USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Wilmington > Town of Wilmington Annual Report 1939-1940 > Part 16
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113.60
George E. Swain
Mechanics
17531
100.00
10.80
110.80
Josiah Monroe (Care Elbridge H. Carter and Walter H. Blanchard Lots)
Mechanics
7559
100.00
13.31
113.31
Jacob H. Shedd
Mechanics
17532
100.00
12.04
112.04
George T. Eames
Mechanics
17533
200.00
28.88
228.88
141
Interest
Accumu-
Bank
Book No.
Amount
lated
With- drawn
Deposit
Newman Parker, Jr.
.Mechanics
17534
100.00
13.42
113.42
Irwin E. Morse
Mechanics
8531
100.00
20.25
120.25
Sylvester & Lois R. Carter
Mechanics
8990
100.00
16.09
116.09
Capt. George W. McIntosh
Mechanics
9662
200.00
41.16
241.16
Mary A. Gowing, Lot 410
.Mechanics
10283
100.00
15.63
115.63
S. Lizzie Carter, Lot 439
.Mechanics
10282
100.00
20.11
120.11
Julia W. Parker (Ward Parker Lot)
.Mechanics
10641
100.00
15.53
115.63
Manuel & Elizabeth Dexter
.Mechanics
10640
50.00
7.51
57.51
Jaques Gowing
Mechanics
10639
100.00
15.43
115.43
Maud K. Tuttle, Lot 60 B
.Mechanics
10693
100.00
15.17
115.17
Benjamin T. Glover, Lot 416
Mechanics
10953
100.00
18.12
118.12
John W. Perry, Lot 222, Sec. D.
Mechanics
10967
100.00
17.63
117.63
Mary E. Kelley, Lot 322, Sec. E
Mechanics
10968
100.00
14.95
114.95
Caleb S. Harriman, Lot 53
Mechanics
11642
100.00
17.24
117.24
John N. Eames, Lot 137
Mechanics
11643
100.00
17.50
117.70
Lemuel C. Eames
.Mechanics
12493
100.00
18.17
118.17
Sarah H. Jackson, Lot 497
.Mechanics
12494
100.00
17.32
117.32
Henry G. Gowing, Lot 20
Mechanics
12495
150.00
16.10
166.10
Susan A. Ilamlin. Lot 646 A
Mechanics
12820
100.00
17.91
117.91
William H. McCabe, Lot 334
.Mechanics
12821
100.00
17.91
117.91
Walter A. Hill, Lot 458
Mechanics
13322
100.00
16.11
116.11
Rachael Clough, Lot 132
.Mechanics
13323
100.00
16.11
116.11
Samuel Manning & Stephen Buck, Lot 73
.Mechanics
13324
100.00
16.11
116.11
Clifford H. Wilson, Lot 54
Mechanics
13325
100.00
16.11
116.11
Edward B. Manning, Lots 196, 203,
Mechanics
13360
100.00
16.15
116.15
Balance on
142
Interest
Bank
Book No.
Amount
Accumu- lated
With- drawn
Balance on Deposit
Thomas J. Morley, Lot 81, Sec. F
Mechanics
17535
100.00
12.93
112.93
Sydney C. Buck. Lot 274, Sec. D
Mechanics
17536
100.00
12.01
112.01
John Simpson (Levi Swain, Lots 134, 140, Sec. B)
