USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Newton > Town of Newton annual report 1889 > Part 21
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To develop intelligence, there must be an orderly course of exercises, adapted to train the mind to think.
To cultivate loyalty, there must be a good government and a perfect obedience to its rules.
Industrious habits are developed by a punctual and thorough performance of daily tasks.
Integrity, the virtue that includes all other virtues, is produced by creating in the mind a sacred regard for truth, and a habit of conscientious accuracy in thinking and in describing the ideas which thinking may produce.
Self-control is the end to be attained by all the forms of school discipline that may be employed. Self-control implies an intelligent regard for the highest good, a freedom from prejudice, and from the influence of the selfish principle of action, and requires the exercise of a strong will.
Some one has wisely said that whatever we would have appear in the State we must first put into the schools. Bear- ing this most important truth constantly in mind we should organize these institutions and administer their affairs with a spirit that shows a high regard for our future civilization.
The financial report for the year ending June 30, 1889, is a most gratifying one. There was expended during the last year, $123,918.44, exclusive of school buildings and evening schools, being an average of $33.14 per pupil. The chief item of expense was for teachers' salaries, and amounted to $89,922.22.
It cannot be expected that the cost of our schools can be
18
much less per pupil than for the past year. The cost is often severely criticized by a certain class of citizens, but thus far, no one seems able or willing to point out to the School Com- mittee the direction in which a saving of expense can be made. The salaries of our teachers are not higher than good teachers command in adjoining cities, and this Board does not believe it should ask or expect the best work from underpaid teachers. There is no work demanded of any public official more exact- ing than the work of the teachers in our public schools, and when we consider that the expense of living in Newton is higher than in the adjoining towns, we are very sure that a reduction of salaries would result in the loss of many of our best teachers, would produce a great and lasting injury to the schools, and would be an injustice to the teachers themselves. Again the wide distance between our school buildings in the different villages of Newton and the small number of pupils in some buildings add largely to the expense of maintaining the schools.
The Oak Hill School costs in round numbers nine hun- dred dollars per year, and the average number of pupils is about fifteen, making the expense per pupil sixty dollars per year. In other localities where the number of scholars is small, the expense is correspondingly large. But are the expenses of the Newton schools higher than those of other towns and cities of the Commonwealth? Comparing the towns and cities with reference to the percentage of their taxable property appropriated to the support of public schools during the past year, Newton is the fourteenth among the twenty-five cities of the State, and the 222d among the 351 cities and towns of the Commonwealth. These facts are a sufficient answer to the question.
The average cost per pupil compared with that of the preceding year shows a decrease of $1.68, and is less than
19
the average cost for the last ten years. This is a showing that should be satisfactory to the citizens of Newton, and gratifying to those who have had the general control of the schools for the past year. The detailed items of expense of the schools, and many other facts of interest to the citizens will appear in the report of the superintendent, annexed to this report.
CHARLES C. BARTON, FRANCIS B. HORNBROOKE, J. W. DICKINSON, Committee on Annual Report.
SECRETARY'S REPORT.
APPROPRIATIONS AND EXPENDITURES FOR 1889.
General appropriation . $106,215 00
Received from dog tax 2,708 52
$108,923 52
Transferred to incidentals
700 00 700 00
$108,223 52
Amount paid superintendent
$2,880 00
66
teachers
90,355 36
66 " janitors .
6,829 00
" secretary
300 00
66
" fuel
7,164 98
Amount expended
$107,529 34
Balance unexpended
$694.18
School incidentals
$10,000 00
Transferred from general appro-
priation
700 00
$10,700 00
Amount expended
10,527 29
Balance unexpended
$172 71
22
Evening schools . $1,000 00 $1,000 00
Amount expended
659 75
Balance unexpended
$340 25
RECAPITULATION.
APPROPRIATIONS.
Total amount, including dog tax
$119,923 52
EXPENDITURES.
General appropriation
$107,529 34
Incidentals .
