USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Westford > Town of Westford annual report 1914-1919 > Part 26
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1,250.00
347.42
Five Cent Savings Bank
1,995.25
734.66
Liberty Bonds
600.00
$8,270.25 $2,130.42
$10,400.67
$21,740.67
All Bank Books and Securities are with the Town Treasurer with the exception of Whitney Playground Bonds which are in the keeping of Edward Fisher for the Committee.
EDWARD T. HANLEY,
Auditor.
109
WARRANT FOR ANNUAL TOWN MEETING.
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.
MIDDLESEX, SS.
To the Constable of the Town of Westford, in said County.
GREETING :
You are hereby required in the name of the Commonwealth aforesaid, to notify and warn all the inhabitants of said Town qualified to vote ·in elections, and also in Town affairs, to meet at the Town House, in said Westford, on Monday, the eleventh day of February, being the second Monday in said month at 7.45 o'clock A. M. The polls will be opened at eight o'clock A. M., and may be closed at one o'clock P. M .; and they are then and there to act upon the following articles, to wit:
1st. To choose a Moderator.
2nd. To bring in their votes for Town Clerk, one Selectman, one Overseer of Poor, one Assessor, two School Committee, one Commissioner of Public Burial Grounds, one Trustee of the Public Library, all for three years; one Commis- sioner of Public Burial Grounds to fill vacancy ; Town Treasurer, Collector of Taxes, one Constable, one Auditor, and one Tree Warden, all for one year; also to vote on the following question : "Shall licenses be granted for the sale of intoxicating liquors in this Town ?"
3rd. To hear the report of the Finance Committee, and act in relation to the same.
110
4th. To hear the report of the Selectmen, and act in relation to the same.
5th. To hear the report of the Selectmen on Guide Boards, and act in relation to the same.
6th. To hear the report of the Overseers of the Poor, and act in relation to the same.
7th. To hear the report of the School Committee, and act in relation to the same.
8th. To hear the report of the Trustees, and raise and appro- priate money to meet the expenses of the Public Library, and act in relation to the same.
9th. To hear the report of the Commissioners of Public Burial Grounds, and act in relation to the same.
10th. To see if the Town will accept the report of the Auditor chosen to audit the accounts of the Town Officers, and act in relation to the same.
11th. To see if the Town will determine the compensation of the Tax Collector, and act in relation to the same.
12th. To raise and appropriate money to repair Roads and Bridges.
13th. To raise and appropriate money for Town Debts and Charges.
14th. To appropriate money for support of Poor, and for repairs on Town Farm buildings.
111
15th. To raise and appropriate money for the support of the Public Schools, High School purposes, school text-books and supplies, salary of the Superintendent of Schools, repairs and maintenance of, and miscellaneous expenses incurred in connection with the various schoolhouses and medical inspection, and act in relation to the same.
16th. To raise and appropriate money for destruction of gypsy and brown tail moths and elm tree beetles.
17th. To raise and appropriate money to meet the expense of the Fire Department.
18th. To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate money to purchase new hose and fire apparatus for the Fire Department, and act in relation to the same.
19th. To see if the Town will rescind the vote passed at a Special Town Meeting held May 2, 1908, whereby it es- tablished the compensation of the members of the Fire Department, and will establish or authorize the establish- ment of a new rate of compensation for members of the Fire Department.
20th. To see if the Town will authorize the appointment of a Committee to investigate the purchase of a motor driven chemical engine for the use of the Fire Department, and act in relation to the same.
21st. To raise and appropriate money to complete the Fire House at Westford Centre, and act in relation to the same.
22nd. To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of one hundred and fifty dollars ($150) for the purchase of fire extinguishers to be distributed in various parts of the Town, and act in relation to the same.
112
23rd. To see if the Town will rescind the vote passed under Article 24, at the last Annual Meeting, whereby it was voted to raise money for the relocation and repair of the Graniteville Road, so called, and act in relation to the same.
24th. To see if the Town will vote to borrow money to meet the portion of the expense to be borne by the Town in widening the Graniteville Road, so called, as ordered by the County Commissioners, and act in relation to the same.
25th. To see if the Town will vote to accept the legacy of one hundred and fifty dollars ($150) given, in trust, in the will of William H. H. Burbeck for the perpetual care of the family burial lot and that of his father, Samuel N. Burbeck, in the Fairview Cemetery, and act in relation to the same.
26th. To see if the Town will raise and appropriate a sum not exceeding fifty dollars ($50) as compensation for a Fish and Game Warden in the event one is appointed for the Town.
