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ANNUAL REPORT
SCHOOL COMMITTEE CITY 0> BOSTON 1908
SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 8 1908
SCHOOL D0CU3IENT NO. 8 — 1908
ANNUAL REPORT
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
CITY OF BOSTON
1908
CITY OF BOSTON PRINTING DEPARTMENT
1909
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BOSTON ?
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• .*• "•• •*• "*•,.*'• •' '
RKPORT.
SCHOOL SYSTEM.
The public school system of Boston comprises^ one Normal School, two Latin Schools (one for boys and one for girls), ten High Schools, the High School of Commerce (for boys), and the Mechanic Arts High School (for boys), sixty-four Elementary Schools, one hundred ten Kindergartens, one School for the Deaf, five Evening High Schools, fourteen Evening Elementary Schools, five Evening Drawing Schools, and a special school on Spectacle Island.
STATISTICS.^
The following statistics are for the school j^ar ended June 30, 1908, except those giving the number of children in Boston between the ages of five and fifteen years, and the number attending public and private schools, which are from the census taken September 1, 1908:
Number of children in Boston between the ages of five and
fifteen, Sept. 1, 1908 111,450
Number attending public schools, Sept. 1, 1908 83,494
Number attending private schools, Sept. 1, 1908 17,060
Whole number of different pupils registered in the public day
schools during the year ended June 30, 1908: Boys, 55,478;
girls, 53,053— Total 108,531
REGULAK SCHOOLS.
Normal School.
Number of teachers 16
Average number of pupils belonging 212
Average attendance 207
1 June 30, 190S.
2 Other and more complete statistics may be found in School Documents Nos. 2 and 6, 1908.
4 SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 8.
Latin and High Schools.
Number of schools 14
Number of teachers 308
Average number of pupils belonging 8,021
Average attendance 7,535
Elementary Schools.
Nvimber of schools 64
Number of teachers 1,966
Average number of pupils belonging 81,934
Average attendance 74,672
Kindergartens.
Number of schools 110
Number of teachers 209
Average number of pupils belonging 5,606
Average attendance 4,245
SPECIAL SCHOOLS.
Horace Mann School for the Deaf.
Number of teachers 16
Average number of pupils belonging 144
Average attendance 124
Evening Schools.^
Number of schools 19
Number of teachers 320
Average number of pupils belonging 2
Average attendance 7,674
Evening Draiving Schools.
Number of schools 5
Number of teachers 25
Average number of pupils belonging 2
Average attendance 439
Spectacle Island Scliool.
Number of teachers 1
Average number of pupils belonging ■ 11
Average attendance 10
RECAPITULATION.
Number of schools:
Regular 189
Special 26
Total 215
iThe Central Evening High School is organized in two divisions, Division I. holding sessions on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings; Division II. on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Thus there are practically two sets of pupils and but one set of teachers. For statistical purposes the two sets of pupils reported by this school are added together, while the teachers are counted but once.
2 These figures are not available for the term 1907-08.
ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT. 5
Number of teachers:
In regular schools 2,499
In special schools ' 362
Total 2,861
Average number of pupils belonging:
In regular schools 95,773
In special schools • 155
Total 1 , 95,928
Average attendance:
In regular schools 86,659
In special schools 8,247
Total 94,906
THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM AND ITS NEEDS.
The directions in which the activities of the School Com- mittee have been exerted during the past year are stated quite fully in the report of the Superintendent published last July and more briefly in the following pages.
Many of the larger problems connected with the reorganiza- tion of the school system undertaken by the new School Committee during the past thi-ee years have been completed, and the attention of the Board has lately been turned especially to the immediate and pressing question of school finances. The inadequacy of the appropriations for the maintenance of the public schools, and the many vexatious economies that have necessarily been practised for a number of years have seriously hampered the efforts of the Board, its officers and the teaching force, and have vitally affected the interests of the many thousands of pupils attending the schools. It is impossible to maintain the school system even at its present standard under the financial limitations imposed upon the Board by existing laws, and it is the intention of the School Committee to submit to the Legislature of 1909 the following statement in support of an application which it proposes to make for remedial legislation that will provide more adequate appropriations for the public school system of this city.
t.* Exclusive of evening schools.
SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 8.
Statement in Support of Application of School Committee of the City of Boston for an Act TO Provide Additional Appropriations for the Support of the Public Schools of Said City.
THE PRESENT LAW.
The total amount that may be appropriated in any one year by the School Committee of the City of Boston for the support of the public schools is established by Chapter 448 of the Acts of 1901 at a sum equal to $3.40 upon each SI ,000 of the average valuation of the city for the three years imme- diately preceding. Of this amount of S3. 40, not less than forty cents upon each $1,000 is required to be appropriated solely for new school buildings, lands, yards and furnishings, and not less than twenty-five cents upon each $1,000 must be appropriated solely for repairs and alterations of school buildings. This leaves a sum not greater, than $2.75 upon each $1,000 to be appropriated for general school purposes.
THE PROPOSED LAW.
The School Committee of the City of Boston desires that the law defining the amount which it may appropriate for the general support of the public school system of the city shall be substantially in accordance with the bill it has presented, a copy of which is hereto annexed. This bill aims, in brief.
Note 1. — The School Committee is also authorized to appropriate annually under Chapter 295 of the Acts of 1907, solely for physical education, a sum equal to four cents upon each $1,000, and may also appropriate, under Chapter 357 of the Acts of 1907, a sum equal to two cents upon each $1,000 for nurses in the public schools. As these two appropriations provide for new and definite extensions of public school work they are mentioned only in passing and need not enter into the consideration of the general cost of the school system, except as they may be necessarily referred to in other connections.
Note 2. — It should also be said that the forty cents for new school buildings has been appropriated by the School Committee but once, and in that instance the appro- priation order of $446,000 was vetoed by the Mayor, and the sum of $90,000 was substituted therefor and approved by the Mayor.
ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT. 7
to increase the amount applicable to general educational pur- poses from the present rate of $2.75 upon each $1,000 of the average valuation of the city for the preceding three years, to the amounts that follow:
For the year ending January 31, 1910 $2 85
31, 1911 2 95
31,1912 3 05
31, 1913 3 15
« « 31, 1914 and thereafter 3 25
In support of this application for remedial legislation the following statements of the conditions prevailing in the public schools are made.
EXPENDITURES FOR THE YEAR 1908-1909.
The expenditures of the School Committee of the City of Boston for the financial year beginning February 1, 1908, and ending January 31, 1909, for general educational purposes have been as follows :
Salaries of teachers $2,906,230 89
Salaries of officers 103,824 56
Salaries of janitors 246,779 72
Fuel and Ught 134,020 94
Supphes and incidentals. (See Note 3.) 162,449 50
Total (See Note 4.) $3,553,305 61
Reference to the preceding statement shows that of the money expended for general school purposes, 81.7 per cent was expended for salaries of teachers, 2.9 per cent for salaries of officers, 6.9 per cent for salaries of janitors, 3.8 per cent for fuel and light, 4.6 per cent for supplies and incidentals.
Note 3. — This amount does not include $14,000 transferred to the Board of Schoolhouse Commissioners, and expended by them for the rental of temporary school accommodations .
Note 4. — This amount does not include the sum of $44,644.10 appropriated for and devoted to physical education under the provisions of Chapter 295 of the Acts of 1907; nor the sum of $21,676.27, expended for nurses under the provisions of Chapter 357 of the Acts of 1907.
Note 5. — The School Committee also appropriated for repairs and alterations of school buildings, purchase of school furniture, and maintenance of the Schoolhouse Department, the sum of $319,500, an amount equal to twenty-five cents upon each $1,000 of the average valuation of the city for the three preceding years. This amount was transferred to the Board of Schoolhouse Commissioners, and expended by them for the purposes indicated.
8 SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 8.
SALARIES OF TEACHERS.
The total expenditure for salaries of teachers can be reduced only by paying smaller salaries or by employing fewer teach- ers. A careful canvass of the situation, covering several years, has demonstrated that neither of these courses can be followed without serious detriment to the schools.
No person at all conversant with educational matters will for one moment entertain the opinion that the teachers in our public schools are overpaid or that they do not perform their duties faithfully and efficiently. If the schedule of compen- sation be inadequate, it becomes practically impossible to secure new teachers of good ability. The profession of teach- ing becomes constantly and increasingly less attractive, and a supply of well-trained, efficient and accomplished teachers can with difficulty be obtained. The School Committee has given long-continued and careful consideration to this sub- ject and is not aware of any means by which a substantial reduction can be effected in the schedule of salaries of teachers without doing grave injustice to a body of faithful pubHc servants, many of whom are now underpaid in proportion to their duties and responsibilities, and without working serious and perhaps irreparable injury to the public school system as a whole.
Neither can the total number of teachers be lessened. In an effort to reduce the total expenditure for salaries of teach- ers without reducing the schedule of compensation which is already too low, the school system has been repeatedly and carefully canvassed and teachers whose services were not absolutely required in the positions they were then occupying have been transferred to other schools or districts, thus reducing the number of new teachers appointed.
On the other hand there is great need for additional teachers so that the quota of pupils per teacher may be reduced. The feature of the organization of all schools calling for the most immediate and careful consideration is the size of the classes.
ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT. 9
Few teachers can handle, with any hope of success, classes numbering from fifty to sixty pupils. None can do it for any length of time without impairing their health. The excessive number of pupils to a teacher seems to be the parent of most of the ills from which the schools are suffer- ing — ills on the discipline side and ills on the instruction side. The School Committee has long recognized this great evil, and during the year 1906 adopted amendments to its regulations that provide for successive and annual reductions in the quota of pupils assigned to each teacher in the elemen- tary schools. Owing to the financial limitations under which it has struggled, it has been able to make but little progress in this direction, although it fully realizes the importance and value of the step it desires to take.
If the interests of the public schools are to be properly served, the total expenditure for salaries of teachers should be increased rather than diminished.
SALARIES OF OFFICERS.
There has been expended for salaries of officers during the past year the sum of $103,824.56. Under the title officers are included the higher executive and supei'visory officials, namely, the superintendent, assistant superintendents, secre- tary, auditor, business agent, schoolhouse custodian and their assistants. The School Committee is satisfied that the compensation of these employees is established on a very reasonable and economical basis, certainly not exceeding, and probably not equalling, the salaries paid for positions of equal importance in other branches of the public service. While the School Committee has no present intention of adding to the number of its officers, it is convinced that the number of such officials is as small as is consistent with the duties they are required to perform. No reduction in the total amount of money expended for salaries of officers can be made, either by reducing the salary paid or by decreasing the number of such officials.
10 SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. S.
SALARIES OF JANITORS.
