USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Westford > Town of Westford annual report 1937-1941 > Part 40
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ART. 15. To see if the Town will vote to expend from the Highway Equipment Account a sufficient sum of money for the purpose of purchasing an automobile truck for the use of the Highway Department, said purchase to be made under the supervision of the Board of Selectmen, or act in relation thereto.
ART. 16 .. In the event of an affirmative vote under Article 15, to see if the Town will vote to authorize the Selectmen to transfer by a good and sufficient Bill of Sale title to one of the trucks that are now used in the Highway Department, and apply the sum re- ceived therefor against the purchase price of the new truck, or act in relation thereto.
ART. 17. To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of Four Hundred Fifty ($450.00) Dollars, or some other sum, for the purpose of purchasing an automobile for the Police De- partment, said purchase to be made under the supervision of the Board of Selectmen, or act in relation thereto.
ART. 18. In the event of an affirmative vote under Article 17, to see if the Town will vote to authorize the Selectmen to transfer by a good and sufficient Bill of Sale title to the police car now used by the Police Department, and apply the sum received therefor against the purchase price of the new car, or act in relation thereto.
ART. 19. To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of Eighty-Five Hundred ($8,500.00) Dollars, or some other sum, for the purpose of purchasing a new fire truck and equip- ment, the same to be purchased under the supervision of the Engineers of the Fire Department, or act in relation thereto.
ART. 20. To see if the Town will vote to appropriate the sum of Four Hundred ($400.00) Dollars for Band Concerts during the current year, or act in relation thereto.
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ART. 21. To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of Twenty-Seven and 50/100 ($27.50) Dollars for the pur- pose of paying a judgment rendered against the Town in a Court of Law, or act in relation thereto.
ART. 22. To see if the Town will vote to authorize the Selectmen to install additional street lights as follows:
Five (5) on Tyngsboro Road Nine (9) on Tenney Road Three (3) on Abbot Street or act in relation thereto.
ART. 23. To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate a sufficient sum of money for the purposes set forth in Section 1 of Chapter 487 of the Acts of 1941, the said sum to be expended under direction of the Westford Committee on Public Safety, or act in relation thereto.
ART. 24. To see if the Town will vote to change the name of Depot Street to Tyngsboro Road, and to change the name of Depot Road to Tyngsboro Road, so that the road running from Main Street in Westford to the Tyngsboro line will for its entire length be named Tyngsboro Road, or act in relation thereto.
ART. 25. To see if the Town will vote to enter into a contract with the Abbot Worsted Company for hydrant service at Brookside for a definite period of time, or act in relation thereto.
ART. 26. To see if the Town will vote to enter into a contract with the Westford Water Company for hydrant service during a definite period of time, or act in relation thereto.
ART. 27. To see if the Town will vote to enter into a contract with the Westford Water Company for three additional hydrants: Two (2) on North Street, and one (1) on Groton Road, or act in re- lation thereto.
ART. 28. To see if the Town will vote to enter into a contract with the Westford Water Company for hydrant service on Hildreth Street, or act in relation thereto.
ART. 29. To see if the Town will vote to accept gifts made to it by the Solomon Hines Fund, Inc. during the years 1939, 1940, 1941 and to accept a tentative gift from the said Hines Fund to be made during the year 1942, or act in relation thereto.
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ART. 30. To see if the Town will vote to transfer the amounts re- ceived by the Town as gifts from the Solomon Hines Fund, Inc. during the years 1938 to 1941, inclusive, together with accum- mulated interest thereon; this said money to be used as a Reserve Fund at the discretion of the Finance Committee, as provided in General Laws, Chapter 40, Section 6, or act in relation thereto.
ART. 31. To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate a certain sum of money to be used as a Reserve Fund at the dis- cretion of the Finance Committee, as provided in General Laws, Chapter 40, Section 6. or act in relation thereto.
