USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Tewksbury > Town of Tewksbury annual report 1917-1925 > Part 10
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In closing, we wish to call attention again to the fact that in considering appropriations to be made for new buildings at the com- ing Town meeting, our schools should not be forgotten. Sooner or later they will have to be considered. Why not now? We must make a start some time. The Foster and Library schools are crowded to full capacity. New accommodations provided in the Foster School are giving only temporary relief. No more children should be crowded into these buildings in a locality where there is not perfect fire pro- tection. Tewksbury has shown what it can do in subscribing to war activities. Thousands have gone into Liberty bonds, and thousands donated outright to war-work funds. No one doubts that we shall have a new church to replace the one burned last October. Tewks- bury is well able to include a new schoolhouse in its building program, a building modern, attractive and of fireproof construction.
In the meantime we recommend the following sums of money be appropriated to cover school expenses for the ensuing year :-
Bills on hand unpaid.
$ 1,189.75
Teachers
7,324.00
Fuel and janitors
3,000.00
Transportation
3,867.00
Supervisors
790.00
School houses
1,000.00
Books and supplies
1,000.00 ~
Tuition
3,000.00
Medical inspection
100.00
Miscellaneous
500.00
Insurance
175.00
$21,945.75
Expected from the State.
3,225.00
$18,720.75
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FINANCIAL REPORT FOR YEAR 1918, SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
Receipts
Appropriation $15,520.19
Reimbursements from State :
Industrial School
47.50
Supervision
375.00
High School Tuition.
1,485.20
Transportation High School pupils
546.06
Tuition of State children.
39.00
C. L. Randall, use of telephone
22.24
C. L. Randall, material sold
13.20
H. L. Trull, material sold.
36.10
Edward Walsh, use of hall.
10.00
Congregational Church, use of hall.
33.00
F. F. Spaulding, use of hall.
10.00
F. F. Spaulding, car tickets.
1.19
Ernest Dodge, car tickets. 4.80
40.00
U. S. Government, interest on Liberty bond ....
13.41
Public Library, coal and wood
24.55
$18,221.44
Expenditures
Teachers
$6,313.00
Fuel and janitors
3,424.75
Transportation
2,015.68
Supervision
742.50
Books and supplies
948.55
School Houses
1,694.31
Tuition
2,327.33
Mass. Retirement Board.
129.50
Medical inspection
100.00
School miscellaneous
525.22
$18,220.84
Balance to credit.
.60
Bills on hand unpaid. $1,189.75
HERBERT L. TRULL, MAY L. LARRABEE, FRANKLIN F. SPAULDING,
School Committee.
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Jas. Dodge, tuition.
REPORT ON EXPENSE OF $1,000 SPECIAL APPROPRIATION FOR IMPROVING INTERIOR OF FOSTER SCHOOL
Extensive improvements were made at the Foster School last summer with the money on this appropriation. The walls in all the rooms have been cleaned and re-tinted; ceilings whitened and wood- work washed and varnished; windows in all the class rooms have been equipped with new curtains. All the school rooms look brighter and cleaner for the work done and more attractive for the teachers and children.
Pickering Hall was included in this work, and as a result is now in good condition for the many uses to which it is being put since the burning of the church.
In the rear of the building, on the lower floor, by moving the par- tition out further into the hall way, a larger room has been made which is being used as a recitation room, accommodating about 30 scholars, thus, for a while at least, the congestion which has been growing for the past few years will be relieved.
The general improvement to the interior of the building is pleasingly noticeable. However, it only serves to make the building cleaner and more attractive, while the Committee is continually forced to spend additional amounts of money toward repairs of a more serious nature which are constantly coming up.
Report of Expenses on Special Appropriation of $1,000
R. H. Anderson, retinting walls, whitening ceilings, clean- ing and varnishing woodwork.
$ 585.75
Foster & Robinson, carpenter work new room. 254.80 W. A. Mack Co., work on ventilator 94.00 Adams & Co., window curtains. 65.45
HERBERT L. TRULL, MAY L. LARRABEE, F. F. SPAULDING,
School Committee.
