USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Wilbraham > Wilbraham annual report 1913-1923 > Part 25
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Walter M. Bliss, freight, cartage, etc.,
40.02
New toiletsat East Wilbraham :---- Edward E. Babb & Co., Kaustin toilets, $236.00
Marcy Lumber Co., lumber, 246.99
A. L. Boylan, labor, 64.81
J. Johnson, labor, 60.35
50
B. B. Green, labor, 2.50
C. W. Vinton, materials and labor, 131.02
$741.67
City of Springfield, installing water, Pines, 108.83
$2,417.43
Health
H. G. Webber, school physician, $140.10
Carlisle Hardware Co., scales, etc., 27.53
Forbes & Wallace, supplies, 1.15
Springfield Printing and Binding Co., printing, 14.00
F. A. Wheeler, green soap,
2.40
A. L. Fredette, printing, 10.50
Sackett's Typewriting Exchange, mul- graphing, 1.05
Signe L. Polson, school nurse,
268.32
Home Correspondence School, printing, 1.40
$166.45
Transportation
Springfield Street Railway Co.,
$2,093.00
Elizabeth Barheydt,
61.20
Irene Bliss,
64.20
Mina Bliss,
64.20
George Calkins,
2.72
Maurice Cole,
13.51
Eva Day,
12.86
Doris Ellinwood,
36.22
Dorothy Ellinwood,
35.42
William Files,
60.90
Caroline Hardy,
36.00
51
Edith Hardy,
34.50
Marion Hardy,
35.90
Leslie Henderson,
16.50
Albert Lyman,
18.90
Mildred Lyman,
32.10
Gladys Phelps,
40.30
Marion Phelps,
40.60
Everett Pickens,
9.00
Dorothea Rayen,
33.60
Dorothy Sherwin,
59.90
Rial Smith,
37.80
Mary Tupper,
29.92
Freda Bennett,
11.30
Lawrence Beebe,
.70
Eunice Bell,
.56
Wilfred Brodeur,
2.24
Edna Calkins,
.62
Helen Dickinson,
26.40
Ruth Dickinson,
28.40
Constance Ellinwood,
29.60
Myrtle Files,
59.40
Audrey Genge,
40.00
Lorna Genge,
29.20
Clarence Keefe,
1.40
Leda Kennedy,
.56
Edith Kittredge,
1.40
Raymond LaPine,
1.62
Franklin Murphy,
1.96
Mary Normoyle,
.54
Mary Patnaude,
.68
Helen Nordin,
16.80
Gladys Piper,
1.82
Louise Piper,
1.26
Marion Rice,
29.60
Wilson Rice,
29.60
52
Dorothy Tupper,
16.60
Thelma Wagner,
6.00
$3,207.51
Tuition
(One half is reimbursed by the State)
City of Springfield,
$7,266.00
Town of Ludlow, ^94.03
Wilbraham Academy,
170.00
$8,230.03
Insurance
Cone & Sherwood, $302.50
Total,
$33,380.07
SECOND PORTABLE SCHOOL HOUSE AT THE
PINES
Appropriation,
$3,300.00
Amount Expended
Thayer Portable House Co., $2,512.00
Kenney Bros. & Wolkins, Seats, 360.50
Alex Gardner, Labor, 10.00
Ed. G. MacDowell, Material and Labor,
285.78
C. E. Seymour, Labor, 14.85
Chas. S. Stacy, Plumbing, 5.00
Massachusetts Reformatory, Desks, $1.00
Walter N. Bliss, Cartage, etc., 4.00
$3,263.13
Less than appropriation, $36.8℃
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APPROPRIATIONS NEEDED FOR 1922
General Expenses :
School Committee :
Salaries,
$150.00
Expenses. 20.00
School Superintendence and en-
forcement of law :
Salary,
960.00
Traveling allowance,
150.00
Other Expenses,
500.00
Expenses of Instruction :
Supervisors' Salaries,
750.00
Teachers' Salaries,
16,000.00
Textbooks, 500.00
Supplies,
600.00
Operating Expenses :
Janitors,
1,600.00
Fuel,
1,200.00
Miscellaneous,
150.00
Repairs,
2,000.00
Health,
1,000.00
Tuition,
10,000.00
Transportation,
4,000.00
$39,380.00
Under the law as amended in 1921, the Town will still be reimbursed by the State one-half the amount it expends for high school tuition, but such reimbursement will be paid March 10th on account of expenditures to previous Decem- ber 31st, instead of being paid November 15th on account of expenditures to previous June 30th. For this reason,
54
reimbursement received in the financial year ending Decem- ber 31, 1922, will be about $2,250 less than it would have been under the law previous to amendment, but the amount ultimately received by ,the Town will be unchanged.
