USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Hamilton > Town of Hamilton Annual Report 1956 > Part 10
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Again the requirements of adequately operating a public school system for the education of our children will call for another budget increase for the year 1957.
The School Committee wishes to express its sincere appreciation to the town officers, citizens, and the Parent-Teacher Association for their splendid help and interest during the past year.
We also wish to congratulate our Superintendent of Schools, the Principals, our faculty and other school employees for their fine coopera- tion and the conscientious manner in which our school program has been carried out.
Respectfully submitted, ALLAN MacCURRACH, Chairman GRACE B. LAMSON FREDERICK J. CALDWELL
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REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS
To the School Committee:
I am pleased to submit herewith my fifth annual report, the fifty- fifth in the series of superintendents' annual reports to the Hamilton School Committee.
Continuing the pattern established in my previous reports, I shall review the accomplishments of the year in each of several important areas which make up the total operation of our school system.
The Staff
The success of our schools is based firmly upon the quality of our total staff. Each employee has an exacting responsibility. The School Committee selects and retains each one on the basis of his ability to make a major contribution to the aims and objectives of our schools. In these days of teacher shortage it is not easy to meet our demanding selection criteria, but we count it as a major achievement that we have not been forced to temporize with our high standards.
It has been necessary to intensify the search for qualified personnel and our quest takes us far afield. During the spring and summer months a major portion of the superintendent's time is devoted to this vitally important work. Replacements and additions to our staff have been suc- cessfully made and we point with pride to the able people who have joined our ranks.
The School Committee has been very much aware of the slowly changing financial status of all school personnel. Every effort has been made through a new revision of the salary scale to place Hamilton in a fair competitive position with other communities. New minimum and maximum salaries have been established so that our schools may attract and hold capable people on our staff. It seems inevitable that the expenses of instruction will continue to rise with the general level of all wages; further revision of our salary policies will be made as necessity dictates.
Our staff is increasing in size with the growth of our school popula- tion. We now have the services of forty-four teachers, supervisors, and administrators, a secretary and a part-time clerk, school doctor and nurse, four custodians, and seven cafeteria workers, for a total of fifty-nine.
Many members of our staff are continuing their professional im- provement through work taken at several of our surrounding colleges and universities. The School Committee has also authorized a series of eight workshops for all teachers. These meetings are held on the last Wednes- day afternoon of the month and they provide an opportunity for the staff to devote concentrated study to many areas of the curriculum.
During the year ahead it will be necessary to add at least three new teachers to the staff in order to take care of additional sections of grades four, six, and nine.
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The Curriculum
Elementary Grades
At the elementary level, kindergarten through grade six, the staff directed its attention to a comprehensive study of the aims and objectives of every area of the total curriculum. This work resulted in a restatement of the interrelationship of each grade to every other grade. It makes it possible for each teacher of each grade section to see the total plan in action.
Another result of this study has been the integration and correlation of subject matter areas grade by grade. Thus the language arts program, begun in the kindergarten, progresses without interruption through grade six. Each teacher has definite responsibility for making a specific contribution to the whole program.
Similar efforts expended in arithmetic, social studies, science, music and art have resulted in concrete improvements in each. In the year ahead the staff will be continuing its curriculum study. Application of our findings has resulted in many cases in improved services to our children.
During the year we have expanded the testing program in all grades. We use a group intelligence test as a measure of native ability and the results help us to better meet the needs of the individual child.
Several of our teachers have become qualified to administer The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test and this instrument is used whenever a need for it is found.
All pupils in the kindergarten were given The Metropolitan Readi- ness Tests in May. The results together with other records were helpful in planning programs for each child who was to enter the first grade.
The Stanford Achievement series was administered to all pupils in grades one through six. Graphs showing scores for each youngster were prepared and they became valuable aids in pointing out areas of strength and weakness to all. Teachers are using these data in working with individuals on improvement and enrichment programs.
We also began a cumulative record system for every pupil which will provide a continuing history of each child during his school career. Such a device inevitably helps us to serve each child better from year to year.
No small part of the value of our testing program and our cumula- tive record system is in the evidence it provides upon which to base needed curriculum change. It is our plan to continue these valuable services and we shall amplify them as our experience demonstrates the need.
Secondary Grades
Perhaps the greatest curriculum change in the past year has been at the high school level. Emphasis has been upon enrichment of the program together with an attempt to add subjects and courses that broaden the total offering available to the students.
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Ancient History has been reintroduced to the program to bolster the social studies offering. A combination or fused seventh and eighth grade history-geography course replaces the old single subjects.