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SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT
Lowell, Mass., Jan. 3, 1919.
To the School Committee of Tewksbury.
Mrs. Larrabee and Gentlemen :-
I hereby submit my sixth annual report, which is the twenty- eighth in the series of Superintendent's reports. While the work of the schools has to some extent been interfered with by the demands of such forms of war work as children can do, the year has as a whole been a successful one.
Supervisors. We have been called upon to secure new supervis- ors in music and drawing. Miss Ruth H. Nourse, who had been in charge of the music for but one year had in that time secured a good response from both teachers and pupils. She resigned to accept a much better salary in Mt. Vernon, N. Y.
All connected with the public schools regretted the resignation of Miss Margaret J. Carney, who had been the efficient supervisor of drawing in the schools of the district for more than six years. As a teacher she was faithful, conscientious and successful; as a super- visor she was careful, painstaking and efficient; her personality was such that she won the lasting esteem of all with whom she came in contact. Her resignation was due to the offer of a much more de- sirable position in Chelsea.
We have been fortunate in securing supervisors of experience for these important vacancies. Miss Mildred Brennon, of Lowell, a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, who had excel- lent recommendations from the neighboring towns, has been in charge of the music since September. I believe that she will do successful work for us, as she has done for others.
Miss Edith Merchant, of Lowell, a graduate of the Normal Art School, with strong recommendations from the towns where she has supervised the drawing for several years, began her duties with us after the Thanksgiving recess. From what I have seen and heard of her work during the three weeks that she has been with us I judge that she will maintain the high standards established by Miss Carney.
Teachers. There has been but one change among the regular teachers of the Town. Miss Lydia Hopkins, teacher of the North School for two years, resigned at the close of the school year to ac- cept a position in Holbrook. The principal of the State Normal School at Lowell, secured for the position Miss Eva L. Hersey, for
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several years principal of the grammar school at Wilmington. Miss Hersey taught under my direction for three years at Wilmington, and I came to know her as an exceptionally efficient teacher. I believe that the North School under her management will prove a marked success.
The teachers in the other schools were with us one year ago and are doing satisfactory work.
The special teachers also resigned at the close of the school year -Mr. Edmund Alger, who had charge of the Manual Training for two years, to enter the Army, and Miss Frances Cameron, who had taught sewing for two years, to enter commercial work. The work of each of these special teachers was satisfactory, and their resignations were regretted.
Miss Lena Coburn, who has taught sewing at Tyngsboro for five years, has taken the same work here. She is doing well.
Owing to war work and high wages no one has been found as yet to conduct the manual work with the boys.
Salaries. On page 11 of last year's report I had an article on the justice of an increase in salaries. Beginning with January of last year such increases were granted to the teachers of this Town that they expressed themselves as satisfied. Since that time there have been further increases in living expenses and marked advance in the cost of travelling, which virtually lowers the net salaries of our teachers. However, the reason for the present article is to discuss the law recently passed concerning teachers' salaries with its appli- cation to this Town.
On May 10, 1918, the following law was passed :
"On and after the first day of January, 1919, the compensation of every teacher employed in any day school in the Common- wealth, except persons in training and those employed as tem- porary substitutes, shall be at the rate of not less than five hun- dred and fifty dollars for the school year in that school." (Not to apply to towns of less than a million valuation.)
According to our present schedule a teacher reaches the maxi- mum salary of $600.00 after three years of service. The inexperi- enced teacher starts with $450.00, and receives an increase of $50.00 per year till the maximum is reached. In other words, the teacher who has been successful for two years and started on her third will receive $550.00, just the salary that the inexperienced teacher will now receive. There are ten teachers in the various towns of the dis- trict whose salaries will automatically become after Jan. 1, 1919, $550.00. It would seem an injustice to leave the salaries of these
-
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teachers, who have done faithful work for more than two years, on an equality with those just beginning their service.
