USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Reading > Town of Reading Massachusetts annual report 1916 > Part 15
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It is encouraging to note that increasing efforts are be- ing made through the formation of parents' associations to bring the schools and the home together for the study of common problems and for mutual cooperation in child training. This should result in a more appreciative atti- tude on the part of parents and in more sympathetic rela- tions between teachers and their pupils.
In our schools we are striving to train for productive thinking, which will result in efficient working, which will produce right living, the final end of all true education, culminating in high character.
Appended to this report will be found a detailed state- ment of the receipts and expenditures for 1916, together with the estimates for 1917 and the letter of explanation addressed to the Town Finance Committee. The whole amount required for 1917 is $64,885, of which $460 is to pay a deficit of 1916, leaving $64,428 for the maintenance of the schools in 1917. The estimated receipts for 1917 are $4,750, and if appropriated to the use of the schools should be deducted from the above amount. The expenditures for 1916, including the deficit, were $57,341.12. The amount required for 1917 is an increase of about $7,100. Of this amount, $4,125 is for teachers' salaries; $1,800 for addi- tional teachers employed in 1916 from September only; $1,225 is for increased salaries as per schedule, taking effect in 1916 from September only; $1,100 is for increased salaries, taking effect in September, 1917, as per schedule; $1,000 is for increased cost of apparatus and supplies, due to high prices and to some special needs for apparatus; $800 is due to increased prices of coal; $500 to increased cost of trans- porting pupils; and $700 to various items in which the pre- vailing high prices are the principal factor. These esti- mates are very close, especially on coal. Some of the Com-
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mittee felt that $500 more ought to be requested for this item, considering the present state of the market.
The members whose terms expire in 1917 are William R. Clarke and Walter S. Parker.
Notwithstanding the new rooms provided in 1916, every room in the Town is now occupied except one at the Lowell Street School. The Prospect Street School has nearly every seat filled.
WALTER S. PARKER, Chairman,
For the School Committee.
REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, 1916
TO THE HONORABLE, THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE OF READING, MASS. :
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN-The year of 1916 has been an unusually active one in the schools. The increased number of pupils rendered imperative the opening of new rooms. The plan of reorganization adopted last year required that the pupils should be provided with schools near their homes until they had completed the sixth grade. With these two ends in view, the Prospect Street Schoolhouse was enlarged by the addition of two rooms; the Lowell Street Schoolhouse was finished in the second story, affording two additional rooms of which one was occupied, and the Chestnut Hill School was enlarged by opening a second room. School facilities were further increased by the enlargement of the High School Biological Laboratory, by the purchase of a lot of land as an addition to the grounds of the Highland School, and by the relocation of the Grouard House on a lot opposite the Highland School on School Street. The Union Street Schoolhouse and the trimmings of the High Schoolhouse were painted. The High School assembly hall and the library were re-tinted. Shrubbery was planted around the front of the Lowell Street Schoolhouse. The opening of two new rooms at the Prospect Street School, one new room at the Lowell Street School, and one new room at the Chest- nut Hill School completed the reorganization under the new plan which contemplates an elementary school composed of grades 1 to 6 in each district, a central Intermediate or Junior High School composed at present of grades 7 and 8 to which eventually probably the ninth grade will be added, and a central Senior High School with academic, commer- cial and agricultural courses. The Junior High School is now in its second year. Its success has surpassed expecta- tions. Less difficulties than were anticipated have developed
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in organizing the program, in the adaptation of modern lan- guages, typewriting, and business practice to the interests and capacities of pupils from 12 to 15 years of age and in the re-adjustment at school and at home occasioned by the establishment of a six hour school day, the abolishment of required home study, the introduction of daily double periods of Manual Training and Household Arts, and full periods of 45 minutes on the playground for the classes in physical culture. Pupils have manifested a sustained interest in the new subjects and an ability to handle them successfully. Those entering the High School after one year of Junior High School work seemed decidedly in advance of previous entering classes not only in those subjects in which they had made a beginning in the Junior High School, such as German, Spanish, and Commercial branches, but also in the other High School subjects. This improvement appears to be due to two causes. First, the spirit and methods of the Junior High School depart widely from those of the first six years, comprising the elementary grades, in which the activities of the pupils are minutely ordered under the con- stant supervision of the teacher. Personal responsibility, self-reliance, and individual initiative are developed in the Junior High School so that pupils find the transition to the Senior High School a natural and easy step. The second reason for the marked improvement shown by the Junior High School pupils is the fact that in their course of study they are dealing more largely with the concrete beginnings of interesting and worth-while branches such as a foreign language, typewriting, general science and Industrial and Household Arts, instead of the advanced and abstract aspects of technical grammar, arithmetic, geography and history. Therefore, their minds become more alert, their interest keener, and their efforts more spontaneous and vigorous than was the case when the old grammar school course of study was pursued.
