USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Wilmington > Town of Wilmington Annual Report 1933-1934 > Part 5
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After the 1933 town meeting it was evident that the town must believe its schools in the hands of workers of miracles. Sixty thousand dollars may seem like a large sum, but when it must provide for the thirteen different forms of expense involved in he education of 1,120 children it makes the portions rather small. This is even more impressive when you realize that just two of the thirteen items, teaching and transportation, ate up $43,923.81 of the $60,000 appropriated, leaving just about $16,000 for all of the other expenses. Supervision of instruction subtracts about $5,500 more; fuel disposes of a little less than $4,000; and there are still eight other items such as janitors' wages $3,550, books and supplies $2,100, repairs about $1,600, etc.
It was very evident that a general cut all through the budget had to be made, regardless of its effect on the schools. I. was not as simple as that however. Certain items could not be cut. In fact more money than usual was needed for fuel, lights, water and [. portation. Increase in the number of pupils meant increased co_t of books and supplies. An unusually grea, accumulation of var in the pond back of the Center School required an expensive di- age project, to keep the High and Center Schools in operation. Later, in the summer, it was found that tl .. pla: .
S5
Center School must be, replaced. Here was an emergency expense of close to a thousand dollars for which no allowance had been made. Two new teachers were also needed, another $1,700 gone. Cuts were made of course, otherwise we would have spent nearly $70,000, instead of the $60,980 actually accounted for.
Of course t.le easiest thing to do, from the taxpayers standpoint was to take i out of the payroll. It was the popular sport at that tinie to cut teachers' salaries. Everybody was doing it. It was use- less to show that Wilmington teachers were already badly under- paid; that for three years they had been receiving cuts, in that the annual increases due them had been refused. Cut was the word; and slash we did. Repairs were also slated for a drastic reduction if not for disregard. but circumstances fooled us. Books and sup- plies were reduced to minimum and by the good fortune of a slight reserve from the preceding year, cost less than usual.
Let it not be supposed that those of us charged with administra- tion take pride in the $55 per pupil average of expenditure during the year. It may reflect some credit on ability to cope with an emergency, but it is no source of pride, as representatives of the town. Such a record reflects the opposite of credit on any com- munity. It is a source of amazement that the thinking people of the town, whether parents of children or not, permit such record to be reported. The only excuse must be loss of faith in the value of education as a whole. In cannot reflect dissatisfaction with the local school system. The record of achievement during the past ten years does not permit of that. One purely academic accomplish- ment has been a high standard. This cannot be denied.
That last statement must be qualified for the upper six grades for the past year. We have not maintained our earlier accomplish- ment. I: was not and is not possible, under the existing conditions. We find now that even in the first year of the part time schooling which ended last June, those children who went to school only half a day did not get proper training. These were in the grades now called high school freshmen and eighth graders. They show clearly that we are slipping backward. It is plain that "home work" cannot produce the results obtained from classroom supervision. If this continues for long we may as well resign ourselves to the fact that the local high school will no longer be "Grade A" and will lose its place on the list of "certified" high schools. We will not be able to send pupils to colleges like Harvard and Radcliffe after four years in Wilmington High School. Some, perhaps all, will require five years for preparation; the extra year either locally or at some accredited school. This will mean a decided increase in expense either to parents or taxpayers.
It is interesting to note that we hear reports that some parents are pleased with the two platoon, or rather, half-time program in the six upper grades. Evidently these do not realize at all what is happening. It may give some of them certain advantages at home, but they cannot be considering what must of necessity be resulting in the education of their children. Let them read carefully the re- port of the Principal of the High School. He knows what is going on. He realizes that his charges are not getting a fair chance.
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His teachers also know too well how impossible satisfactory pro- gress is under the present conditions. Home work is not well done. Study, undirected, is inefficient. Interest seems to be waning.
