needed by the teacher is to plan both as an individual and with other teachers, academic consultants, and community re- source people. Wayland has made some progress along these lines by providing summer employment and vacation employment for some of its teachers.


2. Time to Develop Materials. Along with time for thinking and planning is the need for time to develop teaching materials, to investigate different sources of supply and to organize them so that critical instructional and learning materials are available for the large group instruction, for small groups and a variety of challenging ideas for independent study so that when a teacher sits down with the student to plan the student's individual program, there is something tangible to aid the student to go out on his own and become a self-reliant, dependable human being capable of organizing his own learning program which will serve him for as long as he lives and enable him to re-educate himself, from time to time, to meet the demands of a rapidly changing society.


3. Resources for Teaching and Learning. A short time ago there was a scarcity of teaching and learning resources but this obstacle is now being overcome and teaching materials are, for the first time in the history of education, available in sufficient amounts so that the individualization of an instructional program


208


becomes possible.


Regrettably, teaching and learning materials are one of the first items to be deleted from budget requests. Such items as textbooks, general supplies, library books, audio-visual supplies, periodicals, and other numerous teaching and learning aids are vitally important in the instructional program and unless there are adequate materials, the teacher and the student are faced with frustration and will soon give up the attempt to broaden the vistas of independent study.


4. Equipment to Do With. Traditionally, equipment has been thought to be a luxury in the annual school budget and when school buildings have been built, a minimum of funds have been made available for the purpose of purchasing needed equipment. With the rapid development of the new teaching technology, it is obvious that critical thought should be given to the problem of providing many varied items of equipment for instructional uses. There is little question but that the learning processes can be speeded up con- siderably through the utilization of such items as teaching machines, overhead projectors, tape laboratories, and many items of science equipment.


5. Back-Up Personnel. Back-up personnel, whether they are called teacher aides, clerks, library assistants, resource materials coordinators, or what have you, are vitally needed as an intrinsical part of a thoroughly developed staff in elementary, junior high and high school, and with the ever increasing number of pupils to be educated, and the corresponding decrease in the per- centage of competent teachers, the importance of back-up personnel becomes more evident with each passing year. A considerable portion of the duties normally performed by teachers can be performed far more efficiently, at much less cost, by technically trained back-up personnel. Wayland has made some progress in this area and over the next few years can make a real break-through in better utilization of certified and non-certified staff.


6. Professional Assistance for Curriculum Development . As the school goes through the throes of reorganization of curricula it becomes obvious, no matter how proficient the faculty is, that highly educated professional assistance is needed in the area of curricula organization. The organization of curricula is far too important to be delegated to a few individuals no matter how competent. Today, national curricula groups are at work in most of the major academic fields. These materials need to be correlated and adapted to Wayland's own particular needs and goals. It should be recognized that outside consultant assistance to a school admin- istration and faculty will always be a continuing necessity.


7. A New School Day. The tightly structured school day, with its appointed guards for total supervision of students, provides a prison atmosphere and is a major restriction in the development of the student's initiative and self-reliance. It is


209


time to develop students who are competent to make decisions of their own, who are competent to conduct their own affairs and who have time of their own for study. It may well be that one of the important developments of education in the immediate future will be the removal of students from the total domination of the structured classroom and vocal domination by teachers. Our young people have become hardened to boredom and can sit hour after hour, week after week, in classrooms and scarcely hear what is being said. It may well be that students and teachers need not report to school at the same time and go home at the same time but that the best utilization of student and faculty time and building facilities may be provided by a modified and flexible school day for students and faculty.


8. Flexibility. Over the generations, the school has become an organization which runs at the tick of the clock and the ringing of bells and when the clocks do not tick and bells do not ring, confusion is the result. The school needs to become flexible in many of its aspects - the utilization of time and staff for students and the reconsideration of the amount of time devoted to the various areas of study. The question needs to be asked - do all academic studies need to occupy students for the same amount of time and should all periods be the same length? Should some parts of the curriculum be adapted almost wholly to the laboratory, others almost wholly to the lecture audio-visual approach, and others to in- dependent study with guidance? Is it possible to cover some parts of a school's curriculum in a few weeks and other parts in several years? These and many other questions need to be raised and answered.


