USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Reading > Town of Reading Massachusetts annual report 1910 > Part 8
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The total output at the switchboard was 698,597 kilowatt hours. The output on the street light circuits was 227,100 kilowatt hours, on the commercial circuits 381,276 and on the Wakefield line 90,221. Kilowatt hours sold to customers 300,861, used at station and office 16,269, unaccounted for 154,367.
Acting under authority of the vote authorizing the ex- tension of the lines to the Town of North Reading we entered into a contract to furnish and maintain for a period of five years one hundred 32 candle-power incandescent street lights, 87 of which have been connected and are in service at this time. Since the contract was signed we have received an
190
order to install 22 additional lights under the terms of the contract. The commercial service has not yet been con- nected but will be within a few days, and about one-half of the prospective customers will undoubtedly be connected with the service during the coming month.
The installation of Tungsten lamps on our streets during the past year has apparently met with the approval of the citizens, and the Board recommends that the system be extended the coming year.
CONSTRUCTION
Cost of plant as shown in Town Report, Dec.
31, 1909
$118,545 70
Real estate
18 01
Steam plant
185 20
Lines .
2,643 20
Incandescent street lamp fixtures
338 72
Meters
1,481 14
Transformers
414 79
North Reading extension . .
12,365 86
Cost of plant Dec. 31, 1910 $135,992 62
The Manager submits the following estimates for 1911 in accordance with the law :
For operation, maintenance and repairs
$23,000 00
Interest
2,728 25
Depreciation
4,079 78
Bond payments
3,000 00
Note payments
1,500 00
Total .
$34,308 03
Estimated income from consumers
27,508 03
Balance
$6,800 00
For new construction .
2,200 00
Total to be appropriated
$9,000 00
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The following table shows the earnings of light and power for five years :
LIGHTS
Total
1906 $15,737 45
1907 $18,619 16 2,349 28
1908 $19,917 21
1909 $21,217 40
1910 $23,876 50
Discounts
1,867 39
2,602 77
2,863 45
3,174 25
Net
$13,870 06
$16,269 88
$17,314 44
$18,353 95
$20,702 25
POWER
Total
1906 $434 41
1907 $1,787 82
1908 $2,051 39
1909 $3,730 84
1910 $4,984 78 18 16
Discounts
$1 75
58
14 50
15 63
Net
$432 66
$1,787 24
$2,036 89
$3,715 21
$4,966 62
NET TOTAL LIGHT AND POWER
1906
1908
1909
1910
$14,302 72
1907 $18,057 12
$19,351 33
$22,069 16
$25,668 87
GEORGE L. FLINT, JAMES M. MAXWELL, JR., ELMER H. ROBINSON, Municipal Light Board.
ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
School Committee
[ Photo by C. L. SCOTT, Reading ] THE NEW LOWELL STREET SCHOOL HOUSE
TOWN OF READING
FOR THE YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 1910
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
WALTER S. PARKER, Chairman, Walnut St.
Term expires 1911 HOWARD W. POOR, Mt. Vernon St. Term expires 1911 EDWIN L. HUTCHINSON, Lowell St. Term expires 1912
CHARLES A. LORING, Summer Ave. Term expires 1912
MRS. IDA YOUNG, Woburn St. Term expires 1913
JESSE W. MORTON, Woburn St.
Term expires 1913
Superintendent of Schools and Secretary of School Committee
HARRY T. WATKINS
Truant Officer WILLIAM KIDDER
Medical Inspector E. DALTON RICHMOND, M. D.
ORGANIZATION OF COMMITTEE
WALTER S. PARKER, Chairman
HARRY T. WATKINS, Secretary
Sub-Committees FINANCES AND ACCOUNTS H. W. Poor
E. L. Hutchinson
Jesse W. Morton
W. S. Parker Mrs. Young
SCHOOL HOUSES AND PROPERTY
C. A. Loring
E. L. Hutchinson H. W Poor
E. L. Hutchinson
RULES AND REGULATIONS C. A. Loring
H. W. Poor
TEACHERS AND SALARIES
W. S. Parker
Jesse W. Morton
H. W. Poor
MUSIC AND DRAWING
Mrs. Young
Jesse W. Morton
C. A. Loring
COURSE OF STUDY H. W. Poor
Mrs. Young Jesse W. Morton
W. S. Parker
BOOKS AND SUPPLIES
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE
The School Committee submits the following report for the year ending Feb. 28, 1911 :
We desire to call the attention of all citizens to the various reports which are included in the school report. The financial report is given in full detail and clearly indi- cates all expenditures.
