USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynnfield > Town of Lynnfield, Essex County, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, annual report 1931-1940 > Part 4
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1 book
Mrs. C. D. Horton
3 books
Mr. and Mrs. H. O. Swain
42 books
Miss Ruth Abbott
2 books
Miss Shirley Mansfield
16 books
Mrs. A. D. McGregor
1 book
Mrs. Oscar W. Underwood
1 book
Magazines were received from Mrs. J. M. Count, Mr. and Mrs. H. O. Swain, Mrs. H. E. Maynard and Mr. L. B. Hayward.
Thanks and appreciation are hereby expressed for above gifts.
Your attention is invited to the fact that your library is capable of greater service, and you are urged to participate in the pleasure and benefits to be derived from it.
Respectfully submitted,
HARRY E. MAYNARD, Trustee, Acting Librarian.
REPORT OF TREE WARDEN
To the Citizens of the Town of Lynnfield:
At the last annuai town meeting an appropriation of $700.00 was made to take care of the shade trees. This amount was used to take
44
TOWN OF LYNNFIELD
down dead trees, and to trim up trees where there were dead and dan- gerous limbs, also some was used for cavity work. There is still a large amount of such work to be done which is very slow and costly.
I hope the townspeople will make an appropriation to plant some new trees in various parts of the town, especially along Main Street, where so many were taken down, due to new road construction. The street trees, as a whole, look very good, but I hope the appropriation will be much larger so that more work can be done along these lines.
Respectfully submitted,
LYMAN H. TWISS, Tree Warden.
REPORT OF THE PARK DEPARTMENT
Dec. 31, 1931.
To the Citizens of the Town of Lynnfield:
Considerable improvement has been made at Suntaug Park in the past year, as shown by the following report:
The playground has been brought to a grade and the large amount of granite and field stone removed.
The buildings have been repaired.
Seats have been placed in the grove.
The trees have been trimmed and dead trees removed.
A tennis court has been built which has been constantly used and very favorably commented on.
Entrance roads have been made passable.
Note: Of the eight hundred dollars ($800.00) spent on this work, about seven hundred and fifty ($750.00) went to town labor or teaming. Other work and improvements are:
The common at "The Center" has been trimmed and mowed and some grading done on it.
The land given the town by the Town of Wakefield and Mr. Thomas E. Cox has been graded and the bushes trimmed.
The "Jenney Common" and the "Church Common" have been mowed.
Respectfully submitted,
EDWARD M. FLETCHER, Chairman. ALBERT F. NEWHALL.
Dec. 31, 1931.
-
45
REPORT OF APPOINTIVE OFFICERS
REPORT OF MEMORIAL DAY COMMITTEE
To the Citizens of the Town of Lynnfield:
The appropriation for Memorial Day, May 30, 1931, $200.00, was used as follows :
Decorating 115 graves semi-annually
$ 47.00
Parade music
110.00
Dinner expense
43.00
$200.00
Respectfully submitted,
T. HAWLEY, Treasurer of Committee, Lynnfield Post 131, A. L. Dec. 31, 1931.
REPORT OF PLANNING BOARD
To the Citizens of the Town of Lynnfield:
Our report this year is short, not because we do not realize there are a number of matters which could be presented to the citizens, but because we believe we can be of more benefit to the Town this year by advocating saving money where reasonably possible.
The school question which we presented for the attention of the townspeople in our last report is receiving the attention of the special committee appointed under the authority of the town meeting of 1931. The solution of the question is a difficult one and the committee's report should receive the careful consideration of every citizen.
We recommend that the by-laws of the town be brought up to date. No collection has been made for approximately 20 years and those adop- ted since that time can be found only by searching through the town reports. We believe this is a matter worthy of attention, although it undoubtedly is not one which the statutes of the Commonwealth instruct Planning Boards to inquire into.
Respectfully submitted, NELSON B. TODD, Chairman, ALBERT P. MANSFIELD, EDWARD W. PIERCE, CARL H. RUSSELL, H. LOUISE WORTHEN.
