USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Hamilton > Town of Hamilton Annual Report 1930 > Part 4
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ARTICLE 11. To see if the Town will appropriate the sum of $50.00 to purchase land on Lorenzo Street as laid out by the Selectmen.
ARTICLE 12. To see what action the Town will take in connection with the rebuilding of Pine Street and to appro- priate a sum of money for same as petitioned for by Addison B. Towle and others.
ARTICLE 13. To see if the Town will grade and oil Maple Street and build two catch basins one on each corner of Maple and Arlington Streets, connecting same with pipes with drain on Asbury Street and appropriate a sum of money for same, as petitioned for by Haven S. Berry and others.
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WARRANT FOR TOWN MEETING
ARTICLE 14. To see if the Town will vote to oil Cottage Street and appropriate the sum of Two hundred Fifty Dol- lars ($250.00) for same or take any action thereon as peti- tioned for by Everett A. Hurd and others.
ARTICLE 15. To see if the Town will oil the surface of Farms Road beginning at Main Street and going as far as the overhead grade or as much further as may be possible as petitioned for by Dexter R. Hunneman and others.
ARTICLE 16. To see if the Town will vote to appropriate the sum of $3,000.00 to extend the pipe and hydrant line on Railroad Avenue and Union Street.
ARTICLE 17. To hear the report of the special committee appointed at the last town meeting to consider the advis- ability of the Town constructing and equipping a new High School Building and take any action thereon.
ARTICLE 18. To see if the Town will appropriate a sum of money to reimburse the architects, Morse and Dickinson, for the plans furnished and services rendered by them to the special committee appointed at the last town meeting for the purpose of reporting on the advisability of erecting a new High School Building.
ARTICLE 19. To see if the Town will vote to construct and equip a new High School Building, to be erected on the Dorothy Winthrop Memorial Lot, and appropriate and raise by borrowing and otherwise such sums of money as may be necessary for said purpose, or take any action relative thereto.
ARTICLE 20. To see if the Town will vote to appropriate the principal and accumulated income therefrom of the Max- well Norman Fund, so called, to be applied to the cost of con-
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HAMILTON TOWN REPORT
structing and equipping a new High School upon the Dorothy Winthrop Memorial Lot in Hamilton, on condition that some feature of the New High School be named after the donor of the said fund.
ARTICLE 21. To see if the Town will vote to appropriate the sum of One Hundred Eighty and 50/100 Dollars ($180.50) to reimburse Fred F. Stillings for payment of hos- pital bills and physician bills occasioned by accident to him while serving as a traffic officer, as petitioned for by Arthur Southwick and others.
ARTICLE 22. To see if the Town will vote to discontinue, the Town Way known as Cross Street, leading off the Westerly side of Highland Street and authorize the Select- men to release any interest the Town may have in said way, as petitioned for by Mary Weld Pingree and others.
ARTICLE 23. To see if the Town will appropriate the sum of $1,400.00 to paint the outside of the Town Hall and repair and paint certain parts of interior.
ARTICLE 24. To see if the Town will appropriate the sum of $1,382.99, this being the Town's share of the net cost of care and maintenance of the Essex County Tuberculosis Hos- pital as assessed by the County of Essex agreeable to Chapter 443 of the Acts 1924 and all acts and amendments thereto.
ARTICLE 25. To see if the Town will appropriate the sum of $828.61, being the Town's portion of the cost of the addi- tion to the Essex County Tuberculosis Hospital, assessed agree- able to the provisions of Chapter 251 of the Acts of 1929.
ARTICLE 26. To see if the Town will authorize the Treasurer, with the approval of the Selectmen, to borrow dur-
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WARRANT FOR TOWN MEETING
ing the municipal year beginning January 1, 1932, in antici- pation of the revenue of said municipal year, such sums of money as may be necessary to meet the current expenses of the Town, giving the note or notes of the Town therefor, any debt or debts incurred under this vote to be paid from revenue of said municipal year.
ARTICLE 27. To see if the Town will authorize the Col- lector to use all means of collecting taxes which a Town Treasurer, when appointed Collector, may use agreeable to Chapter 41, Section 37, of the General Laws.
ARTICLE 28. To act on any other matter that may legally come before said meeting.