ART. 32. To see if the Town will, in order to obtain a final dividend of One Hundred Sixty-Five and 69/100 ($165.69) Dollars on Claims numbered 11844 to 11849, inclusive, against the Traders National Bank of Lowell, Massachusetts, the said claims originally being for cemetery perpetual care funds deposited in said Bank, vote to indemnify the Comptroller of the Currency of the United States against any loss which might be sustained in the event said cer- tificates are found and ownership established in some person other than the Town of Westford. or act in relation thereto.
ART. 33. To see if the Town will vote to authorize the Board of Assessors to use as free cash a sum of money not to exceed $8,000.00, such amount to be approved by the commissioner of Corporations and Taxation of the Commonwealth, and said sum of money to be applied in determining tax rate for the year 1942, or act in relation thereto.
And you are directed to serve this warrant by posting up true and attested copies thereof at the Town Hall and each Post Office in said Westford, seven days at least before the time of holding said meeting.
Hereof fail not, and make return of this warrant, with your doings thereon, to the Town Clerk, at the time and place of holding the first meeting aforesaid.
Given under our hands this twenty-first day of January in the year of our Lord 1942.
ARTHUR M. WHITLEY, ARTHUR L. HEALY, CYRIL A. BLANEY, Selectmen of Westford.
A true copy. Attest :
Constable of Westford.
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Annual Report
OF THE
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
OF THE
TOWN of WESTFORD
OF
WESTFOR
OWN
T
INCORPO!
1729 €
PORATED
.23
SEP
For the Year Ending December 31, 1941
ORGANIZATION-SCHOOL COMMITTEE
Edward C. Buckingham Term expires 1944
James P. Mulligan
Term expires 1944
Mrs. Dorothy E. Chandler, Secretary Term expires 1943 Albert G. Forty Term expires 1943
Eric J. Anderson, Chairman Term expires 1942
George P. Gibbons Term expires 1942
SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS
Roger K. Poole, Westford, Mass.
Tel. Residence 548
Tel. Office 561
SCHOOL TELEPHONES
Tel. Cameron School 542 Tel. Nabnassett School 233
Tel. Wm. E. Frost School 230 Tel. Sargent School 553 Tel. Westford Academy 561
SCHOOL PHYSICIAN C. Veronica Meagher, R. N., Westford, Mass. Tel. 521
SCHOOL NURSE
C. Veronica Meagher. R N., Westford, Mass. Tel. Residence 348 Tel. Office 391 Town Hall
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REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE
January, 1942.
Citizens of Westford,
Westford, Massachusetts.
I hereby submit my annual report as Chairman of the School Com- mittee for the year 1941:
PERSONNEL
There were no changes in the personnel of our Committee this year, as James P. Mulligan and Edward C. Buckingham were re-elected.
REPAIRS AND ALTERATIONS
This past year, some major repairs and alterations have been made at the Academy. To insure the safety of the pupils, the fire escape has been remodeled and enlarged. The fire escape now complies with State regulations.
A part of the laboratory has been made into a new office for the Principal. Now for the first time Mr. Mueller has a place adequate for all his needs.
To remedy the poor lighting condition throughout the school, fluorescent lights have been installed in all the classrooms.
FINANCES
Due to the increased costs of services and materials caused by the present economic conditions, we respectfully ask for the sum of $75,000. to operate the public schools this year, and $500. for vocational tuition.
Respectfully submitted,
ERIC J. ANDERSON,
Chairman.
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REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS
To the School Committee and Citizens of Westford:
I am pleased to submit, herewith, my third annual report as Superintendent of the Westford Public Schools. The historian of the future will undoubtedly characterize the present years as a period of tremendous social, political, and economic change. The method of the change is violent, its scope is sweeping, and its speed unbelievable. We do not now have the perspective of time necessary to judge com- petently what are the ultimate values and principles which will emerge from the present turmoil. From the situation of the moment we must deduce the principles of the moment and shape our action to them. Two principles now appear for our guidance.
