USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Hamilton > Town of Hamilton Annual Report 1933 > Part 6
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164
HAMILTON TOWN REPORT
Article No. 10. This is to complete an uncompleted proj- ect and should be done, but we recommend as under Article No. 9 that this be laid on the table, the Selectmen having also agreed to fix this as an Unemployment Project.
Article No. 12. Having, at the request of the Library Committee, inspected the lighting of the stacks in the library at the Town Hall, we found the lighting to be very poor, and we recommend that the sum of $200.00 be appropriated for a new lighting system.
WILLIAM W. BANCROFT, Chairman GEORGE v. L. MEYER JOHN H. PERKINS STANDISH BRADFORD WILLIAM S. FORBES
ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
OF THE
TOWN OF HAMILTON®
FOR THE YEAR
1933
MASSA
LA
EX
A
MILTON
. HAM
TTS.
· INC
1793.
SALEM, MASS. NEWCOMB & GAUSS CO., PRINTERS 1934
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE
Citizens of the Town of Hamilton:
Your School Committee presents herewith a report of the operation of your School Department for 1933, together with recommendations for the future.
The year 1933 has been one of the most trying periods in the history of public education. Educators are aware of the economic situation and of the fact that school systems had many frills attached to them during "boom" days which had no place in a system during economic depression. Your School Committee has eliminated the "frills" and has retained only the essential features of education. We repeat from our report of 1931 ". .. as your school department directly and indirectly affects the largest per- centage of individuals in this community, the operations of the Committee during the past year have been with the sole purpose of 'the greatest good to the greatest number.' "
EDUCATIONAL
The one agency of society that must come through this economic depression is the Public School System. It is our one guarantee of the intrenchment and maintenance of high American standards of living. Education is the clear-cut medium for their preserva- tion and for the enlightenment of future citizens.
The responsibility of administering a Public Educational Sys- tem is great and we are charged with the main objective of pro- viding society with useful and good citizens. The faculty of the schools of the Town of Hamilton are fully aware of their respon- sibility, and their united response to this objective has been sin- cere and successful during 1933. Their system of teaching has been adapted to meet changing conditions. New courses have been offered to make the training for citizenship more complete. Modern textbooks have been purchased to provide our students
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HAMILTON TOWN REPORT
with the best material available. Introduction and purchase of textbooks has been cautious because of necessity.
Registration in the High School increased twenty-four pupils over that in 1932. This fact presented us with the problem of larger classes which would not allow teachers to present their best efforts to all of the pupils. Many problems arose which were a result of this condition. Therefore, it was deemed advisable by your Committee to appoint a new teacher to the faculty, one who would relieve overcrowded classes and overworked teachers and also take over the duties of coaching varsity athletics. This procedure was consistent with our purpose of "the greatest good to the greatest number."
Your School Department has an excellent faculty which is do- ing fundamental work with the pupils in character training. Students who receive passing grades in Hamilton compare favor- ably with students covering the same material in other communi- ties and in many instances our standards are higher. We are constantly endeavoring to raise the standards of education in Hamilton in order to conform with the best systems in the State.
Financial assistance from the Federal government was received by your Committee, so that a Nursery School has been introduced in cooperation with the Town of Wenham. If this additional feature of our school system is successful and desired by the citi- zens, we hope it will become permanent.
Discipline is of fundamental importance in the conduct of an educational system. We strive to have discipline in our schools firm yet humane.
The Junior High School is the transition period from Inter- mediate grades to Senior High School, each child is treated as an individual.
Hamilton Junior High School is partially devoted to the prob- lem of the slow child. It is child conscious. In addition to regular prescribed courses for average pupils we operate special
5
SCHOOL REPORT
classes of instruction for those students so that they will approach the results of the average student in Hamilton and not force us to reduce our standards to the detriment of many. This feature has been successful in our system. The procedure is elastic in that as soon as a pupil attains the prevailing standard he is pro- moted to the regular class. Sickness, absence, social functions, and outside interests contribute much to failures. To reduce these failures and have a more standard system, we maintain these classes.
BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS
The school buildings are maintained in good physical condi- tion. Last year the exterior of the South School was painted, as well as the interior of two classrooms and the hallways. With the assistance and cooperation of the Unemployment Committee, the outside trimming, two classrooms, hallways, and basement in the Adelaide Dodge Walsh School were painted and repaired. Minor repairs to school property were made during the year.
PHYSICAL TRAINING
Varsity athletics and physical training are now a permanent department in our school system. It is another department; it has no more importance than any other. It is school controlled, receiving the same attention that any other department of your school system deserves. Its educational value lies in the body- building results. To quote from the report of your School Com- mittee of 1932: "The most important feature in a Physical Edu- cation program is not the victorious team on the field, but equal opportunity to each student to participate in some form of physical exercise and learn the true value of sportsmanship."
FINANCIAL
The most vexing problem confronting us during 1933 was reduced finances and increased enrollment. The additional stu-
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HAMILTON TOWN REPORT
dents in the High School required the purchase of additional books because the increase was not anticipated to be as large as resulted.
For the year 1933 your Committee received an appropriation of $41,890.46, including the dog tax, to operate the school system. By careful and conservative operating, we were able to keep within this amount.
The town of Hamilton, during 1933, was reimbursed by the State Department of Education the sum of $3,430. which brings our net school cost down to $38,460.46 for the year of 1933, show- ing the largest reduction in the expenditures for schools which has been made in years. This is particularly outstanding as we have three buildings to operate instead of two as formerly.
At the present time several tuition pupils from the town of Wenham are attending our High School. The tuition charge is $105. per pupil.
We ask for an appropriation to finance the School Department for 1934 of $41,808.60, including the dog tax. in contrast with an appropriation of $41,933.74 for 1933. This shows a reduction of $125.14 over the past year and indicates a cost, based on regis- tration in September of 1933, of $97.50 per pupil as compared with a cost of approximately $105. per pupil in 1933.
For your information and approval, we submit our 1933 budget in comparison with our 1934 budget.
1933 Budget
1934 Budget
Salaries
$31,999 16
$33,418 60
Textbooks and supplies
1.565 00
1,525 00
Fuel
1,600 00
1,725 00
Electricity and Gas
600 00
450 00
Janitors' Supplies
235 00
235 00
Maintenance
950 00
400 00
SCHOOL REPORT
Transportation New Equipment Miscellaneous
4,436 30
3,515 00
200 00
150 00
275 00
390 00
$41,860 46 $41,808 60
The contract for transportation of school children was awarded during 1933. Previously the charge to the Town was $23.98 per day or $4,436.50 per year. The new three-year contract places this cost at $19.00 per day or approximately $3515. per year. Nearly all purchases have been made on a competitive basis, which has been reflected in reduced operating costs.
In anticipation of higher prices and in order to furnish our Domestic Science Department with the necessary equipment to take care of its enlarged enrollment we are recommending a special appropriation of $600.
GENERAL
You have a school system of which you may be proud. It is a fundamental improvement over ten years ago, is abreast of the times, and is emphasizing the Cardinal Principles of Education. Harmony is the fundamental spirit for the success of any school system.
We wish to thank parents, town officers, faculty, students, and citizens, for their sincere cooperation during the past year.
Respectfully submitted,
FREDERICK C. HOLLAND, Chairman JAMES H. CONWAY, Secretary ROBERT ROBERTSON, JR.
8
HAMILTON TOWN REPORT
REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS
To the School Committee,
Dear Sirs :
My eleventh annual report is herewith presented for your con- sideration.
ENROLLMENT-SEPTEMBER, 1933
Grade
South
Adelaide Dodge Walsh
High
1
32
2
2
33
3
3
32
5
4
32
5
5
32
4
6
32
ry
39
200 8
30
9
39
10
40
11
41
12
19
Post Graduates
5
Total
193
26
213
Grand Total
432
PROMOTIONS
Promotion reports in June showed that 191 pupils received full promotions, 6 pupils received conditional promotions, while 29 were not promoted.