10,527 29
Evening schools .
659 75
Total amount expended
$118,716 38
Balance unexpended
$1,207 14
THOMAS EMERSON, Secretary.
DECEMBER 20, 1889.
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
To the School Committee of Newton :
In conformity to the rules of the Board, I respectfully present my annual report for the year 1888-89. The schools were in session forty weeks, beginning Sept. 10, 1888 and ending June 28, 1889. The statistics in this report cover the school year, July 1, 1888 to June 30, 1889.
A general exhibit of the results of the last school census, of the number of school buildings and the value of the school property, of the enrolment and attendance of the pupils, and of the cost of the schools, is given in the following statistics :
School Census.
Population of the city, State census of 1885 19,759
Number of persons in the city between five and
fifteen years of age, May 1, 1889 · 4,202
Number of pupils between five and fifteen years of
age attending the public schools in May, 1889 . 3,359
Number of pupils between five and fifteen years of age in private schools 225
Number of persons between five and fifteen years of age not attending school 543
24
Number of pupils between eight and fourteen years of age attending the public schools in May, 1889 2,182 Number of pupils between eight and fourteen years of age in private schools 109 ·
Number of persons between eight and fourteen years of age not attending school 69
School Buildings.
Number of school houses . 22
Number of buildings rented for school purposes 1
Number of occupied rooms, May 1, 1889 . 106
Number of unoccupied rooms, May 1, 1889 7
Total number of rooms, May 1, 1889 113
Number of halls, May 1, 1889 . 4
Total number of sittings, May 1, 1889
4,712
The total value of the school houses, furniture, and land is $581,600. The following table gives the value of the school property in detail :-
High school buildings, furniture, and land $113,000 00
Bigelow school house, furniture, and land . 44,000 00
Underwood school house, furniture, and land 24,000 00
Lincoln school house, furniture, and land . 5,500 00
Jackson school house, furniture, and land . 15,000 00
Eliot school house, furniture, and land 19,000 00
Adams school house, furniture, and land 22,500 00 .
Claflin school house, furniture, and land 35,000 00 .
Pierce school house, furniture, and land 32,000 00
Davis school house, furniture, and land 13,000 00
Franklin school house, furnitrue, and land 15,500 00
Barnard school house, furniture, and land 21,000 00
Williams school house (old), and land 10,000 00
Williams school house (new), furniture, and land . 35,000 00
25
Hamilton school house, furniture, and land
28,000 00 Prospect grammar school house, furniture, and land. · 31,000 00
Prospect primary school house, furniture, and land . 7,500 00
Hyde school house, furniture, and land 24,500 00
Mason school house, furniture, and land
49,100 00
Rice school house, furniture, and land
20,000 00
Thompsonville school house, furniture, and land 5,000 00
Oak Hill school house, furniture, and land 12,000 00
Total.
$581,600 00
Schools.
High School .
1
Grammar schools
48
Primary schools
38
Mixed school .
1
Total
88
Teachers.
Number of teachers in high school . . 12
Male teachers, 5 ; female teachers, 7.
Special teachers in high school
3
Male teachers, 1; female teachers, 2.
Number of teachers in grammar schools .
48
Male teachers, 10; female teachers, 38.
Number of teachers in primary schools 38
Number of teachers in mixed school
1
Special teachers of sewing 3 .
Special teachers of music
1
.
Whole number of teachers . 106
·
Male teachers, 17 ; female teachers, 89.
26
Enrolment and Attendance.
Whole number of pupils enrolled, 1888-89 4283
Whole number of pupils enrolled, 1887-88 4213
Increase . 70
Average whole number of pupils enrolled, 1888-89 . 3738.7 Average whole number of pupils enrolled, 1887-88 3650 Increase . 88.7
Average number of pupils in daily attendance,
1888-89 · ·
3570
Average number of pupils in daily attendance, 1887-88
3384
Increase .