9. Facilities for Leaning. The buildings in which school programs are housed unquestionably determines how teaching and learning takes place and it is only within the last few years that a real effort has been made to design school structures to accommodate the learning process. Wayland has been one of the nation's leaders in this regard yet only a beginning has been made, and as construction costs increase and the needs for additional buildings increase, more efficient ways of utilizing space in school buildings must be discovered.


10. In-Service Training. Every faculty needs to have a continuous, organized in-service training program. Parts of the in- service training program should be carried out by the School Committee, administration, and teaching staff itself. Other in- service training programs are best carried out with the resources of the community and the institutions of higher education available to the teachers during the course of the school year. The need for sabbatical leave, to provide for intense study over several months, is a necessity if teachers are, themselves, to be learners. One of the real faults in education is that once teachers become teachers, they often cease to become learners. The school of today must be staffed with teachers who, themselves, never cease to be students with inquiring minds .


210


11. Leaders to Lead. The lack of competent people within the school faculty to provide the needed leadership often becomes a major stumbling block to the advancement of an educational program. At a time in the history of education when there is a high level of turnover in faculty, it is more important than ever that competent faculty members should be identified and a well organized program of leadership training carried out on a continuing basis. The status program, as now organized in Wayland's schools, is one means whereby leadership training is being carried out but this needs a more imaginative approach if enough competent leadership is to be developed to serve the schools in the years ahead.


The School Committee and the administration has the major responsibility for the future of education. There is no way for them to duck this responsibility, for a school faculty cannot do their job unless the leadership provided, and the decisions made, result in the school being devoted to the continuous improvement of learning. It is they who must take to the community the fight for the right kind of teachers, for the right kind of learning facilities and for those many things needed to back up the teachers and to pro- vide for the learner those intangible ideas which make high quality education possible.


Respectfully submitted,


EDWARD J. ANDERSON Superintendent


211


WAYLAND PUBLIC SCHOOLS WAYLAND, MASSACHUSETTS


ENROLLMENT DATA : OCTOBER 1, 1962


GRADES


TOTALS


SCHOOL YEAR


BIRTHS


1


2


3


4


5


6


7


8


9


10


11


12


1-5


6-8


9-12


1-12


GAIN


%


57-58


164


254


180


210


184


191


179


124


123


139


100


69


6.