And you are directed to serve this warrant by posting attested copies thereof, one at the Town Hall and one at each of the three post offices in said Town, seven days at least before the time of holding said meeting.
Hereof fail not and make due return of this warrant with your doings thereon to the Town Clerk, at the time and place of holding said meeting.
Given under our hands this 9th day of February A. D. 1931.
JONATHAN LAMSON, ARTHUR C. CUMMINGS,
GEORGE E. SMITH, Selectmen of Hamilton.
To the Citizens of the Town of Hamilton.
Ladies and Gentlemen :- The Committee appointed to inves- tigate the need of a High School building respectfully submits the following report and recommendations.
The Committee has visited the present school plant several times and examined the condition very carefully, giving special attention to the conditions noted in a report from the Principal and Superintendent of Schools appended herewith, and it found the facts contained therein to be substantially correct.
As a result of its visits. the Committee voted unanimously that there is a pressing need of increased accommodations for the pupils in the school system of the town of Hamilton at the present time. The Committee engaged the firm of Morse and Dickinson of Haverhill. Massachusetts. to assist them in a study of the needs. and the preparation of study sketches and esti- mates.
It was deemed advisable to study :-
(1) The possibility of enlarging the present South School building.
(2) The erection of an entirely new high school building on the Dorothy Winthrop Memorial lot.
It made visits to view the schools erected by other towns which showed that satisfactory buildings could be built within the appropriation suggested.
After several meetings, at which both ideas were thoroughly discussed. the Committee voted unanimously :-
"In view of the fact that the Committee has investigated the housing situation of the schools of the Town of Hamilton and has unanimously agreed that there is an urgent need for in- creased accommodations. that the Committee on investigating the need of a new high school building, report to said Town that
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REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON NEW HIGH SCHOOL
the construction of a new high school building is the best method of relieving the crowded conditions that exist within the school system, the cost of said building, which should be of practically class "A" construction, not to exceed $125,000. fully equipped, which they believe can be done."
There is at the disposal of the Town a fund of some $11,300. generously left by the late Maxwell Norman for any purpose which the Town may consider advisable. The Committee feels that the Maxwell Norman Fund might well be spent toward defraying, in part. the expense of building a new school build- ing,-some prominent feature of which should be made a memorial to his generosity.
The Committee finds that both money and materials are cheaper at the present time than they have been for several years. Therefore, it seems to be a most advantageous time to build.
The Committee feels that the most advantageous method of financing is that the Town issue Town Bonds, these to be coupon bonds and serial (a designated number and amount to come due and payable each year), payment to be distributed over a period of twenty years. That the bonds, if issued. bo sold as one block under sealed proposals and to the highest bid- der, which method should insure our Town to secure the highest market price for the issue at time of sale.
As to the increased cost of maintaining a new school, the school authorities have submitted figures of which the following is the substance :
Janitor Service $1,500 00 900 00
Fuel
Supplies
250 00
Electricity 200 00
Repairs
500 00
$3,350 00
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HAMILTON TOWN REPORT
Less cost of maintaining
two annexes :
Janitor
$800 00
Fuel & Light
632 00
Repairs
256 00
Supplies
53 00
Removal of ashes
4 00
Insurance
125 00
1,900 00
$1.450 00
To this must be added the annual retirement of 1-20 $110.000-20 year 4% bonds 5.500 00
Interest upon this while averaging $2.200. per annum for the 20 years will begin with $4,400. diminishing to $220. for the final year 1.400 00
A total varying the first year from 11.350 00
7.170 00 To
According to present valuation for each $5.500. raised by taxation. the tax rate is increased $1.00 per $1.000. valuation. The school authorities state no additional principals. super- visors or teachers would be needed unless there should be a much larger increase in high school enrollment than there has been in the past ten years. Any increase in salaries would be identical under both circumstances.
The transfer of pupils of the higher grades from the present school building to a new school would leave room in the present building sufficient to care for the pupils of the East school. Discontinuance of this school would leave a favorable balance of
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REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON NEW HIGH SCHOOL
about $1,000. after deducting the cost of transportation of pupils from the present cost of maintenance.
Respectfully submitted, JONATHAN LAMSON, Chairman. FREDERICK C. HOLLAND, Secretary. GEO. S. MANDELL BAYARD TUCKERMAN, JR. FRANK P. TRUSSELL CLARISSA E. READY ROBERT ROBERTSON, JR.