The mathematics required for graduation has been increased to two full years for all pupils. Fundamentals of arithmetic is now offered to those who do not elect Algebra. College preparatory mathematics is being revised to provide more time for trigonometry and calculus. In fact, we are all concerned to encourage greater achievement in mathe- matics and our efforts should result in decided improvement in the future.
The business education curriculum has been restudied and many modifications have been made in terms of grade placement of subjects. The department is increasing its usefulness constantly and the graduates of this specialization are finding attractive positions open to them.
Improving our work in science is a constant challenge. A new course in physiology has been introduced and extra sections of the usual sciences have been added. We were fortunate in having the opportunity to participate in the traveling science lecture and demonstration program sponsored by The Atomic Energy Commission and The National Science Foundation. Our students and invited guests from Topsfield and Man- chester were stimulated by this excellent program.
Increasing enrollments are posing problems in our science classes because of the physical limitations of our laboratory.
The industrial arts program has been the subject of a rather com- plete revision. Woodworking, printing, and mechanical drawing will form the core of the curriculum and improved techniques and methods of teaching are producing real results. An equipment replacement program will further improve the facilities in our shops.
For the fourth consecutive year the Iowa Tests of Education De- velopment were administered to all pupils in grades nine through twelve. The cumulative results of this testing program are proving to be invaluable to us in at least three specific ways. First, an analysis of each pupil's scores provide the staff and the pupil with evidence of pupil strengths and weakness in his preparation to date. Adjustments in the in- and out-of-school program for the student can be made which will capitalize on his demonstrated abilities and help him to overcome his known difficulties. The tests, therefore, are a prime tool in our guidance program.
The second value of the tests comes from a staff analysis of the results of each class in the high school as it moves from grade nine through grade twelve in order to detect areas of low achievement which are common to the whole group. It was through this type of study that we discovered the need for more intensive preparation in mathematics. Thus it may be seen that the test results are extremely important to us as indicators of possible needed curriculum changes.
A third way in which our test results help us is in measuring the general achievement of our pupils against national and New England averages. We are able to tell whether we as a school are helping our pupils to develop educationally to the fullest extent by comparison with
the results obtained through thousands of test applications. We are pleased to report that our pupils are showing excellent strength in the areas of English, social studies and science. As has been pointed out above, we discovered the need for improvement in mathematics and steps have been taken to meet this challenge.
For these and other reasons we feel that our testing program is prov- ing to be of real service in our schools. Plans for the year ahead include the expansion of this work to include grades seven and eight.
This year saw the beginning of our long awaited instrumental music program. Pupils from grades four through twelve are eligible to partici- pate and over one hundred youngsters have had a part in the training. Free group lessons are offered once each week in both schools and private lessons have been made available to those who wish them at modest cost.
One concert has already been given and the various groups are now preparing for their second public appearance. Progress has been excel- lent and we all look forward to the future with the knowledge that this new part of our curriculum is meeting a definite need in a commendable manner.
This brief description of our improving program of studies does not begin to detail the many hours of conscientious effort which have been put into this work by our total staff. We are constantly alert to meet the changing needs of the children in our schools and we feel it is our primary obligation to continually adjust the curriculum to satisfy the known objectives of our total school population.
The School Plant
The problems connected with housing our growing enrollment con- tinue to be pressing and sometimes perplexing. Soon after school opened we counted 978 pupils and now in December we have increased to 989. Predictions for next year seem to indicate that an additional 100 children may be expected as a minimum.
In July, 1956, the Town authorized the construction of another two-room addition to the Manasseh Cutler School. This unit was com- pleted and occupied in September and it has proven to be a very desirable addition to our school plant.
The Cutler School now contains eighteen classrooms which should be its maximum size. The all-purpose room in this building, used largely as a cafeteria space, is not adequate for the physical education and assembly programs that should be a part of the school's program.
The kindergarten, operating in four sections, and grade six in two sections, are still temporarily housed in the high school building. Beginning with the opening of school in September, 1957, we know that we shall need an extra section of grade four and grade six. To provide for these it will be necessary to remove the kindergarten from the high school, use one of the rooms vacated for a section of grade six, and use the other for the junior-senior high school. The big question raised here, of course, is what is to be done with the kindergarten.
The solution to this and other housing problems will be made in September, 1958, with the opening of a new twelve-room elementary
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school. A Building Committee, authorized by vote of the Town in 1956 and headed by Frederic Winthrop, Chairman, has been at work planning for this new school plant. This building will be designed to house grades four through six, thus making it possible to use the present Cutler School as a primary unit housing the kindergarten and grades one through three.
Until this building is ready, the kindergarten must be housed in temporary quarters or it must be temporarily discontinued for a period of one year. The School Committee is at work now seeking the best solu- tion to this perplexing problem. Every effort will be made of course to find the space for the kindergarten so that this most valuable unit in our educational plan need not be even temporarily suspended.
