USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Agawam > Town of Agawam, Massachusetts annual report 1926-1930 > Part 20
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Owing to the close proximity of Agawam to the League Building your citizens have many advantages over those living in the outlying towns and from the reports of the agents they are showing their appreciation of these advantages.
The County Agricultural Agents and eighteen farm owners cooperated in projects which served as more or less as demonstra- tions in their communities :
Top-dressing hay land
1
Growing alfalfa
6
Sweet clover
1
Potatoes 2
Poultry flock sanitation
2
Night lighting brooded chicks
1
Grading eggs under State standards 1
Tuberculin testing
4
Vaccination for fowl pox
1
Pruning fruit trees 5
Remodel poultry houses
2
Dairy records 4
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Service along similar lines was given to 22 other farm own- ers. Agawam farmers attended general meetings in growing legumes, livestock feeding, milk refrigeration, milk marketing; brooding chicks, flock management, poultry diseases, fruit pest con- trol and orchard pruning.
The Home Bureau agents had the cooperation and assistance of eighteen local women from the different communities of Aga- wam in conducting the Home Economics program. They arranged for meeting places and prepared for teaching the groups by attend- ing training conferences taught by the agents or specialists from the Massachusetts Agricultural College. Agents or specialists taught some of the groups and supervised all of the groups. Five projects were taught, Children's Clothing, Garment Finishes, Machine At- tachments, Pressed Cane seating and Child Feeding. There were eight groups that held twenty-seven meetings with a total atten- dance of two hundred and ten.
Agawam is a 4-H Club town. There was a total enrollment of 238 in the clubs, 201 different boys and girls doing club work from every community of Agawam.
The State trophy cup offered by the State of Massachusetts for the best poultry team in judging was won by the Feeding Hills Poultry Club, Elbert Jenks, Richard Kellogg and Leroy Fournier represented the club. This was the third successive year and the cup became the club's property. They have presented it to the Agawam High School.
Elbert Jenks was chosen by the club members attending Camp Gilbert as the most outstanding 4-H Club boy and just recently the State Department of Agriculture awarded him a gold medal for having done the best work in his projects of all the 4-H Club boys in the State.
Creighton Abrams was selected to represent the Hampden County boys at Camp Field at the Brockton Fair.
Three County championships out of thirteen awarded in the county were won by Agawam boys :
Howard Bailey Sheep
Henry Benoit Pigs
Chester Pilch Poultry
The canning club girls canned over 2,000 jars of fruit and vegetables.
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Mr. Harold Atwater and Mr. Lee Jenks are town directors of the League and Mrs. Dwight Hawley is director at large.
We respectfully request a continuation of this appropriation and the cooperation of the citizens of Agawam for the year 1930.
HERMON W. KING, CHARLES W. BRAY, MRS. JOHN P. KIRBY, MRS. WILLIAM G. DWIGHT, HARRY C. LANE, R. F. MCELWAIN, HORACE A. MOSES, FRED A. UPHAM,
Trustees for County Aid to Agriculture,
By : Otis E. Hall, Clerk
76
REPORT OF Board of Water Commissioners
RECEIPTS
From Water Rents
$22,504.27
From Water Connections
2,745.42
$ 25,249.69
EXPENDITURES Maintenance
Commissioners $ 300.00
Superintendent and Registrar
1,560.00
Collector
479.10
Printing, Stationery and Postage
204.45
Other Expense
52.45
Water
7,779.87
Meters and Repairs to Same
767.26
All other expenses
369.48
Service Pipe
3,088.15
Refund for Pipe returned on entrance
$ 14,600.76 18.00
CONSTRUCTION
Silver Street
$ 6,807.10
Line Street
3,496.04
Moore Street
109.56
Rowley Street
1,000.00
$ 11,412.70
FINANCIAL
Payment and Interest on Bonds $ 8,748.75 $ 8,748.75
Total
$ 34,780.21
W. S. KERR, D. M. CROWLEY, J. L. BURKE,
Water Commissioners
77
Report of Library Trustees
BOOKS
Number at Agawam
8,963
Number at Feeding Hills
5,960
Number at North Agawam
2,077
CIRCULATION
Agawam
16,935
Feeding Hills
7,674
North Agawam
8,055
BORROWERS
Agawam
850
Feeding Hills
352
North Agawam
400
ALICE B. GRANGER, ANNA H. RUDMAN, IDA BERNATCHEZ,
Library Trustees
78
ANNUAL REPORTS of the
School Committee and the
Superintendent of Schools of the Town of AGAWAM, MASS.