Also, the fact that all your teachers who are receiving the maxi- mum salary after more than three years of service, in some cases con- siderably more, must be considered, for if we leave the salary of these teachers unchanged it will hold no encouragement for a successful teacher to remain in our schools, for there would be no possibility of any increase with the exception of the bare fifty dollars in excess of the legal salary of the first year.
This law compels us to increase the salaries of our inexperienced teachers one hundred dollars after Jan. 1, but I maintain that in order to carry out the spirit of the law, as well as the letter, and in order to maintain the feeling of fair treatment so essential for a teacher to have in her nerve-trying work among the children, it will be necessary for us to grant a proportionate increase to the teachers who are receiving more than $550.00. That is, the law legally applies to ten teachers in the district, but virtually applies to all.
Foster School. During the past summer extensive repairs and alterations were made at the Foster School, the latter to alleviate the necessity of having two teachers in one room. The recitation room at the end of the lower hall, together with a portion of the hall, has been made into a schoolroom. Furniture has been placed in it, and the seventh grade, with Miss Arnold, have been assigned to it. It is 23 x 15 feet in dimensions, a small room for a class of thirty, but does very well during the present strenuous times. That is, for an emergency proposition it is a success, for a permanent schoolroom it is inadequate.
Influenza. Four weeks of the present school year, on account of the necessity of closing the schools in latter September and early October due to the prevalence of the dread influenza and by order of the Board of Health, have been lost. This loss of time and loss of in- terest in school work has been an injury to the schools, and will undoubtedly affect the success of the year, although the lost time will be made up by lengthening the school day through the remainder of the year.
War Work. Every school in Town joined the Junior Red Cross last February. Both the drawing department and the sewing depart- ment helped in this work by having the children do such work as they were able. The Music Supervisor also helped in raising money by a concert and entertainment. The following articles have been
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made within the year: 12 sweaters, 5 afghans, 2 scarfs, 17 garments, 84 handkerchiefs, 161 "joke" books, 102 slings, 1000 gunwipers, 1 helmet, 9 pair wristers, 10 pair socks, 12 crutch pads, 6 pillows, 50 surgical cases, 37 small articles.
Nearly all the children reported that they had home gardens last summer with good results. The Shawsheen School was the only one which tried to have a school garden. Here the whole effort was spent in raising beans, and while the garden did not look as well in June on account of the non-diversity of crops, yet it looked much better than usual in August, and actually produced a financial result in October, having a bushel or more of marketable white beans.
In the Victory Campaign in November sixty-five pupils pledged sixty-five dollars for the united war work drive. 75% of this money has been paid.
In Thrift and War Stamps the following results have been ob- tained this year, namely, 127 children own stamps to the value of $4,489.75.
No School Signal. I wish to call attention to the fact that the No School Signal is supposed to be given only on very severe days. Much time has already been lost, more time will unavoidably be lost if our schools are to be discontinued for every not-severe snow or rain.
Training Schools. In my opinion the two State Training Schools at North and South Tewksbury are in the best condition of any time since I have been acquainted in Town. In every case there are ex- cellent teachers doing excellent work. These schools now illustrate the old truism, "The teacher makes the school."
I. especially commend the community work which has been car- ried on in the Shawsheen district.
Vaccination. This subject always gives more or less trouble. Many times the parents believe that the teacher, or superintendent, or perhaps the Committee, have an option concerning this matter, and can in a spirit of accommodation excuse the young child from being vaccinated. This is not so, personally I would not vaccinate a child under ten years of age, but my opinion has nothing to do about this matter. Neither is it the duty of the school authorities to attend to this, rather it rests directly on the parents. All parents of the chil- dren of the next September entering class, that is of those who will be grade one next fall, should have the children vaccinated before
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they are sent to school, and not wait for the teacher to call attention to it later.
