USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Mendon > Town annual reports of the officers of Mendon, Massachusetts 1917-1927 > Part 30
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1929.
WINTER TERM. Opens December 31, Closes March 22 (12 weeks) (Vacation One Week)
LEGAL HOLIDAYS.
Labor Day, Columbus Day, Thanksgiving Day, January 1, February 22, April 19, and May 30. There will be no session of schools on the Friday following Thanksgiving. When a holiday comes on Sunday the following Monday becomes a holiday.
IMPORTANT REGULATIONS.
A regulation of the School Department is that no child can enter school for the first time unless such a child shall be- come six years of age on or before January 1, of the year fol- lowing the fall term when he wishes to enter school. (For entrance to school this coming fall term a child must be six years of age on or before January 1, 1929).
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ATTENDANCE LAWS.
The state laws governing school attendance require that:
Every child from seven to fourteen years of age unless he is physically or mentally unfit, and until he is sixteen years of age, unless he has completed the sixth grade, shall attend school all the time it is in session. Every child from fourteen to sixteen years of age shall attend school unless such child has received an employment certificate and is regularly employed according to law for at least six hours per day. All minors under sixteen working in towns or cities which maintain Continuation Schools, must attend the Continuation Schools as prescribed by law.
If a child fails to attend school according to law for seven day sessions or fourteen half day sessions, the child shall be con- sidered an habitual truant and may be sent to a truant school.
If a parent or guardian fails to cause the child under his charge to attend school according to law, he shall be fined not over twenty dollars for each offense.
NO-SCHOOL SIGNAL.
Siren blast 2-2 sounded at 7.15 closes all schools for the day.
It is important for parents to note the time and manner of this signal.
The closing of all schools means a considerable loss of valuable time and expense, and always involves considerable mis- understanding and difficulty because it is impossible for a no- school signal to be heard over the entire territory of the town.
Schools are maintained and teachers paid for the benefit of all children of the town. It seems wise that schools should
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be in session at all times except in most extreme weather, thus giving an opportunity to those children and parents who want the advantages of school. Keeping schools open even in some- what stormy weather works no hardship upon any; for, when any parents feel that on account of weather conditions it is unwise for their children to go to school they are at liberty to keep them at home.
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SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
TO THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE AND CITIZENS OF MENDON :-
I herewith submit my eighth annual report. The aim in these reports is to discuss briefly the purpose and ideals of in- struction, and to tell something of the work of our schools. Matters which have been considered in past reports need not be discussed again.
SCHOOL-A SACRED INSTITUTION.
Like the sacred fires of old the School is an institution whose fires must never go out, nor its lights grow dim.
The school is not a gratuitous institution, though it is gen- erously supported by taxes from the public. It is an everlasting obligation.
We who are active in the affairs of life to-day must ere long leave these affairs to the care of others-the rising generation. When we are gone, the school must still carry on.
Those who are holding the reins of life's activities must not hinder the scheme of human progress.
Great institutions of industry and society may rise and fall, flourish or wane, but education must go on forever. Prosperous and happy society could not exist without the education of its subjects.
While schools are not the only means, they are the most im- portant and effective factors in education. The school cares for and surrounds with helpful influence the children during their tender years and the precarious time of life.
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The loss of an industry for a few years may be repaired, but the injury done to youth by a few years without schools at the impressionable age may never be repaired.
" 'Tis education forms the common mind,
Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined."
Failing to realize that the School is too sacred an institution to be desecrated, people frequently feel it is so commonplace that they may freely give all sorts of detrimental criticism and even ridicule. Many people are prone to criticize and loudly harangue about the schools, whenever they are not pleased with the way things go.
All of us are liable to make mistakes. It is our aim to give the patrons of the schools the best possible, and we welcome re- quests and helpful criticism.
If this sacred institution, the School, is to accomplish its great work, we must all co-operate and pull together for its wel- fare.
It is a serious offense for us of to-day to handicap our children in years to come because we fail to realize that the life of society is a growth, ever changing and advancing. Because we cannot see the needs of the future, we consider as fads those things which will be essentials for the progress of the rising gen- eration.
It has always been a fact in the past, and undoubtedly will continue to be, that character has counted more for success than knowledge. Character is the ignition which makes progress go. In our scheme of education, provision for character-building must be made. Great outstanding characters are largely those who have struggled up from the bottom, frequently in poverty and without conveniences. Overcoming obstacles makes char- acter.
Though there have been many attempts through vocational training, etc., schools still fail to provide ample opportunity for
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character training. The complexity and ease of present day life seems to be a handicap for character development.
School buildings and equipment may be the best, but we must realize that home influence and the ability and attitude of of the pupils are the most important factors in the training for true education.
When our people come to fully realize that the school is a sacred institution and essentially permanent, many will appreci- ate it more fully.