This number not promoted was exceptionally high but in every
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SCHOOL REPORT
case the pupil was given the benefit of the doubt, if his promotion seemed to hang in the balance, and if a promotion seemed justi- fied by all facts at hand.
In grades where possible, two or more divisions are made in the important subjects, that teaching methods and the amount of work required may vary according to the individual ability of the pupils. In cases where it is necessary to make more than two divisions, it is seldom that the pupils of the third division can accomplish the required work for promotion.
There being but one grade or division for regular work after reaching the seventh grade requires that our standards for promo- tion in the first six grades shall be exceptionally high.
It is far more important that pupils do a high grade of work in the elementary and junior high school than to just make the grade and fail utterly in the senior high school.
The records of pupils after leaving our schools seem to justify our procedure in requiring a high standard of work to obtain promotion.
NURSERY SCHOOL
Through aid provided by the Federal Government, a Nursery School has been established in the South School at Hamilton for children of Hamilton and Wenham. The school is to be con- ducted three hours on three mornings each week until June 30th. There are enrolled twenty-six from Hamilton and seven from Wenham. Wenham provides a share of the equipment for the school.
In case government funds are not available for continuance of this work after June 30, it is hoped that either the towns will find it possible to maintain the school as a part of the public school program or that parents of children of Nursery School age will provide the funds for continuing the work.
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HAMILTON TOWN REPORT
TEACHERS
We have been most fortunate in retaining the services of all full-time teachers employed in the grades and high school. At the close of schools in June, Miss Frances Stockley terminated her services as Art Supervisor. Miss Grace Jenkins of Andover, who had supervised art in the Wakefield schools for a number of years, was secured to devote one day monthly to teaching and supervising art in the elementary grades. It has been necessary to have all art teaching in the junior high school taught by one of the regular teachers.
By the reduction of the school budget the services of Miss Maude Thomas, the supervisor of music, were reduced to one day per month. Miss Thomas devotes this one day, monthly, to teaching and supervising music in the grades. Music in the high school is conducted by one of the regular teachers.
To provide the services of an extra teacher in the high school, Mr. Forrest Branch was elected to begin his services December 1st. Mr. Branch teaches science, supervises the study hall and coaches the varsity teams.
ADMITTANCE TO SCHOOL
Intelligence examinations were given to five children who were not of sufficient age according to the regulations of the School Committee to enter the schools in September. Three of these attained the required mark and were admitted.
REGULATIONS FOR APPROVAL OF HIGH SCHOOLS
The State Department of Education sets up standards for the approval of all high schools in the Commonwealth. High schools are approved annually as Class A or Class B. That the public may better understand the standards to be maintained for our high school to be rated as a Class A school, I give below excerpts from the regulations of 1933.
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SCHOOL REPORT
1. "A high school in Class A may certificate to a state teachers college or to the Massachusetts School of Art any graduate in subjects in which they have a mark of A or B."
2. "Exclusive of the principal, the number of teachers in the school should be such that in general the ratio of pupils in the membership of the school to teachers does not exceed thirty to one."
3. "In applying this regulation, the number of teachers per pupil shall be estimated as follows :
Each teacher devoting full time to the school shall be counted as one teacher even if such a teacher conducts more or less than twenty-five periods per week of teaching. Each teacher not devot- ing full time to the high school shall be counted as a fractional teacher and such fraction shall be obtained by dividing by twenty- five the number of periods per week of teaching conducted by the teacher."
4. "In schools of fewer than two hundred pupils, not over fifty per cent of the classes in the school shall contain more than twenty-five pupils each, and not over twenty-five per cent of the classes shall contain more than thirty pupils each. No class of more than thirty pupils shall be instructed by a teacher of less than two years' experience."
5. "The requirement for graduation shall be at least fifteen units. A unit represents a year's study in any subject in a secondary school, constituting approximately one-fourth of a full year's work. To count as a unit, the recitation periods shall aggregate approximately 120 sixty-minute hours. Shop or labora- tory periods count one-half as much as recitation periods."