While I agree with the report submitted by the investigating committee, I wish to state my position in regard to the closing of the Adelaide D. Walsh School.
I emphatically do not favor the closing of said school, for I feel that the relative small financial saving involved in such a step does not warrant the inconvenience and trouble forced upon pupils attending that school. I feel that the Town should re- ceive its full value from the investment involved in that build- ing and thus feel that it should be kept open.
Respectfully submitted, JONATHAN LAMSON.
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HAMILTON TOWN REPORT
The following report on the existing conditions in the South School Building was submitted to the Committee on Investigat- ing the needs of a new High School by the Principal and Super- intendent of the Schools of Hamilton.
"In determining the fitness of a school plant, the sole cri- terion is the adequacy with which it meets the educational needs of the pupils who work in it. Modern education has seven goals which represent seven actual pupil needs. These goals are well recognized and are nationally accepted, having been pub- lished by the Federal Bureau of Education.
They are :
Health. Ethical Character. Citizenship. Worthy Home Membership.
Command of Fundamental Processes.
Vocational Training. Worthwhile Use of Leisure Time.
The facts about. the building now in use are presented under these seven headings and are summarized in tabular and graphic forms.
Goal I HEALTH.
1. There is no room where corrective exercises can take place.
2. There is no gymnasium for physical training and super- vised play.
3. There are 8 instances each day when class rooms are over crowded.
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REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON NEW HIGH SCHOOL
4. Once each week over 90 pupils are in a room 36x34 for one period. The air is always fetid at the close of this time.
5. Toilet rooms for pupils are inconveniently placed in base- ment and are dark and poorly ventilated.
6. Upon occasions the toilet odor is noticeable in class rooms, on the first and second floors.
7. The kitchen is beside the girls' toilet and the wall is not odor proof.
8. Boys must pass through the girls' toilet to reach the laboratory.
9. 240 pupil recitations a day are held in basement rooms where there is insufficient light and ventilation.
10. The office of the nurse is in one corner of that of the superintendent. It is not near the dental room. No provision is made for the storage of first aid supplies.
11. There is no provision for a rest room and toilet for teachers.
12. The two-room annex was stated to contain too little air per pupil in 1911, but the State allowed the building to be used with the understanding that the use would be only temporary.
13. 52 pupils bringing lunches to school have no special place to eat them and no hot food is provided.
GOAL II-ETHICAL CHARACTER
No definite plan of moral training can be used without op- portunity for the pupils to form intimate informal contacts with their teachers. No place is available for this.
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HAMILTON TOWN REPORT
Goal III-CITIZENSHIP
1. No opportunity is provided for the whole school to meet as a group and to develop social consciousness and civic pride.
2. There is no space for adequate club meetings, class meet- ings, and student assemblies where citizenship may be prac- ticed.
3. The Civic class is held in the kitchen.
Goal IV-WORTHY HOME MEMBERSHIP.
1. Boys studying household repairing are handicapped by cramped shop room.
2. Girls who are studying the domestic arts have inadequate rooms for this purpose.
3. There is little or no opportunity for training, either di- rectly or indirectly, any other than the above two groups, which include but a fraction of the school.
Goal V-COMMAND OF FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES.
1. Four classes are too large for efficient instruction; yet there is no space available for part of these groups.
2. The 240 pupil recitations held in the basement are educa- tionally inefficient.
3. There are three periods during the day when pupils must study in the same room with pupils who are reciting.
4. In seven instances classes are held in rooms that are equipped for several purposes which make them unfit for other work. These rooms are unavailable at these periods for the special use intended.
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REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON NEW HIGH SCHOOL
5. English classes meet in 3 different rooms.
6. History classes meet in 4 different rooms.
7. Mathematics classes meet in 4 different rooms.
8. Language classes meet in 2 different rooms.
9. Commercial classes meet in 5 different rooms.
10. No room is provided for drawing instructions.
11. There is no school library worthy its name.
Goal VI-VOCATIONAL TRAINING.
1. The shop is too small to house the equipment needed for adequate instruction.
2. There is no room for storage of stock.
3. There is no provision for classes in sewing and home making. These classes use the kitchen.
4. The typing room is not large enough to seat all pupils wishing to acquire this skill, and is so noisy it disturbs pupils in the adjoining room.
