USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Reading > Town of Reading Massachusetts annual report 1918 > Part 8
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Consideration has been given to the formation of a new district with a schoolhouse located in the neighborhood of the Parker Tavern, but until there should be a large num- ber of new houses erected on the vacant land in this vicinity the number of pupils nearer to this location than to the existing schools would not be sufficient to warrant a separate schoolhouse.
The same conclusions have been reached in reference to other possible new districts, as in lower Salem Street, North Main Street and Haverhill Street.
UP-KEEP OF BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS
The year 1918 made unusual demands for maintenance of buildings and grounds. The largest unforeseen expense was occasioned by the freezing of steam and water pipes. Not a small part of the increased expenditure was caused by higher wages and higher cost of materials. There are a number of matters requiring attention at the Highland building. The corridors, stairways, assemby hall and three schoolrooms need retinting, the sash should be repainted inside and outside and all the exterior woodwork and the flagstaff should be repainted one coat. A vent opening should be made from the boiler room into one of the flues, new curtains should be provided in some of the rooms and curtains installed for darkening the windows in the assem- bly hall and science laboratory. The lot added to the play- ground requires grading and a retaining wall. Some of the shrubbery in front should be thinned out and replanted in the rear of the building and other shrubbery added in the rear and on the new lot. The inspector of electric wires has recommended a new installation of electric lighting switches and fuse board; also several of the schoolrooms have never been provided with electric lights. About one year ago estimates for doing this work were procured amounting to
126
$450. The seats in the assembly hall at the Highland School are the ordinary pine settees and have been in use over twenty years. Many of them are now in poor condition. It would be very desirable to replace these with folding chairs similar to those in the High School Hall.
The Lowell Street Schoolhouse windows are in bad con- dition on account of putty peeling off. The sashes and doors and trimmings should also be repainted. The main exterior walls are covered with stained shingles. They should be re-oiled.
There has been trouble every year at this building occa- sioned by water running into the basement. Possibly this might be partially or wholly obviated by new dry wells for the conductors and cementing around the drain pipe leading to the cesspool.
The cesspool at the Center Schoolhouse has overflowed frequently of late and a new cesspool is probably necessary. Also one of the cesspools at the High School has given some trouble in the same way. A new room has just been fur- nished at the Lowell Street School at a cost of about $200. The expense would have been larger but some pupils' desks were transferred from other rooms. The High School lot bordering on Sanborn Street needs a low retaining wall and the shrubs next to Mr. White's land should be transplanted. Also the steps on the path from Sanborn Street should be reconstructed with cement or concrete.
TRANSPORTATION OF PUPILS
The transportation of pupils to school has become an item of considerable importance in the school budget. .
. There were sixty-two pupils receiving free transporta- tion to the Elementary Schools and fifty-seven to the Junior High School at the time that service was discontinued on the Woburn, Stoneham and Lakeside lines of the Bay State Street Railway. Seven of these pupils came from Haverhill Street and were transported by automobile by Mr. Wilkins, at an expense of two dollars per day. Their transportation costs more than their instruction. The fare on the Bay
127
State Street Railway for public school pupils is three and one-half cents for one fare for each zone. No transfers are allowed. Most pupils are within the one-zone limit. It will therefore cost fourteen dollars per year of forty weeks for each pupil in the one-zone area and twenty-eight dollars a year for each pupil in a two-zone area. Formerly some pupils in the Elementary Schools were allowed free trans- portation home to dinner and return. This has now been discontinued. Each pupil is furnished with transportation once each way daily. If he goes home to dinner, he fur- nishes his own tickets, which may be purchased at the reduced rates for school children. If service should be restored shortly on the Bay State Street Railway, the cost for 1919 would be about $2000. If this service is not re- stored, it is uncertain what transportation by jitney would cost for the fifty pupils formerly served by the Bay State Street Railway.
Elementary School pupils are being carried tempo- rarily but Junior High School pupils on the discontinued lines are walking pending the restoration of the cars or the inauguration of jitney service. If they continue to walk until the lines are repaired a considerable saving will be made.
EVENING SCHOOLS
Many towns of the size of Reading maintain evening schools. Many kinds of studies are pursued in these schools in different towns and cities, but English for foreigners is common to practically all. The time has come when this matter ought not to be put off further and I would recom- mend that two hundred fifty dollars be asked for to main- tain an evening school beginning next October for the rest of the year 1919. A full year's cost is estimated at five hun- dred dollars.