The Superintendent has written somewhat in detail in regard to several changes and improvements which have been brought about in the management of the schools. We are pleased to report that we have suffered less than usual on account of resignation of teachers. The past year has been a very prosperous one and the earnest, hopeful attitude of the teachers toward their work betokens that good work has been accomplished.
The delightful reports written by the teachers concern- ing the different phases of school life have been very inter- esting. Teachers and pupils who exhibit such a cheerful state of mind must be doing efficient work.
We have recently united the duties of Superintendent and Principal of the High School. It has worked to the advantage of both positions. The office of the Superinten- dent is in the High School building. His services are at our command every day in the week. He is within immediate call of all teachers and pupils in the High School, and the other schools of the town are so located that he can easily visit them when. necessary.
In many ways the conditions of school managment in Reading are ideal. The size of the town, the class of pupils attending the schools together with the co-operation of the parents and the interest exhibited by many of the citizens who have no children in the schools, all tend to make the work interesting and profitable.
198
While good progress has been made in the past we are looking forward to still greater progress in the future.
In the language of Henry Van Dyke, " We are satisfied with our possessions but not content with ourselves until we have made the best of them." Education is a growth, a development, an enlargement from within, a progression. Therefore, if our education is vital it must be alive, and if it is alive it must continually advance. We must do some- thing better next year than we have done this year. It is not wise to remain stationary.
The Committee has called attention at different times in the past to the need of doing something in the way of providing instruction in Domestic Science.
The girls are not having their fair share of the kind of training which is demanded, when we consider the fact that a large proportion of these young women will event- ually preside over homes of their own.
If the outlook of the future for these girls is in the direction which we have indicated then it is a common sense question for us to ask, What are we doing in the schools to directly and efficiently prepare them for their life work?
Is the course of study so arranged and are the subjects of study selected with this end in view? It is generally con- ceded by thoughtful persons that some change might be made to improve conditions for the girls. Many school sys- tems have added something in the way of Domestic Science and Household Practical Arts.
Is there a single person in Reading who would offer any objection to any movement being made that would tend towards the elevation of the home and to dignify and to magnify the position of wife and mother?
Is it too much to say that it strikes at the very root and foundation of all civilized life and all forms of government.
There is the side of physical culture, of right bodily training, of building up a fine physique. Then there is the
199
side of the chemistry of food and of food values. The agri- cultural colleges have been doing much in the direction of balanced rations for animals, yet but very little has been done in the schools in the direction of a more rational way of living.
The simple life is, after all, the best life, the most sat- isfaction is derived from the joys of home life, the best con- tribution to the social whole is made by the happy family. It is not the intention of the Committee to enter upon any elaborate and costly plan of school work, but it is our desire to do something that will assist the young women to a more efficient life.
SCHOOL BUILDINGS
Your attention is solicited to the full report on the new building on Lowell street described in the architects' report. It is a structure well adapted for the purpose for which it was built.
The terms of Howard W. Poor and Walter S. Parker expire at the ensuing town meeting.
APPROPRIATIONS
We ask for the same amount that we asked for last year for the expenses of the school department, namely : $30,000 for regular school expenses and $5,000 for school incidentals.
Adopted in School Committee, Feb. 4, 1910.
WALTER S. PARKER, Chairman. CHARLES A. LORING. JESSE W. MORTON. EDWIN L. HUTCHINSON.
MRS. IDA YOUNG.
HOWARD W. POOR.
HARRY T. WATKINS, Secretary.
REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT
To the School Committee of the Town of Reading :
My second annual report, the eighteenth in the series, is herewith offered for your consideration.
It is a pleasure to me to report to you that those most intimately associated with the schools agree that the year just closed has been one of unusual efficiency, harmony and profit, and I feel that much has been done which, though not necessarily showing upon the surface, has added to the effectiveness of the work, not only this year but for the future.