27th. To see if the Town will vote to make regulations for the custody, management and sale of any and all lands purchased or acquired by the Town under and by virtue of a sale for non-payment of taxes and for the assignment of tax titles, and act in relation to the same.
28th. To see if the Town will vote to authorize the Treasurer, with the approval of the Selectmen, to borrow money in anticipation of the revenue of the current financial year.
113
29th. To determine the manner of collecting taxes for the en- suing year, also the rate of interest on taxes remaining unpaid at a time to be fixed by vote of the Town, and when and how said taxes shall be paid into the treasury, and act in relation to the same.
30th. To choose a Finance Committee.
31st. To choose all other Town Officers necessary to be chosen by hand vote, and act in relation to the same.
32nd. To see if the Town will raise and appropriate money to commemorate Memorial Day, and act in relation to the same.
33rd. By request of the citizens of Graniteville, Forge Village, and Parkerville, to see if the Town will appropriate the sum of one hundred dollars ($100) for the purpose of distributing books from the Public Library in these three villages, and act in relation to the same.
34th. To hear the report of the Committee chosen at the last Annual Meeting to investigate and report on, or make a contract with the Westford Water Company, and act in relation to the same.
35th. To see if the Town will appropriate a sum not exceeding five hundred dollars ($500) to be used for military pur- poses connected with the maintenance of Company L · (97), Massachusetts State Guards, located in this Town, and act in relation to the same.
36th. To see if the Town will vote to accept the gifts made under the will of M. Elizabeth Whitney, late of Westford, deceased, and act in relation to the same.
114
37th. To see if the Town will raise and appropriate the sum of two hundred and fifty dollars ($250) to meet the portion of the expense allotted to this Town by the State Forester in the erection of a new forest fire observation tower on Robbins Hill, so called, in the Town of Chelmsford, and act in relation to the same.
38th. To see if the Town will raise and appropriate money for the construction and grading of sidewalks in the several villages, and act in relation to the same.
And you are directed to serve this Warrant by posting up true and attested copies at the Town House and each Depot in said Westford, eight days at least, before the time of holding said meeting.
Hereof fail not, and make due return of this Warrant, with your doings thereon, to the Town Clerk, at the time and place of holding the meeting aforesaid.
Given under our hands, this sixteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Eighteen.
OSCAR R. SPALDING, SHERMAN H. FLETCHER, FRANK L. FURBUSH,
Selectmen of Westford.
-
ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
WES
NMOJ
TFORD
€
Co
1729.
RPORATED
2
SEP'T.
OF THE
TOWN OF WESTFORD, MASS.
FOR THE
School Year ending December 31, 1917
LOWELL, MASS. COURIER-CITIZEN COMPANY, PRINTERS 1918
3
School Calendar.
ACADEMY. 1918.
March 15. Winter term closes.
VACATION-ONE WEEK.
March 25. Spring term opens.
June 21. Spring term closes.
SUMMER VACATION. 1918-1919.
Sept. 3. Fall term opens.
13 weeks Nov. 27. Fall term closes
VACATION-THANKSGIVING AND DAY FOLLOWING.
Dec. 2. Winter term opens.
CHRISTMAS VACATION-December 20-December 30.
1919.
March 14. Winter term closes 14 weeks
VACATION-ONE WEEK.
March 24. Spring term opens. June 20. Spring term closes 13 weeks
Total
40 weeks
4
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 1918.
March 15. Winter term closes.
VACATION-ONE WEEK.
March 25. Spring term opens.
*June 14. Spring term closes.
SUMMER VACATION.
1918-1919.
Sept. 3. Fall term opens.
Nov. 27. Fall term closes 13 weeks
VACATION-THANKSGIVING AND DAY FOLLOWING.
Dec. 2. Winter term opens.
CHRISTMAS VACATION-December 20-January 6.
1919.
March 14. Winter term closes 13 weeks
VACATION-ONE WEEK.
March 24. Spring term opens. *June 13. Spring term closes 12 weeks
Total 38 weeks
SUMMER VACATION.
*Subject to change.
5
SPECIAL EXERCISE DAYS AND HOLIDAYS.
1918.
Feb. 12. Lincoln Exercises, one hour.
Feb. 21. Washington Exercises, one hour.
April 18. Patriots' Day Exercises, one hour.
May 29. Memorial Day Exercises, one hour.
Oct.
11. Columbus Day Exercises, one hour.
Nov. 27. Thanksgiving Day Exercises, one hour.
1919.
Feb. 12. Lincoln Exercises, one hour.
Feb. 21. Washington Exercises, one hour.
April 18. Patriots' Day Exercises, one hour.
May 29. Memorial Day Exercises, one hour.
LEGAL HOLIDAYS.