The Junior High School is no longer an experiment. Towns and cities in all directions are hastening to adopt it and all that have already done so are enthusiastic in its praise. The six hour day adds an important aid to its suc-
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cess. The question of the particular grouping of grades is relatively unimportant and should be determined by local conditions. Probably the six years elementary, three years Junior High, and three years Senior High, is theoretically the best arrangement but the six-two-four plan or the six- six plan gives practically the same results and should be preferred if the buildings or personnel of the teaching corps favor it. Before many years the growth in Reading will require a new building for the Center district elementary school or else the establishment of a new district. When that time comes, the fifth and sixth grades would naturally be withdrawn from the Highland building, which would then be devoted exclusively to the Junior High School. In that event, the ninth grade might be taught in that build- ing and thus make more room in the Senior High School. We should then have the six-three-three plan instead of the six-two-four plan as at present. Considerable progress has been made this year in revising the content of the subjects in the course of study in all grades but particularly in the Junior High School. Nature study in the old curriculum has been expanded into Applied Science. This is also called General Science because lines are not sharply drawn between physics, chemistry, biology, and other sciences but an effort is made to lead the pupil to interpret in scientific terms the familiar phenomena of his environment. In this, he is encouraged to study projects of his own choice and to apply the knowledge gained to his own or his home needs. A room at the Highland School has been fitted up as a laboratory with twenty-six wall benches for individual pupils and a cen- tral group of chairs and desks for forty-two pupils. There is also a teacher's science lecture table and sinks, gas and electricity. A set of six hundred stereoscopic views has been added to the equipment for teaching geography. This apparatus was paid for by the pupils of the school, partly by money won in prizes for the school gardens exhibition at the Quannapowitt Fair and partly from the proceeds of the school concert. We hope to have an electric lantern soon. In the Spanish Classes in the Junior High School much dramatized work has been done in which pupils impersonate
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the waiter and customer in a restaurant, the sales person and customer in different kinds of stores, the traveler pur- chasing a ticket and other personalities in every day life.
In the Primary Grades, the Progressive Road to Read- ing has been extended from the one room where it was tried out to all the rooms of the town and six lectures have been given to the teachers on the proper methods of teaching this system. One lecture was given by a teacher from Worces- ter, another by a teacher from Chelsea and four lectures were given by Prof. Riley of the Lowell Normal School. The teachers of the first six grades have also received four lectures on the teaching of Penmanship: one by Mr. Doner of the Salem Normal School and three by Mr. Clark of Mel- rose, author of a series of exercise books which we are using in the schools.
The Superintendent has also given a series of talks on the teaching of Arithmetic. The Wentworth-Smith Essen- tials of Arithmetic were adopted for use in the schools and have been supplied in part.
In the High School, courses in Advanced Physics and Advanced Chemistry have been carried on with greatly increased numbers and new text-books have been intro- duced. More apparatus, particularly in Physics, is an imme- diate necessity. The work of the first two years in Science in the High School has been thoroughly revised this year. The Freshman year is devoted to Applied Biology and the Sophomore year to Applied Physics and Chemistry. New text-books in all of these subjects have been introduced and two double periods of laboratory work each week have been arranged for the Sophomore Classes. The Freshman Course is about equally divided between plant, animal and human life and is made very practical. The Sophomore year is equally divided between the Physics and the Chemistry of Common Things. More apparatus is needed for these courses.
The Commercial Department of the High School has been improved by the systematic use of music from the vic- trola for rythmn and speed work in typewriting and penman-
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ship. Special efforts are being made to raise the standard of speed in typewriting.
The Agricultural Department has had a very successful year with a maximum attendance. Details of this work will be found in the special report of the instructor.
Debating has assumed a more prominent place in the High School but there is need of a more general participa- tion than at present. Some means should be devised for giving every pupil in the school practice in speaking or de- claiming before an assembly.