It has been my aim to spend the money entrusted to the school authorities upon those thing which really count for success and which are for the greatest good to the great- est number of students. During the past year the Commit- tee, very wisely I think, voted to increase the salaries of some of the grade teachers who, to my mind, have been con- spicuously underpaid in the past. The increase which, in the aggregate amounted to a little over five hundred dollars per year, was apportioned to the lowest paid teachers on the principle that, as this was a beginning along the line of an increase in salaries in the grade teachers, those who needed it most should get it first.
The results of this measure were very evident at the opening of schools in September. In my report of last year I recorded fifteen changes in the teaching corps, but when school opened in September of 1910 there were only two new faces in the grades and two in the High School, although a few changes occurred later on in the fall term. The teachers who have left us, together with the places to which they have gone, are indicated below in concise form.
201
LEFT SERVICE FROM SCHOOL
FOR
APPOINTED
FROM
Abbie M. Croscup
Highland
Beverly
Grace Putnam
Harvard, Mass.
Annie L. Donovan
Centre Boston
May Foley
Pembroke, Mass.
Mary V. Long
Centre
Brockton
Rose Fuller
Wakefield, Mass.
Miriam P. Clark
Union
Medford
Hazel L. Wilcox
Wheelock Kindergrt'n
Julia M. Noyes
Chestnut
Study
Isabelle Cordiner
Barre, Vt.
Mary P. Gordon
High
Hartford, Ct.
Henrietta Sperry
Smith College
Mabel A. Hayes
High
Not teaching
Dorothy Dey
Wellesley College
Helen A. Taff
High
Cambridge
S. Eleanor Byorkman Tufts College
Hazel Wilcox
Union St. Not teaching
Julia M. Noyes Bridgewater Normal
From this as well as similar data in the past, a notable observation may be made, viz .: that Reading is able to select teachers of such quality as to be sought after by the school authorities of the largest cities, and I am assured that many of the teachers on the present staff have refused to consider situations of greater remuneration in larger places mainly because of their satisfaction with their treat- ment by the Committee, their pleasant relations with their fellow workers and the class of children with whom they come in contact in this community. Most of these, our best and most experienced teachers whose value grows greater year by year, could be retained almost indefinitely by the establishment of a schedule of salaries, not necessarily en- tailing a material increase just now, but establishing a maximum based upon term of service to which they could look forward.
As this report is to be read mainly by parents and resi- dents of this town interested in all that pertains to the schools, it would seem appropriate, even at the expense of some space, to give in detail something of the material im- provements, out of the ordinary, which have been brought about during the past year.
REPAIRS
At the Highland School, the walls of the whole lower corridor, the Principal's office and teachers' room, together with three class rooms, have been re-tinted and are rendered
202
especially attractive thereby. As nothing of that sort has been done since the building was built it was much needed and the change is marked. Teachers' desks. chairs and tables, also furniture in the Principal's office and teachers' room have been refinished for the first time in ten years. The two dark rooms on the east side, which on dark days were hardly usable except with danger to the eyesight of the pupils, have been fitted with powerful Tungsten lights : this has also been done in the Manual Training room, which being in the basement was equally faulty in its lighting. The unsightly ash dump on the southeast end of the grounds has been graded and seeded down, much to the advantage of the school grounds. Borders will be laid out in the spring and set with shrubs taken from the surplus in the other beds. thus completing the scheme of lawn and shrubbery already so attractive around the Highland Building.
At the Centre School the building has been completely shingled. a covered passage built to the outbuildings for the protection of the pupils in stormy weather. Allen adjusta- ble shades here and at the Union St. building have replaced the inconvenient and unsanitary inside blinds. teachers' desks have been refinished, electric lights installed in the north room, repairs made in the corridors and on the heat- ing plant ensuring the easy heating of all parts of the build- ings in all weathers : blackboards in Centre. Union. Prospect. and Chestnut schools refinished. New flags have been fur- nished to all buildings except the High school, and sanitary drinking fountains have been installed everywhere through- out the school buildings.
At the Union St. building practically the same repairs have been made as at the Centre, with the exception of shingling the building.
A notable improvement has been made at Prospect St .. which. it is believed, will be appreciated by the residents of that section. The grounds about the building have been ploughed up, seeded down and laid out by a landscape
203
gardener with shrubs, borders and small trees, so that in time it should become a spot of great beauty. It is expected that less will have to be done by way of repairs next year, with the exception of two important items, the painting of the Centre School, which, in its location on the Square is so conspicuous to people passing through town, and the recon- creting of the Union St. yard.