Dec. 31, 1931.
REPORT OF CEMETERY COMMISSIONERS
To the Citizens of Lynnfield:
The Cemetery Commissioners would report that they have worked to keep the five cemeteries of the town in good condition this last year. At Forest Hills Cemetery, in addition to the regular maintenance
46
TOWN OF LYNNFIELD
work, one more avenue has been graded and gravelled this last year, this latter being a very important permanent improvement to this cemetery.
At Willow Cemetery in addition to the regular maintenance work, some very heavy grading is being done. This is expensive work, but we think our Town people realize that the cemetery will never look well or be satisfactory until the low unfinished section next to the street is filled in and graded. This work when completed will add a large number of desirable lots to this cemetery.
SETH H. RUSSELL,
Chairman.
Dec. 31, 1931.
REPORT OF BOARD OF ASSESSORS
To the Citizens of the Town of Lynnfield:
TAX LEVY, 1931
Appropriated Annual Town Meeting
$ 99,672.14
Appropriated Special Town Meeting
400.00
$100,072.14
State Tax
3,150.00
State Audit
647.66
State, Conservation Dept.
41.36
County Tax
5,153.09
Overlay, 1931
1,750.41
Total
$110,814.66
ESTIMATED RECEIPTS
Income Tax
$ 9,245.88
Excise Tax
6,000.00
Corporation Tax
970.52
Bank Tax
163.66
Licenses
187.00
Permits
57.00
Fines
300.00
General Government
268.50
Special Assessments
76.41
Sealer's Fees
24.83
Highways
15.00
Charities
208.00
Soldiers' Benefits
96.00
Schools
4,696.58
47
REPORT OF BOARD OF ASSESSORS
Libraries
72.15
Golf Fees
216.00
Public Service
419.37
Cemeteries
130.00
Interest on Deposits
345.57
Interest on Taxes
725.98
Other Receipts
43.62
Tax Title
9.00
Veterans' Exemption
55.36
Highway-Gasoline Tax
1,098.20
$ 25,424.63
$ 85,390.03
515 Polls @ $2.00
1,030.00
Net Levy
$ 84,360.03
Moth Tax assessed
35.00
$ 84,395.03
Warrant to Tax Collector
84,395.03
Warrants to Tax Collector, Polls
$ 1,030.00
Old Age Assistance
523.00
December Assessment
476.36
Additional Polls 5 @ $2.00
10.00
Additional Old Age Assistance
5.00
EXCISE TAX
First Commitment
$ 5,237.44
Second Commitment
542.99
Third Commitment
519.22
Fourth Commitment
130.90
Fifth Commitment
136.87
Sixth Commitment
33.24
Total Excise
$ 6,600.66
Used as credit on Tax Levy
6,000.00
Balance available
$ 600.66
Abated on cars exchanged, etc. $ 660.90
DECEMBER ASSESSMENT
On Personal Property
Value. . $ 900.00 Tax $ 21.96
On Real Estate
Value $18,500.00
Tax 454.40
$ 476.36
48
TOWN OF LYNNFIELD
Additional Polls, 5 @ $2.00
10.00
Old Age Assistance
5.00
Warrant to Collector
491.36
ABATEMENTS
Tax of 1928
$ 8.70
Real Estate
5.34
$ 14.04
Tax of 1929
Real Estate
$ 185.65
Tax of 1930
Polls
$ 18.00
Real Estate
78.41
$ 96.41
Tax of 1931
Polls
$ 16.00
Real Estate
98.82
$ 114.82
-
ABATEMENTS
Excise Tax-1930
Abated Cars Exchanged, etc.