PENMANSHIP
For several years the teacher of penmanship in the High School supervised the teachers of the lower grades in the teaching of penmanship. In the last two years that has been discontinued from lack of time. It is now possible to secure
-
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the services of an expert for one day a week at a very mod- erate salary. I would recommend that three hundred dol- lars be asked for to be devoted to this purpose. The com- mercial work in general carried on in the Junior High School and the Senior High School is of a superior grade but the results in penmanship do not compare favorably with the general average in other commercial branches, and should receive some special attention.
SCHOOL NURSE
The work of the School Physician should be supple- mented by that of the School Nurse. She would also be able to teach the older girls home nursing, care and feeding of children and personal hygiene. The salary of a School Nurse would be about the same as that of a High School teacher. I would recommend that the sum of three hun- dred and seventy-five dollars be included in 1919 budget for the purpose of starting this work in September, 1919.
SOME SUCCESSES IN 1918
I am venturing to chronicle some of the evidences of commendable results obtained in the schools in 1918. The favorable comments are repeated in no boastful spirit but for the information of the citizens. Often petty fault- finding and mistaken criticisms are circulated more freely. than well-founded favorable opinions and evidences of suc- cessful work. The writing of the following paragraph was perhaps prompted by an anxious mother who telepnoned to me that someone on the train told her positively that Read- ing High School could not fit anyone for college now. She wanted to ask me if it was so.
FOOD PRODUCTION
During 1918 universal activity and interest in gardens and agricultural work were aroused among the pupils. There were many more home gardens than ever before. The High School agricultural department purchased, put up in packages and distributed the seeds for the home gardens. Many boys worked on farms from the middle of May to the middle of October.
129
PHYSICAL TRAINING
Systematic calisthenics and physical training for both boys and girls are carried on under trained instructors in the Junior High School, daily, and in the Senior High School twice a week for each pupil. This systematic muscle build- ing develops a good physique and healthful condition far better than casual participation in athletics.
COMMERCIAL TRAINING
The results of several years' constant advancement in building up the commercial courses in the Junior High School and the Senior High are beginning to be apparent in the increased proficiency of our graduates and senior pupils. Five years ago typewriting was taught only two periods a week for junior and senior years in the High School. Now it may be taken, if desired, five periods a week throughout the six years of Junior and Senior High School. Shorthand was formerly taught three periods a week for two years. Now it is taught five periods a week for three years. For- merly only four hundred periods were given. to the whole course in Bookkeeping. Now eight hundred periods are given. Also two years of specialized Commercial English and Letter Writing and one year of Office Training have been added to the Commercial Course. The result is our gradu- ates are able to compete for the best office positions with the graduates of the private commercial schools in Boston. Last year one of our graduates won the Remington gold medal for typewriting. All the commercial graduates secured good positions.
PREPARATION FOR NORMAL SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES
Reading High School has now exercised for three years, by regular appointment, the right of certification of pupils for college entrance to colleges belonging to the New Eng- land College Entrance Certificate Board. During that time no criticism has come from the Certificate Board to the school in regard to the preparation of the pupils certificated. Many other pupils have passed the entrance examinations of the College Entrance Examination Board and of the
130
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The High School has received yearly a Class A certificate from the Massachu- setts State Board of Education. It may, therefore, be confi- dently assumed that the school is performing successfully its function as a preparatory school for normal schools and colleges.
AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT
The Agricultural Department of the High School has received frequent evidences of approval from the officials of the Mass. Board of Education and the U. S. Agricultural Dept. and from frequent visitors from many states and coun- tries. Not long ago a teacher of Agriculture from Australia spent half a day at the School. The Reading Agricultural Department is one of the few in the state that has main- tained its full number of pupils during the war period.
MODERN LANGUAGES
The systematic courses in modern languages taught by the direct method through the Junior and Senior High Schools are beginning to show results in the two upper classes of the Senior High School. The work in the Junior High School particularly has attracted a large number of visitors and much praise. A gentleman from a nearby city who visited the school recently said he came because he had heard so often that Reading had a wonderful Junior High School. A parent who placed her daughter in the Reading Junior High School after attending the schools of Spring- field, Massachusetts, spent a whole day recently going with her daughter from class to class. The mother said that she had considered the Springfield schools very fine but she thought Reading Junior High School was better.
APPLIED SCIENCE
The science courses with their extended laboratory practice are also functioning in a definite way. Several of last year's graduating class, as a result of their interest and knowledge of science, entered industrial work in science or entered special schools in preparation for more advanced positions in that line.