The estimate of all reimbursements to be received in financial year ending Dec. 31, 1922, follows :- General School Fund, Part I, $2,113.00
General School Fund, Part II, 3,791.56
Superintendent's salary and traveling allowance, 580.00
Tuition, State wards and others, 200.00
$6,684.56
SCHOOL NEEDS AT THE PINES
In October, 1919, a portable scholhouse was erected at the Pines to relieve the crowded conditions. Last summer in anticipation of a further increase in the enroll- ment there, another portable was put up. When school opened in September, 47 children, only one of whom could speak English, applied for entrance to the first grade. Even with the additional room made available by the erection of the second portable, the schools were swamped with chil- dren. The enrollment there is now 145, forty more than in December, 1920.
The increase in the enrollment at The Pines is due to two causes,-an increase in the number of children of school age in the district, and the fact that primary grade children from Wilbraham are no longer being accepted as pupils at St. Mary's Polish school in Indian Orchard. The school census of April 1, 1921, shows an increase of 115 children of school age in town over the school census of April 1, 1920. A considerable part of this increase has been in The Pines district. There will undoubtedly be another large increase in school enrollment next September.
55
Even with the present enrollment the schools at The Pines are so large, especially as the problem of teaching English is great there, that justice cannot be done the pupils. Another teacher is needed to-day. In view. of the present needs, and the almost certain increase that will occur next September, it seems imperative that additional accommodations be provided. It is doubtful whether it would be a wise policy to erect another portable or whether the town would approve of doing this. The two portables now in use have not cost the town as much as will be saved in the expense of putting up a permanent building this season as compared with the prices that prevailed when the portables were purchased, but the opinion is expressed by some at least that building prices are not likely to go appreciably lower during the next few years. The com- mittee therefore recommends that the town put up a build- ing containing not less than six classrooms, so planned that it can be enlarged at a minimum additional cost when necessary. If such a schoolhouse is built, we believe that every classroom will be needed for use next September.
Respectfully submitted, E. O. BEEBE, W. N. BLISS. H. W. CUTLER.
School Superintendent's Report.
To the School Committee of Wilbraham:
Herewith is submitted for your consideration my report as superintedent of schools for the year ending December 31, 1921. Several matters considered in the report for 1920 form the chief subjects of discussion again this year because of their outstanding importance to the town.
High School Situation.
In the report of last year attention was called to the fact that under the law as it then was, if the national census of 1920 showed the number of families in Wilbraham to exceed 500, State aid for high school tuition and transpor- tation would cease. and the town, unless specifically ex- empted by the Department of Education would be required to establish a high school. The census figures are now available and give Wilbraham a population of 581 families. In anticipation of this the attention of the Department of Education was called to the fact that the loss of State aid for high school tuition and transportation would work a hardship upon the town. It seems that there were four or five other towns in the State in the same situation. To prevent this hardship the Department secured an amend- ment to the law whereby the amount paid out for high school tuition may be included in the "Assured Minimum" reported to the Department in accordance with the pro- visions of section 10. part 2, chapter 363, of the General Laws. Thus the town will continue to be reimbursed one-half the cost of high school tuition. No provision, however, was made for State reimbursement of money spent for high school transportation, and this will be lost to the town.