TEXT BOOKS
I found the lower grades in sore need of new text books throughout, especially in reading, arithmetic and language. In a report made to the Committee last year it was found that an average of about 65 per cent. of the Reading books were in poor condition. This condition no longer prevails, all the grades having been supplied with new, up-to-date reading books, arithmetics and language texts. There are now practically no old and much worn books in the hands of the children.
LOWELL STREET BUILDING
An important event in the history of the school system of Reading is the completion and occupancy of the new four- room building on Lowell st., replacing the one-room struc- ture destroyed by fire a year ago. Two rooms in this build- ing will be opened in February and the residents of that section of the Town will have school accommodation second to none in town, both now and for years to come. The building is a credit to Reading and for the amount expended represents unusual value. It follows out the wise policy of the School Committee as shown in the past, viz., embody- ing in each building built the best in architecture, hygiene, sanitation and service. For a detailed description of the building the architects' report and the cuts of the building may be consulted.
Truancy is among the worst evils connected with the administration of the schools, not because of the present loss
.
204
of education to the child, but because of its evil training for its future. Every truant is a potential criminal and it is a fact proved by statistics that 85% of all habitual truants land in jail. It is from this class of young boys if neglected or at least laxly treated by the school authorities, that the rowdy gangs are recruited that are a thorn in the flesh of the police of every town and city. Though no worse than other towns Reading possessed a group of young boys who had developed into habitual truants and had been so from their fifth grade up into the eighth. It was these lads who had proved a nuisance to the police in many cases and many of them had been to court for misdemeanors other than truancy. This problem was attacked with vigor in the fall and with very efficient work by the truant officer and espe- cially wise and able co-operation on the part of Probation Officer Walsh of the 4th District Court in Woburn a com- plete change in conditions was made in a few months. Most of the boys yielded to pressure by the Superintendent. Only four were taken to court, and of these only one broke his probation and was committed to the County School at Chelmsford. It is a great satisfaction to be able to report that all of the troublesome group of boys, habitual truants of long standing, are attending school regularly, are im- proved in dress, looks and manners, and are actually doing their school work with interest and zest. Today truancy has practically become a lost art to the boys of Reading.
Among the many things the School Committee is trying to accomplish for the Reading schools is one which I wish to emphasize because I believe it the most important, although it cannot be catalogued or included in any list of tangible assets, but it is worthy of all the time, thought and energy which can be spent upon its attainment. I refer to what, for want of a better term, may be called the development of the "inspirational" side of the school administration, meaning that the SPIRIT of the school work counts far more toward the right sort of efficiency than the amount of work
205
itself. In other words, far more important than the im- provement of physical surroundings, the providing of ade- quate equipment, the carrying out of technical routine, is the arousing of the teaching force to the point of their tak- ing a strong, human and personal interest in the life, work and outlook of their pupils. The work of the school is, or should be, personal and spiritual, the material side is only an aid and an instrument to that end. A well-equipped and well-officered school system is inert and impotent unless it is alive and galvanic with the personal and spiritual enthu- siasm of its workers arising from real love for and joy in their work. For such teachers ANYTHING is possible, the other kind work much but accomplish comparatively little of real value. The work of the schools should be intensely human, not technical ; personal and individual, not mechani- cal and general; throbbing with live human interest at every point. With such a spirit team-work is possible, pettiness disappears, the broad outlook up and down is natural, the vision of the spirit of true education illuminates every problem and the school system is alive. Such a result is obtained only by the magic quality, personality. The right sort of personality should be sought in teachers, princi- pals, school officers of every grade and then the right ideals fostered. The earnest attempt to approximate such a result is at the basis of the harmony and enthusiastic spirit which has characterized the work of the teachers during the past year. Whether or not our efforts to accomplish results along this line have borne fruit can be best gathered, perhaps, from the closing paragraph of the report to the School Committee rendered recently by Principal Barrows of the Highland School which I here quote :
"The work of a school has, of course, its trials and drudgery. I know of no person fairly successful in the busi- ness who really has no days of depression about the results of his efforts. But there are thousands of brighteners all along the way, and no single source of sunshine is so vitally
206
effective to the loyal teacher as the certainty that she has the sympathy and support of her Superintendent and em- ployers. This year of 1910 has been smoothed to each teacher in my school by the ever-present assurance that her needs, when made known to her Superintendent, would receive from him prompt, honest, broad consideration ; and that he and the school board were zealously planning every possible good thing for our entire school system."