There has been paid to janitors during the past year the sum of $246,779.72. The schedule of compensation for such service is purely automatic and depends entirely upon the amount of work to be performed in each building as determined by actual measurements. The janitor himself is, in a sense, a contractor, and is required to do certain definite and prescribed work, and to employ and pay such assistants, including engineers, firemen, scrub women, etc., as he may require. After paying his assistants, the amount left for the janitor himself is probably less, and certainly not more, than is necessary for the securing of reliable men to whom it is safe to entrust the property of the city and the lives of the school children. This schedule for janitor service has been in effect for several years, and has recently been highly commended in a report of the Finance Commission, and recommended by that Commission for adoption in other city departments.
FUEL AND LIGHT.
The cost of fuel and light for the same period has been $134,020.94. The School Committee has had repeated conferences with the officials of various gas and electric illuminating and power companies and has succeeded in obtaining some reduction in the cost of both gas and electric- ity consumed in school buildings. It has also devoted a great deal of time and energy to the consideration of the cost of fuel, and is persuaded that its contracts for the very considerable amount of coal required by the school system have been concluded on as advantageous terms to the city as it was possible to obtain. The School Committee has exercised constant and unceasing watchfulness over the consumption of fuel and light, and has insisted that teachers and janitors shall practice the utmost economy in this direc-
ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT. 11
tion. It is not aware of any method by which the cost of these necessary items can be reduced.
SUPPLIES AND INCIDENTALS.
For supphes and incidentals there was expended during the past year the sum of $162,449.50, exclusive of S14,000 trans- ferred to the Board of Schoolhouse Commissioners for the ren- tal of temporary accommodations.
In general, the term supplies is applicable to material neces- sary for the educational progress of the children; for exam- ple, text books, supplementary books, writing books, paper, pencils, globes, maps, charts, scientific apparatus, typewTiters and material for manual training, drawing, kindergarten classes, sewing, cookery, etc. The term supplies also includes those items necessary for the care of the school building; such as brooms, brushes, soap, etc. The term incidentals includes items not directly related to the educational progress of the children; such as postage, the taking of the school census, the payment of tuition for Boston wards in other cities, and the printing of records, school documents, minutes of the School Committee meetings, etc.
Since expenditures for salaries of teachers, officers and janitors, and for fuel and light, are fixed by schedule or deter- mined by absolute necessity, the item of supplies and inci- dentals, amounting to but 4.6 per cent of the amount expended for general school purposes, is the only flexible one in the entire school appropriation. This item has therefore been the one in which the most serious deficiencies have occurred, and in which the lack of adequate appropriation has been most keenly felt. For many years the supplies have been lamentably insufficient, while greater and still greater economy has been urged and insisted upon in order to avoid serious deficits.
The Normal School furnishes a good illustration of existing conditions. After careful consideration, a request was made on behalf of this school for an appropriation of $6,000 to be
12 SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 8.
devoted to the purchase of books and apparatus. This amount was reduced to $1,500 and subsequently, owing to the necessity for the most stringent economy, was refused entirely. The school, therefore, received practically nothing in the way of supplies, and is to-day lacking a sufficient num- ber of text-books in some subjects to provide one for each pupil, to say nothing of the absence of a reference library, and a general deficiency in illustrative material, apparatus, and equipment. The department of science in this school made a request for sixty books essential to its work. It received three.
In the Girls' High School pupils are allowed but three hours per week practice on typewriting machines, because of the lack of a sufficient number of machines. A similar con- dition prevails in all the high schools. Though the number of high school pupils increased 1,822 last September, the School Committee was unable to buy additional typewriters.
It should not be assumed that this paucity of educational equipment is confined to the high schools alone. The most serious results are felt in the elementary schools where the deplorable effects of unwise but necessary economies in this direction are most manifest and injurious. Many pupils are not supplied with all the regular text-books nor with a sufficient number of supplementary reading books. Educational material of all kinds has necessarily been supplied in meagre quantity.
Some sections of the city have special endowment funds set aside for the purchase of supplementary material not regu- larly furnished by the School Committee. For some years the income of these funds has been partially diverted to the purchase of regular school supplies and has alleviated to some extent the effects of rigorous economy. Schools not so for- tunate as to possess these special funds are in serious need of additional books and illustrative material.
COMPARISONS WITH OTHER CITIES.
A comparison with the expenditure for text-books and sup- plies in the other cities of Massachusetts will serve to show
ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT.
13
that the per capita cost for these items in Boston is lower than can be accounted for by any superior ability to secure favorable prices because of purchasing in large quantities. The following figures are furnished by the Secretary of the State Board of Education:
Comparative 'per Capita Cost of Text-books and Supplies.
|
1897. |
1907. |
Average. |
|
|
Springfield |
S3 89 |
$3 17 2 74 2 27 2 57 2 40 1 95 1 42 2 01 1 82 1 47 1 66 1 38 1 79 1 10 1 43 2 13 1 41 1 65 1 87 1 52 84 1 51 1 58 1 93 1 73 1 23 2 11 1 84 |
S3 58 2 74 |
|
2 72 2 04 1 94 |
2 50 |
||
|
Beverlv |
2 31 |
||
|
Everett |
2 17 |
||
|
1 95 |
|||
|
2 39 1 73 |
1 91 |
||
|
1 87 |
|||
|
Brockton |
1 82 |
||
|
Maiden |
2 16 1 95 2 14 1 70 2 32 1 88 1 13 1 S3 1 49 2 21 1 53 2 21 |
1 82 |
|
|
Pittsfield |
1 81 |
||
|
Medford |
1 76 |
||
|
1 75 |
|||
|
Taunton |
1 71 |
||
|
Worcester |
1 66 |
||
|
Haverhill |
1 63 |
||
|
Marlborough |
1 62 |
||
|
1 57 |
|||
|
Lawrence |
1 54 |
||
|
1 53 |
|||
|
Fitchburg |
1 53 |
||
|
1 51 |
|||
|
Cambridge |
1 43 1 06 1 23 1 64 58 85 |
1 50 |
|
|
1 50 |
|||
|
Waltham |
1 48 |
||
|
1 44 |
|||
|
1 35 |
|||
|
1 35 |
|||
14
SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 8.
|
Comparative per Capita Cost |
of Text-books and Supplies. — Concluded. |
||
|
1897. |
1907. |
Average. |
|
|
$1 29 1 10 1 21 86 |
$1 28 1 20 1 08 1 29 1 00 |
$1 29 |
|
|
1 15 |
|||
|
Wobum |
1 15 |
||
|
1 08 |
|||
|
1 00 |
|||
Comparative per Capita Cost of Text-Books and Supplies during 1907.
|
High. |
Grammar. |
Primary. |
Kindergarten. |
Average. |
|
|
Cambridge Newton |
$4 89 5 42 7 -21 6 GO 3 86 |
$1 31 3 2 |
$$0 58 13* 36* |
$$0 35 90 1 92 95 34 |
$$1 62 2 74 2 56 |
|
2 10 |
1 00 |
2 75 |
|||
|
Boston |
1 43 |
46 |
I 23 |
||
* Grammar and primary combined.
An exactly accurate comparison is impossible because of minor variations in methods of accounting and no- menclature; for example, in New York the first four grades are called primary, while in the Massachusetts schools only the first three grades are included under that heading. After all possible allowance for such variations has been made, the main fact is still evident, namely, that the per capita expense for supplies in Boston is lower than it is in most other places. Though a difference of a few cents per capita seems insignificant, yet when this difference affects each of more than a hundred thousand pupils the total amount is consid- erable, and when this saving is extended over several years it is evident that the cumulative lack of educational material has reached large proportions. There is every reason to believe that the schools in all the surrounding communities are better supplied with books and material than are the schools of Boston.
ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT.
15
REASONS FOR THE PRESENT CONDITIONS.
There are two principal reasons for the present condition of the school finances ; ^rsf, the diminishing ratio of increase in the assessed valuation of the City of Boston, and second, the increasing number of pupils enrolled in the schools, and especially the proportionate increase in the number of pupils attending high schools.
THE DIMINISHING RATIO OF INCREASE IN THE ASSESSED VALUATION.
The average assessed valuation of the city for the three preceding years is by law the basis upon which the appro- priation for school purposes is made. These valuations as assessed on May 1 for the years 1889 to 1908, inclusive, are given below.
The actual amounts used in determining the averages upon which appropriations for school purposes are based are less than the amounts given below by the amount of the abatements granted between May 1 and December 31 each year.
Valuation, May 1.
Increase.
Increase Per cent.
1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900
$795,433,744
822,041,800
855,069,415
893,975,704
924,093,751
928,109,043
951,367,928
981,269,914
1,012,582,209
1,036,099,418
1,089,736,252
1,129,175,832
$26,608,056 33,027,615 38,906,289 .30,118,047 4,015,292 23,258,885 29,901,986 31,312,295 23,517,209 53,636,8.34 39,439,580
|
3 |
35 |
|
4 |
02 |
|
4 |
55 |
|
3 |
37 |
|
43 |
|
|
2 |
51 |
|
3 |
14 |
|
3 |
19 |
|
2 |
32 |
|
5 |
IS |
|
3 |
62 |
Average 1 1 years 3.24%.
16
SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 8.
|
Valuation May 1. |
Increase. |
Increase Per cent. |
||
|
1901 |
$1,152,505,834 1,191,274,616 1,220,457,323 1,236,953,562 1,259,745,681 1,289,704,987 1,313,471,556 1,327,662,338 |
$23,330,002 38,768,782 29,182,707 16,496,239 22,792,119 29,959,306 23,766,559 14,190,782 |
2.07 3.36 2.45 1.35 1.84 2.38 1.84 1.08 |
|
|
1902 |
Average 4 years 2.31%. |
|||
|
1-903 |
||||
|
1904 |
||||
|
1905 |
||||
|
1906 |
Average 4 years 1.79%. |
|||
|
1907 |
||||
|
1908 |
The act that established the present rate of appropriations for school purposes was passed in 1901. The average increase in the valuation of the city, as assessed on May 1 of each year, from 1889 to 1900, inclusive, was 3.24 per cent. When the Legislature passed the act referred to, it undoubtedly did so upon the assumption .that this rate of increase would continue thereafter. This rate has, however, since that time dimin- ished in the most astonishing manner. The average increase in the assessed valuation for the four years immediately following the passage of the act (1901 to 1904, inclusive) was 2.31 per cent, and for the last four years (1905 to 1908, inclu- sive) was 1.79 per cent. Emphasis should also be given to the fact that for the past fiscal year, 1908, the increase in assessed valuation was but 1.08 per cent.
This diminution of increase in the assessed valuation of the City of Boston has caused a corresponding diminution in the increase of funds available for school purposes. During the past seven years it has caused the income of the School Com- mittee to fall largely below the amount that the conditions in 1900 warranted the Committee to expect, and for the future it will evidently have a still greater effect in decreasing the expected school revenue.
ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT. 17
INCREASE IN NUMBER OF PUPILS.