57
Perhaps I ought to add that assurance has been re- ceived from the Department of Education that exemption from maintaining a high school will be granted to the town of Wilbraham, but only on condition that it still continue to furnish transportation to the out of town high schools which our pupils attend. Even with this condition imposed it is in my opinion much the best policy for the town to provide for its pupils at Ludlow and Springfield rather than to establish its own high school. A town high school would mean in the first place a heavy outlay for a high school building. The high school transportation costs would be reduced somewhat, but by no means done away with. The salary budget for an adequate and competent high school faculty would be large. And when all ex- penses had been met, we could not hope to have a school comparable to the Springfield schools in equipment, variety of courses, teaching ability, and reputation.
The town now has 66 pupils attending high school, 12 more than last year, and the cost of this increase in excess of the anticipations of the budget, together with the expenditure for insurance heretofore paid from the contingent account, fully covers the deficit in the school department.
Repairs on School Buildings.
In the report of last year attention was called to the need of repairs at the various school buildings, and at the annual town meeting a larger appropriation than usual was granted for this purpose. In expending this appro- priation an attempt was made to do some work which would be permanent in character. Particularly at Stony Hill new seats and desks were put in, new slate blackboards installed, and the interior of the building refinished. Through these repairs the schoolroom in this district was converted from the least attractive to one of the most
58
attractive in town. Acknowledgement should be made of the assistance of Mr. William Wallace, who refinished some of the furniture without cost to the town. At East Wil- braham the old and disgraceful outhouses have been done away with, and an addition built to the schoolhouse, and chemical toilets installed. These. so far as I know, have proved entirely satisfactory. They are easily supervised, are accessible without going outdoors, are the cause of very little additional janitor work, and are inexpensive to maintain.
Something over a year ago a committee of the ladies of the town visited all our schoolhouses and submitted recommendations and criticisms to the school committee. One thing that received their just condemnation was the toilet facilities at most of the schoolhouses. With the impossibility of installing water closets, and with the menace to the health and morals of the children which so. often comes from the outdoor. open vault privy, it may be & question whether the installation of chemical toilets should the town are equipped with them. Especially at this time not be gradually extended until all of the schoolhouses of the town ought to consider the advisability of installing these toilets at the North Wilbraham school, where con- ditions are bad and seem difficult to improve under the present arrangements.
Extensive repairs were made at The Pines. Among other things done. the schoolhouse was connected with the Springfield water system and thus an abundant supply of running water secured. This suggests another subject worthy of the consideration of the voters. Writers of hygiene repeatedly call attention to the importance to health of drinking an abundance of water. It is well nigh intolerable that a school of fifty or more pupils should be conducted with no water supply except such as can be brought in a pail from the neighbors. I believe that unde: such circumstances the difficulty of preventing drinking
59
cups from being passed around by children and of having on hand an adequate supply of clean wholesome water for drinking when the children are thirsty, to say nothing of the need of water for washing the hands and school uten- sils, is such as to prevent many children from drinking a sufficient amount of water, and to cause many epidemics of colds to run through our schools.
Public School Nurse.
At the last session of the General Court a law was passed providing for the appointment of nurses in the public schools. Accordingly, the joint committee of this district met and elected a public school nurse, and fixed her salary at $?300 with the agreement that she should defray her own transportation charges by automobile. It was agreed that she should give two twentieths of her time to the town of Hampden, four twentieths to the town of Longmeadow, and seven twentieths to each of the towns of East Longmeadow and Wilbraham. The fears expressed by some that a public school nurse would not find enough to do to keep her busy were immediately shown to be ground- less. She is crowded with work all the time, and the opin- ion is now finding expression that the districts should be divided and two nurses employed. The nurse has already done much to promote the physical well being of the children in our schools by warring against unhygienic con- ditions, adenoids, enlarged tonsils, poor teeth, malnutrition, tuberculosis, and so on. Without attempting to give a de- tailed table showing the defects and diseases which she has found and attacked in the schools, I will call attention to one fact. Ten children carrying temperatures have been found who, when examined under the direction of the Westfield Sanatorium, proved to have tuberculosis either in an incip- ient or moderately advanced stage. Probably some of these would have recovered had the infection not been discovered,
60
D'it in other cases the disease doubtless would have pro- grressed and proved fatal. This one service alone in my opinion has more than justified the expense incurred in the employment of a school nurse.