5. Adequate class work in occupational study is impossible as no room is available for this.
Goal VII-WORTHWHILE USE OF LEISURE TIME.
1. Music appreciation class of over 90 in a small room.
2. Art appreciation in crowded room.
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HAMILTON TOWN REPORT
SUMMARY
First portion of building erected 1897
Addition built 1906
Annex built 1910
Portable building set up 1921
New High School recomemnded
1905-1910-1916-1920
Enrollment, average no. of classes per day per pupils-pupil recitations per day, 175. 5 1-2, 962.
Pupil recitations per day in the basement 211
Percent of school work carried on in basement 21%
Percent of pupils reciting at least once a week in base- ment 53%
Pupil recitations per day in over crowded rooms 180
Percent of school work carried on in over crowded rooms 18%
Pupil recitations in special rooms not suited for class work 129
Percent of school work in unsuitable rooms 13%
REPORT OF TRUSTEES OF PUBLIC LIBRARY
The Trustees report a most satisfactory year in the con- duct of the Public Library. Every effort has been made to comply with the ever-increasing demand for various books and magazines, most particularly fiction.
There has also been a request from the Superintendent of Schools for the installation of a new reading course for the children, which the Trustees will endeavor to install as sea- sonably as the library appropriation permits.
In view of the proposal to build a new high school the Trustees wish to suggest, if the plan be adopted by the Town, that consideration be given to the question of transferring the Branch Library in South Hamilton to the proposed new building. This would insure a saving to the Town of approxi- mately three hundred and fifty dollars a year.
The Library circulation has now reached over twenty thou- sand, exclusive of magazines, and the Community Room in the Town Hall still continues to justify its establishment and is in more or less steady use for events of a social nature.
The Trustees during the past year have felt that the appro- priation of 1930 was inadequate, owing to the increased demand for the purchase of books, and the additional work imposed upon the Librarian, justifying an increase of one hundred ($100.00) dollars in her salary for the year, and request an appropriation of twenty-five hundred ($2500.00) dollars for the year 1931.
Thanks for the gifts of books and magazines are extended by the Trustees on behalf of the Town to the donors.
The Trustees take this opportunity to suggest to those dis-
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HAMILTON TOWN REPORT
posed to make public bequests that the Public Library is a most worthy object.
For statistics, etc., reference may be had to the report of the Librarian.
ROBERT B. WALSH, Chairman. ARTHUR W. CHANDLER, EDWARD A. UNDERHILL, Secretary.
LIBRARIAN'S REPORT
To the Trustees of the Public Library:
Gentlemen: My eleventh annual report is herewith sub- mitted.
The Public Library is free, and tries to be of service to everyone. Anyone wishing for a special book may write the name and title in the card provided at the desk and the Trustees will buy it if the appropriation allows and they approve the book.
There are two things necessary for a good library. First, to provide suitable books in every subject anybody wants to know about; second, and most important of all, to have them cared for and distributed by a staff able to help the readers find what they want and to help those who do not know just what they want.
The books are selected from the American Library catalog and from special lists of new books as sent the Library by publishers. In making selections of books for the junior department of the Library the Trustees have been guided by lists published by several of the larger libraries, also by the Youngstown list.
The Librarian was authorized to send "date due" cards, and books were quickly returned upon receipt of the same.
The Librarian is always glad to assist readers in reference work. In one case it was possible to provide material after visits to two larger libraries were unfruitful.
Material has been borrowed from the State Library on three different occasions, for use in school work, and also from the Beverly Library and Salem Library. These were all works of non-fiction.
11.
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HAMILTON TOWN REPORT
The juvenile record of books for the year has been pleas- ing. There have been two exhibitions of pictures during the past year.
The Community Room is still in great demand for parties and meetings.
The Main Library is open Wednesdays and Saturdays and the Branch Library Tuesdays and Fridays, from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 p. m.
Respectfully submitted,
LYDIA L. HARADEN, Librarian.
STATISTICS
Circulation for 1930
21,176
Main 4,886
Adult
16,212
Branch
12,469
Juvenile
4,964
Schools 3,821
Magazines 1,489
Main 958
Branch 531
Added to Library, 539 books; gifts 28, purchased 511.