Please read again the brief law which I quote :
"Gen. Acts, Chapter 117, Section 6. A child who has not been vaccinated shall not be admitted to the public schools, except upon presentation of a certificate the same as the physician's certificate required by the provisions of Section 139 of Chapter 75 as amended by Section 2, Chapter 190 and by Section 10, Chapter 544 of the Acts of 1902."
School Fund. For many years the Town of Tewksbury has re- ceived a portion of the Massachusetts School Fund, amounting to over a thousand dollars. The law provides that no Town whose valu- ation exceeds two and a half million can receive any share of this fund. This Town, on account of its rapid rise in valuation, loses this fund this year for the first time, nor will it be received again un- less the Town has the misfortune to shrink in valuation.
Graduation. The customary grammar school graduation was held in Pickering Hall, Thursday, June 20, 1918.
After pleasing exercises and an address by Principal Herbert D. Bixby, of the Lowell High School, the Superintendent presented di- plomas to the following graduates: Blanche Banville, Vera Colby, Ruth Cameron, Alice Cartier, James Clancy, Ernest Dodge, John Furtado, Martin Flaherty, Mae Frink, Clifford Greene, Charles Groves, Everell Harnden, Albin Johnson, Irene Kelley, Harold Liv- ingston, Albert La Bounty, Arthur Marcille, Mary MacKillop, Charles Nash, Edward O'Connell, Archie M. Pillsbury, Lillian M. Simpson, Mildred Saluskofski, William Smith, Archie Toothaker, Lester Vander Burgh, Dora White, Albert Wright.
Of these twenty-eight graduates thirteen entered High School, two are attending Vocational School, seven are working, two re- mained at home, the others moved from Town.
Sewing and Manual Training. Excellent work was done in sew- ing last year under the direction of Miss Cameron. A good exhibi- tion was made in June though not as large as would have been the case had not much time been given to Red Cross work.
You will be able to judge of Miss Coburn's plans by her report which follows.
The manual work for the boys was carried on acceptably till June by Mr. Edmund Alger. A portion of the exhibition was given to this department with creditable result.
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After Mr. Alger's resignation we were unable to find anyone to carry on this work, but hope to do so soon.
Back-to-the-School-Drive. During the past two years we have had many varieties of "drives." Now that the war is over the most important "drive" is to impress on pupils and parents alike the necessity of having children remain in school after they have reached the legal fourteen years. The per cent. of pupils who remain in the eighth grade has decreased for the past two years, while the number of graduates from the Grammar School who attend High School, and the total number of pupils in High School, is constantly growing less. 1916 there were 69 pupils in High School, 1917 there were 58 pupils, while in 1918 there were but 49. All educators, whether national, state, or local are crying against the children of America giving ovez their education on account of lust for high wages.
I pass this warning along for a second time, confident that the subject is one of the most important for your consideration.
Co-operation. The need of co-operation between the home and the school has been more apparent this past year than ever before. With many children doing the work of men and women, and with many mothers as well as fathers at work, there has grown in this locality, as throughout the whole child-world, a spirit of lack of re- straint and lawlessness which may soon lead to crime.
Parents should realize that they have a responsibility for their children, and that no teacher and no school can take the place of home restraint and discipline.
.
It is important that parents, and in fact the whole community, take up the task of working with the schools in making future good citizens.
Conclusion. I wish to call to your attention the reports and tables which follow this report and form a part of it.
I wish to again express my appreciation for the loyal co-opera- tion and the cordial support of the Committee. It is a privilege to work under such harmonious conditions.
Respectfully submitted, CHAS. L. RANDALL, Superintendent.
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TABLE OF STATISTICS
School
Teacher
Preparation ( Graduate of)
Years of Service
in Town
Total
Average
Average
Attendance
Per cent.