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ENGLISH
The work in English has also shown marked improve- ment and the long list of four minute speakers in the school assembly and at public meetings outside of the school is a striking evidence that the English instruction is function- ing in a practical and effective manner.
I wish to thank all who have cooperated in promoting the success of the Reading schools, especially such as have offered constructive criticisms and have given material sup- port to efforts to make improvements.
Very respectfully submitted,
ADELBERT L. SAFFORD, Superintendent.
Reading, Mass., Dec. 31, 1918.
.
.
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REPORT OF INSTRUCTOR IN AGRICULTURE
MR. ADELBERT L. SAFFORD, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS OF READING :
I herewith submit my second annual report on the work of the Agricultural Department of the Reading High School covering the time from December 25, 1917, to December 25, 1918.
The department, I believe, has passed through a very successful year in spite of the troubled times. Even though the army and navy were calling for men in great numbers, and in face of the fact that munition factories, business, and trades of all kinds were offering unusual opportunities to our boys, the department maintained its full standard of enrollment; in fact, our enrollment is by far the highest in the state. Keen interest and recognition of the fact that they are building solid foundations for their future life work is the cause for the keeping up of our numbers.
The twenty-two boys who were in the school in the course at the beginning of the holidays, returned to com- plete their work at the end of the year. During the month of January the boys received instruction in farm surveying, draining, plotting, and mapping. The instruction was given by a professional surveyor. We believe that every boy should have at least some insight into every branch of his profession. The first two weeks in February were devoted to harness making and repairing. The boys learned to make halters, harnesses and straps, and to repair all sorts of farm harnesses and leather appliances.
Early in February it was decided to shorten the farm shop-work period because of the agricultural situation. We thought that we would better bend our efforts to getting our boys ready for the future heavy burden of assisting in pro --
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ducing food for our soldiers and our allies. We therefore started our regular agricultural class in farm projects and market gardens the third week in February, instead of the first week in March. Extra care was used to plan the home projects. This extra care can be seen and justified by referring to Table B hereto appended. In some instances we allowed substitute projects in place of home projects. These substitute projects were permitted in cases where our boys had either worked their home project equipment to its limits and had no further chance for developing their agri- cultural technique, or else had too small an area for consid- eration. These substitute projects proved very satisfactory and in several cases were beyond our expectations.
For a substitute project, we placed a boy on a large, pure-bred-stock, dairy farm. He was a junior, and an aver- age student with only a small home area. He began work in May as a general hand, at $40 a month and "found." By September, because he was enabled to adapt himself, due to his training, he was advanced to the position of assistant herdsman, at $75 a month and "found." I cite this example to show what our boys are capable of. But the wages he received were, of course, not munition factory war-wages, nor were they inflated farm wages, but rather based on the scale of wages that will prevail during peace times, here- after, and peace times are the long times. There are sev- eral others who made equally good records. A great many of our boys are in line for farm superintendencies, when they reach a more mature age, and these positions offer very attractive salaries.
During the summer the boys were visited on their pro- jects, at week intervals, by the instructor, and he made special effort to develop their technique.
The technique is the back bone of the course. We do not want to give our boys a great deal of knowledge about their job and leave them helpless when it comes to doing it. A boy may know how grass is mowed, but he may not be able to handle a mowing machine. He may know how to prune a tree, but he may not be able to dó the pruning when
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left in the orchard by himself. We make it a strong point in our training that the boys shall master the details of the methods of procedure.
One boy was graduated in June from the Agricultural course, but he was required to carry his project to comple- tion during July and August.
The projects this year were not so varied as last, but they were better adapted to the conditions imposed by the war.
During the spring and summer the Department served as a clearing house and information bureau for the local farmers and gardeners. Through the Department, several farmers purchased Western Massachusetts seed corn, and some splendid crops resulted from the planting of this corn. The Department also was instrumental in getting a supply of seed beans and distributing them, gratis, to many gar- deners. The beans were given by Mr. Bill of Lowell and distributed in peck lots for experimental purposes. Many growers were put in touch with reliable sources of seed potatoes, and asparagus plants and farm seeds of special nature. Last year's co-operation with the Public Safety Committee was continued.
The course opened in September with an enrollment of twenty-one. Since then three boys have left the school : one from lack of interest and ability, one on account of fail- ure of transportation by Bay State Street Railway, one moved to a distant part of the state. Even though inter- rupted by the influenza epidemic, the work progressed very well indeed. The intelligence of the boys in the course is above the average, and we expect some fine results from their next summer's projects. All but one boy of the younger division has a flock of hens for a winter project. All the flocks but two are earning a profit.