The Town voted last year to furnish free transportation for pupils in the Junior High School. This whole subject of transportation has been systematized. Regular applica- tions must be signed by parents before tickets are given. A larger number than formerly is in attendance from Ha- verhill Street. They are carried by automobile.
Several pupils entered college by certificate last year. In general, pupils are advised to take the College Entrance Board examinations but certificates may be given, provided the pupil's rank in all subjects is sufficiently high to war- rant it.
The teaching of millinery has been introduced in con- nection with the work in sewing and dressmaking. Miss Mary Yaffee, a graduate of the Massachusetts Normal Art School, has entire charge of the work in drawing, sewing and millinery.
Owing to the increased cost of the schools occasioned by the new salary schedule and by the high prices of sup- plies, apparatus and text books, it has seemed best not to recommend any expansion of our existing courses and activ- ities at the present time. Nevertheless, it may serve a use- ful purpose to here record some of the present needs of the Reading schools. This may seem a rather formidable list, but the suggestions for buildings and grounds are obvious necessities for the near future and the other features sug- gested are all more or less common in near-by towns.
1. An evening school to include English for foreign- ers, Common branches, Commercial branches, Agriculture
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and possibly some modern languages such as Spanish and French, and Industrial Training. Instruction in trade schools for men and women is provided for by payment of tuition for those attending in State Industrial Schools in Boston or elsewhere. Instruction in Sewing, Millinery and Household Arts may be obtained free at the State Industrial Evening School at Wakefield. Thirty-five of the thirty-six cities of the Commonwealth maintain evening schools and forty-five of the sixty-eight towns of over 5,000 population do the same. Reading is one of the twenty-four that do not maintain evening schools.
2. Improvements to Buildings and Grounds :
(a) Retaining wall, grading and shrubs for the Litchfield lot in the rear of the Highland School; also shrubs and path to School Street in the rear of Highland School grounds, as recommended by landscape architect from Massachusetts Agricultural College.
(b) Retaining wall, steps and shrubs in the rear of High School grounds.
(c) Extensive plantings of shrubs at Lowell Street School grounds, as recommended by landscape architect from Massachusetts Agricultural Col- lege and shown in plans of J. Woodward Man- ning.
(d) Grading, fence and shrubs at the Chestnut Hill School grounds; also retinting walls of schoolrooms.
(e) Retinting certain schoolrooms at Highland School.
(f) Providing cellar drain and improving toilets at Lowell Street Schoolhouse.
(g) Enlarging vent ducts, enclosing fire exit from second story, and erecting smoke partition in corridor at Union Street Schoolhouse, as re- quested by the State Inspector of School- houses. Also planting of shrubbery on grounds,
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as suggested on plans prepared by J. Wood- ward Manning.
(h) New heating and ventilation system for the Center Schoolhouse and erection of smoke partition, as requested by the State Inspector of Schoolhouses. Also improvement of grounds and planting of shrubbery, as suggested on plans prepared by J. Woodward Manning.
3. Printing outfit for the Junior High School, new Manual Training benches, motor driven saw table, lathe and forge.
4. Furnishing Grouard House :
(a) Dining room : table, chairs, linen, dishes, side- board and serving table.
(b) Reception room : desk, chairs, table, rug and center table.
(c) Sick room : hospital bed and bed clothing, table, chairs, medicine and instrument closet, supplies. Dental clinic might be included in this outfit.
5. Course in Industrial or Manual Training for High School boys not in the Agricultural Course. This would re- quire a new teacher, but present shop used by Agricultural pupils might be used at least in part.
6. Course in Salesmanship for High School. A large number of girls every year become sales persons in Boston or surburban stores. Ten Boston High Schools and many surburban High Schools have introduced this course. A specially trained teacher is required, however, as well as actual practice in a store.
7. School Nurse to inspect the school children and teach the older girls home nursing and care of babies.
During the year 1916, the schools lost the services by retirement of Miss Annie B. Parker as Supervisor of Draw- ing. Miss Parker retired voluntarily after a service of many years while her work was still in its full vigor and of the highest .standard of excellence. Pupils, teachers, superin-
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tendent and committee alike regretted her decision to relinquish her position. The fact that Miss Parker had done most of her work in her native town tended to limit her fame as a supervisor, but no less an authority than Henry Turner Bailey, lecturer and editor of the School Arts Magazine and for many years State Supervisor of Drawing, has testified that Miss Parker's work was among the best in Massachusetts or anywhere in the United States. Reading owes her a debt that it cannot repay.