Mechanics
17537
150.00
20.35
170.35
Mrs. Wm. J. Duffy, Lot 11, Main Ave., Sec. A .... Mechanics
17538
100.00
11.71
111.71
Deacon Levi Parker, Lot 2, Old Cemetery
.Mechanics
15602
100.00
13.45
113.45
Annie L. Priggen, Lot 75, Sec. F
Mechanics
17539
100.00
11.05
111.05
Chas. & Ella Blaisdell, Lot 8, Sec. F
Mechanics
17267
100.00
7.00
107.00
George Gowing, Lot 178, Sec. F
Mechanics
17268
100.00
7.00
107.00
Mary C. Roman, Lot 501, Sec. E
Mechanics
18151
100.00
4.39
104.39
Wilford Fletcher, Lot 637, Sec. B
Mechanics
18152
100.00
4.39
104.39
Milo Van Steensburg, Lot 93, Sec. F
Mechanics
18153
50.00
1.55
51.55
Sarah A. Call, Lot 295, Sec. D
Mechanics
18955
100.00
1.88
101.88
Elbridge Harnden
Mechanics
19870
100.00
100.00
Pettengill-Glover Lot
Mechanics
19869
100.00
100.00
$14,757.00
$2,142.79
$192.00
$16,707.69
C. S. HARRIMAN, EDWARD N. EAMES, PHILIP B. BUZZELL, Trustees of Trust Funds.
143
REPORT OF STATE AUDITOR
To the Board of Selectmen
Mr. Charles H. Black, Chairman Wilmington, Massachusetts
Gentlemen:
I submit herewith my report of an audit of the books and accounts of the Town of Wilmington for the period from July 4, 1936 to March 4, 1940, made in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 44, General Laws. This is in the form of a report made to me by Mr. Herman B. Dine, Assistant Director of Accounts.
Very truly yours,
THEODORE N. WADDELL,
Director of Accounts.
144
Mr. Theodore N. Waddell Director of Accounts Department of Corporations and Taxation State House, Boston
Sir:
As directed by you, I have made an audit of the books and ac- counts of the town of Wilmington for the period from July 4, 1936, the date of the previous audit, to March 4, 1940, and submit the fol- lowing report thereon:
The books and accounts of the town accountant were examined and checked. The cash receipts as recorded were checked with the various departmental records which were available and with the treasurer's books, while the payments were compared with the treasurer's warrants authorizing the disbursement of town funds.
The ledgers were analyzed, the appropriation accounts were checked with the amounts voted by the town as shown on the town clerk's record of town meetings, and the transfers from the reserve fund were compared with the amounts authorized by the finance com- mittee, while other accounts were checked with the various depart- ments in which the transactions occurred.
A trial balance was taken off, and a balance sheet, which is ap- pended to this report, was prepared showing the financial condition of the town on March 4, 1940.
In checking the paid vouchers on file it was noted that a con- siderable sum was paid in 1939 and in 1940 to the audit date for automobile mileage used by a member of the board of public welfare in connection with cases relative to old age assistance and aid to dependent children, said member also being a full-time employee of the Commonwealth. The payments made to him by the town were as follows: 1939,
3,557 miles @ 10c per mile, $355.70
January 1 to March 4, 1940,
813 miles @ 10c per mile, 81.30
In this connection attention is also called to Section 5, Chapter 309, Acts of 1939, which provides that "the allowances to state em- ployees for expenses incurred by them in the operation of motor ve- hicles owned by them and used in the performance of their official duties shall not exceed four and one half cents a mile." While this law does not apply to towns, it does, however, indicate what is a reasonable charge for use of cars on State business, and when used on
145
town business of the same nature, the charging of more than twice the rate appears high.
It was also found that another member of the board of public wel- fare was receiving compensation for "special clerical work", in which connection attention is called to Section 108, Chapter 41, General Laws, which provides that the salary and compensation of all elected officers of a town shall be fixed by vote of the town and to Section 4A, Chapter 41, General Laws, which provides that a town board may, if authorized by vote of the town, appoint any member thereof to another town office or position and that the salary of any such ap- pointee shall be fixed by vote of the town.
Attention is called to the fact that expenditures for highway projects carried on by the town in conjunction with the State and County may not exceed the aggregate amount of the appropriations voted by the town, together with the amounts actually received on account of allotments. Whenever reimbursements from the State and County are not received in time to provide funds for payment of pay-rolls and materials, temporary loans under the provisions of Sec- tion 6A, Chapter 44, General Laws may be issued by the treasurer.