186
Average per cent. of daily attendance, 1888-89 . .
92.4
Average per cent. of daily attendance, 1887-88 .
92
Increase . .4 ·
Whole number of tardinesses, 1888-89 3797
Whole number of tardinesses, 1887-89 .3872
Decrease
75
Whole number of pupils enrolled in evening
schools, 1888 ( males, 81 ; females, 110) · 191
Whole number of pupils enrolled in evening
school, 1886-87
120
Increase .
71
Average number in attendance, 1888 .
115
Average number in attendance, 1886-87
60
Increase .
55
The following table shows the total enrolment, average whole number, average attendance, and per cent. of attendance, in the schools from 1880 to 1889, a period of ten years. The increase in the total enrolment of the pupils during this period was 865; in the average whole number, 914.3; in the average attendance, 998.7.
27
YEARS.
Total Enrolment.
Average Whole Number.
Average Attendance.
Per cent. of Attendance.
1880
3,418
2,824.4
2,571.3
91.5
1881
3,677
2,844.7
2,588.3
91
1882
3,759
3,092.7
2,796.7
90.4
1883
4,002
3,170.3
2,903.8
91.6
1884
3,963
3,275.9
2,992.9
91.4
1885
4,029
3,356 5
3,047.2
90.8
1886
4,106
3,527.7
3,238.8
91.8
1887
4,237
3,665.7
3,357.1
91.3
1888
4,213
3,650
3,384
92
1889
4,283
3,738.7
3,570
92.4
A more detailed exhibit of the statistics of the school will be found in the tables appended to this report.
Table I shows the number of persons in the city, between five and fifteen years of age, May 1, 1881-89.
Table II shows the number of rooms, halls, sittings, pupils, teachers, and number of pupils to a teacher in each school, May 1, 1889.
Table III shows the number of pupils of different ages in each school, May 1, 1889.
Table IV shows the semi-quarterly attendance, by schools, for the year ending June 30, 1889.
Table V shows the total enrolment, attendance, etc., by schools, for the year ending June 30, 1889.
Table VI shows the number of pupils and their average age, by grades, in September, 1888.
Table VII shows the annual enrolment in each grade in September, 1880-88.
Table VIII shows the percentage of the total annual enrolment in each grade, in September, 1880-88.
Table IX shows the distribution of the pupils in the high school, by grades and courses of studies for the year ending June 30, 1889.
28
Remarks on the Census.
In conformity to the requirement of the General Stat- utes, an enumeration of the school population of the city was made in May last, and a record of the same has been deposited in this office.
The school population of the city on the first day of May, 1889, was 4,202, an increase of 115 compared with the year 1888. By reference to table I in the appendix to this report, it will be seen that there is an increase in each of the wards except the seventh. In the seventh there is a decrease of twenty-two.
The number of pupils between five and fifteen years of age attending the public schools, on the first day of May, 1889, was 3,359; the number in private schools was 225; making the total number of pupils between five and fifteen years of age in the public schools of the city, and in private schools, on the first day of May, 1889, 3,584. Deducting this sum from 4,201, the total school population of the city, we have 617, which is the number of persons in the city, between five and fifteen years of age, not attending any school, public or private, on the first day of May, 1889. Of this number 74 were at work in mills and elsewhere, and 543, most of whom were under seven years of age, were at home.
School Houses.
The number of school houses in the city is twenty-two. The number in use during the past year was twenty-one. The school at Thompsonville occupied a rented building until January 1 of the present year. Since that time it has occupied the new school building erected for its accommodation on Station street. The whole number of sittings, including those in the leased building, is 4712.
Permanent improvements have been made in several of the school buildings. The most important of these is the introduc-
29
tion of larger and better means of ventilation. The work is going forward as rapidly as circumstances will allow, and will probably be nearly or quite completed during the next school year.
The progress already made in this direction is extremely gratifying. The thanks of the Board and of the citizens generally are due to the City Council for its liberal policy and intelligent action in securing to our schools the advan- tages of improved sanitation.