OF
INCORP
5.1855
RAT
For the Year Ending December 31
1929
Agawam Public Schools
ORGANIZATION OF SCHOOL BOARD
Clifford M. Granger, Chairman Term expires March, 1932 Post Office Address, Feeding Hills
Mrs. Grace B. Reed Term expires March, 1932 Post Office Address, Agawam
Arthur Rudman Term expires March, 1931 Post Office Address, Agawam
Thomas H. Stapleton Term expires March, 1931 Post Office Address, Agawam
Joseph L. Roy Term expires March, 1930 Post Office Address, Mittineague
Sidney F. Atwood, Secretary Term expires March, 1930 Post Office Address, Feeding Hills
SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS Benjamin J. Phelps Telephone : 4-2831
OFFICE HOURS OF THE SUPERINTENDENT High School Building-School Days, 8.30-9.00 A. M., and by appointment.
83 %
SCHOOL CALENDAR, 1930
Winter Term-January 2 to March 28 Spring Term-April 7 to June 6, Elementary Schools Spring Term-April 7 to June 13, Junior-Senior High School Fall Term-September 2 to December 19
HOURS OF SESSIONS
Elementary Schools 9.00-12.00 A. M. 1.00-3.30 P. M.
Junior High School 9.00-12.00 A. M. 12.30-3.00 P. M.
Senior High School 9.00 A. M .- 12.30 P. M. 1.00-3.00 P. M.
SECRETARY Emma Mellor Telephone 2-7176
84
REPORT OF School Committee
We once more present for your consideration our annual re- port. The report of our Superintendent, supplemented as it is by the reports of the various supervisors, covers nearly all the field of our educational activities. As a natural result, we have only a few words for your perusal.
Last year we called to your attention the need of a more ade- quate playground and athletic field for our High School. With the completion of the new addition thereto we have nearly six hundred pupils in the building. In another year or two that num- ber will have increased to seven or eight hundred. For such a large number of students we surely need more room for their various outdoor sports and games. This matter has been threshed out in several town meetings, but as yet no definite decision has been reached. We have been assured that the necessary land can now be obtained. If this is a fact, the tax payers are showing very poor economy in postponing the acquiring of the land necessary to carry out this project. We urge that favorable action be taken on this matter at the earliest possible moment.
In September we opened the new addition to our High School plant. We feel that we now have one of the finest Junior-Senior High School buildings in the State. The noticeable features of our enlarged and remodeled High School unit are as follows: first, a gymnasium for the girls and their gymnastic work; second, new rooms for Agricultural and General Science laboratories; third, additional locker space for both boys and girls; fourth, larger and better equipped rooms for Manual Training and Commercial
85
classes ; fifth, rooms and suitable courses for mentally retarded pu- pils. We are confident that we can now take care of our increas- ing high school population for the next five years.
In our elementary school, the situation is very encouraging and we should be able to carry on there for a couple of years more without further building. Several times before we have spoken of the school needs of the River Road and South End sections of our town. We have always realized the dangerous location of the so-called South School. We feel that at a very early date that building should be closed, and a modern four room school be erected at some point convenient and accessible to the elementary school population of these and adjacent sections of the town.
For the second year in succession we have, by the strictest econo- my, kept our expenses within our appropriation. We always figure the various items for our budget as closely as possible. We are very sure that the taxpayers appreciate this fact, and consequently are willing to vote us any reasonable amount we may need. For the year 1930 we shall be obliged to ask for a larger appropriation than in 1929. Our enlarged High School plant was in operation only four months of the year, but in 1930 it will be running the en- tire school year of approximately ten months. When we opened our schools in September, we had to place on our payroll another janitor and several extra teachers to care for the additional work at the High School building. Our costs for textbooks, supplies, fuel, light and building maintenance have increased propor- tionately. In brief, these are the main causes necessitating a larger budget for school support in 1930.