Sent to Branch
Fines collected
$34.89
Branch $24.89
Main $10.00
Volumes in Library December 31, 1930 12,639
TOWN OF HAMILTON
REPORT
OF THE Finance and Advisory Committee ON THE Appropriations and Articles
FOR THE
ANNUAL TOWN MEETING
MARCH 10, 1931
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SALEM, MASS. NEWCOMB & GAUSS CO., Printers 1931
REPORT OF FINANCE AND ADVISORY COMMITTEE
To the Citizens of Hamilton:
The demands on the Town treasury for the year 1931 are larger than ever before.
If the Town should vote to appropriate all the funds re- quested, the total would be $180,879, against a total of $158,- 107 spent in 1930-an increase of over $22,000. This would mean a $4.00 increase in tax rates.
If the new School Building is voted, that will call for an- other $2.15 tax increase for the year 1932-a total possible increase of $6.15 on the taxes in two years.
Your Committee, with the co-operation of the Selectmen, by keeping departmental budgets at their 1930 level, by charging the 1930 overdraft to surplus, and certain other recommenda- tions, has reduced the total from $180,489 to $160,000.
As to the necessity or wisdom of these sundry appropriations we are of the opinion, in view of business depression, etc., that the tax rate should be the dominating factor, and that the Town should regulate the total appropriations for the year 1931 so as to avoid a tax increase.
If this advice is followed, and even if the new school is built, the tax can still be kept at a small increase in 1932 by curtailing in 1932 on the amount put into permanent roads and side roads in South Hamilton.
In view of prevailing economic conditions it is our duty to impress upon the minds of the taxpayers-and every citizen is directly or indirectly a taxpayer-the fact that whatever the total bill may amount to, the people will pay every dollar of it.
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HAMILTON TOWN REPORT
The old and erroneous view that work done by the govern- ment "doesn't cost anybody anything," or that the greater part of the expense of public works is borne by the wealthier part of the citizenry, still persists. It would be well for us to get rid of this idea entirely, for it is not true and never has been true. This cost is borne by everybody and a large part of it by those who are least able to pay.
We would have every citizen realize that he, personally- and not the Town in some vague way-is contributing as a taxpayer. We would have every one sharply conscious of this fact, but also as a means of checking any tendency there might be toward unwise measures or Town extravagance.
The wealthy, the moderately wealthy, as well as those who have difficulty in making both ends meet, will have to pay their share of the cost of whatever measures are undertaken.
We would at the same time have everyone alert, through per- sonal interest, to see that every dollar appropriated and spent performs the fullest possible measure of its intended purpose. And this is most likely to be achieved if we are conscious at all times that we, the people, are in reality the public treasury.
The Committee members thought it best to express their individual views on the question of the new school building, as we all agreed in principle but not as to method. Their statements follow :
"The parents and voters of Hamilton are entitled to more intimate knowledge of the entire school problem before they are obliged to vote for a new building.
"We know' our teaching is not commensurate with the high per capita cost. If our methods are poor-let them also be corrected now-let us not move old methods into new quarters.
"We all sincerely want working conditions for the children improved. and by the fall of 1932. but we should not act be-
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REPORT OF FINANCE AND ADVISORY COMMITTEE
fore we are convinced that every alternative has been carefully considered, and that the very best solution has been reached.
"I do not think this possible unless a committee be given money to hire impartial experts to make a complete survey of conditions and methods and that they report back to a special meeting with recommendations, within three months.
"G. v. L. MEYER."
"I believe that there are several phases of the school situa- tion which the committee appointed at the last annual town meeting should have investigated.
"The erection by the town of a new building and moving the present corps of teachers with exactly the same courses of study does not necessarily mean that the pupils are going to receive any better education than they are now getting.
"The forming of a school district and the erection of a union school has been very successful in other parts of the United States. By this method a number of small towns can combine and support a high school which will give the pupils an education equal to any of the high schools in the larger cities, and the quality of the education received by the pupils is the only yardstick by which the various propositions should be measured.
"(signed) WILLIAM W. BANCROFT."
"In view of the fact that seven of our representative citizens, after a thorough investigation, have unanimously recommended the building of a new High School, and knowing the conditions that exist in the present building, I feel that we should accept their report and build a new high school.
"On account of the low money market and the lowered cost of building materials, it would seem most advantageous to start this work as soon as the building committee could, after
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