Such statements may not be popular; they may not be pleasant; but it is our duty to place before our constituents the plain, unvar- nished truth. We leave ourselves open to just criticism if we fail to let the public know the whole truth, unpleasant though it be. For years we have been doing our best. The present situation is only a confirmation of our previous predictions. It will be recalled that a 1930 town meeting voted not to build a six room addition, containing a gymnasium, to the present high school plant. Had that addition been built we would not be in our present dilemma. Not only would there be adequate room for all of the grades in school on a full time basis, but we could have had the benefits of a gymnasium for the past Three years. In that time a fair zum of money could have been saved which has been paid others for rental of meeting places outside of the school for student activities. We could also have had adequate space for training our basketball teams. It just seems as though the youngsters in the town haven't a chance. Very little is done for them in comparison to what those in neighboring communities enjoy; no playgrounds, no gymnasium, no meeting place for social gatherings under proper guidance-it is little wonder that many of them regard school as a kind of penal institution.
We hear the cry that taxes are higher and hard to pay, that business is bad and employment scarce; yet the automobile manu- facturers expect to market more than d'ouble the number of cars sold last year; the movie houses are not closing their doors; the tobacco companies spend hundreds of thousands in advertising cigarettes; brewers pay plenty for publicity. All of this the public pays for without a whimper, but what a howl arises if a tax bill which pays for present and future safety, exceeds the upkeep of the family automobile. What dollar produces as much value as the tax dollar? Surely, not the gasoline dollar, or the tobacco dollar, or the powder-lipstick-perfumery, marcel wave dollar, or the movie dollar, or any of the other luxury dollars which are the real heavy expenditures of the American people. It is time we forgot our pleasures and put a little thought into our safety and the future of society. Our present safety is that provided by police, fire pre- vention, board of health, highway construction and similar agencies. The future of society depends on the training of young folks who are now in schools.
We are evidentily entering a period when hours of labor are to be reduced to a minimum, and hours of leisure correspondingly in- creased. Such an increase in the proportion of leisure time can easily prove an absolute menace if there be no training for the profitable use of this leisure. The old saw "The devil finds work for idle hands", was never more true than today. Human nature must have an outlet in one direction or another. Man has to learn to direct his surplus energies into productive channels.
There is no more pitiful spectacle than the idle man who cannot read, nor a happier picture than a, lover of reading in his leisure
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moments. Hate, greed, pain, sorrow, trial, disappointment, all can be drowned in the waves of the bounding deep, or lost in the cloud- ed peaks of a distant land; buried in the burning sands, or shrouded in the mystic shades of a tropical jungle; any or all envisioned from the words on a printed page.
Man has to be taught how to read. The mere mechanics of read- ing are not enough. Word recognition is not reading. Words are tut dead things until intelligent interpretation of what they say is transmu ed in the mind into ideas. This skill in interpretation has to be learned either by painful plodding or by swifter teaching by trained guides.
Numbers, as such, are almost useless. It is only when employed to solve problems that they become of real value; if it be only to identify the Houses on a street. They are only as valuable as ones ability to use them. This ability has to be learned, again either by tedious trial and error, or by skilled instruction.
The truths of nature may become obvious, but only after training in scientific observation by a skilled leader, already so trained. Gran ing that scientific truth is learned by experimentation, it is equally true that years of useless endeavor are saved by taught skills in experimentation. Instead of having to unearth eternal trut'is one by one in each new generation, we are able, by education, to start where the previous experince of the world leaves off. If it were otherwise we would still be curled up in tufts of grass, eating ry fle h killed by a pointed stone or a knobby club.
If all of the schools in this country would be closed for fifty years our civilization would revert to that of the pilgrim fathers. Forbil all forms of education for a century and we would return to barbarism if not to savagery.
This is no ime for curtailing education. We need it more and more to meet the complex problenis created by the advance of civilization. Change it we must, to meet changing conditions; but curtail it never. We may need to teach less Latin and more Eco- nomics, less French and more Sociology, less Algebra and more Constitutional governmen :; but we cannot afford to cease to guide our future citizens alons the pathways of past successes, and guard them from the byways of known failure. We must pass on to them a blazing torch to show the way, not a dead brand extinguished by selfish parsimony.
Many of us are nearing the end of our course. It has been lighted by such facilities as were at the disposal of our forebears. In each generation the lighting facilities have improved. Lincoln's log fire has been replaced by the Mazda lamp. The lights of the spirit should have improved correspondingly. If they have not, it is be- cause of our failure to keep faith as did our forefathers. They endeavored to have us start where they left off, and urged us for- ward. Can we do less? Have We lost faith that civilization is still going forward?