6. "The efficiency of instruction and the general intellectual and moral tone of the school are of prime importance, and conse- quently the school must stand well in these respects in order to be rated in Class A."
7. "The lighting, heating, and ventilating of the rooms and the
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HAMILTON TOWN REPORT
methods of cleaning shall be such as to insure conditions recog- nized as hygienic by modern standards."
8. "The condition of the school building and its surroundings is an important factor in the influence of the high school. Hence the general appearance of the schoolrooms, halls, buildings, and yards, the care of books and supplies, and the condition of the blackboards, must receive proper attention."
9. "The number and character of classrooms, recitation rooms. and laboratories and the equipment of the school shall be such as may reasonably be expected in a Class _1 high school."
10. "All of the high schools which fail in important particulars to meet the above requirements especially those in Sections 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 9 shall be rated as Class B. schools.".
These regulations are but the minimum requirements for classification. It is not our purpose in conducting our school to assure ourselves that we have met the several regulations and then stop making progress. The principal and entire school faculty are endeavoring to provide as broad an educational pro- gram as is humanly possible that the students may be taught the fundamentals of the several subjects and be trained in assuming various responsibilities about the school that they may take a personal interest in school and enjoy the many opportunities pro- vided within the school organization.
POST GRADUATES
The number of pupils desiring to pursue a post-graduate course in high schools is continually increasing. Pupils pursuing a post- graduate course are either desirous of obtaining a more satisfac- tory preparation to do advanced study in other institutions or of pursuing studies to better prepare them for special gainful occu- pations. Standards for admission to educational institutions beyond high school are continually being raised, thereby making it more difficult to secure admission and to remain as a student
13
SCHOOL REPORT
after once accepted. Students should therefore avail themselves of every educational opportunity to further their preparation for work in advanced schools. Due to the depression, graduates of high schools are finding it very difficult to attend schools of their choice or to secure a position. Rather than waste their time they prefer to continue their studies in our high school.
The number of deserving young people desirous of furthering their education beyond high school, and to whom the cost pro- hibits if they must leave home has already been instrumental in the organization of junior colleges as a part of several city school systems. Such a plan is of course beyond reason for Hamilton. However, insofar as possible with our present teaching force, we should give as wide an offering of subjects as possible to meet the desires of all high school graduates who wish to improve their education at our school.
SCHOOL EXHIBIT
We propose to devote part of a day annually to demonstrating to parents the abilities of our pupils and quality of work accom- plished in the several grades.
Such an opportunity was afforded last May when a school exhibit was held at the South School.
One of the vacant classrooms was devoted to exhibit of school work. Here on walls and tables was displayed some work of every pupil. Parents expressed their amazement that such splen- did work is accomplished in the several subjects.
In another of the vacant rooms Miss Madeline Featherstone, who had given her services in supervising physical education throughout the elementary grades, conducted demonstrations in physical education.
In each classroom teachers conducted their regular classes and also staged some special work prepared for the occasion. Follow- ing the close of school tea was served parents by the teachers at
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HAMILTON TOWN REPORT
which time there was opportunity for parents to meet teachers and talk over school matters of mutual interest.
The attendance at the above exhibition of work was the largest in many years. The interest demonstrated by the parents war- rants our holding a similar exhibit this year.
HEALTH
Your Committee provides the services of a School Physician and School Nurse to conduct physical examinations, clinics, etc., for the purpose of detecting physical weaknesses and, as necessary, to instruct the parent or child in building up a resistance against any physical defect detected. As a result of the above preventive work by the physician and nurse our school children are, generally speaking, in excellent physical condition to do their school work.
Due to the fact that the health regulations of the town did not require that pupils excluded from school because of a contagious disease should be quarantined at home and due to the fact that many cases of illness were not diagnosed by a physician and therefore not reported to the Board of Health, the epidemic of whooping cough spread rapidly during the months of October and November.
Approximately one hundred children were excluded from the school. These pupils were absent from school three to ten weeks. Every possible effort is being made to allow these pupils to make up their back work, but doubtless there will be many cases where it will be impossible for pupil to bring the work up to a sufficient grade to warrant promotion in June.