$ 25.17
Excise Tax-1931
Abated Cars Exchanged, etc. $ 660.90
TABLE OF AGGREGATES
Personal Property, Value
$ 196,655.00
Buildings, Value
$2,278,025.00
Land, Value
$ 982,670.00
Total Real Estate
$3,260,695.00
Total, Real and Personal
$3,457,350.00
Rate of Tax
$ 24.40
Tax on Real Estate
$ 79,560.96
Tax on Personal
$ 4,798.38
Personal
$ 491.36
49
REPORT OF BOARD OF ASSESSORS
Tax on 515 Polls
$
1,030.00
Tax, Old Age Assistance
$ 523.00
Excise Tax
$ 6,600.66
Number of Horses
49
Number of Cows
159
Number of Neat Cattle
12
Number of Fowl
4,181
Number of Swine
17
Number of Sheep
2
Number of Dwellings.
669
Number of Acres of Land
6,028
LYNNFIELD WATER DISTRICT
Value, Personal Property
$ 56,165.00
Value, Real Estate
1,350,165.00
Total Valuation
$1,406,330.00
Rate, $2.40 per $1,000
Tax on Personal Property
$ 134.79
Tax on Real Estate
3,240.39
Total Tax
$ 3,375.18
Payments Due
3,326.25
Balance Over Levy
$ 48.93
ASSESSORS' NOTE
Owners of Motor Vehicles are requested to notify the Board of Assessors, of transfer of cars, promptly, by filing Certificates of Ex- change, which are furnished by all dealers on request, or by affidavit of owner, showing new owner, and date of transfer. A refund on tax will be made, on vehicles taxed in excess of $2.00, for that portion of the year remaining after the transfer.
Non-resident owners of Real Estate, or Personal Property, are re- quested to furnish the Board of Assessors with home address, as no address is given on deeds recorded, and with co-operation on part of Property Owners, many errors can be avoided.
Respectfully submitted,
WILLIAM W. MOXHAM, GEORGE H. BANCROFT,
EVERETT B. RICHARDS,
Board of Assessors.
.
ANNUAL REPORT
of the SCHOOL COMMITTEE and
SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS
TOWN OF LYNNFIELD MASSACHUSETTS
Year Ending December 31, 1931
SCHOOL COMMITTEE 1931
Louis B. Tuck, Chairman
Term expires 1932
Elizabeth Deans, Secretary
Term expires 1933
Harold P. Peabody
Term expires 1934
51
REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE
The yearly increase in attendance in our schools seems small, yet when one looks back even a few years it is quite startling. In 1925, we had 207 pupils in our school, in 1931 the number had grown to 239, an increase of 10% in six years. In 1925 our high school pupils totalled 58, in 1931 this number had been increased to 107, an increase of 84%. Next year we estimate 117 pupils in High School.
The cost per pupil is greater in High School, than in our elementary school, and this increase accounts for our ever increasing costs in the School Department.
At the start of the fall term, we found the total number of pupils in the 1st and 2nd grades at the South School was in excess of the legal limit for one teacher to have in charge in one room. Children enter- ing school require more of the teacher's attention than older pupils familiar with school discipline, and we were required to hire an addi- tional teacher and partition the room formerly used. This partition was installed in such a manner that it can be removed at a minimum cost when and if conditions warrant.
Early in the fall term, a pupil in the South School was stricken with Poliomyelitis (infantile paralysis) and this School was closed for one week, which is the usual quarantine period for this disease. Shortly after this, one case developed in the Centre School and this school was closed for the same period. On the re-opening of each school, the School Physician and School Nurse examined all the pupils daily until certain no other pupils were infected with this dread disease.
The playground equipment at the South School was repaired during the summer vacation, and enough rock dust used to fill in the depres- sions in the playground.
The Parent Teacher Association at the Centre raised the money and installed on the grounds of the Centre School, play ground equip- ment at a cost to them of about $150.00. Later the Parent Teacher Association presented this equipment to the Town and it was formally accepted at a Regular School Committee Meeting with our appreciative thanks, and will be carefully looked after. Permission was also given the Parent Teacher Association to plant a Red Maple on the School grounds last Arbor Day and in June to take the pupils of the 7th and 8th grades to visit the Historical towns of Concord and Lexington.