The School Committee and administration are very much aware of the coming housing shortage at the secondary level. The Building Needs Committee, in a separate report, will present the result of its investigation to date. We would here point out that classes of one hundred or more pupils each have now worked up through grade five and the next school year will see the forward wall moving into grade six. Obviously, grades seven through twelve will begin to feel this impact progressively in the next six years.
We urge immediate consideration of the need for a new four-year high school. Our present high school building will serve well as a junior high school, housing grades seven and eight. It would seem wise to examine the possibility of developing a mutually satisfactory regional high school plan with one or more of our neighboring communities.
Predictions on the probable future school population in our town indicate a steady and sizeable growth in the next eight to ten years. What will happen to enrollments beyond that point depends upon so many factors that accurate estimates are very difficult to make. We feel that the intelligent approach to our present and future problems of school housing dictates a continuing study by our Building Needs Committee of our ever-changing requirements. This Committee should report to the town at frequent intervals and make recommendations based upon long-range plans that will insure adequate facilities in which to carry on the work of the schools.
Cost of Operation
The School Committee, with the cooperative participation of the total staff, annually prepares the Public School Budget. The philosophy which guides this work is simply stated : every effort is made to provide every reasonable necessity for a truly functional educational program within the framework of the ability of the Town to support its children in its public schools.
We would assure the townspeople that we are mindful of the increas- ing size of the budget and yet we can only point out the obvious - our school enrollment is growing rapidly and our operating costs are mount- ing steadily.
For every school dollar spent, sixty-seven cents is for teachers
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salaries. The remaining thirty-three cents pays for textbooks, supplies, operation and maintenance of plant, new and replacement equipment, general and miscellaneous expenses.
Our gross budget which is appropriated at town meeting is always larger than our actual net cost because our schools receive state reim- bursement which is paid into the town treasury. Perhaps the best way of understanding the cost of our school is to consider it on a basis of per pupil cost which for the past several years has centered around $240 to $250. There is every reason to believe that we will be able to maintain this unit cost in the year ahead. Your attention is directed to the ap- pendicies of this report for an analysis of our 1956 and 1957 budgets.
Cafeteria Operation
Participation in the hot lunch program continues to grow with our increased enrollment. During the year we secured the services of a new cafeteria manager. This position, which was formerly combined with the home economics teaching assignment, is now a full-time responsibility. The new manager has been able to devote her time and effort to menu planning and supervision and improved meals have been the immediate result. We look for continued increases in pupil participation because we know of few other places where so much good food can be bought at such a low cost.
The program is largely self-supporting. Pupils pay twenty-five cents for a complete hot lunch including milk and dessert. Milk is available for those who bring their lunch and to any who wish extra milk at three cents per bottle. This income, together with a subsidy from the Federal Lunch Program, supplies our total income. A modest appropriation of $3,000 pays the salary of the manager, buys all new and replacement equipment, and takes care of unforeseen contingencies.
Our lunch program has become an integral part of our whole school operation. We urge every parent to consider carefully the advantages of having his children participate.
Conclusion
This has been a year of continued progress in our schools. An able staff has effected basic improvement in our curriculum making it always more meaningful to our pupils. Parents and townspeople through the Parent-Teacher Association and other community organizations have shown increasing interest in the public schools and we acknowledge their participation with deep appreciation.
We have enjoyed the cooperation of our staff and the student body in our mutual efforts to make our good schools better. The members of the School Committee have devoted countless hours to the problems and issues facing us. The wisdom of their policy decisions is reflected daily in the harmonious progress of every facet of our public schools. I extend my sincere thanks to each of you for your dedicated service.
Respectfully submitted,
DOUGLAS A. CHANDLER, Superintendent of Schools
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REPORT OF THE SCHOOL PHYSICIAN
To the Superintendent of Schools:
DEAR SIR :
In keeping with the health program of the town of Hamilton, the school physical examinations for the pupils is in its final phase at the present time. The preschool clinic was held in the spring of last year. Examinations were carried out with recommendations to respective parents. The purpose of these physical examinations is to afford the children a constant and chronological examination to show their natural development. Whereas, at the same time, affording the children extra medical care. The value of this is borne out by the defects uncovered in the children at the time of examination. The purpose of these exami- nations is not one of a derogatory nature toward the parent or the family physician regarding the care of the child. It is merely an informative measure, as an aid to both the child and the parent, to further and abet his continued attendance in school. The major defects divulged concerned the teeth. The condition of the teeth is improving since I first started examining the children. However, there is still a great deal of work which must be done as far as the care of the teeth is concerned. Many people feel that the initial care of first teeth is not a mandatory thing. However, it is felt by this physician that constant care of the teeth, from the time the child is about three years old until he has to lose them in old age, is a very important health factor.