Parents will be of inestimable assistance to our schools if chil- dren showing signs of illness are kept from school and away from those outside the family until the case is diagnosed by a physician or the child has recovered from the illness.
Regular school attendance is not required of pupils who should be at home rather than in school.
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SCHOOL REPORT
In closing I wish to express appreciation for the splendid cooperation I have received from the School Committee, the several organizations of the town, the parents and teachers in the work of administering the schools.
Respectfully submitted, JOHN D. WHITTIER
February 1, 1934.
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HAMILTON TOWN REPORT
REPORT OF HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL
Mr. John D. Whittier,
Superintendent of Schools,
South Hamilton, Massachusetts.
Dear Mr. Whittier :
I submit herewith my second annual report.
At the present time I feel that there is a very cooperative and sincere relationship existing between the teachers and pupils. This is very helpful and necessary for successful teaching. I am pleased with the choice of our School Committee in selecting Mr. Forrest Branch as a member of our teaching force. I trust that he will find his duties in Hamilton pleasant.
The activities which the school has sponsored during the past year have been guided by teachers who recognize and understand that there exist certain tastes and appreciations, knowledge and skills, habits and moral characteristics which are necessary to be developed in pupils for their increased happiness later in life. Realizing this, I have attempted to make every activity in the school measure up to this standard.
In the annual government speaking contest, sponsored by Mr. Elbridge R. Anderson and held in Wenham last spring, a junior high school team of four members won most of the individual prizes, as well as the team prize. The team prize, which was a beautiful cup, is now proudly exhibited in my office and we hope that those who represent our school in the contest this year may score sufficient points that Hamilton can retain this cup for an- other year.
During the latter part of May, the school sent a small select group of track men to Fitchburg to compete in the State Relay Carnival. Hamilton won both relay races in its class and thus not only brought home a banner as the prize for each race. but
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SCHOOL REPORT
a beautiful trophy as the team prize. The banners are now hang- ing on our gymnasium walls. We were proud to have these boys bring honor to Hamilton High School.
The varsity baseball team was supplied with new uniforms last spring. The suits are of excellent quality and should last several seasons. It was also necessary to outfit our basketball team with new uniforms, since this was the first season that the school had sponsored this sport. These two items meant heavy expense in the athletic department last year. Football is always expensive: because of the necessity of frequent replacement of equipment. With great satisfaction however, I can say that the school had met all its financial obligations at the close of school in June.
In recognition of participation in inter-school athletic contests, the school offers to both boys and girls, a varsity letter "H" which may be worn by the receiver. The type of letter given varies in each of the three major sports. In football we offer the full- block; in basketball the plain letter; and in baseball an Old English type. These letters are six inches in height and are made of green chenille on a white felt background. Our present policy is to award but a single letter of any one type to a boy or girl. The second and each succeeding time that the same pupil earns a letter in the same sport, he is awarded a bar. This bar is made of material similar to the letter and may be worn under the letter. This then signifies that the boy or girl has earned the right to wear this letter as many seasons as he has bars plus the letter. If a pupil earns the equivalent of a letter in the same sport each season that he has been in the high school, we award a star to him in his senior year.
The Hamiltonian, our school magazine, was issued as a gradua- tion number last June. It was a splendidly assembled paper and was well received by the townspeople. It contained forty pages of printed matter, twelve half-tone pictures, the majority of which I took myself as a means of saving expense, and a special cover.
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HAMILTON TOWN REPORT
This magazine, which cost approximately $150 to print, was man- aged in such a manner as to be financially self-supporting.
On the twenty-second of June, twenty-one pupils were gradu- ated from the senior high school. The program was very impres- sive. The graduates who spoke centered their orations around a unit theme: "Our School." A feature of the program was the formal acceptance of the school grounds which were given to the Town by Mr. Frederick Winthrop as a memorial to his wife, Dorothy Winthrop. A picture of the memorial gates, which are at the entrances to the grounds, also a gift of this same generous citizen, adorned the first page of the graduation program.
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