On account of the fact that a Special Committee was appointed by the Moderator at the last Town Meeting to report on the School Hous- ing situation in Town, the School Committee will not report on the physical condition of our school buildings, except to say we have received a report from the Inspection of the Public Safety Commission of the Commonwealth on the condition of the South School. We have acted upon as many of these recommendations as possible, the major recom-
52
TOWN OF LYNNFIELD
mendation was concerning a change in the lighting system. This will be left until after the action taken by the Town on the report of the School Housing Committee.
The brook running through the rear of the school grounds at the Centre was piped and this was done within the appropriation voted at the Town Meeting. After the pipes were laid, they were covered by the soil removed in building a new road on Main Street.
The Lynnfield Post of the American Legion have our appreciative thanks for carrying on the Memorial Day Exercises in our School, and also for the Americanization work they are doing in the Town. In some large towns and many cities, special teachers are engaged for this important work, and we are fortunate in having this extra curricula work done by· those so well able to do it.
During the past year, we had 100% attendance at every meeting and we have tried at all times to hold our expenditures to a minimum, and at the same time maintain the standards that are demanded in the Schools of the present time.
Respectfully submitted,
LOUIS B. TUCK, Chairman of the School Committee.
FINANCIAL REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE, 1931
Appropriation
$ 41,305.00
Expenditures
40,936.81
Balance (Return to Town)
368.19
Expenditures
School Committee
$ 100.00
Salary of clerk
$ 100.00
Superintendent
1,469.88
Salary
1,099.92
Clerk
227.42
Travel and Office
142.54
Supervisors
648.00
Teachers' Salaries
11,830.00
Ona K. Ridley
1,800.00
June Tilton
1,140.00
Ruth Rand
1,140.00
Bernice Munroe
1,600.00
Mary Dodge
315.00
Beatrice Mitchell
1,620.00
Blanche Hallowell
1,570.00
Mildreth Parkhurst
1,130.00
Kathleen Fraser
780.00
Isabel C. Thompson
440.00
53
REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE
Lydia Whittemore
180.00
Substitutes
115.00
Janitors
2,250.00
William Griffin
1,050.00
Luther Hastings
1,200.00
Health
502.56
Dr. Franklin W. Freeman
100.00
Nurse and Supplies
402.56
Text books
319.43
Stationery, supplies, tests, etc.
635.86
Operating Schools (Water, light, supplies, etc.)
306.76
Fuel
547.02
Maintenance and Repairs
395.53
New Equipment
170.21
Grounds and Buildings
248.96
Insurance
406.05
Miscellaneous Expenses
(Matrons, Census) ..
426.36
Tuition
Wakefield
$ 14,278.38
Lynn
327.63
Melrose
43.65
$ 14,649.66
Elementary
High
Transportation
Boston & Maine
750.00
2,650.00
Lynnfield Community
400.00
2,140.00
$1,150.00
$ 4,790.00
$ 5,940.00
Vocational
Transportation to Essex Agricultural School
86.33
Tuition
4.20
$ 40,936.81
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT
To the School Committee,
Dear Madam and Sirs:
I have the privilege, as Superintendent of Schools, of presenting to you, and through you to our citizens, iny ninth annual report con- cerning the schools of Lynnfield.
ENROLLMENT
At the close of school in December, one hundred twenty pupils were enrolled in the Center School and one hundred thirty-one in the South School. Tuition at this time was being paid, for one hundred
54
TOWN OF LYNNFIELD
four pupils at Wakefield High School, four in Lynn High School and one in the Melrose High School. Two pupils were enrolled at the Essex County Agricultural School for whom the town pays only transporta- tion charges.
The above figures show that two hundred fifty-one were enrolled in our schools while one hundred eleven were being provided sec- ondary school privileges elsewhere.
The total school enrollment of three hundred sixty-two is the largest yet enrolled. »
TEACHERS
Changes in the teaching force for the year are as follows:
Resignations: Miss Kathleen Fraser, Miss Mildreth Parkhurst, Miss Abbie U. Cragg.
