USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Wilmington > Town of Wilmington Annual Report 1925-1926 > Part 10
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In agriculture most of the work done this year has been giving individual service to those who have made requests. Information has been given on testing soils, and recommendations made in re- gard to the growing of alfalfa and clover. One farmer receives monthly visits from the cow test agent, who keeps accurate rec- ords on milk production and feed costs.
In home making a series of meetings was held for those inter- ested in food selection-this group was made up of home-makers and high school girls. The purpose of the project is to help in the selection and preparation of foods for the family, with special ref- erence to its influence on health.
In the boys' and girls' 4-H Club activities work was carried on in food, canning, poultry and garden clubs. One hundred thirty- eight boys and girls were enrolled under the local leadership of nine people. Alice Henxman won third prize in the county-wide room beautiful contest. Dorothy Hathaway and Marjorie Ireland were awarded a two-day trip to the Massachusetts Agricultural College for outstanding club work. An Achievement Club program was put on at which the boys and girls exhibited the results of their season's work and told of the benefits of club work. Club members in this Town were in competition with 3,690 boys and girls of Mid- dlesex County.
Several country-wide meetings were conducted, such as the county picnic at the Market Garden Field Station, the annual meet- ing of the Extension Service at Waltham, and sectional meetings of fruit-growers and poultrymen. These were attended by many Wilmington people.
ERNEST R. CURRIER, Director.
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REPORT OF THE BOARD OF HEALTH
To the Citizens of Wilmington:
The Board of Health herewith submits its annual report.
The number of contagious diseases reported to this Board for the year 1926 is as follows:
Measles
3
Scarlet fever
6
Diphtheria
8
The Board of Health has been called upon to collect the garbage in the Silver Lake District in the summer months. We believe this work should be carried on each year as a safeguard to public health.
In accordance with the vote of the Town at the annual meeting $1,000 has been expended for public health work under the direc- tion of the Board of Health Agent and the Public Health Nurse.
The work of the District Nurse is as follows:
Nursing visits
1,069
Infant Welfare visits
165
Prenatal visits 76
Tuberculosis visits
6
Child Welfare visits
104
Social Service visits
175
Attendance at clinics
11
Other visits
80
Hospital visits
24
Total
1,710
Respectfully submitted,
CHAS. F. PERRY, Chairman, CARL S. PETTENGILL, WALTER L. HALE, D. T. BUZZELL, M.D., Agent,
Board of Health.
ANNUAL REPORT of the
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
Together with the Report of SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS For the year ending December 31, 1926
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School Committee
Peter Neilson
Term expires 1928
Alfred S. Allen
.Term expires 1928
Helen H. Buck
Term expires 1929
Olivia H. Norcross
Term expires 1929
John W. Hathaway
Term expires 1927
Harry W. De Loriea
Term expires 1927
Superintendent of Schools STEPHEN G. BEAN
School Physician DANIEL T. BUZZELL, M. D.
School Calendar
January 3-Winter Term begins.
February 18-Winter Term ends.
Vacation-One week. 3
February 29-Winter-Spring Term begins.
April 15-Winter-Spring Term ends.
Vacation-One week.
April 25-Spring Term begins.
June 17- Spring Term ends for Elementary School.
June 24-Spring Term ends for High School.
Vacation-Ten weeks.
Sept. 7-Fall Term begins. Dec. 23-Fall Term ends. Holidays-Jan. 1, Feb. 22, April 19, Oct. 12, Nov. 24-25,
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REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE
To the Citizens of Wilmington:
The public schools of Wilmington continue to grow. September, 1925, saw an increase of seventy-five in attendance; September, 1926, brought an increase of fifty. The total enrolment has been 825. The more recent increase has been comfortably taken care of by opening the West School as a district school for the four lower grades and by enlarging the little school held in the Town Hall into a double class with two teachers.
We now have two district schools -- the West School and the South School. On the other hand, the other schools are now or- ganized on a grade basis for the first time, with the exception of just one room.