The courses for the older division this year are fruit growing, horse management and breeding, farm manage- ment and farm mechanics. The younger division is study- ing poultry, sheep and swine.
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During the months of January and February the boys will take up farm shop-work. This work will include the principles of mechanics, care of tools, principles of lever, pulleys, etc., involved in farm machinery. In addition, the older group will take up blacksmithing, gas engines and the study of farm tractors. The younger group will devote the winter months to farm wood-work. They will build nests, chicken coops and runs, henhouses and ladders, etc. They will also make whiffle-trees, hammer handles, wagon bodies and other things for home and farm use.
The Instructor made 455 visits to boys' projects during the project season.
Many educators visited the Department during the year. Among them were the following: Director of Agri- cultural Education of Australia; Professors of Agricultural Education of Cornell and of Rutgers colleges, and the directors of Agricultural Education of Maine and of Penn- sylvania. The state agent, Mr. R. W. Stimson, has visited the Department several times and has approved the work. Below is a copy of the certificate issued to the Department by the State Board of Education.
The methods of instruction used the past year follow closely those of the year before. We made excellent use of some 10 sets of lantern slides loaned us by the United States Department of Agriculture. Chart 1 on the fol- lowing page, shows graphically our method.
BLACKSMITH HARNESS MAKER. ETC.
FARM WORK
CONTRIBUTE
TECHNICAL
TRAINING
APPLY
ACQUIRED KNOWLEDGE
HOME PROJECT WORK
PROJECT OUTLINE. STVDY
U
OBSERVATIONS FOR ANALYSIS AND DETAILED STUDY
AGRI. . TEXT AND RELATED STUDY
SCHOOL
RELATED SEASONAL EXPERIMENTS
CULTURAL SUBJECTS
S
OWN FARM
AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE
FARM MANAGER.
METHOD.OF INSTRUCTION BY USE OF HOME AND LOCAL FARMS
READING HIGH SCHOOL
IN CONNECTION WITH SCHOOL WORK
TRACED FROM DRAWING BY
AGRICULTURAL DEPT R. SUSSMANN - INSTRUCTOR.
ALFRED P WADE 19
APPLICATION OF ACQUIRED KNOWLEDGE
HOME FARM
ANY LOCAL FARM
APPLICATION OF ACQUIRED KNOWLEDGE
PRACTICE NOT OBTAINABLE AT HOME
SURVEYOR CARPENTER ETC.
SPECIALTY OPERATIONS
OBSERVATIONS FOR ANALYSIS AND DATAILED STUDY
136
137
In conclusion, I will say that agriculture all over the country is becoming increasingly important. Before the war the New England people had acquired the dangerous idea that it does not matter where our bread and meat are produced, as long as it is cheap. The winter of 1917-18 taught us a lesson. We must produce more food in New England, or always be at the mercy of the elements and transportation systems. It has been estimated that there are in the New England states, New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, 29,387,000 people. This is about 30%-31% of the population of the United States, and these people live on 5%-8% of the area of this country.
It can be seen from these figures that it is a dangerous policy to allow this vast population to be dependent on long hauls for their daily bread and meat. Last year the defi- ciency in wheat alone was 116,588,000 bushels. Conditions, as they exist now, must be changed, and it is the young blood now in the making that must bring about a permanent change in our New England agriculture.
The farmers and townspeople of Reading have shown the same hearty, democratic interest and cooperation as in past years For this I thank them.
The teachers in other departments have correlated their work with ours wherever possible and the Department has endeavored to do the same.
Yours truly,
RUDOLF SUSSMANN, Agricultural Instructor.
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TABLE A
REPORT OF EMPLOYMENT OF
PUPIL
PROJECT
INVENTORY
Name Age
TITLE AND SCOPE
Hrs. of Pupil on Project
Rate Paid Self Per Hour
Beginning of Project
End of Project
A
15
Started Home Garden. Hood Farm, Lowell
B
14
Farm Work, Garden-100x50 ft
333
.20
$54 40
$53 90
C
16
1-2 acre, 1-6 Field Corn, 1-6 Sweet Corn, 1-6 Beans, 1 Pig
224
.20
59 00
152 00
D
14 Garden 3-8 acre. Garden 1-8 acre, Farm Work
128
.20
3 25
11 43
E
15 Farm Work. Garden 1-2 acre
164
.20
1 40
7 25
F
. 15
Poultry, 18 Birds. 1 acre
Truck Crops
788
.16
232 00
G
14 Home Garden-100 x 50 feet. Work as Asst. Foreman on Market Garden Farm
63
.20
6 75
24 75 .