In closing our report, we wish to thank the parents and citi- zens of Agawam for their cordial support in the past.
Respectfully submitted,
S. F. ATWOOD, JOSEPH L. ROY, GRACE B. REED, THOS. H. STAPLETON, ARTHUR RUDMAN, CLIFFORD M. GRANGER.
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Financial Statement of Schools
December 31, 1929
General Expense
$
7,110.17
Salaries of Teachers, Supervisors and Principals
93,216.00
Text Books
2,883.64
Stationary, Supplies, etc.
4,411.50
Wages of Janitors
9,205.99
Fuel
7,353.75
Miscellaneous Operating Expenses
2,505.78
Repairs and Replacements
4,592.51
Libraries
127.30
Health
2,050.50
Transportation
7,234.04
Tuition
2,165.53
Miscellaneous Expenses
680.57
Outlay-New Equipment
1,199.62
Agriculture
1,262.67
Total
$145,999.57
87
Superintendent's Report
To the School Committee of Agawam:
Gentlemen :
My plan of procedure in writing the annual report has been to select some important aspect of school administration and, with that as a measuring device, write a brief survey of the work of the year. This year owing to the fact that some significant changes have been made in the organization of the Agawam schools, it is my purpose to write about these changes, and at the same time make some suggestions as to the future development of our school system. This report will also include statistics of school administration for the year 1928-1929, brief reports from the various teachers of special subjects, from supervisors, and the report of the High School Principal.
SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN THE AGAWAM SCHOOLS DURING THE PAST YEAR
The addition to the High School Building :
At the opening of the school year in September the addition to the High School was ready for occupancy. This building in- corporated nine regular classrooms for daily use and the following facilities necessary to complete a modern junior-senior high school : -a girl's gymnasium with lockers and showers; a large manual training shop with improved machinery; a room for vocational agriculture ; a laboratory for biology; an art room; and an oppor- tunity room for retarded pupils of junior high school age.
88
All of the above mentioned rooms are in use with the excep- tion of one classroom. The motive for constructing the addition to the High School was found in the need for a reorganization of the schools of the town. That reorganization is discussed in the next topic.
The 6-6 Program in Public School Education :
Previous to September, 1929, our school operated with var- ious units in the elementary schools. In one part of the town, Agawam Center, there were six grades in the elementary schools. In the Plains section and at Feeding Hills, there were seven grades in the elementary schools; while in North Agawam, eight grades were enrolled. At the present time there are six grades in our elementary schools and six grades in our junior-senior high school. We have, then, two distinct and well defined parts to our school system. This is a significant change and one that will add con- siderable strength to the school system. At this point it may be well to designate some of the advantages of the 6-6 organization.
The elementary school consisting of six grades is universally recognized as the ideal organization. In these grades the com- mand of the fundamental processes, such as writing, reading, arithmetic and spelling are stressed. Health, art, music and citizenship are also given a prominent place. The point to be kept in mind is that certain skills, habits and attitudes which are funda- mental for future progress, not only in school but in life outside of school, are to be acquired in these six grades. The teachers, super- visors and administrators know for a certainty what is expected of them. The pupils are also aware of the goals set up for these grades. Since the problem at hand is clearly stated and defined, the solution should be made with gratifying results.
We must not, however, permit a situation to develop which would lead to a conclusion that the elementary school is divorced from the secondary school. There is a distinct break in adminis- tration and somewhat of a change in method in the work of the Junior high. In this school the pupil has six teachers instead of one. His curriculum affords him an opportunity to do work in manual
89
training and physical training, and there are various clubs and extra curricula activities to which he may belong. In each sub- ject he has a teacher trained in that particular line of work. There is greater freedom of movement and he is placed somewhat upon his own responsibility. His abilities and aptitudes are carefully studied and explored. He is given vocational guidance. The nor- mal boy and girl of seventh and eighth grade age prefer such a type of educational experience to the environment of the elemen- tary school in which, for the most part, there are no gymnasiums, lunch rooms, manual training shops, or domestic science depart- ments.