Cost of the Schools.
The amount expended for school purposes, exclusive of evening schools and new school buildings, under the direction of the School Board, during the past school year, was $116,- 999.04, being an average of #31.29 per pupil. The amount expended under the direction of the City Council, chiefly for permanent improvements, was $6,919.90. The aggregate amount expended was $123,918.44, being an average of $33.14 per pupil. It is gratifying to be able to report that the average cost per pupil, compared with that of the pre- ceding year, shows a decrease of $1.68, and is less than the average cost for the last ten years.
The expenditures of the Board include the following items : teachers' salaries, $89,922.22 ; salary of superintendent, $2800; salary of secretary, $300; salaries of janitors, $6830; fuel, $7352.16 ; incidentals, $9,794.66.
The incidental expenses include the following items : books, $2315.12 ; school supplies, $2754.82 ; janitors' supplies, $297.34; repairs, $795.70; furniture, $538.90; printing, $503.85; water, $1048.41; gas, $131.40; truancy, $407.91; miscellaneous, $1003.21.
The amount expended for evening schools was $574.45.
The amount expended for new school buildings was $4543.93.
30
The following table shows the cost of the schools, exclu- sive of the amount expended for evening schools and for new school buildings, from 1880 to 1889. It also shows the cost per pupil based upon the average whole number belonging. The average cost per pupil for the ten years was $33.36.
COST OF THE SCHOOLS, 1880-1889.
YEAR.
Whole Cost.
Average Whole Number.
Cost per Pupil.
1880
$86,397 64
2,824.4
$30 59
1881
87,669 48
2,844.7
30 82
1882
94,885 43
3,092.7
30 68
1883
119,359 75
3,170.3
37 65
1884
109,103 42
3,185.9
34 25
1885
111,632 56
3,356.5
33 25
1886
121,154 20
3,527.7
34 35
1887
124,718 13
3,655.7
34 11
1888
127,110 10
3,650
34 82
1889
123,918 94
3,738.7
33 14
The comparative cost of the schools may be gathered from the following tables. The first is a graduated table in which the cities in the State are numerically arranged accord- ing to the percentage of their taxable property appropriated to the support of public schools for the year 1888-89. The second is a similar exhibit of the cities and towns of Middlesex County.
The statistics of the schools of the State and county are inserted here for the convenience of those who do not have access to the report of the secretary of the State Board of Education, from which they are taken.
Comparing the towns and cities of the State with refer- ence to the percentage of their taxable property appropriated to the support of public schools during the past year, we find that Newton is the fourteenth among the twenty-five cities of the State, the thirty-third among the fifty-four cities and towns of Middlesex County, and the two hundred twenty-second among the three hundred fifty-one cities and towns of the Commonwealth.
31
Comparing the towns and cities with reference to the average cost per pupil, based upon the average whole number belonging, we find that Newton holds the first place in the county and the fourth in the State.
For 1887-88 by the State Valua- tion of 1887.
CITIES.
Percentage of Valuation appropriated to Public Schools equivalent 10 mills and hundredths of mills.
For 1887-88 by the State Valua- tion of 1887.
CITIES.
Percentage of Valuation appropriated to Public Schools equivalent to mills and hundredths of mills.
1
Waltham .
$.004-24
14
Newton
$.003-23
2
Gloucester
3-99
15
Taunton
3-22
3
Quincy
3-91
16
Cambridge
3-17
4
Haverhill
3-78
17
Fall River .
3-17
5
Woburn
3-68
18
Northampton,
3-14
6
Holyoke
3-64
19
Salem
3-09
7
Malden .
3-50
20
Lowell
3-01
8
Somerville
3-43
21
New Bedford,
2-81
9
Fitchburg .
3-43
22
Springfield
2-70
10
Lynn
3-35
23
Lawrence .