A problem which still causes much concern is poor scholar- ship. This is a question which is too little understood. The lack of high scholarship is becoming more and more generally apparent. It seems to be difficult for those managing schools and dealing with the young to rightfully appreciate this situation.
High intelligence is useful and important, and good scholar- ship is pleasing in school. The numerous outside attractions for children to-day are unfavorable toward study, good scholarship, and logical thinking.
When only the best scholars attended school above the pri- mary grades, pupils attending the higher grades were good schol- ars or if they were not, they left school. Now a large majority of our children must or do attend school several years longer than formerly.
This change of conditions makes a real problem for school officials and teachers. Since this condition has come to stay, we should plan to meet the needs and demands of the time. Instead of sending these slower minded pupils from school and denying them the opportunity of advanced educational training, the work and method of the school should be adapted to the needs of all children.
The day has come when the high school should be an inte- gral part of the common school system and every well-behaved youth should get what he can from the high school even if his scholarship is not high enough for graduation. Much benefit
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to society may be gained by many attending at least a part of the course.
Much as high intelligence and scholarship please us, it is a fact that the slower minds as well as the brighter minds have done much in the work and progress of the world.
Pupils held back in grammar school who are not sufficiently developed for high schools of the present standard lose interest and either drop out of school or form sluggish habits.
The problems of secondary education merit more serious consideration now than at any time in the history of our country. We must depend on the youth to preserve our nation in its in- dustrial progress, and what period is of more importance than that between the ages of 13 and 17, the time when our future citizens are in high school? We must teach our boys and girls to live completely at the age when they are most able to under- stand. To the secondary school belongs largely the task of de- veloping common ideals and right modes of feeling and acting.
Education in its larger aspects is applied more efficiently in the secondary stage, and all children should have some of this expansive educational process.
OUR SCHOOLS.
The willingness of the school officials and citizens to meet the requirements of the State Department of Education for more advantages for our High School fully shows that the town be- lieves in advanced education.
The state officials ordered a third teacher for the High School and another recitation room and more laboratory and library equipment. A very convenient and pleasant room was fitted up in the attic, and water connection made with the new laboratory cabinet. To meet the needs of fire hazard a second stairway to the attic was made.
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More than the appropriation provided has been used, and to meet the State requirements some more will have to be ex- pended toward a school library, and perhaps for more science apparatus. Some physics apparatus has been purchased.
Realizing that good work cannot be done in the High School unless pupils are well prepared in the elementary grades, we re- quested permission to put the eighth grade with the high school, thus relieving the crowded condition in the grammar room, and also making the number in the High School a more reasonable size. This request was granted by the state official. A part of the instruction of the eighth grade is given by the High School teachers and the rest by the grammar school teacher.
We were very fortunate in securing the services of so effi- cient a teacher as Miss Taft.
This new plan is working very successfully. Our school can still offer only two courses of study, the College and Gen- eral. We wish to affirm again that in the courses and subjects given the instruction is excellent and the school work good. In these lines the opportunities your children have in High School compare very favorably with those of other and larger High Schools. The spirit of the school is excellent and all conditions are favorable to good work.
The writer is pleased to mention that our school is trying to give training in more than just the class subjects. Two op- portunities for development of that important art-public speak- ing, are being given. We have for some time been urging this, and this year the school seemed ready to undertake it.
The school play recently given was a good selection, full of humor and life, and it was remarkably well acted. Some of the actors were outstanding in merit, and the whole cast was good. Much commendation is due the performers and the man- ager, Miss McIntyre.
The teachers and pupils have taken hold of the Prize Speaking competition with enthusiasm. The Superintendent has had the opportunity of being present at each of the preliminary
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speaking periods. The speaking has been good, and the attitude of the pupils very commendable. Our Town Hall should be crowded with an audience when the final contest is held. Further particulars of the speaking contest and of matters pertaining to the school are given in the report of the principal, who is so efficiently managing the school.
There was only one change in teachers at the opening of this school year. Miss Barlow, the Albeeville teacher, resigned to accept a position in Milford. Miss Anderson was elected to that position.
All of our schools have excellent teachers, and effective work is being done in the common subjects and other essentials taught. It is hoped that it will be possible for these teachers to remain in their schools the coming year. More money paid to good teachers is a much better investment than less money for poor ones.
Since the added teacher in the High School made it pos- sible to give a better opportunity to the pupils of the Grammar School, it leaves the most crowded condition in the intermediate room. Though our efficient teacher, Miss Pearson, was handling the school well, yet with a school of nearly or more than fifty pupils, it was impossible to have time for individual instruction. To help this situation, we made arrangements with the Fram- ingham Normal School for the help of the Normal training pupils at no cost except the small amount of carfare. Good training girls have been sent to the school and they have helped the school much, especially in individual work.