24


1019


426


369


1838


232


14.5


58-59


143


270


246


190


217


193


195


187


124


124


125


102


63


31


1116


506


414


2067


231


12.6


59-60


169


301


268


258


189


232


184


205


198


131


124


130


87


29


1248


587


472


2336


269


13.0


60-61


208


321


302


269


248


193


228


191


205


199


125


120


126


31


1333


624


570


2558


222


9.5


61-62


196


319


324


310


270


264


214


228


199


209


191


128


115


27


1487


641


643


2798


240


9.4


62-63


239


348


306


328


303


274


265


210


235


184


194


182


120


23


1559


710


680


2972


174


6.2


63-64


261


423


344


314


325


316


277


271


216


235


174


193


169


1722


764


771


3282


310


10.4


64-65


243


394


418


353


312


339


320


283


279


216


222


173


180


25


1816


882


791


3514


232


7.0


65-66


272


441


389


429


350


325


343


327


291


278


204


221


161


25


1934


961


864


3784


270


7.7


66-67


235


381


435


400


426


365


329


350


336


290


263


203


20€


25


2007


1015


962


4009


225


6.0


67-68


255


413


376


447


397


444


369


336


360


335


274


262


189


25


2077


1065


1060


4227


218


5.4


A68-69


*250


405


408


386


443


414


449


377


345


359


317


273


244


25


2056


1171


1193


4420


193


4.6


69-70


*250


405


400


419


383


462


419


458


388


344


340


316


254


25


2069


1265


1254


4613


193


4.4


£ 70-71


*250


405


400


411


416


400


468


428


471


387


325


339


294


25


2032


1367


1345


4769


156


3.4


₩71-72


*250


405


400


411


408


434


405


478


440


470


366


324


316


25


2058


1323


1476


4882


113


2.4


[2]72-73


*250


405


400


411


408


426


439


414


491


439


445


365


302


25


2050


1344


1551


49 70


88


1.8


ESTIMATED


*Estimated


SPECIAL CLASS


ACTUAL


*25


212


MEMBERSHIP BY AGE AND GRADE, OCTOBER 1, 1962


BOYS GRADE


5


6


7


8


9


10


11


12


13


14


15


16


17


18


19


20


Over


TOTALS


1


34


128


16


178


2


16


131


21


168


3


5


41


114


14


174


4


32


108


15


1


156


5


1


26


79


22


3


131


6


26


84


19


3


132


7


15


74


24


4


1


118


8


17


95


15


2


129


9


14


53


20


1


88


10


12


58


16


3


89


11


20


51


14


2


87


12


9


40


10


2


61


SPEC


1


2


1


1


1


2


2


1


1


12


TOTAL


BOYS


34


149


188


168


149


122


123


114


137


86


103


77


58


13


2


1523


GIRLS GRADE


5


6


7


8


9


10


11


12


13


14


15


16


17


18


19


20


Over


TOTALS


1


30


135


4


169


2


22 112


4


138


3


36


113


5


154


4


21


120


6


147


5


27


22


2


143


6


30


100


3


133


7


20


66


4


2


92


8


24


78


3


1


106


9


1


18


75


1


1


96


10


24


75


6


105


11


28


60


1


1


95


12


19


38


2


59


SPEC


1


1


1


2


2


4


11


TOTAL


GIRLS


30


157 152


139


153


128


143


96


100


106


107


90


43


3


1


1448


GRAND TOTAL


2971


213


5


21 &


21 &


92


REPORT OF WAYLAND PUBLIC SCHOOLS, ACTING SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS


To the School Committee :


The year 1962 found the Wayland Public Schools continuing in its growth with enrollments approaching 3000 pupils. An eight room school addition was completed to the Claypit elementary school and con- struction began on a similar eight room addition to the Loker School scheduled for completion in 1963.


Of significance in Wayland to the operation of schools and the need for classrooms is an unusually high percentage of school children to the total population of the Town which presently stands at 26.1%. At this writing, studies are being made to determine if this very high percentage might be decreasing. Recent data collected indicates that perhaps in the year 1963 there will be a lessening of the increases that have faced the school department operations over the years.


The educational program in Wayland has developed from the desire of the community to provide the best education possible for the indivi- dual child. Improved instruction which will constantly be the aim of the school administration and the School Committee is sought principally by,


(a) providing good educational facilities


(b) development of curricula appropriate to the goals of instruction


(c) assignment of staff to make the most effective use of teacher talent


(d) attempting to develop flexibility in scheduling and grouping to bring about more individualized instruction


The professional staff of the Wayland Public Schools is comprised of principals, classroom teachers, school guidance counsellors, school librarians and other specialists such as audio-visual and reading.


The non-professional staff, although not directly related to the in- structional program, are recognized as a most necessary part in the school operations. The non-instructional staff includes the school secretaries, custodians, cafeteria workers and bus drivers.


When 250 new school children enrolled in the school each year, as has been the case, it is necessary to have at least eight classrooms await- ing them. It is also necessary that there be desks and chairs and eight or nine teachers available to instruct them. Books and in- structional materials must be provided for each child. There must be an additional school bus to transport those who require transportation


214


because of distance or safety. It is also necessary that the cafeterias are equipped to feed this many additional children and that office staffs are capable of handling the additional calls and unexpected tasks that go with this increased enrollment. Custodians must be provided to maintain cleanliness in the additional classrooms as well as the heating and safety requirements and finally the admin- istration must be necessary for coordination and responsibility of the educational program.


The above requirements are necessary to cope with increased enroll- ments. The school budget must increase as school enrollments increase. It is the aim of the school department to keep the budget increase as low as possible without affecting the school educational program. The 1963 budget, which has been formulated by the School Committee and school administration in 1962, has reflected in its many meetings the necessity of keeping expenditures requested at a level commensurate with the town's ability to pay, ever mindful of the burden of numbers evident in Wayland today.


There are two expenditures made in behalf of education in Wayland. (1( The school operating budget and (2) The cost of school buildings. The difference between these two costs is that buildings are event- ually paid for, while operating costs continue. The important cost of education, therefore, is not the initial cost of a school building but rather the cost of operating those buildings. On new school building construction, state aid is received based on existing formulas at 50% reimbursement. Renovation of school buildings en- titles the town to no reimbursement. School operating costs are re- imbursed at approximately 15% of total expenditures with local support largely responsible for the school department operations.