2-69
11
Chelsea
3-33
24
Newburyport,
2-24
12
Worcester .
3-32
25
Boston .
1-96
13
Brockton
3-32
Middlesex County.
1
Marlborough,
$.004-94
28
Hopkinton
$.003-34
2
Westford
4-51
29
Pepperell
3-34
3
Natick .
4-43
30
Wilmington
3-32
4
Holliston
4-32
31
Shirley .
3-31
5
Stoneham .
4-29
32
Sherborn
3-28
6
Waltham
4-24
33
Newton .
3-23
7
Ashby
4-07
34
Boxborough
3-21
8
Hudson
4-05
35
Cambridge
3-17
9
Wakefield .
4-00
36
Maynard .
3 16
10
Medford
3-94
37
Watertown
3-16
11
Reading
3-84
38
Lexington
3-07
12
Arlington .
3-78
39
Lowell
3-01
13
No. Reading
3-77
40
. l'yngsboro'
2-98
14
Ashland
3-73
41
Dunstable .
2-74
15
Ayer .
3-73
42
Weston .
2-74
16
Woburn
3-68
43
Bedford
2-69
17
Concord
3-64
41
Belmont
2-59
18
Winchester
3-63
45
Carlisle.
2 47
19
Melrose
3-62
46
Dracut .
2-44
20
Townsend
3-56
47
Billerica
2-42
21
Malden .
3-50
48
Stow .
2-42
22
Wayland
3-45
49
Burlington
2-32
23
Framingham .
3-44
50
Tewksbury
2-17
24
Somerville
3-43
51
Sudbury
1-99
25
Acton
3-40
52
Groton .
1-88
26
Littleton
3-40
53
Lincoln
1-57
27
Chelmsford
3-34
54
Everett .
1-37
Cities of the State.
32
School Supplies.
The number of text-books in use during the past year was 37,914, an increase of 2629 compared with the previous year. The number of reference books was 2055, an increase of 167. The number of books worn out at the .close of the year was 2172, the number missing was 268.
The following table shows the distribution of the books among the several schools :---
SCHOOLS.
Text Books.
Reference Books.
Worn Ou
Missing.
High
7,268
195
287
94
Bigelow
4,264
174
247
40
Eliot
2,820
146
314
15
Adams
2.469
135
42
8
Claflin .
2,587
134
83
0
Pierce .
4,809
275
431
9
Williams .
2,810
212
147
6
Hamilton
1,715
125
12
5
Prospect .
2,627
152
145
13
Hyde
2,492
129
152
11
Mason .
3,778
258
288
67
Oak Hill
275
20
24
0
Totals .
37,914
2,055
2,172
268
The amount expended for new books was $2100.16; the amount paid for rebinding books was $214.96 ; the total amount expended for books was $2315.12. The cost per pupil, based upon the average number belonging, was sixty-two cents.
The amount expended for supplies was $2754.82. The cost per pupil was seventy-four cents.
The following table shows the amount expended for books and supplies during each school year from 1884 to 1889. It also shows the average cost per pupil. The amount expended for books includes the cost of new books and the cost of repair- ing old books :-
33
SCHOOL YEAR.
BOOKS.
Cost per Pupil.
SUPPLIES.
Cost per Pupil.
Total per Pupil.
1884-5
$5,896 30
$1 76
$3,177 44
$0 95
$2 71
1885-6
2,953 92
84
3,746 95
1 06
1 90
1886-7
3,842 00
1 05
2,797 37
76
1 81
1887-8
2,078 67
57
3,903 21
1 06
1 63
1888-9
2,315 12
62
2,754 82
74
1 36
The free text-book law having now been in operation five years, it is probable that the annual cost of replacing the books worn out has nearly or quite reached its maximum, and that the average cost per pupil, from year to year, will not vary much from the amount expended the past year.