In examining the vouchers on file it was also noted that a new automobile was purchased in May, 1939, the cost being charged to the police department appropriation. This automobile was purchased for $749, from which price a trade-in car valued at $434 was deducted, leaving a balance of $315, which was charged to the police appropria- tion. It is recommended that a specific appropriation be voted for the purchases of new equipment, and that authority to dispose of the old equipment also be voted by the town.
In checking the departmental accounts receivable, in some de- partments no adequate record of materials sold or services rendered could be located. The importance of keeping complete records in every department should be apparent, and it is again recommended that the town accountant be promptly notified of all bills due the town and sent out for collection by such department, so that his ledger accounts may at all time reflect the true condition of the ac- counts receivable.
The books and records of the town treasurer were examined and checked in detail. The recorded receipts were compared with the records in the several departments collecting money for the town and with other sources from which money was paid into the town treasury, while the payments were checked with the warrants authorizing the treasurer to disburse town funds and with the accountant's books.
The cash books were analyzed and footed for the period covered by the audit, and the cash balance was proved by actual count of the
146
cash on hand and by a reconciliation of the bank balances with statements furnished by the banks of deposit.
The payments on account of debt and interest were checked with the amounts falling due and with the cancelled securities and coupons on file.
The records of tax titles held by the town were examined and checked. The records as kept by the treasurer were incomplete and a great deal of detailed checking with the lists of additions to the tax title account reported to the town accountant was necessary. The redemptions and foreclosures were verified and the outstanding ac- counts were listed and reconciled with the town accountant's books.
The tax titles taken and the additions to the tax title account should be certified to the treasurer by the collector in accordance with the statutes, and the town accountant should be promptly notified of all transactions affecting the tax title account by both the treasurer and the collector.
The securities including savings bank books, representing the investment of trust funds in the custody of the trustees of trust funds, were examined and listed. The income as reported was proved and the disbursements were verified.
The books and accounts of the tax collector were examined and verified. The taxes outstanding at the time of the previous examina- tion were audited, and all subsequent commitment lists of taxes were proved with the assessors' warrants. The recorded collections were verified by comparison with the payments to the treasurer as shown by the treasurer's books, the abatements were checked with the as- sessors' record of abatements granted, and the outstanding accounts were listed and reconciled with the town accountant's books.
The outstanding accounts were further verified by mailing notices to a number of persons whose names appeared on the books as owing money to the town. the replies received thereto indicating that the accounts, as listed. are correct.
The financial records of the town clerks were examined. The records of licenses issued for the town, of hunting and fishing licenses issued for the State, and of dog licenses issued for the County were examined and checked, and the payments to town. State, and County were verified.
The books and accounts of the water department were examined and checked. The records of charges and payments were analyzed, and the recorded payments to the treasurer were compared with the treasurer's cash book. The recorded abatements were checked with the records of abatements granted by the water commissioners, and
147
the outstanding accounts were listed and reconciled with ledger ac- counts.
In addition to the departments and accounts mentioned, the avail- able records of all other departments collecting money for the town were examined and checked.
The surety bonds of the treasurer, collector, and town clerk for the faithful performance of their duties were examined and found to be in proper form.
Appended to this report, in addition to the balance sheet, are tables showing a reconciliation of the treasurer's cash, summaries of the tax, tax title, and departmental accounts, together with tables showing the trust fund transactions.
During the progress of the audit, cooperation was received from the various town officials, for which, on behalf of my assistants and for myself, I wish to express appreciation.
Respectfully submitted,
HERMAN B. DINE,
H.B.D .: O
Assistant Director of Accounts.