Among the teachers that left Reading in 1916 were Harry R. Howe, who went to the Newton High School; Miss Frances M. Brooks, who became a teacher at the Salem Normal School; Miss Anita Vale, who accepted a position in the High School of East Orange, New Jersey. Miss Mabel P. Williams left the Highland School and accepted a position in Everett. Miss Evelyn Williams was married. Miss Eunice Bancroft resigned after several years of service as teacher of sewing. Ernest M. Leland resigned as teacher of Manual Training on account of ill health. Miss Florence G. Nichols accepted a position in New York at a considerable increase in salary. Miss Myrtle D. Wells resigned after several years of service as Secretary and a short experience as teacher of typewriting and is devoting herself to the teaching of music.
Thanking the Committee for their advice and co-opera- tion, I am,
Very respectfully yours,
ADELBERT L. SAFFORD, Superintendent.
REPORT OF INSTRUCTOR IN AGRICULTURE, 1916
MR. ADELBERT L. SAFFORD, Superintendent of the Schools of Reading :
DEAR SIR- I herewith submit this, my second annual report, as Instructor in Agriculture for the period from March 6 to December 8, 1916.
The department opened with twenty-seven and closed with twenty-two pupils, the average membership being twenty-six. Twenty-six pupils carried projects thru the season. The towns of North Reading, Wilmington, Stone- ham, Wakefield, Medford and Reading were represented in the membership.
The method of instruction followed during the year was similar to that of last year, namely, a division of the boys into two classes, each having a half day in Agriculture, text book work occupying one-third and laboratory and pro- ject study two-thirds of each day. For a full account of instructional methods, as prescribed by the State Board of Education, see pages 34 and 35 of the annual report of the School Committee of Reading for 1915.
The subject of this year was Animal Husbandry, which embraced the intensive study of horses, cattle, sheep, swine and poultry, proper emphasis being paid to local stock prob- lems. Of these, poultry and dairy cattle occupied the major part of the time. Since successful farm management demands close attention to details and possible leaks, much time was spent in studying methods of reducing unit costs, increasing stock unit returns, more economical feeding of farm animals and a better use of the by-products of the farm. Several weeks were spent in the close study of milk, its production, care, testing and marketing. Illustrated lectures and laboratory exercises on the different phases of Animal Husbandry were many and varied.
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The equipment that has been added during the year includes four desks, an electric incubator from which three successful hatches were taken, sediment milk tester, pas- teurizing outfit, small churn, transit, compass, level, target, rods and chain and twenty - five reference books. The laboratory has been fitted with double shades, making possi- ble the frequent use of the school lantern.
The projects carried in 1916 numbered seventy-one, an increase over last year of eighteen. This shows an average of nearly three projects per pupil. These seventy-one pro- jects were distributed as follows :
Gardening-Sixteen boys carried from one-fiftieth to. one and three-quarters acres.
Corn-One boy had an area of one acre.
Potatoes-Five boys had areas ranging from one-fortieth to one-fourth acre.
Poultry-Ten boys had from eight to forty-five birds. One boy had the daily care of upwards of two thousand chicks and three hundred hens. Another had the care of seventy-five prize birds belonging to a neighbor.
Swine-Five boys carried from one to twenty-one hogs, two having the latter number.
Dairying-Sixteen boys had from one to eighteen cows, or a total of seventy-eight animals. Six boys had sole charge of producing and retailing the milk of thirty-eight COWS.
Farm Work-Eighteen boys did regular farm work dur- ing the year, twelve on the home farm and six on neighbor- ing farms at remunerative wages.
The value of the work may be partially shown from the financial results. Since the weather conditions and prices of 1916 were very favorable, the results when taken alone, or when compared with those of 1915, show gratifying re- turns. Twenty-eight boys in 1915 earned $2150.27, or an 'average per boy of $76.79. Twenty-six boys in 1916 earned $4501.13, or an average per boy of $173.13. Other interest- ing comparisons of the total project business follows :
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Item
1915
1916
Increase
Inventories
. $2,906 80
$3,208 06
$301 26
Total expenses (project)
3,449 06
6,109 47
2,660 41
Paid self for labor
318 90
786 33
467 43
Paid family for labor
283 93
899 27
615 34
Paid for rent, seed, feed
604 73
1,637 95
1,033 22
Total receipts (project)
3,828 34
6,816 50
2,988 16
Received for home farm work
745 20
1,665 26
920 06
Received from farm work
away from home
204 61
910 41
705 80
Received from non-farm
work
322 38
332 50
10 12
Total cash earned not in-
cluding projects
791 50
1,398 70
607 20
Grand total earnings .