The words "legal holidays" shall include the first day of January, the twenty-second day of February, the nineteenth day of April, the thirtieth day of May, the fourth day of July, the first Monday of September, the twelfth day of October, Thanks- giving Day and Christmas Day, or the day following when any of the four days first mentioned, the twelfth day of October or Christmas Day occurs on Sunday.
Arbor Day occurs on the last Saturday in April and is not a legal holiday.
Flag Day occurs on June 14th, and is not a legal holiday. It should be observed by any school then in session by appropriate exercises.
6
School Committee.
CHARLES O. PRESCOTT, Chairman
T. ARTHUR E. WILSON
JOHN P. WRIGHT
FRANK L. FURBUSH
JOHN SPINNER
ARTHUR E. DAY, Secretary
Term expires 1918.
1918.
1919.
1919.
66 1920.
1920.
SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS. FRANK H. HILL, Littleton, Mass. Telephone 36-3 Littleton.
COMMITTEE ON TEXT BOOKS.
CHARLES O. PRESCOTT,
JOHN P. WRIGHT.
SUPPLY AGENT.
FRANK H. HILL.
ATTENDANCE OFFICERS.
JOHN A. HEALY,
JOHN SPINNER.
SCHOOL PHYSICIAN. CYRIL A. BLANEY, M. D.
7
Financial Statement.
Balance from last account.
$1,273.76
Appropriation 15,973.75
Received from Mass. School Fund
1,166.89
Received from State on account, Supt. of Schools
500.00
Received tuition from Town of Groton 114.00
Received for books 2.50
$19,030.90
EXPENDITURES.
Trustees of Westford Academy
$ 300.00
Teachers
9,673.50
Transportation
3,132.50
Fuel
1,001.81
Janitors and cleaning
1,186.00
Drawing
225.00
Music
320.00
Superintendent of Schools
906.24
School Physician
100.00
Text books and supplies
838.44
Repairs and miscellaneous
667.39
Attendance Officers
16.50
Tuition to Town of Tyngsboro
70.62
$18,438.00
Balance on hand $ 592.90
8
REPAIRS AND MISCELLANEOUS.
ITEMIZED ACCOUNT.
Eleanor L. Hill, clerk to Superintendent .
$ 85.00
P. H. Harrington, repairs 13.34
T. A. E. Wilson, repairs 1.59
Water rates 222.00
A. M. Winslow, repairs 37.85
S. H. Balch, repairs 2.50
H. Stiles, repairs
79.65
Freight and express
3.35
Conant & Co., supplies
2.00
Henry C. Doughty, supplies
16.50
W. E. Thompson, repairs 2.25
F. H. Hill, supplies.
15.61
Mrs. P. E. Wright, instructing girls
5.00
J. C. Heald, labor
1.25
Alex McDonald, repairs
19.75
J. A. Healy, repairs
14.50
Courier-Citizen Co., printing
2.30
Titania Orchestra
11.00
W. G. Blodgett, supplies
8.04
E. Baker, repairs 27.85
The Knowlton Press, printing
5.15
E. W. A. Knowles Co., supplies
2.60
Wilmot B. Cleaves, tuning piano 2.00
P. E. Wright, moving piano 5.00
J. E. Knights, repairs 6.50
Hanley & Co., supplies
13.15
J. A. Healy & Son, carrying books
.75
Joe Wall, repairs 16.50
Pratt & Forrest Co., supplies
4.00
John Spinner, repairs and miscellaneous 14.15
Wright & Fletcher, supplies
20.26
Chas. O. Prescott, making State report,
telephone and supplies 6.00
$ 667.39
9
Report of the Superintendent.
GENTLEMEN OF THE COMMITTEE :
I herewith submit my eighth annual report, the twenty-sixth in the series of such reports.
At the close of the spring term Miss Mabel I. Osborne of the Academy resigned and in the fall Mrs. Harold W. Hildreth of Westford was appointed as her successor. Those who knew Mrs. Hildreth as Miss Edith M. Lawrence, a very popular teacher in the Academy some six years before, will agree with us that the Academy is fortunate indeed in securing her services.
With the above exception the teaching force is the same as on January 1, 1917. You are to be congratulated, for your teachers have, for the most part, given you many years of faithful and efficient service. They should be retained. Two important votes of the School Committee during the year will tend to aid in retaining our teachers. On March 13th you voted to make the school year thirty-eight weeks in length-two weeks longer than heretofore. (Note that in my report of February 9, 1911, I recommended this. Some results are well worth waiting six years to attain.) On May 15th you fixed the annual miximum salary of Elementary principals at $600 and the annual maximum salary of other Elementary teachers at $550. This was a sub- stantial annual increase though but a slight weekly increase by reason of the additional two weeks. However, it kept our teachers, and I believe the service will lose nothing but will gain much through your recognition of their merits and their needs.