14S
TOWN OF WILMINGTON BALANCE SHEET-MARCH 4, 1940 GENERAL ACCOUNTS
Assets
Liabilities and Reserves
Cash-In Banks and Office
$70,013.93
Temporary Loans: In Anticipation of Revenue 1939 ....... $165,000.00
Taxes:
Levy of 1931 $45.32
Levy of 1934
132.62
Levy of 1936
486.96
Levy of 1937
427.42
Levy of 1938
31,254.71
Levy of 1939
74,255.01
Taxes 1930 (Tax Title to Be Disclaimed ) ...... 27.90
$106,602.04
Motor Vehicle Excise Taxes:
Levy of 1936 $279.23
Levy of 1937
1,247.12
Levy of 1938
445.68
Levy of 1939
320.28
Cemetery Reserve Fund
931.00
$2,292.31
Tax Titles
27,032.97
Overestimate:
Tax Title Possessions
4,479.74
Departmental:
Temporary Aid $7,672.80
Loans Authorized and Unissued
2,000.00
Aid to Dependent Children .... 1,898.17
Old Age Assistance
2,660.42
Dog Taxes-Due County 12.60
Tax Title Redemptions Reserved for Pay- ment of Debt
4,091.09
Surplus War Bonus Fund 1,475.83
Road Machinery Fund
2,056.40
State Parks and Reservations Tax 1939
25.03
Unexpended Appropriation Balances ........... 2,091.71
149
Accounts Receivable : :
State Aid
230.00
Military Aid
90.00
Cemetery
..
165.00
Overlays-Reserved for Abatement of Taxes: Levy of 1938 $550.23
Levy of 1939
646.07
Water:
Rates and services
$2,090.52
Installations
131.87
Revenue Reserved Until Collected:
Motor Vehicle Excise Tax .... $2,292.31
Tax Title
27,032.97
Tax Title Possessions 4,479.74
Departmental
12,716.39
Water
2,222.39
Overdrawn Accounts:
Overlay 1934
$.01
Overlay 1935 42.77
Estimated Receipts
..
5,934.74
Overlay 1936
172.18
Overlay 1937
707.65
Surplus Revenue
53,369.36
Aid to Dependent Children, U. S. Grant 36.01
Aid to Dependent Children,
Administration, U. S. Grant 2.67
Water Department 1937
1,076.15
Water Department 1939 225.60
Sabra Common Fund ..
23.20
$2,286.24
$286,955.76
$286,955.76
1,196.30
$2,222.39
Expenditures in Anticipation of Appropria- tions
57,309.75
Loans Authorized-Shawsheen Avenue and Lake Street Water Mains
2,000.00
$48,743.80
150
..
$12,716.39
DEBT ACCOUNTS
Net Funded Debt $304,651.83
School Loan 1935
$15,000.00
Silver Lake Schoolhouse Loan 10,800.00
Silver Lake Schoolhouse Land Loan
2,000.00
Water Loans
234,400.00
Tax Title Loans
31,451.83
Municipal Relief Loans
11,000.00
$304,651.83
$304,651.83
151
TRUST ACCOUNTS
Trust Funds, Cash and Securities $23,071.08
Sears Cook Walker School Fund $296.44
S. D. J. Carter Lecture Fund ..
6,743.92
Chester W. Clark Library Fund 664.97
Burnap Library Fund 263.56
Benjamin Buck Library Fund 602.19
Charlotte C. Smith Library Fund
820.23
Sabra Carter Common Fund
200.00
Cemetery Perpetual Care Funds 8,479.77
Lizzie T. B. Sweatt Cemetery Fund
5,000.00
$23,071.08
$23,071.08
ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
STO
THE
1730.