Education, in Westford as elsewhere in our great country, must be protected lest we lose through shortsightedness the very values which Americans are now giving their lives to save. Merely winning the war will not assure the principles of democracy, even in our own country, tomorrow, if the citizens-to-be are not thoroughly convinced, by inspired training and firsthand experience, that the democratic way is the best way. Therefore it behooves us, as trustees of democracy-now, to determine that, come what may, the education of our children shall not suffer, shall not be allowed to become a meaningless routine, shall continue to grow in quality and effectiveness. Nor should we be surprised or dismayed if the cost of education rises somewhat under the influence of a higher general price level. It is obvious that if the cost of services and materials which make up the school budget all rise, then inevitably the total cost of education must be greater. Rather, we should be proud that it is still within our power to maintain, unimpaired, the effectiveness of our school system. This is national defense in its finest sense.
Secondly, we must be alert to see that the schools react quickly and surely to reinforce weaknesses and to fill exposed needs in our democratic structure as it is tested and tortured by the forces of war. This means, primarily, that the schools shall have leadership, both elected and professional, which has the courage to abandon tradition and pioneer whenever pioneering is indicated; and which has the sensitivity of understanding to recognize the indications. American education will fail us in the crucial hour unless it is ready and eager to adapt itself to vital new needs of democracy as they occur.
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Report of Progress
During the past few years a number of substantial changes for the better have been made in the Westford school program. I respectfully call the reader's attention, first, to the report of the supervisor of handwriting. The improvement in handwriting in the elementary grades was so startling at the end of the first year under the new system that the School Committee has extended the program to include the Academy students.
The testing program, so long needed, is becoming a reality. All pupils above the second grade in the elementary schools now have the benefit of the complete battery of the Iowa Every Pupil Tests of Basic Skills. These tests enable the teacher to diagnose, with some accuracy, each pupil's weaknesses in the basic studies. With this specific information, teachers are planning their courses to fit the particular needs of each separate group of pupils. Effective assistance to individual pupils is made possible. In order to get the full benefit from this fine tool of better teaching, we need to correlate with it a periodic testing of mental ability. We hope this next step will be taken this year.
There are now telephones in all the school buildings. The first benefit from them has been a closer cooperation and unity between the schools in all parts of the town. A cooperative project like our visual education program would be extremely difficult to carry out successfully and smoothly without them. Parents find the telephones valuable in keeping in close touch with their children's progress. Help from the school nurse in minor emergencies is facilitated. The new air raid protection plans for the schools are dependent on the tele- phones.
The new core curriculum in Westford Academy is developing gradually. Its further growth is dependent on two factors. The first and most important is the ability, or lack of it, on the part of the teachers to grasp the philosophy underlying the new plan. The second is the ability of the town to supply equipment for the further adapting of the curriculum to the real practical needs of high school boys and girls. We have made the beginning of a significant change for the better but we are a long way short of our goal.
In 1940 we started on a deliberate program of building up an adequate reference and supplementary library in all of our schools. This vital undertaking is going forward slowly. In 1941 we purchased a large supply of maps which has brought the equipment in this par- ticular aspect up to a minimum essential level. In 1942 we hope
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to make substantial additions in collateral textbooks and supplemen- tary reading books. The faculties of the different schools are co- operating by classifying and indexing all books available in each building. This will result in much wider use of what reference books we now have.
The work of building a course of study has been going on for two years now. It is a slow and laborious undertaking. All our teachers are taking some part in it. The project is now under the general chair- manship of Mr. Ernest Dalton. Mr. Peter Perry is chairman of the committee on mathematics. Mrs. Mary Robinson is leading the com- mittee on reading and English. The committee on social studies is headed by Mr. Chester Sweatt. An outline representing the work of a year and a half is now being tested in service by the classroom teachers. Revision is being made constantly as faults appear. We hope that next summer will see the new course of study nearing com- pletion.