The second important reason for the present financial con- dition of the schools is the increasing number of pupils enrolled in the schools.
The attendance in kindergartens has shown a material increase. The total number of kindergarten pupils enrolled on October 1, 1902, was 4,541. On October 1, 1908, this number had increased to 5,576. Owing to financial condi- tions, kindergartens have not been established in a considera- ble portion of the city. If the kindergartens had been estab- lished wherever requested, this total number would have been more than doubled.
In evening schools, also, there has been a very remarkable increase in attendance. The total attendance in evening schools has increased from 7,941 on December 1, 1902, to 13,934 on December 1, 1908. This large increase has been due to the necessity of affording evening school instruction to recent arrivals in this country and to the remarkable demand for evening school instruction in various lines. Though these schools are in session for a much shorter period than is desirable, and though a much larger number of pupils are assigned to each teacher than is conducive to good instruc- tion, yet the total expenditure has imposed a heavy burden upon the finances of the school system.
In the elementary schools there has been a continued growth. The average increase during the past seven years, taken from the reports of October 1, has been 1,396 per year. This number is nearly equal to the average number of pupils comprising an entire elementary school district, and, if located in a single district, would require for their proper housing and instruction, two additional school buildings, a principal, sub-master, master's assistant, first assistant in charge and twenty-nine other teachers each year. The additional expense involved in instructing these pupils alone
18 SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 8.
absorbs nearly the entire increase in revenue due to the increasing assessed valuation of the city.
Still more marked has been the condition with reference to high school instruction. The reports of October 1 for each year since 1902 show the following increases in the number of high school pupils :
1902 405
1903 281
1904 401
1905 342
1906 217
1907 559
1908 {See Note 6) 1,822
Total gain 4,027
Average gain per year 575
The above table shows clearly the enormous growth that has taken place in the high and Latin schools. The average annual increase of 575 pupils is greater than the total attend- ance in any but the larger high schools of the state. The increase in pupils is equivalent to the addition each year of a new high school, and, if located in a single district, would require for their proper housing and instruction a new building, with a principal and twenty teachers of various ranks.
These additional high school pupils have not only increased the amount expended for instruction, but they have rendered necessary the erection of suitable buildings for their accom-
NoTE 6. — In September, 1908, was first felt the result of the action of the School Committee in reducing the elementary school course from nine to eight years. The increase in the number of high school pupils was over three times the average increase of the past seven years, and the increase in the expenditure for high schools over the preceding year, while it cannot be stated definitely at the present moment, is believed to have been in the neighborhood of $75,000. This great increase in the number of high school pupils which took place last September will still more seriously affect school finances for the fiscal year beginning February 1, 1909. The effects of this- change in the elementary school course have so far expressed themselves only for five months of the current year, but will, of course, continue for the full twelve months of the next fiscal year. It is to be anticipated, also, that this change in the elementary school course will result in another large increase in the number of applicants for admis- sion to high schools in September, 1909.
ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT. 19
modation. In 1901-02, four new high school buildings were erected, located respectively in East Boston, Dorchester, South Boston and West Roxbury. In 1907 the series of high schools locatal in each of the suburban districts was completed by the erection and occupation of the new Charles- town High School. There was also completed in 1907 the Normal School group of buildings, which provides accom- modations for the Normal School, the Girls' Latin School, and temporary quarters for the High School of Commerce. The High School of Commerce, which opened in 1906, has already demonstrated its value, and there is good reason to believe that when furnished with a suitable building and equipment, this school will provide a new and valuable type of practical education that will be of great worth to the youth of the city and a distinct aid to the business interests of the community. More recently, the Girls' High School of Prac- tical Arts has been established for the purpose of offering similar opportunities to girls. Although it has not yet been possible to provide adequate and suitable accommodations for this school, its immediate popularity warrants the behef that a successful future is assured. This month, January, 1909, an addition to the Mechanic Arts High School, con- taining twenty-six class rooms, has been completal and occupied. Thus, after many years of serious embarrass- ment caused by crowded conditions, this school has been provided with adequate accommodations.
The new school buildings that have been erected for approximately the last ten years are very much more expen- sive to operate with regard to fuel, light and janitor service than the school-houses of earlier days. This is due, of course, to the great development in school architecture that has taken place not only in Boston but throughout the country generally, and to the improved methods of heating, ventila- tion and sanitation which are now regarded as essential in a modern school-house.
20
SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 8.
PROPORTIONATE INCREASE IN HIGH SCHOOL PUPILS.
The increase in expense is affected, not only by the increase in the actual number of pupils mentioned above, but also by the growing proportion of high school pupils, as indicated in the table below:
|
Average Number Belonging. |
High Schools. |
Elementary Schools. |
Per cent High. |
Per cent Elementary. |
|
January, 1901 |
5,800 6,208 6,555 6,860 7,263 7,604 7,782 8,296 10,123 |
71,692 73,403 75,336 76,991 79,163 80,506 82,428 82,433 82,916 |
7.48 7.80 8.00 8.18 8.40 8.63 8.63 9.14 10.88 |
92.52 |
|
1902 |
92.20 |
|||
|
1 903 |
92.00 |
|||
|
1904 |
91.82 |
|||
|
1905 |
91.60 |
|||
|
" 1906 |
91.37 |
|||
|
1907 |
91.37 |
|||
|
1908 |
90.86 |
|||
|
" 1 909 |
89.12 |
|||
By reference to the foregoing table it will be observed that the number of pupils attending high school increased from 7.48 per cent in 1901, to 10.88 per cent in 1909. Since the per capita cost of instruction for high school pupils is at least twice the per capita cost of instruction for elementary school pupils, this increased proportion of high school pupils has caused considerable increase in expense.
The School Committee is not responsible for this rapid increase in high school attendance except in so far as it has been instrumental in providing high school instruction that has proved profitable to pupils and satisfactory to parents. It has, however, welcorned the evidence of a growing con- fidence in the high schools on the part of the citizens as expressed in the ever-increasing demand that their children be furnished a high school education. The School Committee has made every effort to meet this demand, and notwith- standing the serious financial limitations, it has up to this
ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT. 21
time been able to provide accomodations for every pupil desiring either high or elementary instruction without resort- ing to half-time classes as has been done in other large cities. The strikingly large increase which in recent years has taken place in the number of high school pupils is a phenom- enon not peculiar to Boston. Throughout Massachusetts, and in all other parts of the country where public schools are well supported, the same increase has attracted attention. It is one indication of a growing popular interest in the public high school — an interest that has been further mani- fested elsewhere by generous appropriations of money for buildings and equipment, and by a disposition to enlarge the range and function of high school instruction. It will be w^ll, therefore, if we keep the larger destiny of the public high school in mind while considering measures affecting its present stability and growth.
RATIO OF INCREASE IN PUPILS EXCEEDS RATIO OF INCREASE IN REVENUE.
In addition to the increase in pupils indicated above, attention should be called to the fact that the rate of increase in the number of pupils enrolled in the public schools is greater than the rate of increase in the assessed valuation of the city. While the assessed valuation (less abatements) of the city of Boston has increased from $1,076,710,367 in the year 1901, to $1,277,830,274 in the year 1908, or 18.7 per cent, the number of pupils in the day schools on October 1, and in the evening schools on December 1, has increased from 91,101 in 1901, to 112,975 in the year 1908, or 24 per cent.
SUMMARY.
To sum up this theme: Although the most rigorous economy has been practiced, the School Committee finds, itself in a position, w^here, without remedial legislation, it will be absolutely unable to maintain the schools at the
22 SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 8.
present rate, to pay its teachers the salaries that are now estabHshed, or to furnish the pupils in the public schools the supplies that they need. This unfortunate situation is due, first, to the fact that the average increase in the valuation of the City of Boston is barely one-half of what it was eight years ago; second, to the fact that the number of pupils attending the public schools has increased much more rapidly than the assessed valuation, and that the proportionate num- ber of high school pupils has increased. It is further affected by the increased cost due to improved methods of heating, lighting, ventilation and sanitation, and to increased cost of janitor service.
PRESENT FINANCES.
The School Committee faces an extremely difficult financial situation for the fiscal year beginning Februaiy 1, 1909.
The expenditure for salaries of instructors will necessarily increase materially because there will undoubtedly be a con- siderable additional number of children seeking admission to the public schools. Judging by the experience of previous years there will be a gain in the total number of pupils of about 3,000. The average annual increase in expense in this item for the past seven years has been $93,136. The extra large number of pupils admitted to the high schools in September, 1908, will materially increase the expenditures for teachers' salaries with the result that the increase for the year 1909 will reach and probably exceed $120,000.
There will be no substantial increase in the item for salaries of officers. The average annual increase for this purpose during the past seven j^ears has been $2,469. For the year 1909 it may be conservatively estimated at $2,000.
The cost of janitor service will show an increase for the ensuing year because of the completion of several new build- .ings that will then be occupied for school purposes. The average annual increase for the past seven years has been $10,309. The increase in this item for 1909 may therefore be conservatively estimated at $12,000.
ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT.
23
The completion of new buildings and the enlarged attend- ance in evening schools will increase the cost of fuel and light. The average annual increase for the past seven years has been $7,477. The increase in this item for 1909 may therefore be conservatively estimated at $10,000.
To offset these increases in expense, which reach a total of $144,000 without including the item of supplies, the School Committee will have the increase in revenue due to the increase in assessed valuation as shown below:
|
Basis of Appropriation. |
Amount produced at $2.75 per $1,000. |
|
|
1909 1908 |
$1,300,863,964 00 1,277,830,274 00 |
$3,577,375 00 3,514,033 00 |
|
$63, 342 00 |
||
It will require over $80,000 in addition to the $63,342 increase in revenue, to meet the unavoidable increases of $144,000 in the four items mentioned above, and even that amount makes no allowance for the deficit in supplies, nor for the fact that the supply of coal in the bins February 1 was at least $15,000 below normal, an amount which must be made up during the year.
The condition is one that demands more than a theoretical discussion. Unless some relief is afforded, the School Com- mittee will face a situation in which it will be necessary
1. To furnish practically no school supplies to the school children of the City of Boston, or
2. To reduce the salaries of teachers, or
3. To incur a large deficit.
The first course is impossible because the appropriation for supplies and incidentals has been curtailed for many years in order to meet other needs of the system, and the result to-day is that there is a large deficiency in books, maps, charts, and other educational material. It is impossible to state exactly the amount of money that will be required to meet this
24 SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 8.
deficiency because the standard that constitutes a proper equip- ment for a school is not definitely fixed. It is probable that $300,000 could be wisely expended in equipping the schools with much needed books and other educational equipment. It is not expected that this amount can be immediately sup- plied, but certainly during the next three years at least the amount specified should be expended in addition to the usual annual appropriation for supplies and incidentals.