In spite of the growth in the schools, the appropriation made at the town meeting in March, 1926, proved sufficient for all needs and the committee takes pleasure in calling attention to the fact that it closes this year with an unexpended balance of about $600. This balance is the result of careful figuring on every line of ex- penditure. The average expense for the year was only a little in excess of $60 per pupil. This is lower than the average expense for the Commonwealth and much lower than the average expense in our surrounding towns.
The committee believes that this result has been achieved by the creation of a well-organized and efficient body of teachers and employees to whom the committee wishes, at this time, to express its gratitude for services rendered.
The organization of the schools seems to become more perma- nent as time goes on. Gradual increases of pay make it possible to retain our teachers for longer periods of service and so become a good investment. It should be borne in mind that the state reimburses the town for a part of such increases.
The transportation of pupils continues to be in the hands of the Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway Company. The service has grown so that now three buses are employed all the time. The cost of the third bus, so far, has not been very great.
Some of the School Committee, and perhaps all of them, believe the time has now come when in the Wilmington High School some- thing definite should be done about physical culture training for all the scholars. The best educational authorities are not satisfied with the usual form of school athletics because such athletics train only a few of the more vigorous students who need it less than the rest, but believe that some way should be found to build up the bodily health and strength of all the students, and that participa- tion in such physical culture should be made compulsory. Mili- tary drill for boys is a partial answer to this need, and the bene- fits which it can confer outweigh any sentimental objections. It is not so easy to provide training for the girls, but with a proper instructor, this need can also be met.
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It should be borne in mind that physical training does not neces- sarily call for expensive gymnasium apparatus. The splendid Swedish gymnastics, with which some of us are familiar, and of which we recently saw a good exhibition in Wilmington, are prac- tised with very little apparatus and at nominal expense. It is to be hoped that within another year we can have a physical culture teacher in the Wilmington schools.
The work of improving the High School building has gone on, and substantial repairs have recently been made to the interior walls. The committee believes the building now to be in good condition.
A new system of sewerage disposal has been planned for the High and Centre Schools, which will probably be installed by the time this report is published.
The Centre School should now receive our attention. It needs repainting inside and out.
The roof of the Walker School leaks and must be reshingled this year.
The cost of supplying drinking water to the pupils now amounts to. a substantial sum each year. Wilmington needs a public water supply badly, and the Wilmington schools need it very badly.
It is to be expected that the school population of Wilmington will continue to increase. A new schoolhouse is needed now, and will be more urgently needed in the near future. If it cannot be built this year, financial provision should be made for restoring the North Schoolhouse for use in September. Even that can give only temporary relief.
Respectfully submitted,
JOHN W. HATHAWAY,
HELEN H. BUCK, OLIVIA H. NORCROSS, HARRY W. DeLORIEA, ALFRED S. ALLEN.
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REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS
To the School Committee of Wilmington,
Ladies and Gentlemen: The following is my third Annual Report as Superintendent of Schools for this town. As is customary, I shall endeavor to state as briefly as possible the condition and growth of the schools of the town as they appear to me.
General
This year of 1926 has marked within its span one of the most significant changes that has come to the local school system in many years. Although marked by one step of retrogression the period has seen a remarkable advance in educational growth. And the wonder of it is that so great a change has been made without being the cause of increased expenditure of money.
During the first six months of the year, which were the closing months of a school year, our schools were operating under a plan of organization whereby every elementary teacher in town had two or more grades in her room. In many cases there were forty- five or more children in these two grades.
This may not mean much to the lay mind, but to those of us who are in daily contact with the problems of the schoolroom, forty-five pupils in two separate grades with a single teacher gives promise of a real job. Of course this is only half as much of a problem as that of forty-five pupils in four grades. But, then, no really up-to-date system has any such, except in emergencies.