H
14 Home Garden - 40 x 40 feet. Worked on Dairy Farm
60
.20
8 25
31 15
I
17 At Home - 3 Cows, 31 acre Garden-1 acre Potatoes to May 20. Assistant Herds- man Hood Farm
714
.20
884 00
856 00
J
15 24 Hens to May 20. Worked on Dairy Farm
32
.24
64 50
64 00
K
17 Garden -- 50 x 36 ft. Potatoes 150x50 ft. General Crops, 130x40 ft. Beans, 1-4 acre. Farm Work
123
.25
3 75
73 25
L
15 1 acre Potatoes. Beans, Cab- bige, Carrots, Turnips. Worked on Farm
297
.20
75 75
90 75
M
15 Garden - 1-4 acre. Potatoes, 1-2 acre. Farm Work
117}
.25
2 50
69 90
N
15 Garden-1-4 acre. Farm Work
100
.20
20 35
58 10
0
14 Garden-100 x 105 ft. Worked on Market Garden Farm
40
.15
P
16 General Farm Work, North Tewksbury
Q
18 8 Cows. Farm Work on 35 acres, 1-4 share. Beans, 1-8 a, Corn, 1-8 a. Set 19 Hens
442}
.25
1515 00
1715 00
R
17 2 Cows. 1-4 acre Beans, Farm Crops, 3 acres. 1-4 acre Po- tatoes and Squash
511%
.20
220 75
295 50
S
16 Garden-3-4 acre. 1 Pig, 15 Hens
37
.20
32 00
47 00
3875
$3186 65
$3839 48
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AGRICULTURAL PUPILS YEAR ENDING NOV. 1, 1918
PUPILS' PROJECT INCOME
FAMILY INCOME FROM PROJECT
Cash or Credit Received by Pupils for Farm Work for Year
FARM WORK
Net Profit
Paid Self for Labor
Total
Labor: Man or Horse
Rent Seed Etc.
Total
At Home
Away from Home
Total Includ Project
Other than F. Work
Grand Total of Work
$84 00
$200 80
$284 80
$18 39
$303 19
$75 33
$6 75
$82 08
34 90
116 98
45 00
161 98
99 31
44 80
144 11
$10 00
$5 35
$15 35,
93 72
237 83
238 08
9 08
25 60
34 68
4 75
23 50
62 93
22 60
85 53
10 20
32 80
43 00
2 00
2 00
137 60
11 40
192 00
6 50
198 50
92 50
126 08
218 58
43 00
261 58
15 00
276 58
.
20 60
12 60
33 20
2 00
2 00
213 00
246 20
246 20
7 75
12 00
19 75
1 00
1 00
140 27
160 02
160 02
150 08
142 80
9 28
300 70
25 00
325 70
250 95
243 67
243 67
10 92
7 68
18 60
132 00
150 60
150 60
181 67
30 75
212 42
10 00
5 00
15 00
5 90
218 32
49 60
267 92
147 91
59 40
207 31
30 00
30 00
31 20
124 10
362 61
362 61
51 60
29 31
80 91
10 00
10 00
154 95
235 86
23 25
259 11
77 25
20 00
97 25
25 00
25 00
41 10
138 35
20 00
158 35
35 25
6 00
41 25
7 00
148 95
197 27
34 45
231 65
148 00
148 00
148 00
551 89
106 75
658 64
473 00
1131 64
1131 64
78 12
102 30
180 42
11 25
10 00
21 25
130 00
5 75
316 17
316 17
64 05
7 40
71 45
7 40
15 00
22 40
25 00
96 45
96 45
$1361 35 $773 02
$2134 37|$404 35
$65 35
$469 70
$961 27
$1705 57 $4801 21 $235 04 $5036 25
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MASSACHUSETTS BOARD OF EDUCATION
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, October 11, 1918.
ADELBERT L. SAFFORD, EXECUTIVE OFFICER, READING AGRI- CULTURAL DEPARTMENT OF READING HIGH SCHOOL, READING, MASS.
MY DEAR MR. SAFFORD - I take this opportunity to an- nounce to you that the State-aided Agricultural work con- ducted in your school is hereby approved, and reimburse- ment will be recommended.
The following excerpt from report made by our Agent regarding your work is respectfully called to your attention :
Four years standard course in agriculture : all courses approved.
NOTE : A Most amply equipped department.
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