The second course is impossible because under the increased cost of living and the diflficulties of instruction with large numbers of pupils and meagre equipment, the present salary schedule is scarcely sufficient to prevent able teachers from accepting ' appointments in surrounding communities, even though the salaries paid in these communities are apparently lower than those paid in Boston. Any reduction of the present salary schedule would, as has been formerly pointed out, be highly detrimental to the welfare of the schools.
The third course is impossible because the School Com- mittee is bound, as trustees of public funds, to administer the schools in accordance with the desire of the people as expressed by the Acts of the Legislature. It is the function of the School Committee to secure the best possible results with the funds available, but it has no authority to maintain schools on a basis that will permanently involve expenditure in excess of the amounts legally appropriatal.
NEED OF LEGISLATION.
The first need of legislation is to furnish funds sufficient to make up the existing deficiency in supplies and incidentals and to provide the necessary books and other educational equip- ment.
The second need of legislation is to furnish funds sufficient to maintain the salary schedule for teachers as at present established.
The third need of legislation is to provide funds for the reasonable expansion of the school system. No school system can serve its best purpose that does not accommodate itself to
ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT. 25
the growing demands of the community that supports it. At present the school system of the City of Boston is covering but partially and inadequately certain fields of endeavor, and has not attempted at all certain others that might, with great profit to the community, be entered upon. If the increase in funds asked for is granted, the School Committee will be able to perform more acceptably some of the things now attempted, and to carry into effect certain new and much needed forms of education. Some of the more urgent needs are as follows :
(a.) To establish day industrial schools, with short terms, for boys and girls, above fourteen years of age who have completed the elementary school course,
(6.) To enlarge the opportunities for industrial educa- tion in the evening schools.
(c.) To modify the instruction in the elementary schools, so as to adapt it more nearly to the industrial conditions of the present time.
(d.) To maintain during a larger portion of the year evening schools, in which illiterate minors and recently arrived immigrants may acquire a knowledge of English and receive instruction in civic ideals. A greater expansion of evening school education in this direction is imperatively demanded, because of the large number of immigrants who become a part of our population each year, and who should have ample opportunities to prepare themselves for self- respecting and useful citizenship.
(e.) To carry into effect the regulation already adopted by the School Committee, which provides for the gradual reduction of pupils to a teacher in the elementary schools to a basis of forty-four instead of fifty or sixty, as is fre- quently the case at present. It is obvious that even accom- plished teachers cannot do their best work with too large classes, and those of less ability are still more seriously impeded in their efforts to maintain discipline and to give instruction. On the other hand, such conditions result in irreparable
26 SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 8.
injury to the pupils who cannot obtain that measure of individual attention necessary to insure the best results.
(/.) To have the schoolrooms swept and the windows washed more frequently than is now possible under existing financial conditions. The importance of frequent cleaning of schoolrooms both to the health and the comfort of the occupants needs no argument. The present schedule requires each room to be swept twice each week. One additional sweeping per week would cost approximately $36,000 per year. Anything adding to the quantity of light obtainable in the schoolroom is of importance. Under the present system windows are washed only twice a year, and between these infrequent periods they become exceedingly dirty and keep out a considerable amount of light. This is partic- ularly striking during the winter months, when the days are short and cloudy days frequent. Each washing of the windows costs approximately $4,000. Not less than four washings per year should be provided for.
(g.) To re-establish the evening lectures which were a source of great benefit to many people but which the School Committee was forced to abandon for lack of funds.
(h.) To improve the professional equipment of teachers and thereby to assist the pupils in the most vital respect by the working out of a plan for Normal School extension.'
INCREASE IN REVENUE PRODUCED BY PROPOSED LAW.
There remains to be shown the additional income that will be produced by the proposed law, and to indicate the items for which it would probably be expended.
The average assessed valuation (less abatements) of the city for the three years prior to 1908 was $1,277,830,274. This amount was the basis for the school appropriation for 1908. The basis for 1909 is $1,300,863,960. This is an increase of 1.80 per cent over the preceding year. Assum- ing that the rate of increase for the next, five years will hold up to this per cent of 1.80, though the table on pages 16
ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT.
27
and 17 indicates that a lower rate of increase probably will prevail, the income resulting each year in excess of that of the preceding year, both from the increase in the assessed valuation and from the proposed additions, is shown in the table given below:
Increase in Revenue Over Preceding Year.
|
Basis of Appropriation Assuming Annual Increase of 1.80 per cent. |
Regular Increase at $2.75 per $1,000. |
Proposed Additional Increase. |
Total Increase Over Preceding Year. |
|
|
1909 |
$1,300,863,960 00 1,324,279,511 00 1,348,116,542 00 1,372,382,639 00 1,397,085,526 00 $1,422,233,065 00 1,447,833,260 00 1,473,894,258 00 1,500,424,354 00 1,527,431,992 00 |
$63,342 00 64,392 00 65,551 00 66,731 00 67,932 00 at $3.25 per $1,000. |
$130,086 00 134,768 00 139,. 578 00 144,517 00 149,588 00 |
$193,428 00 |
|
1910 |
199,160 00 |
|||
|
1911 |
205,129 00 |
|||
|
1912 |
211,248 00 |
|||
|
1913 |
217.520 GO |
|||
|
1914 |
$81,729 00 83,200 00 84,698 00 86,222 00 87,774 00 |
$81,729 00 |
||
|
1915 |
83,200 00 |
|||
|
1916 |
84,698 00 |
|||
|
1917 |
86,222 00 |
|||
|
1918 |
87,774 00 |
|||
The greater portion of the additional revenue indicated above will be absorbed by the regular and unavoidable increase in expenditure, due to the greater number of pupils and the corresponding increase in the number of buildings, teachers and janitors, and in the amount of fuel, light, sup- plies and incidentals that will be necessary. The average annual increase in these items for the past seven years was $117,017. It is evident that the increase in some of these items will be greater during the next five years than they have been dm'ing the past ; for example, the gain in teachers' ■salaries will be greater than heretofore because of the larger proportion of high school teachers. For the year 1909 the total increase (exclusive of supplies) as shown on page 24 will be approximately S144,000. It is safely conservative
*28
SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 8.
to estimate the average annual increase in expenses neces- sary for the next five years at S150,000. If this amount is deducted from the annual increase in revenue, the remain- der in each case will show the amount of money available each year for purposes other than maintaining the present standards of the schools. These amounts are shown in the following table :
|
Increase in Revenue. |
Increase in Expense. |
Net Balance Available. |
Total Surplus Available Over 190S. |
|
|
1909 |
$193,428 00 199,160 00 205,129 00 211,248 00 217,520 00 |
$150,000 00 150,000 00 150,000 00 150,000 00 150,000 00 |
$43,428 00 49,160 00 55.129 00 61,248 00 67,520 00 |
$43,428 00 |
|
1910 |
92,588 00 |
|||
|
1911 .- |
147,717 00 |
|||
|
1912 |
208,965 00 |
|||
|
1913 |
276,485 00 |
|||
The amounts indicated in the second column will be needed in order to provide for the regular growth of the schools. The available surplus indicated in the last column above will be used to meet the other two great needs of the schools ; first, to make up the deficit in supplies, occasioned by past economies, and amounting to approximately $300,000; and second, to make the improvements and expansions of the school system that must be made in order to have the school system fulfil its proper purpose.
The amount produced by the first ten cents will scarcely suffice to meet the most urgent demands for books and sup- plies, but will enable the School Committee to complete the fiscal year ending January 31, 1910, without resorting to any of the three methods indicated on page 24.
Twenty cents upon each one thousand dollars of valuation, which the accompanying bill provides for the second 3^ear, will enable the School Committee to maintain the schools as they are, and to make up about one-third of the deficiency existing in supplies and incidentals.
ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT. 29
Thirty cents per thousand dollars additional, the amount provided for the third year, will enable the School Committee to maintain the schools at their present standard, and to make up the major part of the deficiency in supplies and incidentals.
It is only when the amount of forty cents per thousand additional is reached that there begins to be any sur- plus available for the second proposition, namely, the perfec- tion and expansion of the school system along some of the many lines indicated on pages 26 and 27.
In the fourth year the amount so available will be approxi- mately $209,000 and in the fifth year $276,000. This is but a small increase of the total income of the schools and is in fact a very limited amount to allow for the improvement and expansion of the school system. Too much cannot be said about the urgency of reducing the number of pupils per teacher, the desirability of extending the instruction in English among illiterate foreigners, or the necessity of establishing some form of industrial training. The inadequacy of the net surplus available is shown by considering the cost of some of the urgent needs of the schools.
To instruct 83,000 elementary school children with 50 pupils to each teacher will require 1,660 teachers; with 44 pupils to each teacher, 1,886 teachers will be required. These 226 additional teachers at the maximum salary of $936 per year would cost $211,536. At the minimum salary of $552 per year the cost would be $124,752. Since these teachers would not all be on the maximum salary at the same time, the actual cost would be somewhere between the amounts named and would probably be in the vicinity of $175,000 per year.
To increase the opportunity for instruction in English to foreigners in evening schools and to offer but moderate oppor- tunities for industrial training in evening schools will cost $50,000 per year.
To establish day industrial schools will increase ex- penditures and will require an amount that cannot be
30 SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 8.
determined in advance, but even a moderate beginning will cost from $75,000 to $100,000.
To sweep the floors once more each week will cost $36,000 per year. To wash the windows oftener will require $4,000 for each additional washing.
It is not to be inferred that all these items must be delayed until the fourth or fifth years. If the School Committee is assured that the revenue asked for will be available in those years, it will be enabled to make moderate beginnings in some of these lines before that time. Without such assurance, it would m.anifestly be unwise to enter upon a plan of operation that would soon require more than the available resources.
Neither is the expansion of the school system limited solely to the available surplus indicated above, because the establishment of some of the items suggested, while increas- ing expenses in one line, will ultimately reduce the expendi- tures in others; for example, the establishment of short term industrial schools for pupils between the ages of fourteen and eighteen years would provide a type of education probably costing more per capita than elementary school instruction, and less per capita than high school instruction. It would cause some pupils to remain in school longer than they now remain, and would thus increase the expenditures for educa- tion. On the other hand, it would attract from the high schools certain pupils now attending these schools, and would decrease to that extent the expenditure for high schools. The immediate effect would undoubtedly be a greater total expenditure for school purposes than would be necessary after the normal condition of affairs had been established.
The estimates above are based upon an expected annual growth in the assessed valuation of the city and a continued increase in the number of pupils attending the schools. Any falling off in the average annual increase in the number of pupils will diminish the average annual increase in expendi- tures, and by that much increase the amount of money available for the perfection and expansion of the school
ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT. 31
system. Any falling off in the average increase of valuation will diminish the revenue and by that much decrease the amount available for the expansion and perfection of the school system. Even under the most favorable circumstances the amount available will not be sufficient to meet adequately all the legitimate demands for improvement or expansion that will be continually confronting the School Committee.