I believe it is of vital importance that this trend of progress be maintained; that it be not sacrificed on the altar of expediency of the moment, financial or otherwise.
Air Raid Precautions
Air raid precautions for the schools have been carefully planned and rehearsed. Teachers and children understand exactly what they are to do. The plans are executed with precision and speed, and without panic, similarly to the school fire drills. In order that parents may know just what steps have been taken for their children's safety it seems wise to explain the plans in detail here. We hope there will never be an air raid here but we must be prepared if one should come.
When hostile aircraft are spotted heading in the general direc- tion of this area (the New England seacoast) the warning centers notify all town report centers that they are operating under a yellow light. This warning usually comes at least a half hour before the raid could reach us, thanks to a farflung system of patrol and observation posts. When the objective of the enemy has been determined the blue light signal is flashed to all report centers in the district in danger. This signal usually gives ten or fifteen minutes warning. The final signal, the red light, announces that the air raid is upon us. The "all clear" signal is the white light. When the spotting system works perfectly we will get the yellow signal first, followed by the other two. A surprise raid might give us only the blue or red
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warning. Therefore it is necessary that the schools have three dis- tinet plans of action for the three types of emergency. Two ideas have governed the formulation of the plans. We realize, first, that parents want their children at home in time of danger, providing it is possible to get them there safely. Secondly, in a severe raid, the greater the dispersion, the fewer are the casualties.
Yellow Light: The Westford Report Center telephones the Superintendent that the yellow light is on. The Superintendent's telephone is attended all day during school hours. The Superin- tendent, or someone acting for him, calls all schools and all school bus drivers. The buses are on call for instantaneous service. The school buses go immediately to the schools and evacuate all pupils who cannot reach their homes on foot in less than thirty minutes. Special routes have been arranged and pupils assigned to the proper buses. No bus makes more than one trip. Pupils for each bus are waiting, in charge of a teacher, at predesignated loading stations. All pupils not evacuated by bus are grouped by neighborhoods and sent home in groups supervised by older students or teachers. All school principals and bus operators report in to the Superintendent by telephone when all children in their care are safely dispersed. We have found by trial that every last child is safe in his home in less than thirty minutes. This is within the probable safe period.
Blue Light: The Superintendent is informed of the blue light. He telephones all schools immediately. Under the blue light the procedure differs in each school depending on conditions at that school. Basically, all children who can reach their homes on foot in ten minutes are sent there. All others are placed in the safest parts of the school buildings or sent to a predetermined foster home in the neighborhood of the school.
Red Light: The Superintendent is warned of the red light. The schools are notified. No child is permitted to leave the building. All children march to predetermined safe locations within the build- ings and remain there until the white light comes.
In the event of a yellow light, school is automatically over for the day. In case of a blue light alarm, school will resume as soon as the white light comes, similarly in case of a red light alarm. Parents are asked to help in time of a raid by not coming to the schools and thereby interfering with the orderly precautions being taken for the safety of all the children. The principal of each school will be glad to explain to any parent just how his child will be cared for.
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Health and Physical Education
Health education and physical education are so closely related in purpose that we can properly consider them together. It would seem that there is a lesson for public education systems in the high percentage of men rejected for poor physical condition by the selec- tive service. Westford should profit by this revelation by starting now on a program of broad development of a comprehensive plan to improve the health of its children through its school curriculum and clinical services.
An inventory of just what is being done in this division of the curriculum is indicated. In the first four grades, the health teaching is being done informally without textbooks. There is no organized physical education for children in this age group with the exception of rest and relaxation periods in school and some occasional super- vised playground activities.
The situation in grades five to eight is different. In grades five and six there are health textbooks and regular classes in the subject. In grades seven and eight any teaching that is done is informal and has no scheduled time on the program. There is no physical edu- cation program for this whole group, except the interschool games in basketball and baseball which result in only a small percentage of these pupils participating actively.
In the high school, we find the greatest deficiency. There is no health teaching and physical education except in interschool basket- ball and baseball schedules. This once again provides for only a very small percentage of the student body.