Referring to the free text-book laws in my report of 1885, I wrote as follows : "It is too early to judge definitely of the practical working of the free text-book law. That it will be attended with some disadvantages, there can be no doubt. The following advantages, however, may reasonably be expected to result : 1. It effects a saving of time. Under the system of individual purchases, a delay of a week, or even more, was not unusual at the opening of the schools in September. The cost of our schools is in round numbers, five hundred dollars a day, reckoning two hundred school days to the year. Viewed from this point, a week's delay becomes a matter of grave importance. Under the present system, the work of the school may begin at once. There need not be a delay of a single hour." This claim, I may remark, has been fully realized. In all our schools, from the primary to the high, lessons are assigned and the pupils enter upon their work on the first day of the school year.
2, "It effects a saving of expense. First, the cost of the books is less. The individual pays retail prices ; the city buys at lowest wholesale prices. On account of the exceptionally large discount allowed on this class of merchandise the differ-
34
ence between these prices is considerable, being from ten to fifty per cent. of the retail price. Again, under the new system the books are used till they are worn out. In the case of in- dividual ownership, they are often thrown aside after being used for a few months or possibly a year."
This claim also has been realized to an exceptional extent. From a careful comparison of statistics collected from all parts of the country where the plan is in use, it is fair to conclude that the system of free text-books effects a net annual saving of from one dollar to one dollar and a half on each pupil enrolled, In other words, the people of Newton, whose school enrolment is a little more than four thousand, are realizing an annual saving of not less thon five thousand dollars. The people of Boston, whose school enrolment is in round numbers sixty-five thousand, are realizing an annual saving of not less than seventy-five thousand dollars. To the State of Massachusetts, with a school enrolment of three hundred sixty thousand, the saving is nearly or quite five hundred thousand dollars a year. If the system were in operation in all the States, the annual saving would amount to the enormous sum of ten million dollars.
The new plan has another important advantage, and one that has received less consideration than it deserves. It induces less frequent changes in text-books. Under the system of individual ownership changes were frequent, involving a large expense, and imposing a heavy burden upon the majority of the patrons of our schools. Under the new plan changes are very rare. During the past five years there have been no changes in our primary and grammar schools and only two in he high school. New books have been added from time to time to the list of authorized text-books, with a view to enlarge the scope of the work of the schools and to improve the methods of in- struction, but there has been no waste of public money by the
35
substitution of new text-books for those already authorized and in use. By referring to the table already given it will be seen that the average cost per pupil for text-books the past two years is a fraction less than sixty cents. These figures cover the cost of reference books as well as text-books in all the schools -primary, grammar, and high-and they seem to me to speak for themselves.
Drawing.
At a meeting of the Board, held September 26, 1888, it was ordered "That the plan of work in industrial drawing as outlined by Mr. Henry T. Bailey in the report of the State Board of Education for the year 1886-7 be adopted for use in the schools of Newton, and that the superintendent be in- structed to see that it is carried into effect, as far as is practi- cable, during the present school year." The object of the Board in passing this order was to engraft the industrial idea more fully upon our system of instruction and thus make our schools more practical and more helpful. It is believed that drawing thus taught may also be made to contribute valuable aid in the study of other branches, such as arithmetic, geog- raphy, and sewing. With these objects in view measures were at once taken to execute the order of the Board. For the details of the work, I beg leave to refer you to the report of Miss Pond, supervisor of drawing in the primary and gram- mar schools. Miss Pond is so happy in her treatment of the subject, and her report is so valuable a presentation of the methods and aims of art instruction in our schools that I have taken the liberty to insert it in full for the information of the Board. The report is as follows :-
"In September, 1888, on being appointed teacher of drawing in the Newton public schools, it seemed to me best to lay out for the primary and grammar grades a plan of work
36
based on the general lines indicated by Mr. Bailey in his 'Outline of an Eight Years' Course of Study in Drawing.' This outline, a crystallization of the thought of many minds working for Art-education, may be found in the report of the Mass. State Board of Education, 1886-1887.
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