SUMMARY.
To sum up this theme: An increased appropriation is needed for the pubHc schools because the limit of economy has been reached, and without it the public schools cannot be maintained at their present standards.
Everything has already been done that system and economy can accomplish to reduce expenses and still there are insuffi- cient funds to maintain the school system even on its present basis. More money must be provided in order to make up for the excessive economies of the past in the matter of supplies and incidentals. The School Committee must have the addi- tional appropriations specified in the accompanying bill for the years 1909, 1910 and 1911 in order to make the schools more effective in the directions pointed out. It must also have the appropriations asked for in the accompanying bill for the years 1912 and 1913, if the school system of Boston is to continue to meet the reasonable needs of the community.
COMPARATIVE EXPENDITURES FOR SCHOOLS.
No community needs better educated children than Boston, yet Boston spends a smaller proportion per $1,000 of assessed valuation for education than does any other city in Massachu- setts. The following table is computed from data furnished for each city by the officials thereof :
32
SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 8.
Pro Rata of Expenditures for School Purposes to Tax Levy.
(.Exclusive of Land and New Schoolhouses.)
1905.
1906.
1907.
1 908. Average.
1. Everett
2. Chelsea
3. Maiden
4. Northampton.
5. Marlborough..
6. Somerville. . . .
7. Pittsfield
8. Melrose
9. Wobum
10. Brockton
11. Medford
12. Worcester. . . .
13. Gloucester. . . .
14. Springfield. . . .
15. Lynn
16. Lawrence f- • •
17. Quincy
18. Cambridge. . . .
19. Lowell
20. Fitchburg
21. Salem
22. Holyoke
23. New Bedford..
24. Beverly
25. Newburyport.
26. Newton
27. Boston
|
$7 31 |
$7 56 |
»7 76 |
$7 67 |
|
7 12 |
6 90 |
7 36 |
6 85 |
|
6 02 |
6 32 |
6 65 |
7 01 |
|
6 12 |
6 25 |
6 44 |
6 28 |
|
6 16 |
6 01 |
6 15 |
6 15 |
|
5 75 |
5 88 |
6 02 |
6 38 |
|
5 87 |
5 65 |
6 22 |
6 15 |
|
5 70 |
5 41 |
6 53 |
6 15 |
|
5 56 |
5 82 |
6 07 |
5 87 |
|
5 31 |
5 34 |
6 27 |
6 03 |
|
5 42 |
5 69 |
5 57 |
5 86 |
|
5 29 |
5 37 |
5 51 |
5 92 |
|
5 28 |
5 17 |
5 47 |
5 42 |
|
5 27 |
5 23 |
5 20 |
5 31 |
|
4 77 |
5 45 |
5 42 |
5 17 |
|
4 95 |
4 98 |
4 97 |
5 10 |
|
4 78 |
4 87 |
5 GO |
5 04 |
|
4 77 |
4 86 |
5 03 |
4 90 |
|
4 33 |
4 84 |
5 19 |
5 07 |
|
4 72 |
4 SI |
4 44 |
4 59 |
|
4 47 |
4 63 |
4 74 |
4 68 |
|
4 34 |
4 54 |
4 63 |
4 69 |
|
4 27 |
4 44 |
4 70 |
4 61 |
|
4 26 |
4 82 |
4 33 |
3 75 |
|
3 89 |
4 13 |
4 34 |
4 54 |
|
3 73 |
3 87 |
4 03 |
4 29 |
|
3 05 |
3 05 |
*3 07 |
*3 09 |
S7 57 7 06 6 50 6 27 6 12 6 01 5 97 5 95 5 83 5 74 5 63 5 52 5 33 5 25 5 20 5 00 4 92 4 89 4 87 4 64 4 63 4 55 4 51 4 29 4 22 3 98 3 065
t Not including repairs and alterations.
* Includes physical education and nurses, but not pensions.
ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT. 33
The above table includes all cities in Massachusetts except Fall River, Haverhill, Taunton, North Adams, Waltham and Chicopee, from which the necessary information was not received.
CONCLUSION.
The public schools of the City of Boston need money because the basis of the average valuation of the city upon which the appropriation is computed has not been a constant but a diminishing one. They must have it or the public school system will suffer materially. They must have it in order to enable the public school system of Boston to adapt itself better to the needs of the community, and to accomplish more to protect the health of the children.
The future of Boston largely depends upon what the School Committee accomplishes in these directions. New England's only hope of competing successfully with the rest of the United States lies in the superior education of its inhabitants. Unless that be maintained. New England, poor of soil, and of meagre natural resources, is bound to lose more and more its standing in the economic life of this country.
No community can spend money better than for the education of the young. As President Eliot says: "If the American people were all well-to-do they would multiply by four or five the present average school expenditures per child," and again, "The expenditure in those parts of our country where it is now smallest ought to be raised as rapidly as possible to the level of those regions where it is now greatest; and in those regions where the expenditure is now most liberal it ought to be doubled as soon as possible. "
If Boston is to have a future, it must spend more money for the education of the children in its public schools. If it wishes to maintain its great educational system as it has been conducted in the past even, it must make up for the deficiency caused by the falling ofT of the increase in its own valuation. The best wav to increase the valuation of
34 SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 8.
the City of Boston is to spend more money upon the educa- tion of the children in the City of Boston.
When the urgent and increasing needs of the pubUc school system are considered, the larger appropriations proposed in the accompanying bill seem scarcely adequate, but in view of the general financial condition of the city the School Com- mittee does not feel that it can consistently ask for more.
The proposed act is as follows :
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.
In the Year One Thousand Nine Hundred and Nine.
An Act Relative to Appropriations for the Support OF THE Public Schools in the City of Boston.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court Assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
Section 1. Section one of chapter four hundred of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, as amended by section one of chapter four hundred and forty- eight of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and one, by section one of chapter one hundred and seventy of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and three, and by section one of chapter two hundred and five of the acts of the year nine- teen hundred and six, is hereby further amended by striking out the whole of said section and inserting in place thereof the following:
Section 1. The school committee of the city of Boston, in each year, by vote of two-thirds of all its members, taken by yeas and nays, may make an appropriation in one sum for constructing and furnishing new school buildings, includ- ing the taking of land therefor and for school yards, and the
ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT. 35
preparing of school 3'ards for use, and may also make an appropriation in one sum for repairs and alterations of school buildings, and may make such other appropriations by items for the support of the public schools as it deems necessary. The total amount to be thus appropriated for the public schools of the city and their support, in addition to the money which may be given therefor, the income collected, the balance of appropriations of years preceding such year, and the money which may be authorized by acts of the general court passed prior to the year nineteen hundred and nine and not repealed, shall not exceed the following sums for the periods specified, to wit:
For the financial year ending on the thirty-first day of Januar}^, in the year nineteen hundred and ten, three dollars and fifty cents ; for the financial year ending on the thirty-first day of January in the year nineteen hundred and eleven, three dollars and sixtj^ cents; for the financial year ending on the thirty-first day of Januar}^ in the year nineteen hundred and twelve, three dollars and seventy cents; for the financial year ending on the thirty-first day of January in the year nineteen hundred and thirteen, three dollars and eighty cents; for the financial j^ear ending on the thirty-first day of January in the year nineteen hundred and fourteen, and for each finan- cial year thereafter, three dollars and ninety cents upon each one thousand dollars of the valuation on which the appropria- tions of the city council are based; and the amounts which may be so raised shall be appropriated by the school com- mittee as aforesaid, and shall be a part of and be met by taxes within the tax limit ; and of said amounts not less than forty cents upon every such one thousand dollars shall be appropriated solely for new school buildings, lands, yards, and furnishings as aforesaid, and not less than twenty-five cents upon every such one thousand dollars shall be appropriated solely for repairs and alterations of school buildings.
Sect. 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage.
36 SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 8.
PENSIONS FOR TEACHERS.
The long anticipated pension act for the benefit of the public school teachers of the city which the new School Board had pledged itself to use its best efforts to secure, became effective in the passage of Chapter 589 of the Acts of 1908. This subject has been so fully discussed in the preceding annual report of the School Committee, and more particu- larly in the latest report of the Superintendent, that it is unnecessary to make any extended reference to its provisions, which are, briefly: A maximum pension at the rate of $180 for teachers who have attained the age of sixty-five, or who have completed thirty years of public school service, at least twenty of which have been in the public schools of Boston, and a proportionate amount for those who may be retired after a less number of years of service.
Thirty-six teachers have already been retired under the provisions of this act, and at the following rates :
No. Amount of
Pension.
32 $180
1 150
1 126
1 120
1 (Died December 28, 1908.) 114
Of the teachers thus retired, sixteen were sixty-five years of age or older, the average age being sixty-three.
In 1900 an act was passed by the Legislature establishing a Teachers' Retirement Fund which applies to all teachers who have entered the service since its passage, as well as to those employed at the time of its enactment who elected to accept its provisions. The annuitants of this fund are paid at the rate of $180 per annum, and the fund is supported by contributions, at the rate of $18 per year from each of its members.
The pension maximum of $180, added to an equal amount which is now paid to the annuitants of the Teachers' Retire-
ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT. 37
meiit Fund, makes a total of $360, which sum is equivalent to the return of a principal of $9,000 invested at 4 per cent.
A considerable number of teachers also belong to the Teachers' Mutual Benefit Association, a purely voluntary organization supported wholly by its members, and which pays its annuitants at the rate of $78 per annum.
xVlthough these several amounts payable to retiring teachers are small in themselves, yet in the aggregate they are sufficient to be of considerable importance to those who need them most and whose future has been in many instances a matter of grave and personal concern and anxiety.
AGE LIMITS.
The most important legislation adopted by the School Com- mittee during the year had to do with the establishment of age limits for the teaching force. The problem of dealing with superannuated teachers has been long recognized as of serious importance, not only in this city but elsewhere as well, and has been dealt with in various ways. It is not easy to say at what time an individual teacher becomes ineffective and a detriment to the school in which he or she is employed. In many cases the limitations caused by age and infirmity come on so gradually that the decrease in vigor and enthusiasm, in the grasp of details, and in teaching power, is realized only by comparison of periods considerably separated from each other. If it were possible to deal with a large system employing nearly three thousand individuals in the same way as with a small group, it would perhaps be practicable to determine the point at which the superannuation of the individual takes place; but if this method be attempted in dealing with large numbers of persons, all or nearly all of whom would not unreasonably seek to establish their continued fitness for service, it would be impossible to avoid suspicion of favoritism, and endless difficulties would arise in deciding upon the merits of indi- vidual claims for special consideration because of valuable services rendered in the past.