I submit that the above inventory is sufficient evidence that this phase of the curriculum needs a thorough overhauling. Part of this can and will be accomplished administratively. The balance of the revision will call for close cooperation between the School Board, Board of Health, and the School Nurse and Physician, if the best possible results under our present setup are to be attained.
In the four primary grades the simple health teaching now done is probably adequate, and the informal method of instruction is certainly proper at this age level. Relief and rest periods are part of any efficient primary teacher's routine. We can and should provide at least three or four organized active group games under teacher leadership at all times during the recess periods. Shy children should be sought out and brought into these activities. A playground pro- gram of this kind for the little children will encourage cooperation and teamwork later on while providing vigorous exercise in the out- of-doors at the same time.
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In the four upper grades the daily programs can and will be changed to provide regular time for health teaching in all four grades. Textbooks will be purchased for the two upper grades which do not have them. A comprehensive and diversified program of sports activities on an intramural basis both at recess time and after school hours should be set up. In order to approach 100% participation we should broaden the scope of sports activities avail- able to include outdoor basketball, softball, volleyball, horseshoes, field hockey, badminton, tennis and others as conditions may govern.
In Westford Academy we face a real problem. We have a gyni- nasium but we are not utilizing it for the purpose for which it was primarily designed except for interschool basketball. It has to be used, unfortunately, for a study hall during the school day. It is doubtful whether calisthenics as such are the best solution to our problem anyway, except under the direction of a physical education expert (which we do not have). The wiser approach would come from an intramural recreational sports program of sufficient variety to enlist the voluntary participation of all high school students. It is probable that intraschool athletics will be forced into the back- ground shortly by the lack of transportation facilities resulting from tire rationing. Westford can be one jump ahead by developing a live intramural sports hobby program now.
To the two score subjects in the Academy curriculum should be added a new course in personal health. A simple but effective layout for the course would be the following: a course with credit for all freshmen, divided into boys and girls divisions, and taught by the school physician and nurse respectively. The course could meet during the period X once a month throughout the whole school year without interfering with any school activities now scheduled. The course could take the form of a half period lecture by the instructor followed by a question and answer period. The program could and should be supplemented by lectures given by various county and state health officers brought here by the courtesy of the town Board of Health. Boys and girls of high school age are begin- ning to have some respect for the value of a dollar. A lecture by a dental expert giving actual cost figures for dental work such as simple bridges, complete extractions and replacement with artificial teeth, might constitute a workable approach on the teeth question. This course would be possible of development, in the future, into one of the single most valuable features in our curriculum, provided close cooperation by all town authorities involved could be obtained.
It might seem advisable that the town reconsider the basis of its school dental clinic service. The basis of the school dental work
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at the present time and in the past has been a policy of patching up or extracting only those teeth which are in serious condition. The short time available at the clinic each week has made it impossible for more than a few children, relatively speaking, to have the benefit of this service. It is my thought at the present time, with the greater incidence of employment in Westford that now exists, the school dentist's time might be spent to better advantage in making a com- plete "in the chair" examination of every school child's teeth to be followed up by the sending to the parents of every child a complete and careful report on just what the parents should have done to their children's teeth in order to prevent trouble in the future. It would seem that in the long run under present conditions a programı of preventive dental work would yield more valuable results than the method of treatment which has been in use during the recent period of unemployment. This last item is made as a suggestion only, and due to the fact that there is a joint responsibility between the Board of Health and the School Committee in handling the dental hygiene problem, nothing can be accomplished in the direc- tion of bettering the Westford program of dental health except through close cooperation by the two departments of the town which hold the responsibility. At some time in the near future a joint meet- ing of the School and Health Boards is planned to investigate if there are any possible ways in which the health program for the school children can be developed to a state of increased efficiency. I feel confident, from past experience, that we are safe in counting on the close cooperation of the town Board of Health in this proposed revision of the school health program.
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