As you make no formal report to the townspeople, except of the finances, this report must contain many facts well known to you but of great interest and importance to them. One fact, relating to the admission of pupils into grade one, should be very generally known. This is the rule: "No child shall be admitted to the public schools unless he shall beccmc five years of age
10
within thirty days of the beginning of the school year in September. No child shall be admitted to the first grade except at the be- ginning of the fall term during the first week unless he is qualified to take up the work of the grade." I personally believe that under ordinary conditions a child is young enough at six to enter school. But conditions in Westford are unusual. Many of the children are of foreign birth and cannot speak or understand the English language, particularly in the mill sections. At the age of fourteen they leave school to go to work. Many of them do not get as far as grade six. Hence the advantage of having them in school at an early age if only to acquire a speaking ac- quaintance with an English speaking teacher and schoolmates. Such children usually begin the first grade work in earnest only after a year in school. A glance at the enrollment in the several first grades shows the advantage of the second portion of the rule, relating to the exclusion of children from the first grade after the first week of school unless qualified to take up the work of the grade. In September there were in the First Grade, William E. Frost School, 30 pupils; in Grade One, Sargent School, 23 pupils; in Grade One, Cameron School, 37 pupils. Obviously, each first grade must be at once divided into two or three divisions. Pupils dropping in from time to time during the year add so much to the teacher's burdens and so little to the child's acquire- ments that such a rule becomes a necessity. There is one im -. portant exception that teachers and parents should understand. The state law requires that children shall be in school when seven years of age. Any child, therefore, who is to become seven years old before the closing of the school in June, should, upon appli- cation for admission to Grade One, even though then not qualified to take up the work of the grade, be admitted, though apparently excluded under the wording of the rule.
What is needed in both Forge Village and Graniteville-the Cameron and Sargent Schools-is an assistant teacher to take small backward groups to prepare for regular grade work, or to instruct in English, or to give instruction adapted to the few defectives found in the schools. The room now used for supplies
11
and library books in the Cameron School and a similar room in the Sargent School could easily be made available for such service, without great expense. I believe a teacher could be secured to spend half of each day in each school. This arrange- ment ought to be made at the opening of the schools in September, 1918. It may cost $600 a year to do this, but I believe that in no other way could you spend $600 to so great an advantage. Please consider this a recommendation.
Each school building has been supplied with a set of blanks for every possible kind of Work Certificate and the teachers instructed as to what is required on the part of the applicant-and teacher-before such a certificate can be issued. In spite of this boys and girls are constantly applying for Employment and Educational Certificates (to them they are Work Certificates), without their Birth Certificates, and sometimes without their Promise of Employment cards and Physician's Certificate of Health. I hope that teachers, and prospective employers, and parents who read this will all co-operate in making these pre- liminary requirements perfectly plain and generally known. It should help to make a better citizen of one to know exactly how to go about the important business of getting a job with the least trouble to himself and others. Efficiency itself is summed up in these words, "Knowing how to do things with the least trouble to yourself and others."
On October 4th I visited each schoolhouse in the district with the State Building Inspector. Following are his orders with respect to each Westford building :- Parkerville approved and certified to October, 1922; William E. Frost School, add egress; Cameron School, front storm doors (exit two doors wide instead of one), hand rails on stairs and fire alarm; Sargent School, hardware, fire alarm and extinguishers. On the whole the condition of the several buildings was found to be fairly satisfactory. So little remains to be done in each building to merit the issuance of a certificate similar to that issued to Parkerville, and yet so im- portant is that little, that I urge you to attend to it at once. The only considerable change is the egress at the William E.
1
12
Frost School, which is to be built at the rear, of wood, and which, when finished, should harmonize as much as possible, with the present appearance of the building.
The war has laid its hands upon the schools and added to the responsibilities of the teachers. Pupils have been, and are to be urged to do their bit in gardening and in the conservation of food; the meaning of Liberty Bonds has been explained to them and they have been asked to explain to their parents in the hope that their parents would see the advantage as well as the patriotism involved in the purchase of these bonds; the Y. M. C. A. movement was explained; the Red Cross drive was advertised; the Superintendent has been authorized and urged to sell Thrift Stamps to the pupils throughout the district. Every child is to 'have an opportunity to do something, however little, for the great cause for which the United States is laboring, and no efforts will be spared to inculcate in the minds of our children in the schools the principles of true patriotism so vital to the future welfare of this, our country.