38 SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 8.
That the children in the public schools should be taught by vigorous and efficient teachers admits of no question. That there are a number o£ teachers in the service whose advanced years indicate that they must have passed their prime is equally true. The establishment of the Teachers' Retirement Fund and of the Pension Fund have operated in the direction of reducing the number of elderly teachers, but in the absence of some definite rule on the subject, it did not appear probable that the number of retirements would be sufficient to prevent the accumulation of superannuated teachers in the system. The Committee, therefore, has adopted a general rule which provides for the retirement of members of the supervising and teaching staff on the thirty-first day of August next follow- ing the attainment of their seventieth birthday.
While the enforcement of this rule will compel the retire- ment of some teachers who consider that they are still rendering efficient service, nevertheless, the time is rapidly approach- ing when even they must yield to the inevitable abatement in physical and mental vigor consequent upon old age ; and if the spirit of the true teacher contains the essential element of personal devotion to duty and the sacrifice of personal ambition during the period of youth and middle age, it would seem that it should also prove equal to a gracious and uncom- plaining retirement from service when the years of greatest efficiency have been spent.
Coincidently with the rule just referred to, the School Com- mittee adopted another regulation which places the maximum age limit at which new teachers may enter the service at forty years, although this rule does not affect holders of certificates issued prior to January 1, 1909, nor does it include the follow- ing positions: Principal of a school or district, director or supervisor of a special subject or department, instructor of military drill, medical inspector of special classes, or super- vising nurse. These exceptions in executive or administrative positions were made because it was deemed wise to recog- nize the fact thcit ripeness ot judgment and breadth of view
ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT. 39
in dealing \\ith problems of .school administration frequently are not attained before early middle life.
The Board subsequently adopted a further amendment to the new rule on this subject which provides that the restric- tions as to the maximum age at which a new teacher ma}^ be employed shall not affect the promotion of teachers already in the service.
The decision of the Committee in these matters was not arrived at without embarrassment and hesitation, due to its desire to avoid inflicting disappointment and hardship upon individuals who are especially entitled to all reasonable con- sideration. In the larger aspect of the question, however, the rights of the children to have the services of thoroughly effi- cient and capable teachers cannot with justice be disregarded, nor should sympathy for the individual teachers be made paramount to the welfare of the pupils. In taking this step, therefore, the Committee is satisfied that it has acted with an eye to the interests of the school system as a whole, and in accordance with the principle that the claim of the individual must be subordinated to the common good.
FIRST PROMOTIONAL EXAMINATION.
The first of the promotional examinations for teachers in the service, prescribed under the rules and regulations adopted by the new School Committee, was held on October 5, 1908. This particular examination was for teachers appointed between September 1 and December 31, 1906, it being optional with teachers appointed between October 1 and December 31 of that 5^ear whether they should take the October, 1908, examination or wait until the following May. Those who deferred taking a promotional examination until May, 1909, did not, of course, receive the increase of salary to which they would have been entitled on January 1, 1909, by successfully passing the October examination. The total number of teachers who were then examined was ninety-two. Because of some mis- understanding with regard to the effect of this first
40 SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 8.
examination whereby certain teachers would not receive an increase in salary, the School Committee authorized the Board of Superintendents to hold a supplementary examina- tion of the same character in December for the benefit of these who had failed to take advantage of the opportunity given them in October, and two teachers availed themselves of the privilege. The total number of teachers taking the first promotional examination was therefore ninety-four, all of whom, with but a single exception, passed successfully.
It is clear, therefore, that the apprehension felt by some of the teaching force that the promotional examinations seri- ously threatened their continuance in the service and were intended to emphasize delinquencies rather than to encour- age professional improvement and to stimulate continued interest in school work, was not well grounded.
PAYMENT OF SUBSTITUTES.
While the regular teachers in the public schools have been paid the amounts due them during the closing week of the month in which their services were performed, the numerous substitutes employed were not so fortunate, and received at the close of each month only the amounts they had earned up to and including the middle of the month. Thus, they were practically in the position of having two weeks' pay, which they had actually earned and to which they were entitled, withheld for another month, while the regular teachers, whose compensation was much larger and who, therefore, might be assumed to be more easily able to wait, received their salaries promptly.
To remedy this situation, the injustice of which was appar- ent, a plan was devised, beginning in October, whereby a special pay roll is made out, promptly after the last working day in each month, from certifications made by the Super- visor of Substitutes from reports of the school principals, verified by the records in her office. Little, if any, serious difficulty has been experienced in putting this plan into
ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT.
41
operation, and under the new method the substitutes receive the amounts due them from two to three weeks earHer than was possible under the former arrangement.
ADDITIONAL SCHOOL ACCOMMODATIONS.
In accordance with the provisions of Chapter 450 of the Acts of 1907 an additional amount of $1,000,000 became available this year to meet the cost of additional school accommodations, and appropriate action was taken by the School Committee and by the Board of Schoolhouse Com- missioners to proceed with the following items of this nature :
|
School District. |
Number of Pupils. |
Estimated Cost. |
|
1. Edward Everett District, elementary school, upper grades. . . |
616 1,760 |
$125,000 450,000 |
|
5.000 |
||
|
4. Blackinton District, elementary school, upper grades 5. Dudley District, elementary school, lower grades 6. Henry L. Pierce District, High School (Dorchester High) . . . 7. Longfellow District, elementary school, lower grades |
704 52S 420 352 |
140,000 105,000 125,000 50.000 |
Item No. 1. Edward Everett District. — New Edward Everett School, situated on Stoughton street, Dorchester, to contain fourteen class rooms, a manual training room, cooking room, and an assembly hall, will be completed and ready for occupancy in September, 1909.
Item No. 2. Brimmer District. — Abraham Lincoln School, situated on site bounded by Ferdinand, Melrose and Fayette streets, to contain forty class rooms, a manual training room, cooking room, and an assembly hall, will probably be ready for occupancy in September, 1910.
Item No. 3. Eliot District. — Administrative office, completed and occupied Sep- tember 9, 1908.
Item No. 4- Blackinton District. — Bishop Cheverus School, situated on site bounded by Moore and Chaucer streets, East Boston, to contain sixteen class
42 SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 8.
rooms, a manual training room, cooking room, and an assembly hall, will be completed and ready for occupancy in September, 1909.
Item No. 5. Dudley District. — Nathan Hale School, situated on Cedar street, Roxbury, to contain twelve class rooms, will be ready for occupancy in September, 1909.
Item No. 6. Henry L. Pierce District. — Dorchester High Annex, situated on Lithgow street, Dorchester, to contain eighteen class rooms, wood working room, metal handicraft room, mechanical drawing room, and wardrobes in base- ment for boys and girls, will be ready for occupancy latter part of 1910.
Item No. 7. Longfellow District. — Addition to Longfellow School, situated on South and Hewlett streets, Roslindale, to contain eight class rooms and a cooking room, will be ready for occupancy in April, 1910.
With the exception of a few portable buildings, and the addition to the Francis Parkman School-house, no new school-houses have been completed and occupied during the year. The progress made with regard to the items author- ized in 1907, and referred to in the annual report for that year, is as follows:
Item No. 1. Agassiz District. — Extension to Francis Parkman School, situated on Walk Hill street, Jamaica Plain, consisting of six rooms and hall, occupied in September, 1908.
Item No. 2. Wells District. — Third-story addition to Winchell School, situated on site bounded by Blossom and Parkman streets, containing six rooms, occupied September 11, 1907.
Item No. 3. Bennett District. — Two-room addition to Hobart-street School, situated near Brooks street, Faneuil, occupied October 31, 1907.
Item No. 4- Adams Distinct. — Four portable buildings, occupied October 25, 1907.
Item No. 5. Prince District. — Addition to Mechanic Arts High School, situated on Belvidere and Dalton streets, occupied January 4, 1909.
ANNUAL .SCHOOL REPORT. 43
Item No. 6. Phillips District. — Peter Faneuil School, situated on site bounded by Joy and South Russell streets, West End, containing seventeen class rooms and a manual training room, will probably be ready for occupancy September, 1910.
MECHANIC ARTS HIGH SCHOOL ADDITION.
The. addition to the Mechanic Ai'ts High School-house, to which reference was made in the report of last year, has been completed, _ and the twenty-six additional class rooms were occupied on January 4, 1909. Thus after many years of inadequate facilities the school is now in a position to care properly for its pupils, and to meet the steadily increasing demand for the course of instruction it offers without resort to various makeshift arrangements and the establishment of colonies in other school buildings.
FRANCIS PARKMAN SCHOOL DISTRICT.
One new elementary school district has been established during the year, namely, the Francis Parkman, at Forest Hills. The building bearing this name was originally a four- room structure, completed and occupied in 1900. In 1903 an addition containing four rooms was placed under con- tract, and was completed and occupied in September, 1904. In 1907, as stated above, a further addition of six rooms and an assembly hall was authorized, which was completed in September, 1908.
The residents of the neighborhood had long been extremely anxious that this school should form a separate and inde- pendent district apart from the Agassiz, and made urgent and frequent representations to the School Committee to this effect. The desired action was taken and a separate district established accordingly, dating from September 1, 1908.
COMMITTEES ON PLANS FOR SCHOOL BUILDINGS.
Two permanent committees, consisting of principals of schools, have been appointed to examine plans for school
44 SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 8.
buildings submitted by the Board of Schoolhouse Commis- sioners to the Superintendent, and to advise with him as to the suitabihty of the proposed buildings for the educational purposes for which they are intended. The committee on elementary schools consists of three elementary school prin- cipals, to which will be added the principal of the district in which a new building is to be erected, and the assistant superintendent in charge of that district. The committee on high school buildings is made up in the same manner, but of high school principals. The permanent members of these committees will, of course, acquire considerable experience with respect to plans of school buildings, and their advice will be of very great assistance.
PLAYGROUNDS,
This subject has been so comprehensively and recently treated by the Director of School Hygiene (see Appendix C to Superintendent's Report, July, 1908, School Document No. 7) that it seems unnecessary to add anything thereto in this report, except perhaps to outline briefly the general plan for conducting the playgrounds under the original arrange- ment with the Board of Park Commissioners which terminated on October 31, 1908, and the plan which was then deter- mined upon for the discharge of the new duty imposed by statute upon the School Committee.
The first section of Chapter 259 of the Acts of 1907, which authorizes the School Committee to make certain appropri- ations for, and enlarges its powers in respect to, physical education, provides that it may organize and conduct physical training and exercises, athletics, sports, games, and play in various buildings, yards, and playgrounds under the control of the School Committee, or upon any other land which it may have the right to use for this purpose.
The next section of the act authorizes the School Committee to use such playgrounds, gymnasia, or buildings under the control of the Park Commission as the School Committee
ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT. 45
deems suitable, and under such reasonable regulations and conditions as the Park Commission may prescribe.