From the very nature of the case the benefits of public health service extend through lifetimes and especially in small towns cannot be reduced to dollars and cents. Red. Cross statistical experts have recently given out a state- mient that in the city of New York in 1910 persons died at an average age of 35, and that in 1920 this had been ad- vanced to 39 years. When such an advance based on a. population of five million sou's is made in ten years, it cannot be attributed to accident or good luck. I hold that it is explained by the public health measures put into operation during the last ten years. Whatever these measures may have cost in money, their expense has been slight compared to the number of years of life gained to the citizens of New York. In the same way, but not so easily demonstratable in our towns because the elements of accident and luck are a larger factor in a small group, the public school nurse is adding years to the lives of the citizens of this district.
Contagious Diseases, Vaccination.
There has been at times some misunderstanding over the exclusion from school of children from households in which there is contagious disease. State law provides that "no child who is a member of a household in which a person who is ill with any infectious or contagious disease or of a household exposed to such contagion from another household shall attend any public school until the teacher of the school has been furnished with a certificate from the board of health or from the attending physician stat- ing that danger of conveying' such disease by such child has passed." As will be seen from the above, the respon- s"bility of determining when a child excluded because of
61
contagious disease shall return to school rests not with the school committee or the teacher, but with the board of health or the attending physician. The teacher must not readmit the child until the certificate required by law is furnished. A difficulty sometimes arises in that . child may be absent because of contagious disease and no physician be employed to attend him. In such a case it may happen that no report is made to the board of health as the law requires, and that no physician nor the board of health is acquainted with the case and so in a position to give a child a certificate to return to school. The difficulty is obviously not for the school department but for the parent of the child to solve.
The law also provides that a child who has not been vaccinated shall not be admitted to a public school except upon presentation of a certificate signed by a regular practicing physician that he is not a fit subject for vacci- nation. The committee has voted to follow in the matter the practice of the city of Springfield and to provide for the vaccination at school by the school physician of all unvaccinated children whose parents request that this be done. As the vaccine points are furnished by the State Board of Health without cost to the town, the expense of this procedure to the town will not be heavy. It is believed that this practice will do away with a certain amount of friction with parents and loss of time in school by children.
The Schools and the Public Library.
At the last annual town meeting Wilbraham's share of the dog tax money was appropriated for the use of the public library in connection with the schools. As a result, boxes with hinged covers designed to hold about thirty volumes, practically the size of one section of a sectional bookcase, have been provided; additional books for use
6.2
in the schools have been bought by the library; and the boxes have been filled and placed in the schoolrooms of the town. The plan is to refill the boxes several times each year, thus making available for the use of the school children quite a large number of volumes from the public library each year. I am sure that the service is appre- ciated. The task of buying the additional books, prepar- ing them for circulation, and filling the boxes, has fallen on Mrs. Abbott. the town librarian, and she has shown un- flagging interest in the enterurise.
Respectfully submitted,
FREDERIC A. WHEELER.
63
TABLES OF STATISTICS
School Calendar, 1922
Winter Term: Tuesday, January 3-Friday, February 24. Spring Term : Monday, March 6-Friday, April 28. Summer Term: Monday, May 8-Wednesday, June 28. Fall Term: Tuesday, September 5-Friday, December 22.
Holidays :--
October 12, Columbus Day.
Wednesday noon, November 29, to Monday, Decem- ber 4, Thanksgiving Day Recess. February 22, Washington's Birthday.
April 19, Patriots' Day.
May 30, Memorial Day.