Attendance
No. of pupils
No. of pupils
No. of pupils 14 to 16
No. of pupils
No. of pupils
No. of pupils
in Grade II.
No. of pupils
in Grade VII.
No. of pupils
in Grade VIII.
Amount of
Thrift Money
Foster, Grade VIII .. .
Lowell High
27
36
32
30
92
27
6
3
36 |$970.00
Foster, Grade VII ....
Ella E. Fleming . . . . Gladys H. Arnold ... Elizabeth I. Dowler.
Lowell Normal
6
30
29
27
94
29
1
30
655.75
Library .
Hazel Weinbeck ...
Lowell Normal
1
46
44
42
92
44
2
734.95
Foster Sec. Primary .
Elizabeth Flynn
Lowell Normal
5
44
40
37
92
6
38
14
240.00
Foster Primary ... ..
Nettie L. Eagles. . .
Salem Normal . .
11
46
41
38
92
23
23
27
19
649.25
Shawsheen Grammar
Miriam Wiggin ....
Brewster Academy .
S
36
35
34
97
35
1
464.00
Shawsheen Primary .
Ethel M. Hadley ..
Plymouth Normal . . 1 1-3
35
34
31
93
7
28
10
12
152.50
North
Eva L. Hersey . .
Gorham Normal . ..
1-3
30
29
25
97
4
26
5
1
3
204.33
West
Annie M. Wylie. ...
Lowell Normal ...
10
27
23
23
91
5
22
6
7
150.00
Music
Ruth H. Nourse ....
N. E. Conservatory . .
1
N. E. Conservatory . .
1-3
Drawing .
Mildred Brennon ... Margaret J. Carney . . Edith Merchant ....
Normal Art .
....
!
2
Sewing
Frances Cameron ..
Lena Coburn
1-3
Fitchburg Normal . .
2
368
45
310
10
3
48
53
33
36
.
1 1-3
38
30
28
94
38
240.00
Foster Inter.
Lowell Normal
.
Normal Art ..
7
1-10
Manual Training ...
Edmund Alger
Total ...
Enrolment
Membership
5 to 7
7 to 14
over 16
in Grade I.
REPORT OF SUPERVISOR OF SEWING
Mr. C. L. Randall, Superintendent of Schools.
Dear Sir :-
I take pleasure in submitting for your consideration my first report as Supervisor of Sewing in the Foster School, Tewksbury.
The girls of the upper grades have made aprons of all kinds, both large and small, also underclothes.
One of the girls is to start a smock at the next lesson, and bloom- ers are also being made.
I expect to have several more smocks, or simple dresses, started soon.
The girls in the lower grades have finished bags to hold their sewing, also both large and small aprons.
In addition to this we have made refugee garments, namely, six boy's undershirts, six large aprons and sixty shot bags, and now are working on ten large aprons.
I wish to take this opportunity of expressing my sincere appre- ciation of the hearty co-operation of the teachers and superintendent.
Respectfully submitted,
LENA M. COBURN.
January 3, 1919.
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REPORT OF THE SUPERVISOR OF MUSIC
Mr. Charles Randall, Supt. of Schools.
Dear Sir :-
School work has been so interrupted during the past few months that it hardly warrants a report of results, but I feel that we are making definite progress in music.
We are devoting much time in the lower grades to individual work, and every new problem that is taken up is being drilled individually. If pupils become able to sing independently in the lower grades no difficulty will be found in part singing in the upper grades.
Great stress is being laid on good tone quality and clear enunci- ation, and I hope to see a great improvement in this respect during the year.
In the upper grades we are giving some time to definite work in music appreciation. We are trying to teach pupils to understand music so that they can listen intelligently as well as to take an active part in it. Short talks are given about instruments of the orchestra and band, and different forms of music, such as opera and oratorio; pictures are shown, and records illustrating the lesson are played on the Victrola. The Victrola, when properly used, is of great value in this phase of the work, and the boys and girls seem much in- terested.