2,150 27
4,501 13
2,350 86
Average earnings per pupil
76 79
173 13
96 34
The ten leaders of 1915 and 1916 earned in cash and credit the following amounts :
1915
1916
1915
1916
$355 37
$470 21
$113 56
$257 62
180 00
408 87
111 87
228 12
179 13
399 49
104 26
203 86
172 09
362 49
88 95
200 00
164 74
317 50
86 83
184 15
These figures convince one that the department of Agriculture is filling a decided want in our school system. The work connects live boys with actual farm problems and aids him in their successful solution. A few have failed in the work, as would be expected, but in these failures valu- able lessons have been learned. The success of one young man may be mentioned : In 1915 this particular town boy, then fifteen years of age, with less than a half-acre of land, ran his own dairy of three cows and delivered the milk on foot and bicycle. Early in 1916 the cows were increased to
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seven and an auto was added for the delivery. At the pres- ent time his cows number fifteen and the business is carried on a sixty acre farm.
In the course of the year the instructor has made three hundred and eleven inspections of projects and nearly sixty demand calls on farmers. Two weeks were spent at Amherst.
The work has been visited by many educators, includ- ing Deputy Commissioner Small and Mr. Rufus W. Stimson of the State Board of Education, Professor Davis of Miami University and Professor O. H. Lane, Chief Specialist of Agri- cultural Education of the U. S. Department of Agriculture.
I wish to thank you for the continued interest and un- tiring support you have given the department during the year. Teachers, parents and pupils have also shown splen- did co-operation for which I thank them.
Respectfully submitted, JOHN G. POWERS,
Agricultural Instructor.
READING HIGH SCHOOL
Graduation Exercises
CLASS OF . . 1916 . .
HIGH SCHOOL HALL
WEDNESDAY EVENING, JUNE TWENTY-EIGHT SEVEN-THIRTY
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Prayer by Rev. Frank M. Holt
Overture .
The Crusader
1 Double Salutatory * HILDA SYMONDS (Excused from Speaking)
1 In Quest of a Mirage
* MILDRED SUSAN MOSES
2 One Phase of It t JOHN ERIC TURNER
Soldiers' Chorus from the Opera "Faust " HIGH SCHOOL CHORUS
3 Methods of Recording Speech # GLADYS ABBOTT KILLAM
One Fleeting Hour . Lee Arranged for Cornet and Strings
4 From the Mad Hatter to Lancelot Gobbo İ MARION AUDREY FOWLE
5 The House of Darkness $ DANIEL JOSEPH DESMOND
Lovely Night, from the Opera "The Tales of Hoffman" HIGH SCHOOL CHORUS
6 The Farm of the Future * MELVIN LESTER PARSONS, JR.
Conferring of Diplomas, WALTER S. PARKER, Chairman of School Board Benediction by Rev. D. Augustine Newton Director of Music ARTHUR HAROLD TOZER
Accompanist
ALBION E. METCALF
* Scholarship Honors + Class Honors
* Faculty Honors
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CLASS OF 1916
Į John Burke
Norman Lester Butler Norman Paige Charles Gladys Gertrude Cloudman 2 Paul Joseph Cummings 3 Albert Kenneth Dane
4 Daniel Joseph Desmond Maurice Henry Donegan Grace Evangeline Flint Carrie Elizabeth Foley Ruby Marion Forbes Marion Audrey Fowle Whitman I. Freeman Margaret Elizabeth Galvin Annie May Gibbons
Grace Littlefield
Faith Marguerite Livingstone Irma Frances McDavitt Mildred Susan Moses
Joseph Bernard Murray Mary Elizabeth Nickerson Grace Jane O'Kelly
Harold Lawrence Owen
Melvin Lester Parsons, Jr. 6 Olive R. Pierson James Patrick Riley Janet Henry Robinson Mary Elizabeth Robinson
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