School Census, April 1, 1921
Boys
Girls
Total
Persons 5 to 7 years of age,
76
66
142
Persons 7 to 14 years of age,
210
232
442
Persons 14 to 16 years of age,
39
38
Total,
324
337
661
School Registers, 1920-1921
Pupils enrolled :
Boys,
168
Girls,
196
Total,
364
Aggregate attendance,
57,918
Average daily attendance,
.
310
Average membership,
339
Per cent of attendance,
91
Number of days the public schools were in session, 187
64
Enrolment by Schools and Grades, December, 1921
Name of
Number of Grade
School
1
1
6
8
Totl
North Wilbraham,
12
15
11
12
10
11
10
89
Stony Hill,
5
5
1
4
17
The Pines.
69
16
9
11
14
8
11
145
Edward F. Powers,
3
1
2
3
5
4
1 12
12
11
60
Wilbraham Street, Glendale,
5
6
2
1
5
22
Mountain,
?
2
2
1
6
2
15
East Wilbraham,
3
-1
2
3
1
2
22
103
50
41
33
12
44
30
37
380
Number of Pupils in High School, December, 1921.
Buckingham Junior High
14
State Street Junior High,
1
Central High,
10
Technical High,
9
High School of Commerce,
19
Ludlow High,
11
Wilbraham Academy,
2
Total, 66
Corps of Teachers, January 1, 1922
Number One, Stony Hill
Ruth M. Mason, 116 Florence St., Springfield.
Number Two, The Pines
Mrs. Ellen M. Burroughs, 52 Albemarle St., Springfield, Grades 6, 7, and 8.
Grace F. Baker, 8 W. School St., Westfield, Grades 3, 4 and 5.
Mrs. Helen E. Costello, 24 Saratoga St., Springfield, Grades 1 and 2. Elizabeth F. Cronin, 88 Prospect St., Springfield, Grade 1.
Number Three, Edward F. Powers Alice N. May, Wilbraham.
Number Four, Wilbraham Street
A. Millicent Galusha, Wilbraham, Grades 1 to 5.
Mrs. Fannie R. Pease, R. F. D. No. 2, Ludlow, Grades 6, 7, and 8.
-
-
-
6
10
65
Number 5, Mountain School Olive C. Holborn, 1470 North St., Springfield.
Number Six, East Wilbraham
Helen M. Clark, North Wilbraham.
Number Seven, Glendale Mrs. Genevieve C. Waite, R. F. D., No. 1, North Wilbraham.
Number Eight, North Wilbraham
Edith S. Feustel, Prin., North Wilbraham, Grades 6, 7, and 8. Loretta H. Desrosiers, 160 High St., Springfield, Grades 3, 4 and 5. Frances C. Wilson, 37 Massachusetts Ave., Springfield, Grades 1 and 2.
Music Isabel C. Hennessy, 256 King St., Springfield.
Drawing Helen P. Bartlett, 128 Cambridge St., Springfield.
School Nurse Signe L. Polson, 214 Wilbraham Road, Springfield.
Hampden County Improvement League Report, 1921
And Report of Trustees for County Aid to Agriculture,
January 20, 1921. To the Voters of Wilbraham :-
For 1921 Wilbraham appropriated $150 to the Trustees for County Aid to Agriculture, a board of nine men and women appointed by the County Commissioners of Hamp- den County to conduct the college extension service in co-operation with the Massachusetts Agricultural College and the United States Department of Agriculture. In Hampden County the extension service has the backing and support, financially and in many other ways, of the Hamp- den County Improvement League, with which is also affiliated the county Farm Bureau. This report is a statement of this co-operative work of the year as it affects Wilbraham.
The activities of the extension service are conducted mainly along the following lines :
Agriculture.
Directed by the county agricultural agent, Joseph H. Bodwell.
Horticulture.
Directed by the county horticultural agent, William H. Wolff.
Home-Making.
Directed (until recently) by the county home demon- stration agent, Miss Minnie Price and her assistant, Miss Alice B. Knowlton, clothing specialist. Beginning Febru- ary 1, 1922, Miss Lillian M. Stuart will be home demon- stration agent.