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The Elementary Schools
In the first six grades of the system conditions are normal. There has been no congestion which could not be satisfactorily cared for. The nearest to a serious situation occurred in the Silver Lake school. Here numbers became too large to be handled satis- factorily with two grades in each room. By voluntary offer of the teachers to increase the length of the school day, it was possible to put into operation a sort of platoon system. By this expedient the first and third grades attended school in the morning, and the second and fourth grades in the afternoon. Shortening the noon hour of the teachers to thirty minutes and adding another half hour to the afternoon session made it possible to give each grade a three hour session of undivided attention from the teachers. It has been found that this is much more efficient than the earlier ar- rangement of a five hour day, with two grades dividing the time. There is now no chance for idleness in one class while the teacher is busy with the other, because no other is present. Better concentration and study habits are being secured. Interest is main- tained at working pitch, and disciplinary troubles thus reduced to a minimum.
There is a serious waste in the elementary grades from a financial standpoint. This is the necessity for transporting so many children from the West part of the town to the Whitefield school. It might be possible to remedy this condition and at the same time alleviate conditions in the High School. This could be accomplished by erecting a six room elementary building somewhere in the section between Burlington and Shawsheen Avenues. The site might be such as to accommodate the first six grades from the South and West sections. The relief thus provided to the Walker and White- field Schools would make it possible to care for all fifth and sixth grade pupils outside of the Center School. We could then use the Center School to relieve the congestion in the High School tem- porarily. If two rooms could be added to the Center School, it would be possible to create a Junior section of the High School in that building. Such an arrangement would solve our problem for a number of years.
These projects might be possible of attainment if further exten- sions of the P. W. A. activities are authorized. Just at present the fate of such small projects seems doubtful. . There are those who tell us that it is next to impossible for the small town project to secure sanction in Washington. Ours might fail of approval since it would be a necessity rather than a luxury. The test seems to be as to whether a thing is sufficiently unnecessary, that is, that it is something the community would like to have but cannot afford.
C. W. A. Improvements
That part of the local C. W. A. allotment which was apportioned to the school department has been used for two purposes. The first project was the filling of the hole behind the Center School, left when the pond was drained. It is hoped to create here a play area sufficiently large to serve the Center School pupils and thus render it unnecessary for them to congregate in front of the building, or
89
across the roadway to the Common. It is intended to keep all of these children from the Common at all recesses, and thus permit the grass to grow there again. This would also keep it free of papers and the remains of lunches. Excellent progress has already been made. The improvement is indeed great.
The second project is the painting of all elementary school build- ings. A good start has been made. Minor repairs to window- and clapboards and a first coat of a good shade of yellow paint is the accomplishment to date of this writing.
Later projects under this movemen' may include the construction of a tennis court in the rear of the high school building. It may even be possible to so construct this that it can be used in winter as a rink for ice hockey.
Transportation
As was predicted a year ago, it became necessary in September to add two noon trips for two busses to our transportation facilities. These trips start at 11,30 A. M. by picking up the seventh and eighth grade pupils for the afternoon session. At 12.30 they trans- port the high school pupils to their homes. This has added about 50 per cent to the cost in the last school year, and will call for a de- cided increase in that item in the 1934 budget. The cost of trans- portation will probably be still further increased because our pres- ent contract with Holland Brothers expires in June. It is certain that we cannot get as favorable a mileage rate in a new contract unless some other concern or individual enters the field of bidders. An appropriation of more than $8.000 will be required to safely cover this item.
Heating Problems
If we are to experience another winter like that now current we must make provision for more efficient heating facilities for our one room schools. It is imperative that the South School have a new heater at once. It is suggested that a furnace be placed in the cellar of that school immediately. Several days have been lost already because it was impossible to get a temperature higher than fifty degrees at noon of those days when the ou'side temperature hovered just below zero.
Similar trouble was at the North School. One morning the ther- mometer read eighteen degrees at the time school was supposed to open. In this case there is no cellar in which to place a heater. This condition might be remedied as a C. W. A. project, if we can buy the heater. It would not be necessary to excavate under the whole building if it did not seem desirable. Pointing up the walls under this building would be an economical procedure.
The Opportunity Class
It would prove well worth the time and effort for any citizen to visit the North School to see this special class in operation. To get a true understanding it would be necessary to attend at least a part of both morning and afternoon sessions, because the two parts of the school day are totally different.