Given, then, a condition whereby twelve teachers have classes of two or more grades and of inordinately large size, and substitute for this a system whereby only three teachers in the town are teaching a room of more than one grade. The result, really, is most significant for the future welfare of Wilmington's school chil- dren. And not only was the number of grades per teacher reduced, but the number of children in a class was also made smaller.
The first step in the plan was the removal of all primary grades from the Center School. In their place were installed all of the sixth grade pupils of the town. To make this possible a double first grade was placed in the Town Hall. The pupils of the other three grades were distributed through the classes of the Walker School.
The removal of the sixth grades from the Walker and White- field Schools gave an opportunity to reassign grades in both of these buildings. With a little careful planning it was found pos- sible to arrange every class but one in these two buildings, so that no teacher had more than one grade. The one exception was that of the third and fourth grades in the Walker School. Even this could have been avoided, but it would have involved unnecessary hardship for several children.
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It is particularly interesting that this was done in spite of an influx of fifty more children in total enrollment than at the close of the school year in June. Of course, it is true that we were forced to take our one step backward and open the West School with four grades and a single teacher. But this would have been necessary in any event, simply to accommodate the increased en- rollment.
We had, then, in September, 83 per cent of the elementary pupils in single grade rooms, 6 per cent in a two-grade room, and the remaining 11 per cent in rooms containing four grades. This may be contrasted with 94 per cent in two-grade rooms and 6 per cent in a four-grade room under the old plan. Evidently 83 per cent of the children had a vastly improved opportunity, 12 per cent were no worse off, and 5 per cent had lost by the whole combination of circumstances. This 5 per cent, who had suffered in a theoretical group, would have been much larger had no change been made.
Another great advantage gained by the change was the gather- ing of the sixth and seventh grades in the Center School, thus keep- ing children of nearly the same age group together, rather than grouping primary and grammar grade children in the same build- ing. Recess periods are much simplified by this arrangement and the small children are far safer.
Conditions in the eighth grade and the High School were further improved by giving Miss Swain the services of a full-time assistant, thus relieving Miss Crockett for full-time service in the Commer- cial Department of the High School.
Lest a wrong impression be left by what has been said earlier of our four-grade rooms, I wish to go on record in saying that since we are obliged by circumstances to maintain such schools temporarily, it is fortunate that we have such a type of teachers for these schools as Miss Janes and Mrs. Eames. Both of these schools are functioning as well as such schools ever can. But both of these teachers are fully cognizant of the limitations of this type of school in meeting the requirements of modern education. The pity is that unless some better solution appears, as a result of the report of the committee on new building, we shall be forced to open up another of these abandoned buildings next Fall.
Such procedure will be, as it is now, manifestly unfair to those children who are obliged to attend these schools. Equality of op- portunity cannot be present when 80 per cent of the children are in single grade rooms and 20 per cent in four-grade rooms. The lack of justice of this is appreciated by parents of pupils in the four-grade rooms. Many of them every year ask to have their children placed in one of the schools of better opportunity. A just if not reasonable suggestion is sometimes made by parents as follows: "Why not make some of the children from - School come down here for two of the four years, and give our children a chance." This may seem unreasonable, but is it not just ?
There is just one way to give justice to all, or if you like, call it equality of opportunity, that is by providing accommodations for the children now in these multiple grade rooms. This would require a new building, and not a small building either. A six-room build- ing could be filled today with children who are not properly placed,
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including the eighth-grade pupils, who are cramping the high school facilities. The following figures show the facts.
Pupils enrolled below High School 700 pupils
Maximum number allowed in a class. 40 pupils
Number of classrooms now needed. 17₺ rooms
Number of proper classrooms available. 12 rooms
Immediate shortage of accommodations. 53 rooms
Probable increase (based on experience) 60 pupils
Rooms required in addition.
13
Rooms needed in September 1927 (additional) 7
It is even possible that an eighth room will be required to house an opportunity class if the forthcoming clinic shows that we are required to support such a class.