WHITEFIELD ELM
Together with the Report of SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS For the Year Ending December 31st 1940
153
REPORT OF SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
SCHOOL OFFICIALS
Name
Residence
Term
Mr. John W. Hathaway, Chairman
No. Wilmington
1939-1942
Mr. Joseph Ring
No. Wilmington 1939-1942
Mrs. Vilma Bedell, Secretary
Wilmington
1938-1941
*Mr. Samuel F. Frolio
No. Wilmington
1938-1941
Mr. Burt Tilley
Wilmington
1940-1943
Mr. Adam Galka
Wilmington
1940-1943
Mr. August McLeod
No. Wilmington
1940-1941
*- Resigned
SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS
Mr. Stephen G. Bean
Wilmington, Tel. 343
SCHOOL PHYSICIAN
Dr. Ernest C. MacDougall
Wilmington, Tel. 432
SCHOOL NURSE
Mrs. Esther Nichols
Wilmington, Tel. 744
ATTENDANCE OFFICER
Mr. Fred Fields
Wilmington
154
SCHOOL CALENDAR
1940
January 2 to February 22
Mid-Winter Vacation
March 3 to April 26
Spring Vacation
May 5 to June 13-Elementary
May 5 to June 20-High
Summer Vacation
September S, to December 23
Christmas Vacation
Schools Open January 5, 1942
HOLIDAYS
February 22 Good Friday April 19 May 30
October 12 November 11 Thanksgiving
155
REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE
To the Citizens of Wilmington:
The Wilmington School Committee, in making its report, desires to call attention to the reports of Mr. Bean, Superintendent of Schools and Mr. Hood, High School Principal, and to emphasize what is therein said as to the crowded conditions in the High School and the practical certainty that those conditions will be much worse in the coming school year. It is to be hoped that steps to relieve this over- crowding will be taken immediately.
Recently an inspection of school buildings was made by the Fire Department and its report thereon was duly received. This co- operation is much appreciated and the suggestions received are being carried out.
The School Committee takes this opportunity publicly to thank all members of the school department.
THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
156
REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS
To the School Committee. Wilmington, Mass.
Madam and Gentlemen:
I present herewith my seventeenth annual report as Superinten- dent of Schools for the Town of Wilmington. This is the forty-fifth of the series of such reports presented by the Superintendent of Schools in this community. In earlier years the report of the school department was considered of sufficient importance to be printed separately, or at least bound separately, from the rest of the town report. Of late years. for reasons of economy, this practice has not prevailed and for the same reason much important material has been left out of the report. Brevity has been the watchword at the request of the heads of the town government. All financial tabulations and most comparative tables have been eliminated for this reason.
The general condition of the school system is good; not so good as at some times in the near past, but still good. Schools seem to reflect some of the characteristics of these tinies of social and economic unrest. Children are strongly influenced by their environment and the atti- tudes of their elders and the world at large. For some reason there seems less of the urge to do school work well and faithfully than we have been accustomed to. There is an attitude of "getting by" with as little work as possible; an attitude of expecting the teacher to make them get a passing mark rather than one of working for a high degree of accomplishment. It seems at times as if the doing of a high standard of work were unfashionable or a mark of "sissiness." There does not seem to be the old time desire or will to do a job well just because it is your duty. Endeavors on the part of teachers to insure a job well done often meets with opposition from the source from which they should get the most support. Home-work, make up work and honest marking schedules are not popular with most pupils and many parents. We hesitate in school to face the same standards as are in force in life after school days are over. We refuse to face realities until it is too late to remedy our condition of infantile
157
dependence upon support and pursuasion from others. Out in the world our young people find that they have to stand on their own feet, solve their own problems and do what they have to do perfectly, not seventy per cent perfect. It is the job of the schools to get young people ready to face the world. How are we going to do it if prevented by those who should be our strongest allies. This is not a condition of local character. It is general the country over. In most places it is worse than it is here. It is a part of the very unsettled condition of the whole world.
Studies of work done in various grades in town, especially those above the primary years has proved conclusively that the reason for ninety per cent of the low marks is carelessness. Little difficulty is experienced in teaching new facts or processes but the securing of accuracy is a very different matter. This applies especially to arith- metic and to any subject involving written expressions of ideas. It is also true of spelling.