A great deal of appreciation is extended to the school nurse for her aid in carrying out these examinations. In regard to this, with the growing population of the school which is now approaching the one thousand mark, it is highly recommended that a full time nurse be employed in the schools of Hamilton. Three days a week is hardly adequate for the amount of work she is required to do with the increase in clerical responsibility and increase in population. It is, therefore, highly recommended that a full-time nurse be employed. This recom- mendation has already been submitted to the School Committee and it is felt the same recommendation should be included in this report.
Again, as I did last year, I must reiterate the importance of the responsibility of the parents in the care of their children. In this respect I am referring to sending a child to school with very obvious symptoms of upper respiratory infections or other diseases.
It has been noted that many children have been sent to school with active infections including contagious diseases such as Chicken Pox and German Measles. The children had the obvious lesions prior to leaving home for school and were found in the classrooms in a very obvious con- tagious state. I do not feel that this shows good judgment. It is felt more stringent rules relative to the attendance of children in school with such obvious contagious diseases must be made. In one instance, I went into a classroom where the teacher could not teach there were so
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many pupils coughing. This is certainly not being fair to the children not afflicted. The contamination of neighboring children is almost a certainty.
Two examining tables have been purchased for use in the schools, one for the Manasseh Cutler School and one for the High School. These tables have greatly facilitated the carrying out of the examinations and they have proved themselves a very definite aid to our program.
During the course of the year, two complete series of Salk vaccine innoculations were accomplished for all those who wished the serum. In this respect it is urged and recommended that every person should avail himself of this protection. There is ample vaccine available for all those who wish innoculations, from the new born to the aged.
In closing I want to thank all the members of the school system and the parents for the cooperation they have extended in helping us carry out our medical program. I also wish to again thank Miss Stobbart for her aid.
Respectfully submitted,
ROBERT G. LOVE, M.D. School Physician
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REPORT OF THE SCHOOL NURSE
To the Superintendent of Schools:
DEAR SIR :
I herewith submit my twenty-seventh annual report as School Nurse for the Town of Hamilton.
Total Enrollment to Date - 989
Result of Physical Examination by Robert Love, M.D., School Physician, to date :
Defects
Corrections
Moderate and enlarged tonsils 54
sils 31
Moderate and enlarged glands 15
Heart Murmurs 19
Posture
14
Heart murmurs
Ears
10
Eyes
1
Ears treated 8
Orthopedic
12
Eyes, no report
Allergic condition
115
Orthopedic under treatment 5
Teeth
76
Allergic condition treated 115
Dog bite cases treated 4
Genital under treatment 5
Genital
5
Hypertension
3
Multiple warts
1
No report on treatment
Seborrhea Oleosa
1
No report on treatment
Dental Work
The Town Dental Clinic is available to all children in grades one, two and three wishing to take advantage of it. The cost is 75 cents per treatment. I only wish it could be extended to all the children in the elementary schools. At present the clinic is held two mornings a week.
The total number of dental operations done this year in the clinic was 749. The total number of children from grades four through the high school reporting some dental care privately was 373, while the total number reporting dental work completed was 71.
Eye and Ear Examination
No. found with defective vision 39 No. with defective hearing 13
No. having glasses changed 29
No. having eyes treated
2
No. having medical treatment 13
No. having eyes corrected with
No. wearing hearing aid 1 glasses 30
Moderate and enlarged ton-
Moderate and enlarged
glands 3
no special treatment
Other defects needing medical attention
8
Hypertension under treat- ment 3
13
Contagious and Communicable Diseases Reported
Chicken Pox
14 Mumps
8
Whooping Cough
7
Measles
10
Impetigo
2
Scarlet Fever
2
Allergic conditions
115
Pediculosis
4
German Measles
23
Polio Clinic
Clinics were held this year to give parents the opportunity to have their children given the Salk Vaccine.
Many parents took advantage of these clinics; several parents had their children taken care of by their own family physician.
Checking the school population I find the following :
No. having at least one dose of Salk Vaccine 30
No. having had two doses of Salk Vaccine 738
No. having had three doses of Salk Vaccine 23
I believe many more children have had three doses of Salk Vaccine, however, their health cards do not have this information recorded as all third doses of Vaccine have been given privately.
General Work
My general work includes making appointments for children in the Town Dental Clinic, clerical work on health records and on town and state reports, weighing and measuring the children, making inspec- tions for cleanliness, conducting the eye and ear examinations, and assisting the doctor at physical examinations and at clinics. I made 297 first aid dressings this year and paid 75 calls on the homes of various children.
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