If no building is provided and the fifty or sixty extra pupils appear in the Fall that experience leads us to expect, we will be forced to open the North School at considerable expense. That tides over one year. Again in the succeeding year a similar situa- tion may exist with the East School as another backward step. THEN WHAT? The situation recalls that familiar advertising slogan, "Eventually, why not now ?"
Two important additions to equipment have been made during the year. In the High School library steel shelving has been placed. Late in the year an Acme Moving Picture projector was purchased as equipment for work in visual education, one of the most recent and effective of educational methods.
Two new sports have been added to our physical program. Foot- ball has been revived after a lapse of several years, and field hockey has been introduced for the girls. This last mentioned sport, it is hoped, will be taught to all girls in the seven upper grades of the system. Full equipment has been provided by the Committee and a reasonable amount of enthusiasm shown by the pupils. The field at our disposal is better than could ordinarily be expected in a small town.
Better provision should be made for the physical education of the children. Next year should see installed a regular supervisor or teacher of Physical Education. And this does not mean simply a teacher of gymnastics. Physical Education should mean some- thing greater and better than this. It should supplement the work of the School Nurse and School Physician. It should cure by pre- vention some of the evils of posture and carriage of our children. And it should TEACH CHILDREN TO PLAY.
Progress towards unification of textbooks has been steady during the year, and improvement in the type of books in use has been made. Texts not suited to our type of organization are being changed gradually. Within the next two years all children should reach the High School with practically equal and similar prepara- tion, the only difference being that due to individual peculiarities.
School Plant
Most of the major units of the school plant are in good physical condition. The one bad feature in several cases is the matter of
56
sewage disposal. This is to be remedied for the Center and High Schools as soon as seasonal conditions permit. The present diffi- culty lies in the fact that existing cesspools are of inadequate size to meet the conditions produced by the increased enrollment in the schools.
In outward appearance the Center School shows need of care. Here the need is not structural. It is a case of need of protection from the ravages of the elements. Paint and putty would work a complete transformation.
A good work has been started on the inside of the High School. Some of the walls have been given a tinting and the burlap along the lower portions of all walls has been repaired and repainted. This will be completed during the coming year.
Our greatest difficulty is that the whole school plant is full to capacity. An influx of even twenty-five new pupils next September will require more seating space than is now available. And if the forthcoming psychological clinic shows the need of a special class for abnormally retarded pupils, another room will be needed at once. Under such conditions even the opening of the North School will not meet the immediate needs.
Teaching Corps
Several changes have taken place in the corps of teachers during the year, but as a whole we have held our organization in its con- dition of general excellence.
At the commencement of the calendar year Miss Frances Hin- denlang came to us in the place of Miss Webb, who resigned to enter matrimony. Later we sustained the serious loss of the serv- ices of Miss Hutchinson from the Latin department, due to the superior financial condition of Beverly. This place was filled by Miss Wood, a resident of Beverly and a graduate of Wheaton College.
In June Mrs. Swenson resigned from her position in the first grade and her place was filled by Miss Elizabeth Coll, although not in the same building, since the first grade was removed to the Town Hall, due to the reorganization.
Another tribute was paid to the quality of Wilmington teachers when Reading selected Miss Wadleigh, Principal of the Center School, to take up important work in the research department in charge of their standard testing program. This position has been filled by transferring Miss Florence Clarke, who had been pre- viously employed to assist Miss Caroline Swain with the eighth grades. This shift of teachers produced other changes, and Miss Anna Finn, another new teacher, was placed with Miss Swain and succeeded in the sixth grade class by Miss Carolyn Currie.
Two other new members came to the force in September. Miss Phyllis Taylor was elected assistant in the seventh grade, succeed- ing Miss Eva Clarke, who was transferred to the sixth grade, and Miss Marion McIntosh, who succeeded Miss Marks, who resigned from the second-grade room in the Whitefield School.
When it became necessary to open the West School, Mrs. Alden Eames was selected as the teacher. In this school are four grades and at times more than forty pupils.