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The morning session is given over to regular school subjects. The teaching is very different from the typical class recitation in the regular school classes. Here we have more of a tutoring school. The children are treated individually, or in groups of three or four, depending on the needs of the various pupils. The endeavor is to find out what the child does not know, why he does not know it, and then to remedy the condition if possible.
In the afternoon books are put aside. Aprons are donned; mo- tors are started; saws and lathes are busy; or it may be the sewing machine also. Both boys and girls in the class of a dozen or more pupils are busy and seemingly interested. The practical results of their training and industry will be proudly exhibited. Boudoir lamps, table lamps, toys, picture puzzles, sofa pillows, decorated lamp shades, potato mashers, book marks, desk sets, etc., etc., are to be found among their products. If a chair needs a new cane seat, they can do it. If the children's toys need repairs and re- decorations, leave it to them.
It is truly remarkable what these young people are able to do under the inspiration and guidance of Miss Maynard. This school is really one of the most interesting places in town.
The Portable Buildings
Many harsh statements and some ridicule was directed at the school authorities when these buildings were purchased, as an emergency measure. At the time, the school committee was blamed for the failure of the town to build a permanent building which had been recommended by a special building committee at the an- nual town meeting, and had been voted down. They are today the best schoolrooms in the town from the standpoint of hygienic con- ditions. They are properly lighted. They have adequate toilet facilities. They are easy to empty in case of fire. They have heat- ing equipment sufficient for their size. No other school building in town has all of these. After the beating that they have withstood from the storms and winds of this winter; they show greater dura- bility than their appearance would warrant. To be sure they are not beautiful, except according to the old adage. "Handsome is as handsome does." From the standpoint of utility they have certainly justified their purchase.
Changes in Personnel
In these days, when the commercial world is out of joint, and is not absorbing its usual quota of young people trained in colleges and normal schools; there is much less change in teaching staffs. There is little moving up because those at the top are not moving out, except from old age.
Some of the changes came by virtue of weddings. Miss Brown of the Walker School staff retired to be married. and Miss Baldwin of the South School even preceded her in the same path. Mrs. Olive Oman, recently widowed, was given rating as a substitute in Miss Brown's position. and Miss Florentina Long succeeded Miss Baldwin. Miss Long. however, was lured from us at Christmas, by a fifty increase in salary, to the town of Wenham. Miss Olive
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LAutlehule is now in the South School.
Miss Pauline Webber was enticed from our high school by the oity of Medford for the usual reason-more money. Her successor is Miss Dorothy Giles of Arlington, a young lady whose training in French received its final polish in France.
Miss Phyllis Taylor joined the list of those who entered matri- mony. Miss Mary Hood, a young lady of excellent training in one of the best normal colleges of the mid-West, took on Miss Taylor's duties
Miss Sylvia Neilann, one of our own graduates, with a degree from Boston University had already been appointed as the extra wacher for grades seven and eight made necessary by the increase in nanibers and the part time plan of organization of the six upper grades.
During the summer Miss Alyce O Brien who had been one of the teachers in the Center School, and who had also served as part time »peretary lo the superintendent, fel; the call of home and accepted a position in Rockland. Mass., her place of residence. This vackney was filled by Miss Elizabeth Taylor, a graduate of one of the best normal schools in New England and Inter a student in a collegiote institution in New York State. Miss O'Brien's secretarial duties were assumed by Miss Lena Carter who had had some office experience prior to cumine to teach in Wilmington.
Conclusion
If it seems that too much truth has been told in this report, it is only fair to remember, that if the people do not know conditions We are blamed fm failure to remedy them. If they fail after being tuld, theirs is the responsibility. Year after year we have been tell- lug the people what future proimbilities would be. Present con- diMoms were not unforseen or unavoidable.
To my professimal associates, good teachers all, I extend my Appreciation of their cooperation. To the School Committee thanks are renilered for help, guidance and inspiration to carry on.
Respectfully submitted,
STEPHEN G. BEAN,
Superintendent of Schools.
AGE - GRADE DISTRIBUTION October 1, 1933
5
6 7
8 9
10
11 12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
T
141
1
21
93
24
2
1
111
II
14
59
25
9
1
2
1
110
III
14
71
14
8
2
1
12
54
28
9
4
107
IV
114
V
.