The graduations of the High School and Grammar School last June were very pleasing. The programs were excellent and especially well carried out. The attendance at the exercises was not as good as deserved. These events are the most important and most pleasing of any event held in town. Citizens of the town who miss them are losing much. We were favored with an address by Senator Draper at the High School graduation.
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The usual work in music has been carried on. Miss Hall filled the position made vacant by the resignation of Miss Lovely.
We again urge the value of art instruction that could be given by a drawing instructor.
We wish to speak highly of the effective work done by our medical department. The physician's last examination shows a growing improvement in the physical condition of the pupils as they go up through the grades. Our very capable nurse, Miss Grady, is accomplishing much. We are grateful to the District Nursing Association for the benefit our schools receive through its assistance.
Very few repairs have been made on the buildings this past year. The following repairs are much needed and should be made this coming summer.
1. Planing and varnishing desks in the center building. As soon as possible new adjustable desks should be purchased. Many in the intermediate room are very old, non-adjustable, and not convenient for pupils' use. Wherever not replaced by new ones, those now in the rooms should be smoothed and varnished. Many of the desk tops are so rough that it is impossible to write on paper on the desk.
2. Some provision for better seats in Albeeville.
3. New hot air furnaces or some other system of heating in the center building. The old ones are in a very bad condition. They were repaired at some expense last fall, but they are liable to become useless any time and cannot last long. The furnaces have done good service, having been in use over twenty-five years.
There has been some doubt about the safety of the steam plant in the building. During the summer we got the state boiler inspector to make a thorough examination and he pronounced the boiler perfectly safe. So those of us who were expecting to
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die from the fear of an explosion have been given a new lease of life.
4. A new heater in the Albeeville building. The state building inspector has issued orders in regard to this.
5. Storm windows for at least one side of the center gram- mar room. The cost of these will soon be met in the saving of coal.
6. A flag pole for the center building-Imperative by law.
7. A cabinet for storing the new physics apparatus.
8. New curtains and new door at Albeeville.
9. Consideration of painting the East building.
Two modern conveniences which to-day are considered es- sential are not provided in our school building. These are elec- tric lights and water toilets. The center building is partially provided with lights, and that the whole building be lighted is not so imperative, but water toilets are essential improvements that will come sooner or later. Why not have it sooner? There is ample opportunity for them in the basement of the building, and water can be provided. These improvements are rapidly be- ing put into the homes and it is becoming the time when they are a necessity in the school building.
The superintendent is very grateful for the willing support and assistance given the school by the School Committee and the citizens of the town. What has been said in previous reports about the generous service of the School Committee can be truly said again. Much careful consideration has been given in the expenditure of every dollar to bring the best results in the schools.
With the advantages possible for the town to give, we be- lieve the schools of the town are going forward step by step each
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year for larger service and a truer education of our children- the inspiration of our hope for the future.
"Heaven is not reached at a single bound ; But we build the ladder by which we rise From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies, And we mount to its summit, round by round."
Respectfully submitted, CARROLL H. DROWN,
Superintendent of Schools.
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REPORT OF HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL.
MR. CARROLL H. DROWN, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS :-
I herewith submit my sixth annual report as Principal of Mendon High School.
The School opened the fifth of September with an enroll- ment of twenty-eight. Since that date one pupil has entered and one has left, making, with the eighth grade, a total of forty- one in the room at the present time.
The attendance for the first four months has averaged 96.28 percent.
In accordance with the recommendations of the State De- partment of Education, a combined laboratory and recitation room has been built on the third floor. This room is much better adapted for laboratory work than the damp and poorly lighted basement formerly used. A modern combined physics and chem- istry table has been installed and this greatly facilitates the work in the science classes. Considerable equipment for these classes has been procured, all of which is greatly appreciated.
The additional room has made another teacher possible and we were greatly pleased with the appointment of Miss Taft, who is doing good work in this position.
Because of the additional teacher and room, we were able to seat the eighth grade in the high school room which has ac- complished three commendable results, namely: (1) It has relieved the crowded condition of the grammar school room. (2) It has allowed that grade two classes in the high school with the benefit of the much longer class period, by which its members receive more instruction than any previous class. (3)
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It allows that grade to gradually adapt themselves to senior high school methods which is one of the primary aims of the junior high school movement.
This third teacher has also enabled us to offer courses in Biology and French III.
By vote of the school board the length of the school day has been increased by half an hour, and also since we require for graduation the public delivery of an original essay, they believed we should give some training toward that end, and therefore voted that we introduce a system of public speaking. By this system each pupil, including the eighth grade, is re- quired to memorize and deliver some selection before the school at least once each school year. Thus far the pupils have taken great interest in this and it has been very successful.
I believe the attitude and standard of the school is gradual- ly improving.
Miss McIntyre continues to maintain her usual standard of work which is highly commendable.