At the request of the School Committee, the Board of Superintendents and the Director of School Hygiene prepared last year, and submitted to the School Committee, a plan for the work to be done by it under this act, specifying some eighteen playgrounds which they considered might be suit- able for the purpose, and outlining the conditions which they thought should be agreed upon with the Park Depart- ment. This plan involved the furnishing by the School Com- mittee of such new buildings as might be considered necessary, also the furnishing and installation of the additional apparatus and supplies required. The School Committee also undertook to employ and compensate the instructors needed in connec- tion with the conduct of these playgrounds, while the con- struction, maintenance, lighting, and heating of buildings, the care of grounds, the furnishing, installation, and repair of apparatus on premises then under the Park Department, was to remain under the exclusive control of that department.
The plan submitted by the Board of Superintendents and the Director of School Hygiene was approved by the School Committee at its meeting on April 6, 1908, and sent to the Park Commission for its consideration. The Park Commission then called the School Committee's attention to the undesir- ability of having on the same playground tw^o different sets of employees, under the control of different departments, and while it expressed its willingness to continue to care for the physical maintenance of the playgrounds, suggested that a more harmonious arrangement and better results could be secured if the officials of the School Committee were to have supervision over, and control of, the Park Department playgrounds and employees as well as of the employees of the School Committee.
This was agreed to by the School Committee, and at the meeting of the Committee held on May 4 the following order was passed:
46 SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 8.
Ordered, That the Park Department be requested to continue the employment of such instructors, laborers, and attendants in buildings at present employed upon Park Department playgrounds which have been transferred to the supervision and control of the School Committee, as the Director of School Hygiene may request.
In pursuance of this agreement the School Committee, through its Department of School Hygiene, and acting, so far as the supervision and control of the Park Department employees was concerned, as agent of that department, established a system of daily reports of services rendered by those employees of the Park Department who work on the school playgrounds, and certified to the Park Department the hours of labor and the wages due each of such employees, at the rates previously established by the Park Department; and the Park Department continued to compensate its laborers and employees in the same manner as it had pre- viously done.
The adoption of this arrangement saved the Park Depart- ment the necessity of employing an overseer or supervisor of their employees engaged on playgrounds upon which the School Committee, in accordance with the act, conducted physical training and exercises, athletics, sports, and play; and inasmuch as a supervisor or teacher in charge of each playground would be necessary, the School Committee was able, without additional expense, to furnish the information required by the Park Department in respect to its employees. This arrangement, of course, also ob\dated any conflict of authority between any employees of the Park Department and the teachers employed by the School Committee.
It should be remembered, moreover, that the School Com- mittee never asked to be given the additional work specified in this act; that it was of a character which had not hereto- fore been undertaken by any School Committee; that the Committee had not developed any well-considered plan for the additional work put upon it, and did not have in its employ the laborers, watchmen, etc., required to take care of the playgrounds. The arrangement outlined above was
ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT. 47
of course pureh^ experimental and tentative, as neither the Park Commission nor the School Committee was able, at the inauguration of this new feature of school work, to deter- mine what playgrounds controlled by the Park Department were suitable for use by the School Committee for the pur- poses specified by the act.
The arrangement thus briefly outlined terminated on Octo- ber 31, and a new arrangement betw^een the School Committee and the Park Commission has recently been adopted, which in brief, provides that the School Committee shall have the use and control of such children's corners in the park playgrounds as may be deemed suitable for its purpose, including all children's corners now in existence and such additional ones as may be mutually agreed upon between the Board of Commissioners of the Park Department and the School Committee; that the School Committee shall meet all the expenses of furnishing instructors and supply- ing and caring for equipment and apparatus, etc. ; but, as a matter of convenience, the Park Department has agreed that the school officials may call upon the park employees to assist in caring for the apparatus and grounds; and the School Committee has agreed to pay bills submitted by the Park Department for the services rendered by its employees.
The Park Department is to have entire charge and con- trol of the other portions of playgrounds, and of the buildings and gymnasia belonging to that department, as well as the physical care of grounds, walks, trees, etc., and is to meet the expense of caring therefor; but it is agreed that the School Committee may, without expense to it, have the use of such playgrounds as may be mutually agreed upon, from the close of school until 5.30 o'clock daily (Sundays excepted) and on Saturday forenoons during the periods from April 1 to July 1, and from September 1 to Thanks- giving Day; and at such times during the periods from July 1 to September 1, and Thanksgiving Day to April 1, as may be mutually determined.
48 SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 8.
Perhaps it may be well also to call attention to the fact that the main purpose of this act was to enlarge the powers of the School Committee in respect to physical education, and to provide funds for that purpose; and that the act required the School Committee to organize and conduct physical training and exercises, athletics, etc., in the buildings, yards, and playgrounds under its control. The School Committee has endeavored to carry out the provisions of the act, and has extended and enlarged the physical training and exercises, etc., formerly provided for, and has organized and* conducted physical training and exercises on certain park playgrounds as outlined in this statement, as well as in a number of school yards.
It should be borne in mind, however, that while the act says that the School Committee shall ''use" such play- grounds, gymnasia or buildings as it deems suitable, it nowhere says that the School Committee shall have charge of the maintenance of those grounds. The act simply pro- vides that it shall "use" such playgrounds as it considers suitable, and shall both "organize and conduct physical training and exercises, athletics, sports, games and play, and shall provide proper apparatus, equipment and facil- ities for the same. "
RECIPROCAL ARRANGEMENTS WITH OTHER CITIES AND TOWNS FOR ADMISSION OF PUPILS TO HIGH SCHOOLS,
Each 5^ear a considerable number of applicants seek admission to the Latin and high schools who have pre- viously attended the elementary schools of other cities or towns, and having taken up residence in Boston are entitled to school privileges in this city. Heretofore such applicants have been required to pass the regular entrance examinations for admission to the Latin and high schools, no official recog- nition being given to their previous acquirements.
This course seemed in a large measure unfair and out of keeping with the general custom of educational institu-
ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT. 49
tions to give credit for work done in other institutions of equal rank. In June, therefore, the Board amended its regulations to provide that graduates of the public elemen- tar}^ schools of other cities and towns making a reciprocal arrangement, approved by the Board of Superintendents, and pupils of such schools who have been promoted to the seventh or a higher grade, and who present to the principal evidence of satisfactory scholarship, shall be admitted to the Latin schools, and if graduates of such elementary schools shall be admitted to the high schools without examination. Many of the cities and towns in the vicinity of Boston had been in the habit of pursuing this plan with respect to the graduates of the Boston elementary schools, and welcomed the opportunity to enter formally into the proposed arrange- ment, and other school authorities likewise hastened to accept the proposition. This reciprocal arrangement is now in effect between Boston and some twenty-two cities and towns in Massachusetts, mostly in the vicinity of Boston.
HIGH SCHOOL OF COMMERCE.
The second annual report of the Advisory Committee of Business Men of the High School of Commerce speaks encouragingly of the substantial progress which has been made by this school during its second year. The entering class numbers 230 and, with the probability of increase of demand, it is safe to say that the school will attract at least 1,000 pupils as soon as accommodations for that number are available.
The following extracts from the report of the Executive Committee of the Advisory Committee will be found of interest :
The plan of organization, which has been put fully into operation during the current year, is proving as effective as anticipated. Each department of work has a head, a master selected for his experience and ability. The work is thereby thoroughly organized, the details are worked out, and the possibilities of each branch are thus approximated in a way which the
50 SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 8.
former organization would have made very difficult. The head of a depart- ment shares in the responsibilities of the school, makes investigations necessary in the development of the courses, keeps up the standard of his department, and in general shares in the executive work of the school.
That a vocational school holds the interest of pupils is proven by the excellent showing made by the school in the matters of membership and attendance. Some twenty boys have dropped from the rolls since Septem- ber. An examination into the causes for leaving shows but a very few who left from discouragement and lack of interest, which are the usual reasons attributed to the large percentage who drop out of high schools, especially in the first year.
The extension of the school day from five hours to six hours as recom- mended by the Business Men's Committee, has proven in every way valu- able. Recitations are finished at two o'clock, the usual time in Boston high schools. The extra hour is devoted to a variety of school activities. At this period come the gymnastic exercises, the meetings of modern lan- guage associations, the debating societies, and so on. For certain pupils the period is a time for study, for others opportunity is offered to go to the library. Students who desire additional assistance in their studies may at this time find their teachers and receive help. The period effects two valuable purposes. The bright pupil has opportunity to do additional work and the slow pupil has a chance to get the assistance necessary to enable him to keep abreast of his class.
Modern conditions demand a wider scope of work from the school than at present offered. The present four-year course for youths who give their whole time to schooling can be profitably supplemented by the addi- tion of other opportunities for young men who can give but a part of the time .to education. It is quite probable that a comprehensive plan of "part time" instruction can be made at any time when proper facilities will have been made available. The introduction of this hitherto untried system of instruction would necessitate the co-operation of business houses, inasmuch as it involves school work for a portion of the day ordinarily devoted to business. Doubtless the co-operation would be forthcoming,, since it is becoming more and more evident that greater efficiency is the result of better training, and that greater efficiency is a growing business necessity. In many parts of Germany the business men willingly excuse certain of their employees for a short period of the business day, recog- nizing that it is for the interest of the employer that his men should receive the added school training.
A beginning in part time education can be made in the school next fall. A fifth year is now offered to high school graduates. It is already planned that special opportunity shall be afforded for extended work in particular fields of commercial science. The course of study at present adopted can be easily adapted so that students may follow a part time schedule, i. e.,. part of the time in the business house. Students by this arrangement
ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT. 51
might spend three hours per day in the school and the remainder of the day in a business house. There is sufficient promise of success in the suggestion to recommend its trial.
That an evening high school of commerce is needed is apparent. The pronounced success of the bookkeeping and typewriting courses in the already established evening high schools is some indication of the large demand which would be met by offering the richer and more fundamental work which a liberal school of commerce can offer. The New York School of Commerce, Accounts, and Finance, chiefly an evening school, has shown pronounced success and is filling for the City of New York a service which Boston at present lacks. The local Y. M. C. A. has been quick to see this need, and is even now supplying by private enterprise a need which the community owes free to her citizens.
It is obvious from the foregoing that the need of a building, properly located, properly equipped, is pressing. This need can be appropriately urged even at a time when the city finances are heavily burdened and other needs for money are apparent. Certain economies are unprofitable even in the hardest times. The sacrifice which a present appropriation involves will be amply repaid by the accruing advantages which this practical form of vocational education bears in promise.
The Advisory Committee of Business Men has continuously for the year past urged the necessity of appropriating money for a new building and feels that it is justified, from the importance of this type of education to the community, in urging again the taking of immediate steps to place the school, already successfully in operation, upon a proper basis. The maxi- mum capacity of the present buikling, five hundred and twenty-five, will be overtaxed in the forthcoming September. Since the graduating class of 1909 numbers only fifteen there wiU be practically no chance in the present quarters to take entering students in the fall of that year. The suggestion has been made to colonize in some unused school rooms in other parts of the city a group of students, say one hundred and fifty, who might thus be trained under the school methods and supervision although not under the roof of the school itself. It is doubtful if such a plan would prove effective if applied for more than one year. The success of the work depends upon the influences and special equipment of the school itself, conditions which cannot be easily reproduced in isolated colonies.