67
Junior Club Work.
Directed by the county club leader, Otis E. Hall, assisted temporarily by Miss Flora M. Miller.
During the year Mr. Bodwell gave 11 days of field service in Wilbraham, Mr. Wolff 13 days, Mr. Hall and Miss Miller 9 days, Miss Price and Miss Knowlton 9 days, and Mr. Edlund, Managing Director, 1 day, a total of 43 days.
Wilbraham has shown distinction this year in every phase of the League and Trustee work. Its Farm Bureau members have met frequently and have conducted a num- ber of excellent agricultural demonstrations; its clothing efficiency work with the women has been splendidly done, and the leadership of a Wilbraham woman, Mrs. Gardner R. Files, was recognized when she was elected the first county-wide chairman of the recently organized Clothing Efficiency Bureau; its Mother-Daughter Canning Club, also under Mrs. Files' leadership, was the only one in the county, and was awarded a prize of $50 for its splendid exhibit at the Eastern States Exposition ; and, finally, in the junior club work, the Wilbraham Bee and Corn clubs won first prizes in the League's Club tent at the Eastern States Exposition, while J. Warren Files won first prize in the state pig club contests and was county corn club champion.
Work done in Wilbraham during the year included the following :-
Poultry.
Two individual visits made. Built new poultry house at Mr. G. R. Files'.
Orchards.
Mr. Lee Rice, Orchard Project leader. Demonstration through the season in soil management, pruning, spraying and bridge grafting at the farm of G. R. Files. Pruning demonstration meeting at Benjamin Green's with attend-
68
ance of 16. Peach borer control and peach dusting demon- strations carried successfully wth Lee W. Rice. Arrange- ments for grafting pear trees made and carried out for J. M. Stockton.
Dairy.
Four special visits to individual farms. C. P. Bolles, Dairy Project leader.
Clothing.
Four clothing efficiency groups of 15 women.
Millinery.
Two millinery groups of 15 women.
Bees.
Eight boys and girls-Maurice Cole, Marion Hardy, Nina Bliss, Irving Clark, Walter Clark, Ray Lamotte, J. Warren Files-with Mrs. G. R. Files as local leader.
Pigs.
Six members-Everett Pickens, Dudley Bliss, Roy Rice, Wilson Rice, J. Warren Files and Myron Hitchcock.
Potato.
Two demonstration meetings at Mr. L. A. Jewell's farm; one on the greening of the seed, and the other an inspection late in the growing season, with a total attend- ance of 28.
Canning.
14 members enrolled in Mother-Daughter canning club.
Corn.
One member, J. Warren Files, whose exhibit was in the League's junior club tent at the Eastern States Ex- position.
Farm Bureau.
Four meetings, with attendance totalling 81.
.69
J. Warren Files, besides being in both the pig and bee clubs, was also Wilbraham's representative in the baby beef and corn projects.
In recognition of Mrs. Files' splendid leadership, and the large amount of time and energy given by her to the boy and girl club activities, $50 of the town appropriation was paid to her as a partial recompense. The remainder was credited toward the general expense of the Trustees in conducting the above work in Wilbraham.
In addition to this definite piece of work in Wilbraham the general county-wide activities of the Trustees, League, and the Farm Bureau touch the welfare of every town in the county. These general activities include such work as educational and publicity work carried on through the newspapers and the League's monthly magazine, The Hampden : legislative activities, especially in support given the bill establiching the state police and the bill creating the standard bushel box measure, both of which became law ; market reporting service on wholesale prices (daily) and retail prices (twice a week) on food stuffs made pos- sible for eight months through the co-operation of the State Department of Agriculture: the exhibits at the Eastern States Exposition of both League and Farm Bu- reau work which were held for the first time this year and which reached and interested thousands of people from all of the towns of the county; and the regular day-by-day service from the office in answering telephone inquiries and office calls and sending out letters and bulletins on a wide range of subjects falling within the field of extension work.
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