I wish to express to the Superintendent, School Board, Parents, and Scholars my appreciation for their cooperation.
Respectfully submitted,
OSCAR L. GARLAND,
Principal.
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REPORT OF SUPERVISOR OF MUSIC.
TO THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS :-
In accordance with the custom I am submitting the annual report of the work done in music in the schools of the Town of Mendon.
Music should be the concomitant of every day's experience in a child's life at home and in school-not only in the music period but permeating every phase of his activity and develop- ment. To assist thoughtful parents and earnest teachers to use music in a broadly yet eminently practical way is the work of the music supervisor.
In the Center School each class receives instructions each week by the music supervisor. Each day during the rest of the week the individual teacher works with the pupils on the prob- lems which have been explained and taught in a model lesson by the supervisor. Each period is divided in such a way that a brief course in the history and appreciation of music comple- ments the instruction in the art of singing. Time was when music was a luxury available only to the wealthy, but with the advent of the radio and other sound reproducing instruments nearly every one is able to hear the greatest artists and symphony orchestras. It is necessary to listen intelligently-hence our les- sons in appreciation.
We use the Progressive Series which in material and peda- gogy fulfills the highest ideals of educators and musicians. Book Three is very difficult, taking up the study of modulation, minor melodies, difficult rhythms, as well as two and three part songs. However, having preceded it with Books One and Two enables the pupils to conquer the problems. In the lower grades folk
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dances and rhythmic games as well as a selection of songs that appeal to the child's imagination are taught. The second grade will use books the first of February. This fact shows progress. The other grades have a good grasp of the subject, are interested, and seem to be advancing. In the High School the chorus is made up of the eighth grade and the Senior High School. The course requires instruction in the reviewing of the fundamentals of music, chorus singing and history and appreciaiton of music. We are working on music for Prize Speaking and Graduation nights.
In the two rural schools at East Mendon and Albeeville re- spectively the music is showing progress. In the East Mendon school we will use books in the first and second grades the first of February. The upper grades are singing two-part songs very satisfactorily. In Albeeville they are doing very commendable work also.
Whatever success we have had has been made possible by the splendid cooperation of the teachers and with your interest and support.
Much has been accomplished with the equipment available. However the Center School and both rural schools are much in need of pianos. Also a few records should be supplied.
Respectfully submitted,
ELLEN DEAN HALL,
Supervisor of Music.
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REPORT OF SCHOOL NURSE.
-
To MR. CARROLL DROWN,
SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS :-
I herewith submit the following report of school nursing done in the Mendon schools for the year ending Dec. 31, 1927.
Center and East Mendon visited once a week, usually on Tuesday when school was in session. Albeeville visited every week except through the month of March, the condition of the road was such, this school could not be visited.
Each classroom is visited and the teachers consulted and when time permits an inspection or talk, etc., is given.
The "Modern Health Crusade" was introduced again this year in the third, fourth and fifth grades at Center School and the two District Schools. Seventy children received awards at the end of a twelve week period. Health plays, posters and stories were very ably done by the sixth, seventh and eighth grades.
All the children at the Center School were weighed and measured before Dr. Campbell's examination and just before school closed.
The following is a summary of the work done.
No. of health talks given 78
No. of cleanliness inspections 263
No. of pediculosis inspections 256
No. of inspections for disease 35 No. treated 21
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No. excluded 4
Advice given to 252
Home visits 88
Assisted Dr. Campbell in examining 187 children. The defects found were :-
Large tonsils 34
Large adenoids 6
Defective teeth 80
Poor nutrition
6
Anaemia
6
Poor posture
5
Enlarged glands 5
Notices of defects found were sent to all parents.
About fifteen corrections have been made.
In closing may I draw to your attention the condition of the stove in Albeeville. At times, smoke escapes into the class- room making it quite uncomfortable and I should think, un- healthy, as smoke irritates the mucous membrane of the nose and throat.
I wish at this time to thank Mr. Drown, the teachers and the school committee for their cooperation and help.
Respectfully submitted,
HELEN C. GRADY.
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MENDON HIGH SCHOOL
Graduation Exercises Unitarian Church, Mendon at 8.00 O'Clock P. M. Friday, June 24, 1927.
PROGRAMME.
Invocation
Rev. Roy B. Wintersteen
Salutatory and Essay-Opportunity Lucille Martin
Essay-Patriotism in Music
Olive Hamant
Song-Sing Along Penn
High School
Essay-Efficiency
Ralph Coffin
Essay and Valedictory
Arthur Grytzel
Song-Bells of the Sea
Lamb-Salmon
High School
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Address
Honorable Eben S. Draper
Presentation of Diplomas
Mr. Pickard, Chairman of the School Committee
Benediction
Rev. Roy B. Wintersteen
GRADUATES.
Ralph Wilder Coffin, Jr.
Arthur Daniel Grytzell
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