Our pupils have been subjected to this change for the first time this year. The break has been more abrupt than will be the case in years to come because the change involved the sixth, seventh and eighth grades. Next year only the pupils finishing the sixth grade will be affected, and they will have a very definite prepara- tion for this new adventure in their educational experience.
Curriculum Changes :
Agawam can now satisfy the demands of the State in regard to physical training, for each boy and girl has two hours per week in a well ordered gymnasium under the supervision of expert teach- ers. The enlarged shower and locker equipment make it possible for every pupil to have a bath after the period of exercise. This is as it should be. The physical training department of Agawam High School is no makeshift organization, since it is set up so as to meet not only the requests of the State but also to promote a proper physical development and consequent good health.
Industrial Arts :
The improved manual training machinery and the additional room for shop work have strengthened the Industrial Arts De- partment. The enlarged unit can amply take care of the shop work for the agricultural department as well as the work for the boys of the special class.
Special Classes :
There are two classes for retarded pupils in our schools, both of which were organized during the past year. The class for
90
children of the elementary school age has been established in the North Agawam School. In this class there are fifteen children, who now have the opportunity to do work in school which is suited to their endowments and capacities. The room for this class has been outfitted with a gas stove, manual training bench, sink, and flat top tables. Whatever equipment is essential for the proper progress of the group has been provided. Whenever pupils have given evidence that in the academic work they are prepared to enter a regular grade, they are given that opportunity. Two pupils from this class have been transferred during the fall term. Miss Phyllis Irwin, the teacher in charge of this group, has taken special work in summer schools during the past two years. She has to her credit the certificates of the Hyannis Normal School and also that of the Harvard Summer School for work with special groups.
The special class in the Junior High School is new also this year. The term "special class' is hardly applicable to this group if the group is considered from the administrative point of view. The class has all of the privileges of the Junior-Senior High School, such as gymnasium, shop, domestic science, lunch room and auditorium afford. This group, during its short period of life, has made a splendid record and is a credit to the Junior-Senior High School. Whenever any pupil of the class is ready to take up the academic work of a regular grade, he is given that opportunity. Several pupils have so profited during the past term. Mrs. Marion Smith, the teacher, is particularly qualified in her experience, train- ing and personality for this work. The town is fortunate in that it has the services of two such excellent teachers to inaugurate this new type of work in the public schools.
Vocational Agriculture :
The curriculum of the Agawam High School should reflect the interest of the citizenship of the town. To the end that the agricultural group which heretofore had not received merited at- tention might be given recognition, an agricultural department has recently been set up in the High School. One criticism fre- quently leveled at our community high schools is the charge that the school educates the children away from the farm. The prime motive in establishing the agricultural course is to give the boy who is interested in agricultural pursuits practical instruction of scien- tific import in agriculture, and at the same time to permit him also
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to have the advantages of the cultural courses given in the high school. The old idea that farmers do not need an education is now obsolete. We know that life is something more than food and raiment and we are quite convinced that the farm boy has as much right to the "something more" as any other member of the community. Mr. Williams, in his report, has given some signifi- cant statistics in regard to the agricultural department.
LOOKING TOWARD THE FUTURE
Buildings :
The High School building will accommodate the upper six grades of the secondary school for at least five years, unless due to unforeseen circumstances there should be a large influx of pupils of secondary school age. The emphasis, then, in school building con- struction falls upon the elementary school. What is the situation in that school ?
The consolidation of the seventh and eighth grade pupils in the new Junior-Senior High School released one room in the Feeding Hills School building. This room is available for any immediate growth in the Hills section of the town.
The place of most rapid pupil growth in our town is the Plains section, now known as West Agawam. There is one va- cant classroom in the Plains School building, which room will be brought into use the coming school year. From present indications, by the end of two years, there will be a need for additional school accommodations in the Plains section.
All of the rooms in the North Agawam School building are in use, but there is no overcrowding in any room. There is a prospect that the school building will house the normal pupil increase in that part of the town for a few years.