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We who have the responsibility for selection of the teaching staff feel that, as a whole, Wilmington has a very strong body of teach- ers, when our salary scale is taken into consideration. It is not to be expected that we can hold it intact when good teachers are still at a premium.
Probably our greatest loss this year was through the retirement of Miss Ida L. Shaw, Principal of the Walker School, for an ex- tended period. Miss Henrietta Swain, who was long associated with Miss Shaw in the Walker School, was promoted to the prin- cipalship.
High School
In emphasis of the report by the High School Principal, mention is here made of significant developments in this branch of our system.
Under the continued leadership of Mr. Melvin C. Knight, ably assisted by Sub-Master Samuel F. Frolio and a heartily co-operat- ing corps of teachers, this school is in excellent condition. The essential work in the classrooms seems under capable leadership and offers adequate opportunity to all who have the desire to profit from it. As much as is possible the school is endeavoring to foster this desire, which is the very mainspring of success. To this end a moderate number of extra-curriculum activities are fostered in the hope of developing an esprit de corps, which will make it de- sirable to be a member of the school group.
The Alpha still maintains its function as local as well as school weekly. Some people criticize it, seeming to forget that it is an amateur production by high school pupils rather than the work of trained experts. Being a weekly there is often of necessity a seeming staleness in some news items. It is nevertheless a valuable adjunct of the school English department. Errors appearing in print and spread before a community are less likely to be repeated than are those made in the classroom and corrected by colleagues.
Athletic activities have been broadened by the addition of foot- ball and field hockey to the list of organized sports. Games are won occasionally and lost even more occasionally, depending on whether contests are with schools within or without our class. But winning or losing a game does not matter. There is always another game and another season, and, after all, "The play's the thing." If we could get over this "make-the-team" spirit and have everybody playing for the fun of the thing, much would be gained in character as well as body-building.
Ventures in the field of dramatic productions have been reason- ably successful. Teachers who have coached these plays should feel that they have been well paid for the hours spent in patient drilling. It is no mean accomplishment to train these young people to forget themselves for even a brief period, and project themselves into personalities foreign to them.
Instrumental music has not been as prominent during the Fall term as it was in the Spring. Graduation took from the school most of the leaders in this branch of music. It will take time to train the younger pupils to work together.
Judging from what material for vocal music we surely have, it
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seems as though this branch does not function to the fullest. There is a wealth of excellent chorus material in the school, so that a most excellent choral program could be given with reasonable training. There may even be sufficient solo voices to make an operetta a feasible venture.
The Library Council is working to secure reference books to fill in the many vacant spaces in the recently installed steel shelves in the school library. For a school of this size there should be at least four hundred volumes in the reference library. We fall far short of this number. Contributions from any source are grate- fully received.
Facilities for visual education have been improved by the addition of an Acme motion picture projector to our equipment, which al- ready consists of an excellent stereopticon. It has already demon- strated its value in the teaching of science.
At the request of the Principal this plea is made: That parents take a more active interest in the progress of their children in the school. As usual, it is the parents of children who are doing sat- isfactory work who show interest in the school work being done. The greatest interest is needed from parents of children who are failing for avoidable reasons. Parental interest is a strong stim- ulus to pupil interest. If a pupil is failing it is not always safe to accept his reason or excuse for the failure. His teacher is a safer source of information as to the reason. The very fact that a pupil is in High School should be, and usually is, evidence that a pupil can do the work well if he wants to. Parents can help make him want to do it. If neither school nor parent can create the desire to do good work, attendance at school is a waste of time for all. The wish to do well is the father of well doing.
Before closing consideration of the High School, mention should be made of the growth of the Commercial Department. This growth has necessitated the employment of a second teacher to assist Mrs. Alexander. Hitherto part-time assistance has met the needs, but this year Miss Crockett has spent all of her time in the High School. This growth of necessity increases the expense of high school maintenance. The upkeep of adequate equipment is no mean item in the annual budget. It appears under a miscel- laneous heading in the financial report as a replacement or upkeep expense.
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