As a part of the general scheme of training the results being secured in the field of physical education continues according to the standards of previous years. Classroom work follows the usual objec- tives and extra curricular activities including girls athletics have maintained the high level of previous years. The annual Spring or May Day exhibition was well trained, carefully organized and beau- tifully staged. It was a credit to any school system, large or small.
The work in art has also maintained its usual excellence. The exhibit in the high school at the time of the May Day festival gave evidence of the high degree of accomplishment still secured in this field. Its correlation with school work was highly commendable.
Accomplishment in the field of music continues on the high plane of several preceding years. The usual high grades were awarded our choruses at the annual festival at Wellesley. The concerts which fol- lowed later in the Spring were worthy of our best traditions and also worthy of any community of any size.
Organizations of parents and teachers in different schools is a healthy development. The Walker Club is the first of these and has been in successful existence several years. Lately a movement for a similar organization in connection with Silver Lake school has been initiated and is in the course of formulation. It would be a fine idea for each of the larger units in town to have its own association. All could get together once a year with the Teacher's Club for a general meeting.
Such associations can be of great value to the pupils if we can only get a membership from a much larger number of parents. It might be worth while to dispense with some formality if we could get more of the parents in attendance.
158
During the year the teaching corps has done a very excellent piece of work in creating a course of study to fit local conditions. A great deal of material has been collected and put in a tentative form which is now nearly edited and will soon be ready for some form of publication. This piece of work has been done under the leadership of a committee of teachers of which Miss Delaney of the Buzzell School was chairman.
There were few changes in personnel during the year. A summer vacation usually brings some changes due either to matrimony or some chance of professional improvement. Miss Alice Hathaway of the high school faculty resigned for the first of these reasons and Miss Doris Groesbeck went from the Buzzell School to Tewksbury High School for the second. Miss Sylvia Neilson was transferred to the high school staff to replace Miss Hathaway, and the two vacancies thus created in the Buzzell School were filled by Mr. Samuel F. Frolio of Wilmington and Miss Mildred Wheeler of Reading. A partial reor- ganization of the corps in the Buzzell School accompanied these changes. Miss Chaput was transferred from the seventh grade to the eighth grade and Mr. Frolio took charge of Miss Chaput's room in the seventh grade. Miss Wheeler took over the work in English in place of Miss Groesbeck. Mr. Frolio was made principal of the building.
The only new member of the elementary teaching staff in the primary grades was Miss Ruth Conrad, who was appointed to take the third grade room opened this Fall in the Silver Lake portable building.
As has been said repeatedly in these reports, it is never possible to tell what will happen to school enrollments during a fiscal year. The number of pupils in school in June is no indication of the probable September enrollment. This year has been no exception to this rule. In June there were about 1230 pupils in regular membership in all schools in town but on October first the number had increased to 1321. This was an increase of 6.8%.
Normally such an increase would fill at least two large rooms of forty-five pupils. Fortunately the numbers were so distributed that it was necessary to open only one room. This was done at Silver Lake School where a room was available. Now we have nearly every room in town utilized to its workable capacity. There are some vacant seats still but in widely distributed locations. Any further increase in num- bers will create an acute probleni.
In the high school building the problem is already acute and with normal movement of classes by promotions in June will have reached an almost impossible condition. Mr. Hood has covered this in his report on the high school. It looks like either new construction or pla-
159
tooning and part time classes. We have ducked this issue year after year but now it has caught up with us.
The solution of this problem is of course an addition to the high school. There are many who are strongly opposed to adding to the present building, but it is my opinion that an addition is all that this town can pay for under present conditions and future possibilities. As it is the addition would probably cost ninety to a hundred thousand dollars. A new building would cost at least twice that figure and probably much more because such a building would need to be planned with a capacity of at least five hundred pupils in four classes.
There will be those who say that it is crazy to talk of five hundred pupils in Wilmington High School. The same was said when the Buzzell School was built. It was claimed it would never be filled to capacity. It was overflowed the first year and today is carrying a 14% overload and next year will be even worse.
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