The influx of the fourth grade pupils from the South School and Suffield Street School to the Agawam Center School has re- sulted in overflow rooms in the fifth and sixth grades of said school. This overflow was quite a serious housing problem at the start of the school year in September and necessitated the employ-
92
ment of an extra teacher. Present indications are that this over- flow will continue and increase in proportion in years to come. This situation raises the question of additional school accommoda- tions in Agawam Center. The elementary school building at the Center is in good condition, but it is not a building to which fur- ther additions can be satisfactorily made. If such were the case, I should recommend that a commodious addition be built to the Center School, and that all of the pupils in that section of the town be housed in one building. Such a procedure would make it possible to close the South School and the Suffield Street School- one room buildings. For by aid of transportation, these pupils could be transported to the Center School. I am not advocating 'in this case the abolition of the "little red schoolhouse" on the ground of inefficiency, for I feel certain that the work accomplished in the one room schools of Agawam is praiseworthy. The trend of mod- ern education is to eliminate the one room school as rapidly as the town in question can conveniently do so. There are special reasons why the South School should not be used much longer ; namely, the building is located in a danger zone, and the building is in the last stage of repairs.
There is another possible solution to the building problem in Agawam Center; that'is, to build in the vicinity of the South End Bridge-in the Meadow Street section. A four room build- ing in this part of the town would draw enough of the pupils from the present building at Agawam Center so that the pupils now in the rural schools could be transported to the Center. In which case, the one room schools at Suffield Street and the South End could be closed. Such a building would also solve in part meas- ure the problem of transportation which becomes more vexatious each year.
I have presented the above facts in regard to school building construction in the light of the present growth in the pupil en- rollment in the various parts of the town, and in view of the pres- ent building program in the town. In my judgment, the school enrollment in the elementary schools can be housed for at least two years with the present building accommodations.
TRANSPORTATION
The transportation of school children has made rapid strides during the last few years, not only in Massachusetts but in all
93
parts of the United States. Much of this growth has been due to the consolidation of schools. The gradual usurpation of the high- ways by the automobile has also been a contributing factor in this increase of transportation.
The Massachusetts law in regard to the distance beyond which transportation is obligatory upon a town is not definite. The practice of the State in controversial cases has been to set two miles as the school zone. The policy of the different towns of the State has been divergent from this distance. Some towns trans- port all the pupils living more than a mile from the school build- ings; other towns transport all the elementary school children liv- ing more than a mile and a half from the buildings and such, in- deed, is the policy of most of the towns in the vicinity of Agawam. Agawam at present transports all the year most of the pupils living more than two miles from the elementary schools. The pupils at- tending the seventh and eighth grades in the Junior High receive transportation if they live more than a mile and a half from the High School. The children of the elementary schools, during the winter months, are transported without reference to distance. It will be readily seen that this program of transportation is more or less piecemeal. Transportation in this form has persisted because the opinion has prevailed that it is less expensive, and there is no doubt but that said system of transportation is ideal for the win- ter months. There are one or two defects in the program which have received considerable attention in recent years. During the fall and spring months there has been a large number of absentees on stormy days from the children of families that are located at a distance from school, and in particular is this true of the children enrolled in the primary grades.
Some of the roads in Agawam Center are subjected to heavy automobile traffic-for instance, Meadow and Main Streets. Both of these thoroughfares are congested mornings and afternoons by school pupils on their way to and from school. This situation has brought numerous complaints from the passing autoists and from parents. The question of transportation thus forges to the front.
There are two salient points to be considered in any proposed change in policy of transportation. In the first place, transporta- tion should be placed on an all year basis; that is, during the period
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the schools are in session. Such a program would make it possible for the driver to consider the job of sufficient importance to war- rant the purchase of proper equipment for transporting the chil- dren. Again, the distance of transportation should be firmly es- tablished.
Honest thinking leads promptly to the conclusion that in these days, under present traffic conditions, a walk of two miles to school is rather far for children of the primary grades, even in good weather. The most acceptable plan of transportation places the minimum distance of transportation for elementary school children at one mile. This plan of transportation is also the most costly, and for that reason the limit of one and one-half miles is recommended for Agawam for the fall and spring months. During the winter months, the distance of transportation for the primary children should be set at one mile. In other words, all children of ele- mentary school age living at a distance of one and one-half miles, or at a greater distance from school should receive transportation for the entire school year. Those pupils of the first three grades living between one mile and one mile and a half should receive transportation during the months of January, February and March.
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