Every pupil, when they leave the Grammar School, should be able to sing correctly the familiar songs that are being so widely used in community music, and during the present term we shall give some time to this work in the seventh and eighth grades.
I wish to thank the teachers frr their co-operation in carrying out my plans, and also the Superintendent for his interest in my work.
Respectfully submitted,
MILDRED BRENNON.
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LOWELL HIGH SCHOOL
Graduates, June, 1918
Four Year Course : Gladys M. Pollard, Doris M. Senior. Three Year Course : Winifred F. Greenough.
Members, Sept., 1918
Elsa Anderson, Ruth Cameron, William Carter, Lucy Cheney, James Clancy, Martha Coolidge, Samuel Dickson, Muriel Edgecomb, Charles Fessenden, Martin Flaherty, Marion Greene, Clifford Greene, Alice Guillard, Gladys Haines, Everell Harnden, Irene Harnden, Josephine Harnden, Lester Holt, Albin Johnson, Luella Johnson, Lawrence Kane, Irene Kelley, Grace Littlefield, Harold Livingston, Mary Lynch, James MacDonald, Raymond McCoy, William McGoogin, Alexander McKillop, Harry Nash, Charles Nash, Olga Osterman, Madeline Parsons, Helen Patten, Archie Pillsbury, Harold Senior, Lillian Simpson, William Smith, Daniel Sullivan, Thomas Sullivan, Kenneth Sunbury, Archie Toothaker, Alice Trull, Harry Treadwell, Anna Walsh, Leslie Wener, Albert Wright, Winthrop Jones, Dora White, Henry Hilton, Orrin Derby.
SCHOOL CALENDAR
Winter Term, 12 weeks: Dec. 30, 1918, to March 21, 1919. Spring Term, 12 weeks : March 31, 1919, to June 20, 1919. Fall Term, 16 weeks: Sept. 2, 1919, to Dec. 19, 1919. Winter Term, 12 weeks: Dec. 29, 1919, to March 19, 1920.
NO SCHOOL SIGNAL
Given at 7.45 a. m. Whistle at State Hospital.
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INDEX to TEWKSBURY TOWN REPORT Year Ending Dec. 31, 1918
Assessors' Report 10
Exempt Property
12
Schedule of Town Property
12
Table of Aggregates
11
Auditor's Report
13
Andover Street Repairs
30
Andover Street Payments
30
Board of Health. 23 Fire Department 24 Forest Fire Observation Tower 30 Foster Fund 30 30
Foster School Repairs
General Account
31 31
Grinnell, Wm., Account
13
Incidentals
27 20 23
Memorial Day
29
Moth Account, Jan. 1 to Dec. 1, 1918.
20
Moth Account, Dec. 1, 1918, to Jan. 1, 1919
Motor Fire Truck Equipment.
21 30 23
Parks and Commons
Police
23
Public Library
22 17
State and Military Aid.
20
Street Lighting
20 31 25
Town Farm
31
Tree Warden
21
Forest Warden's Report.
53
Highways
Insane and Poor
Interest
Schools
Summary
Town Hall Insurance.
Librarian's Report 56
Books Added to the Library, 1918 58
List of Donations. 66-68 List of Town Officers 2
Public Library 55
Report of Board of Appraisers of Property of Town of Tewks- bury
54
Report of Fire Chief.
53
Report of Board of Health. 23
Report of Highway Commissioners
52
Report of Inspector of Animals.
49
Report of Inspector of Meats and Provisions.
Report of Moth Department.
Report of Overseers of Poor
47
Report of Sealer of Weights and Measures
51
Report of Tree Warden.
50
Report of Town Clerk.
7
Births Recorded for the Year 1918.
7
Deaths Recorded for the Year 1918.
9
Marriages Recorded for the Year 1918
8
Recapitulation
10
Table of Estimates for 1919.
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