Between February and June four teachers' meetings were held for the special study of English expression and composition. Early in February of this year I shall meet the teachers of each building for the consideration of matters especially pertaining to that building, after which a series of general meetings will be held in the spring term.
As usual, the reports of the Academy and Supervising De- partments follow. I hope no one will omit to read those reports. Principal Roudenbush is doing some real live work at the Academy, and it is to the credit of the Elementary schools that he has real live boys and girls to work with. Every child in the public schools should resolve to fit himself for the Academy and then to enter it as a patriotic duty to himself and his town and country. We cannot attain too high a level of intelligence. The higher the level the less likely we shall be to be swept off our feet in critical times. Witness Russia. The mass of our people must be made too intelligent to mistake the howl of the wolf for the call of a friend. In education is the preservation of our ideals-and ourselves.
13
May we all feel the urgent necessity of the longest possible period of school attendance for each child resident in our town, and see to it that every child shall have it, as our part in the patriotic drive of the present period.
Respectfully submitted, FRANK H. HILL, Superintendent of Schools.
Westford, January 2, 1918.
14
Report of Westford Academy.
January 1, 1918.
To MR. F. H. HILL,
Superintendent of Schools:
The total enrollment of pupils at the Academy in September, 1917, was sixty-one, comprising thirty-five girls and twenty-six boys, and at the present writing we have lost only two, and they are attending school in Lowell. The entering class was larger than the average, consisting of fourteen girls and eleven boys. Those who have left the Academy to attend school in Lowell were from this class.
We have kept a memorandum during the year of those things which seemed worthy to mention in this report, and will state them in calendar form.
January 16, 1917: Beatrice Hosmer and Josephine Socha of the class of 1917 were granted free membership in the Tadmuck Club of Westford on the basis of scholarship rank for three years previous to September, 1916. The Club will extend this privilege in the future to other girls of the Senior Class. The present members are Carolyn Precious and Rachel Kimball of the class of 1918.
February 16, 1917 : On this date there was given in the Town Hall a three-act comedy entitled "The Voice of Authority," by the following members of the school: Dorothy Jordan, Claire Payne, Edith Judd, Elva Judd, Beatrice Hosmer, Frances Wright, Josephine Socha, and Bertram Sutherland. Miss Marion More- land, a former teacher at the Academy, sang several solos with Miss Julia Fletcher as accompanist. The play was followed by . informal dancing, and the proceeds were $46.00.
April 27, 1917: On the evening of this day the school gave a minstrel show in the Town Hall, under the direction of Miss Mary B. Raynes, assisted by Miss Harriett Mansur, pianist. Several weeks had been spent preparing for this event, and the chief
15
object was to raise money to purchase a Victrola for school use. There was a large audience present, and in every way the show proved a success. The performance netted $66.43, and to this sum the principal added enough from a fund he has on hand to pay for the Victrola and several records, which were placed in the school May 4th.
May 11, 1917: It was about this time that Marshal Joffre of France paid a visit to the United States and in common with many other schools, the Academy pupils contributed a sum of money ($1.70) to the "Joffre Fund" which they presented to the Marshal as a freewill war offering.
May 12, 1917: The class of 1917 together with Frances Wright, Claire Payne, and Bertram Sutherland, went to Boston on a sight-seeing excursion accompanied by Principal and Mrs. Roudenbush. Some of the party were fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of Marshal Joffre as he rode by in the parade, held in his honor in Boston. A vivid and spectacular performance of "Treasure Island" at Hollis Street Theatre was thoroughly enjoyed by the excursionists.
May 25, 1917: The annual prize-speaking contest took place on this date. The speakers were Webster Flagg, Ruth Sargent, Dorothy Jordan, Elva Judd, Josephine Socha, Sophia Nawrocka, Eleanor Colburn, Beatrice Hosmer and Rachel Kimball. The first prize of $10 was awarded to Josephine Socha, the second prize of $5 to Dorothy Jordan. The judges were: Rev. H. A. Lincoln, Prin. M. L. Greenfield of Littleton, and Mrs. Goldsmith H. Conant. Vocal solos were rendered by Mrs. Charles Colburn and piano duets by Mrs. Sebastian Watson and Miss Julia Fletcher.
June 20, 1917: This day marks the graduation exercises, the details of which are given in the program printed in the Town Report. It is of interest however to call attention to the sub- stantial gift which the graduating class presented to the Academy on this occasion, viz :- Two volumes of the New Standard Diction- ary. The school was in sad necd of just such books, and it is especially convenient to have a volume for the recitation rooms below as well as for the study hall upstairs.
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