I cannot let this report go by without expressing one of my strongest hopes for the future. It has always been my opinion that in certain ways the girls of our high schools of today are being neglected along lines that mean a great deal to them and to the future good of the whole com- munity. Educational thought today is taking a decided trend along the line of " vocational training," but I will venture to say that nine times out of ten when that subject is mentioned the thought of the speaker is directed to boys alone. When we realize that ninety per cent. of our girls pass out of our schools to eventually become the guiding influence of households of their own, to have in their keeping the domestic welfare of men and women of the next generation, we cannot avoid the conclusion that theirs is the highest vocation of all and nothing is done by the schools to fit them in a practical way for it. The boys have their athletic sports and outdoor life, either fostered by the school or at home, but what is done to make the girls physically fit for the high calling they are about to assume? I cannot help feeling that a school would be doing more for any town if it could graduate from its courses each year a group of upstanding, healthy, clear-eyed, clean-blooded young women who have learned from the proper kind of teacher how to care for their own health and that of those dependent upon them, how to carry into a home of their own the right ideas of personal and domestic hygiene, house sanitation, food values and the preparation of substantial meals, far more than it is doing under the present system.
207
This is not a visionary or impractical project. By the secur- ing of one teacher of the right sort and the installation of simple and inexpensive equipment for a cooking room in the basement of the High School each girl throughout her four year course could be given systematic physical training, practical instruction as to the acquirement and care of a healthy body, and elementary instruction in simple and practical cookery. I am emphatically of the opinion that such a course under the right instructor would be of more value to the community than any other now in the cur- riculum.
I make two recommendations :
1. That the town appropriate each year a specific amount for the installation inside the buildings of modern sanitary toilets in place of the present outbuildings, beginning this year with the Prospect Street School.
2. The establishment in the High School of a course in Physical Training and simple Domestic Science for the girls.
In closing, I wish to make the usual felicitations to Committee, parents and teachers (often a matter of form) especially emphatic and sincere. From my heart I thank all who have shown forbearance for lack of experience, and courteous appreciation of good intent. I sincerely hope that the spirit of harmony, enthusiasm and generous co-operation displayed alike by Committee, teachers and parents during this year just closed, may continue. Granted that, the future is full of hope.
Respectfully submitted,
H. T. WATKINS,
Superintendent of Schools. Jan. 31, 1911.
GIRLS TOILET ROOM
BOYS TOIST ROOM
up
up
GIRLS ENTRANCE
burpuoi
Landing
O-Lally Col -O
o-Lally Col.00
WOOD
FURNACE COAL
STORAGE
incline
BOYS ENTRANCE
TURNALL ROOM
BOYS PLAY ROOM
GIRLS' PLAY ROOM
STACK HEATER COAL
FRESH AIR ROOM
BASEMENT PLAN
landing
CORRIDOR
Suisut
DOWN
Down
TOILET RM
0
- CLASS
TEACHERS ROOM
SECOND FLOOR PLAN
WARDROBE
up
up-+
Landing"
Down
Down
BOYS ENTRANCE TO BASEMENT
0- CLASS
ROOM
~ CLASS ROOM
VESTIBULE
INDICATES TEACHER'S DESK +4 INDICATEJ PIRECTION PUPILS ZACE.
FIRST FLOOR PLAN
CHELS ENTRANCE
Landing
CORRIDOR
-
ARCHITECTS' REPORT ON THE LOWELL STREET BUILDING
In designing the new Lowell Street School building, the question of location on the lot was carefully considered. To reduce the total cost of the building to as low a figure as possible, it was decided to set the structure practically on the foundations of the old school as far as they would go, extending the building to the south, and building a new wall on the front. However, after the batter boards were set in place, and the Committee went to the lot to give their approval, all were unanimous in the opinion that it should set further away from the street, and it was therefore changed to its present location.
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