Appointments: Miss Lydia Whittemore, Miss Isabel C. Thompson, Miss Frances Stockley, Miss Mary Dodge, Miss Alice M. Riley.
Owing to the large enrollment in grades one and two at the South School in September, it became necessary to assign the first grade to Mrs. Munroe and secure the services of Miss Dodge to teach the sec- ond grade. This division of work will be continued only so long as the large enrollment makes it necessary.
The services of Miss Alice Riley, a graduate of Posse-Nissen School of Physical Training, have been secured to plan and carry out with teachers an up-to-date physical training program in all grades. Miss Riley devotes one-half day's work each two weeks at a building in teaching and supervising the work. The work is carried out daily for a twenty minute period on the playground, weather permitting, other- wise in the classroom. Results thus far have been most satisfactory and without question seem to warrant the small expenditure.
NEW COURSES
At the opening of schools in September there had been provided for our adoption and use two new courses of study :- A Course of Study in Art and a Course of Study in Physical Education.
These courses were prepared under the direction of the State Steering Committee on Curriculum Revision. Sub committees of in- structors, superintendents and specialists in the several fields of work have prepared for the above Steering Committee these courses which are very definitely outlined. General objectives for each course as well as specific objectives for each grade are given as a guide in organizing and putting the course in operation. Many suggestions and recom- mendations are made in the courses for correlating the work of each with that of other school subjects and outside activities.
55
OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE
REPORT
TIME SCHEDULE
Acting upon the request of parents having children enrolled in the first grade, the length of school sessions for these pupils have been lengthened to correspond with time schedule for all other pupils in the schools.
The work for the first grade pupils has been so arranged that they are now being given more active work, thereby not overtaxing them mentally. In so far as my observations have been made, lengthen- ing of school hours for these pupils does not work any hardship upon them.
MEDALS FOR EXCELLENCE
Rewards for excellence in scholarship and traits in citizenship were made to pupils from both schools by the American Legion Post and Auxiliary co-operating at public exercises held last June.
It is gratifying to those working with the young people to have organizations like the above undertake such commendable plans for raising the standards of citizenship among the younger generation. It impresses upon these pupils that opportunities provided them come only through effort of the severest nature and that individual citizens and organizations are ever ready to commend traits of the highest citizenship as well as of high scholarship.
High standards of scholarship and citizenship are the goals to which every pupil is directed in his daily work at school. Co-opera- tion from all agencies in helping the schools make it possible for our boys and girls to reach such goals are always appreciated.
SCHOOL EXPENDITURES
No department in the town requires as great an expenditure as does the school department. Doubtless the question arises in the minds of the taxpayers as to whether or not the school budget cannot be cut. I might take the space in this report to explain in detail each item of expense as given in the expenditures of 1931, but I do not think this necessary. I believe the taxpayers elect to serve on the school com- mittee three members in whom they have full confidence. Members whose purpose it is to provide for the children of Lynnfield the best educational opportunities possible without wasting the taxpayers' money.
I believe there has never been a time when the employees in a school system have realized that there should be less waste and greater results from expenditures than at the present time.
It is my one aim at this period of depression to maintain the high- est standard possible in the schools without recommending unnecessary expenditures.
56
TOWN OF LYNNFIELD
Realizing that certain financial difficulties, with which many cities and towns are confronted, are quite foreign to Lynnfield I believe we can still maintain our schools as in years past without making the tax- payers carry an unnecessary burden of expense.
EDUCATION AS A NATIONAL ASSET
The following excerpt from an address given by Honorable Her- bert Hoover, then Secretary of Commerce, before the Department of Superintendence in 1926 seems more applicable in these troublesome times than when given.
"About one-fourth of the whole population of our country is al- ways simultaneously engaged in the same occupation-the job of go- ing to school. It is the largest group in any one employment. To use a term of the Census it is truly a "gainful occupation." Moreover, as nearly the whole people have worked at it at one time or another, no matter how diverse their later life may become, they all have a common memory of the school yard and the classroom, and they all have a lasting affection for some teacher.