These are some of the considerations that are necessary in under- standing school building programs and school operating budgets.


The following charts A-B-C-D-E are studies on alternatives for future school building needs in Wayland. Studies are being made and pro- jections revised with changing enrollments, and at this writing, the building needs will not be required in 1963.


The School Department appreciates the cooperation of the Town's de- partments during the past year. It is the hope of the schools that new gains will be made in the quality of education for 1963 and that the school operations will continue to give efficient and reliable service in meeting the needs of the Town.


Respectfully submitted,


RICHARD J. LAVIN,


Acting Superintendent of Schools


215


TABLE I TOTALS FOR GRADE GROUPINGS VS SCHOOL YEAR BASED ON WAYLAND SCHOOL DEPARTMENT PROJECTION OCTOBER 1, 1962*


SCHOOL YEAR


GRADE, TOTALS


1-5


1-6


5-8


6-8


7-8


6-7


7-9


8-12


9-12


10-12


1-12


SPECIAL CLASS


61-62


1487


1701


905


641


427


442


636


842


643


434


2798


27


62-63


1559


1824


984


710


440


475


624


915


680


496


2972


23


63-64


1722


1999


1080


764


487


548


722


987


771


536


3282


25


64-65


1816


2136


1221


882


562


603


778


1070


791


575


3514


25


65-66


1934


2277


1286


961


618


670


896


1155


864


586


3784


25


66-67


2007


2336


1380


1015


686


679


976


1298


962


672


4009


25


67-68


2077


2446


1509


1065


696


705


1031


1420


1060


725


4227


25


68-69


2056


2505


1585


1171


722


826


1081


1538


1193


834


4420


25


69-70


2069


2688


1727


1265


846


877


1190


1642


1254


910


4613


25


70-71


2032


2500


1767


1367


899


896


1286


1816


1345


958


4769


25


71-72


2058


2463


1757


1323


918


883


1388


1916


1476


1006


4882


25


72-73


2050


2489


1770


1344


905


853


1344


2042


1551


1112


4970


25


*SPECIAL CLASS IN 1-12 ONLY


216


PLAN A FOR HANDLING WAYLAND'S SCHOOL CLASSROOM NEEDS THROUGH 1972


5-3-4 structure*


PROPOSED SCHOOL CAPACITY VS ESTIMATED NEEDS


JUNIOR HIGH


SENIOR HIGH


TOTAL


PROPOSED ADDITIONS AND GRADE GROUPINGS


ESTIMATED CAPITAL COSTS $


PROPOSED


NEEDS


PROPOSED


NEEDS


PROPOSED


NEEDS


PROPOSED


NEEDS


62-63


1800


1582


775


710


950


680


3525


2972


Grade Grouping 5-3-4 Special Class in Elementary


63-64


2040


1745


775


764


950


771


3765


3282


8 Room Addition to Loker


285,000


64-65


2040


1961


775


762


950


791


3765


3514


65-66


2040


1934


1375


986


950


864


4365


3784


600 pupil Junior High 6th and Special Class to JH


1,600,000


66-67


2040


2007


1375


1040


950


962 **


4365


4009


Modernize present JH


95,000 ***


67-68


2040


2077


1375


1090


1300


1060


4715


4227


High School addition for 350


520,000


68-69


2160


2056


1375


1196


1300


1193


4835


4420


Happy Hollow addition 4 rooms


170,000


69-70


2160


2069


1375


1290


1300


1254


4835


4613


70-71


2160


2032


1375


1392 **


1300


1345 **


4835


4769


71-72


2160


2058


1375


1348


1650


1476


5185


4882


High School addition for 350


520,000


72-73


2160


2050


1375


1369


1650


1551


5185


4970


Grade grouping 5-3-4 Two Junior Highs for 6-7-8


TOTAL


3,190,000


* Group sizes from Table I Capacity is at 30 pupil per classroom and is 1/5th higher than optimum


** Overcrowding above "capacity" *** not state reimbursible


With this plan there will be two Junior Highs - one new, one old




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