1
17
44
28
11
3
3
107
VII
2
46
30
12
7
5
102
1
7
49
27
15
8
1
108
VIII
14
S. G.
·
1 11 30 19
10
3
74
IX
9
19
19
12
1
1
61
X
10
18
13
2
1
44
XI
·
1
9
15
4
36
XII
.
1
1
1
1
4
P. G.
T
......
21 107 97 108 92 114 84 100 104
85
74 70
45
11
7
1134
21
12
3
4
12
59
VI
.
Heavily leaded diagonal steps show the normal age limits of the various grades.
92
93
SCHOOL - GRADE DISTRIBUTION
October 1, 1933
1 2
3
4
5
6 7 S
9
10
11 12
T
South
7
6
9
West
31
16
47
Vr h
UNGRADED
14
Silver Lake
26
24
25
22
97
Maple
Meadow
14
10
14
14
52
Walker . .
37
31
29
30
32
159
Whitefield
26 24
33
41
41
165
Conter
41 107
14
Hich
102 108 74
61
44
4
429
Totals
141 111 110 107 114 107 102 108 74
01
14
4
1133
Roster of School Employees
NAME
POSITION
HOME - DATE APPOINTED
Stephen G. Bean
Superintendent
Wilmington 1924
J. Turner Hood, Jr.
Principal H. S.
Wilmington 1928
Samuel F. Frolio
Science H. S.
N. Wilmington 1924
George C. Kambour
Math. and Athletics
Wilmington 1930
Laura N. Marland
English and History
Ballardvale
1919
A. Stephanie Bean
English and Dramatics
Wilmington
1931
Alice Hathaway
Latin and English
N. Wilmington 1932
Dorothy Giles
French and English
Arlington
1933
Gladys Alexander
Commercial
Tewksbury
1923
Alice Stanton
Commercial
Worcester
1930
George C. Webber
Commercial Sub.
Wilmingtonl
1933
Edna M. Coburn
Phy Ed. Superv.
Dorchester
1929
Shirley H. Gulliver
Drawing Superv.
Newton
1929
Helen Cazneau
Music Superv.
Wilmington
1931
Sylvia Neilson
History and Geog.
Wilmington
1933
Caroline Swain
History and Arith.
Wilmington
1889
Doris Wright
Arithmetic
Boston
1931
Mary Hood
Geog. and Arith.
Cairo, Ill.
1933
Anne McCarthy
English
Beverly
1929
Margaret Delaney
English
Lowell
1932
John W. Crediford
Principal Center
Hamilton
1930
Lena Carter
Grade VI Center
Albermarle, N. C.
1930
Elizabeth Giles
Gradle V Center
Springfield
1932
Elizabeth Taylor
Grade VI Center
Farmington, Me.
1933
Henrietta Swain
Principal Walker
Wilmington
1893
Olive Oman
Grades III and IV
Wilmington
1933
Sybil Weibers
Grade II Walker
Reading
1927
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Ellen Cannon A. Es'elle Horton Lena Doucette
Principal Whitefield
Greenwood 1922
Grades II and Ill
Wilmington 1918
Virginia Nodding Mary C. Meadows
Grades 1 and Il Grade IV
\' Wilmington 1931
West
Wilmington
1927
Pepperell
1929
Olive Littlehale
Tyngsboro
1934
Indred Rogers
Silver Lake
Lowell
1929
Silver Lake
Malden
1929
A'ma E. Mason Marion Richards
Maplemeadow
Malden
1930
Hylen Patten
Mapplemeadow
Reading
1926
E ther Nichols
Nurse
Wilmington
1922
MacDougall, E. C.
School Physician
Wilmington
1932
Charles F. Perry
Janitor
Wilmington
Arthur White
Janitor
Wilmington
Owen Devine
Janitor
Wilmington
Roland Hinxman
Janitor
Wilmington
Alden Eames
Janitor
Wilmington
Charles Blake
Jamitor
Wilmington
Herbert F. Johnson
Janitor
Wilmington
Oliver Newcomb
Janitor
Wilmington
Grade 1 Walker
Decatur, Ga. 1929
Lena M. Eames Ruth S. Maynard
Sp. Class South
Reading 1933
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REPORT OF HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL
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