"Not three other industries in our country can boast of so large a physical plant as yours. Hundreds of millions are invested in new construction every decade, and still, in commercial slang, you are be- hind your orders, as witness the unsatisfied demand for seats in the schools of every city in the country. Yours is a big business. And it is big in its responsibilities and bigger in its possibilities than any other business ever undertaken by our countrymen.
"No nation in the world's history has so devoutly believed in and so deeply pledged itself to, free universal education. In this great ex- periment America has marched in advance of all other nations. To maintain the moral and spiritual fibre of our people, to sustain the skill required to use the tools which great discoveries in science have given us, to hold our national ideals, we must not fail in the support and constant improvement of our school system.
"Both as the cause and the effect the maintenance of our complex civilization now depends upon it. From generation to generation, we hand on our vast material equipment, our knowledge of how to run it, and our stock of intellectual and spiritual ideas. If we were to sup- press our educational system for a single generation the equipment would decay, the most of our people would die of starvation, and in- tellectually and spiritually we should slip back four thousand years in human progress. We could recover the loss of any other big busi- ness in a few years-but not this one. And unless our educational sys- tem keeps pace with the growth of our material equipment we will slip also."
The above places before us, as citizens of our town, a challenge.
57
REPORT OF £ SCHOOL COMMITTEE
Future generations will be able to judge as to whether we met it wholly or only in part. To meet the challenge requires the united effort of all worthy of our American citizenship.
In conclusion may I say that I appreciate the privilege of serving in the schools that the three hundred sixty-two boys and girls may through our united efforts profit from educational opportunities pro- vided.
Respectfully submitted,
J. D. WHITTIER,
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL NURSE
To the Superintendent of Schools,
I herewith submit my seventh annual report as School Nurse for the Town of Lynnfield.
GENERAL WORK OF NURSE
The general work consists of weekly visits to both schools, general inspection of all grades, home visits, clinics, clerical work, hospital trips, first aid and simple dressings, eye and ear examinations, weigh- ing, measuring, and necessary follow-up work.
Follow-up-work means checking up cases with physical defects or those suspicious of contagious or communicable diseases.
All health work carried on in the schools is done with one thought in mind :- To help the individual child to become a physically fit citi- zen.
Number of simple dressings, both schools 35
Number of home calls made 65
Number of clinics held, both schools
12
PHYSICAL EXAMINATION
At the beginning of each school year the School Physician, Dr. F. W. Freeman, gives every child attending school a physical examination. The following is a report of physical defects found as a result of the examinations.
South School
Centre School
Tonsils
9
21
Teeth
15
12
Heart
1
0
Posture
15
18
Swollen Glands
.
10
7
. .
Superintendent of Schools. 1 Dear Sir:
58
TOWN OF LYNNFIELD
EYE AND EAR EXAMINATION
South
Centre
Defective Eyes
11
9
Defective Hearing
4 2
RESULT OF WEIGHING AND MEASURING
South
Centre
Number 10% or more underweight .. 16 15
CONTAGIOUS AND COMMUNICABLE DISEASES
We were rather unfortunate regarding contagious and communi- cable diseases this past year as following summary shows:
South
Centre
Chicken Pox
17
15
Measles
23
5
Infantile Paralysis
1
1
Ivy Poison
7
Scarlet Fever
2
Impetigo
7
6
Scabies
1
IMMUNIZATION
A clinic was held last May giving parents of all children an oppor- tunity to have their children immunized against diphtheria. Many parents gave their consent for the immunization of their children.
The treatments were given by Dr. Robert E. Archibald, M. D., Dis- trict Health Officer, assisted by Dr. F. W. Freeman, School Physician and myself.
The total number immunized at the clinics were: South School, 66. Centre School, 48.
All those immunized were given the Schick test this fall to de- termine if immunization treatments were successful. A few reacted to the test, showing that they should take more treatments for positive protection.
South
Centre
Number having had treatments and still reacting 3
1
Number not immunized but taking test with positive reaction 3
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