It is satisfactory to note that the suggestion that traveling scholarships be established has been made possible for the forthcoming summer through the public spirit of certain Boston business men. Two such scholarships are rendered available at once. It is planned to use them as follows: Two young men from the senior class of the school are to be sent on a trip of visitation and observation to the east coast of South America. They will visit such larger cities as Buenos Ayres, Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro, Santos, etc. The young men will be chosen upon examination in such subjects as modern languages, economics, and knowledge of commercial
52 SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 8.
conditions in South America. The successful candidates will upon return- ing make to the Business Men's Committee an official report covering the results of their investigations.
The good results to be effected by these scholarships are many. Chief of all, perhaps, is the spreading of the idea amongst our young men of the importance of foreign markets, the necessity of preparing carefully and specifically for this new and promising field of enterprise, and the acquaint- ance, first hand, with the commercial conditions in foreign countries where we may have trade expectations — a knowledge which at present is sadly lacking. The students of the school will be interested, and enthusiasm will be developed by the reports of the student representatives, the whole subject to be made more real and attractive than hearsay evidence or book knowledge can effect. It is believed that the traveling scholarships will result in great good to the teaching force as well as to the scholars.
During the current year three courses of lectures have been delivered at the school by men who are expert in certain branches of business theory and practice. A course of twenty lectures upon the local industries of Boston, by Mr. Frank W. Noxon. These were given to the students of the second year. Mr. Nathaniel C. Fowler, Jr., gave a course of ten lectures upon the theory and art of advertising before the senior class, and Mr. Garrett Droppers gave a course of ten lectures upon Municipal Govern- ment also to the senior class. Each of these topics comes in the course of study laid down by the Board of Superintendents, but from the nature of the subjects can be better treated by experts than by regular teachers of the school who have not the time nor facilities to make extensive studies in special fields.
Courses by laymen have been very largely employed in the New York School of Commerce, Accounts, and Finance, and have proven eminently profitable. A similar testimony is given by the Boston High School of Commerce. It is recommended that these courses be continued in subse- quent years and upon a somewhat larger scale. The sum appropriated by the School Committee during the present year, $375, was insufficient, so that the course in advertising was only obtained through the generosity of Mr. Fowler who made no charge. A sum of $750 is recommended for the pursuance of this work during next year.
As was voted at the October meeting of the Business Men's Committee a circular letter was addressed to a considerable number of business houses asking contributions in small sums for the equipment of the commercial museum and the commercial hbrary of the school. It is gratifying to note that the response has been generous, and that the sum now subscribed seems sufficient to effect the results expected in the appeal.
The Executive Committee has carefully considered the course of study offered at the school. It is of opinion that the course is well designed and wisely and efficiently administered. The Committee takes the liberty of suggesting only one modification, and that only if it seems feasible to the school authorities. It hardly seems to the Committee that the important subject of accounting receives quite as much attention as is desirable. If
ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT. 53
the Committee is right in its view the school authorities will surely take favorable action on the suggestion.
The accompanying circular letter recently sent to business houses explains the matter of summer employment. This plan, which has proven so valuable in apphcation, is the direct result of the suggestion of the Business Men's Committee. It is earnestly hoped that in spite of the present depression of business sufficient places will be found for the boys who -VA-ill be candidates during the coming summer.
Following is the letter:
" Dear Sir:
"As perhaps you know, the High School of Commerce has been estab- lished to give young men an education with the definite intent of making them efficient in commercial enterprises. Business men who are closely in touch with the work of the school feel that the pupils will benefit by any experience which during their school course they can secure in actual business affairs. We therefore wish to obtain for a number of our pupils the opportunity to work in a business house during the summer vacation. If you care to grant this opportunity in your own firm, we would ask permission to send to your employment agent one or two properly selected young men from our upper classes.
" The young men who will thus offer their services desire chiefly to secure experience: whatever work you assign to them they will be willing to undertake, and whatever compensation you think they earn they will accept. In general, however, our pupils are preparing to engage in one of the four following lines: Accounting, Buying, Selling, Secretarial Work. It may be that the vacations which you give to your employees will render acceptable the services of a beginner in one or more of these depart- ments. As our pupils wish to secure work in the line they hope even- tually to enter, we should be glad to know in which of these departments applications would be welcome.
" We venture to hope that beyond the satisfaction which the services of these young men may give, the merchants of Boston will feel pleasure in forwarding in this way the work of the city's public High School of Commerce. The young men will carry to you our estimate of their abili- ties; in return, we should be glad to receive the estimate formed of them by their superiors in the houses they enter. By this exchange of estimates both the pupils and the school can benefit. Co-operation of this sort between German commercial schools and German business men has given to German commerce the ascendancy it now holds. In our own country the Commercial School of the University of Illinois has secured like co-operation with excellent results. By the urgent advice of our Advis- ory Board of twenty-five business men, we now ask your help in obtain- ing for our school a practical laboratory in the business houses of Boston.
" The plan which is outlined above was tried last summer in the case of second and third-year pupils, all of whom earned the commendation of the business houses in which they were employed. They returned
54 SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 8.
to school with statements in regard to their abihty from their employer, and proved to be better fitted by their summer experience to profit by the instruction which this school gives.
" We should be very much pleased to receive your offer of co-operation in this matter of summer employment.
" Yours very truly,
" Frank V. Thompson, "Head Master of the High School of Commerce."
The dinner given by the Advisory Committee of Business Men on February 10, 1908, was in every way a success. Some three hundred busi- ness men were in attendance, and the character and interest of the audi- tors did not fail to elicit commendation from all present. The speakers were President Eliot, Rev. Thomas I. Gasson, S. J., Mr. Frank A. Vander- lip of New York, Mr. J. L. Richards, Supt. S. D. Brooks, Mr. J. J. Storrow, Chairman of the School Board. The pul)lic impression of this occasion was in a marked degree helpful to the good of the cause of progressive commercial education.
The practical character of the school is shown in the methods employed in bringing before the students the important elements of success in commercial life. At weekly intervals, in the main assembly hall, are held talks by business men. Men prominent in business circles and qualified to speak from experience make addresses before the school. These meetings have informed and inspired the students and have enforced in the minds of the boys the serious puipose of the school. Another prac- tice, contributing in a less degree to the same result, has been the efforts of the boys themselves. At weekly intervals the young men of the senior class address the -assembled school upon commercial topics. These topics may come as a part of their advanced study of economics, or may be subjects in which the young men have had experience in connection with summer positions in business houses. The young men who are most successful in these presentations will be selected for the honor parts in the graduation exercises. It is planned to give the graduation exer- cises a distinctive character and to supplant the traditional forms with efforts which will portray the special purposes for which the school was instituted.
Visits to business houses by groups of students are conducted at inter- vals throughout the year, so that students have opportunity to observe first hand the actual workings of business establishments.
The young men who took the South- American trip referred to in the foregoing report gave an excellent account of the journey before the Business Men's Committee in December. They have also spoken before several trade organizations, notably the Boston Credit Men's Association in November,
ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT. 55
and each of them has been giving a series of talks to the other pupils of the school. One of the holders of the scholar- ship is emplo5^ed afternoons and Saturdays in one of the largest corporations in the cit}^ where his foreign experience will probably lead to his being employed permanently in one of its foreign departments. The other scholarship holder is employed afternoons and Saturdays by one of the large wholesale dealers in chemicals in Boston.
girls' high school of practical arts.
This school, established in 1907, entered upon its second year with a largely increased attendance. There were about 300 applications for admission to the entering class. There w^as room for only 200.
To meet the demand for admission, the third floor of the old Mather building was fitted to provide two class rooms and a room for work in millinery. The Ward 20 Wardroom has been used as an assembly room, gymnasium, and for classes in music. A school kitchen was installed in the Lyceum Hall building, and an apartment rented at 30 Church street to provide room for the classes in household science. In this way it has been possible to take care of five sections of pupils of the first year, and three sections of the second year.
The need of more convenient and commodious quarters for this school is most pressing.
The pupils of the second year were allowed to choose one of the three following lines of industrial w^ork: Dressmaking, millinery, and household science. In addition to the special subject chosen, the girls are given enough work in the other lines to enable them to meet the general needs of the home.
The various departments, academic and industrial, are correlating their work in a way to make the teaching practical. For instance, as a part of the class-room work in English, the girls are required to give, with illustrative material, oral
56 SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 8.
demonstrations of processes of work learned in the industrial classes. As the chemistry will be closely connected \\dth the food work of the cooking laboratory, and the textiles of the dressmaking room, so the physics will have to do with the action of stove and furnace, of gas and electricity in the home, and the care and understanding of simple machinery. In the Art Department special attention is given to the various problems in color and design that arise in the work- rooms.
During the year the head-master spent some time in the study of the industrial schools for girls in Great Britain, Germany and Switzerland. Much valuable information was thus obtained concerning methods of instruction and equip- ment of workrooms, which will be put in practical use as rapidly as possible.
The interest and enthusiasm of teachers and pupils alike are evidence that the school is offering a plan of education that will meet the needs of a large number of the girls who graduate from the elementary schools. The school should be located in a central place and provided with a building of adequate size.
OPEN-AIR CLASS.
In September, a communication was received from the Boston Association for the Relief and Control of Tubercu- losis asking the School Committee to furnish a teacher for the instruction of the children in the camp maintained by the association on Parker Hill, which it was proposed to continue during the coming winter if the School Committee would co-operate in the work to that extent. The Board took favorable action on the application, and a regular teacher was assigned to the class.
In November, Dr. James J. Minot, the President of the Association, came before the Board and was heard with regard to the desirability of establishing open-air classes as a part of the public school system, and the beneficial results that might be anticipated to result from the adoption of this
ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT. 57
plan. It was also pointed out that the experimental class which was being conducted on Parker Hill would soon have to be discontinued unless other accommodations could be found for it, because of contemplated building operations that would compel its removal. The immediate result of this conference was the passage of two orders by the School Committee, one, appointing a commission of eminent Boston physicians, consisting of Dr. James J. Minot, Dr. Joseph H. Pratt, Dr. Edwin A. Locke, Dr. Elliott P. Joslin, and Dr. Thomas F. Leen, to investigate and report on the subject of tuloerculosis and the more or less allied subject of malnu- trition among the public school children, with a view to the adoption of measures whereby the health of children may be safeguarded, and the progress of disease checked. The report of this commission may be expected early in 1909.
The other order asked the Board of Park Commissioners to allow the use of a part of the refectory building in Franklin Park for the proposed open-air class. Pending action on the part of the Park Commission with regard to the use of this building, an effort was made to find other and more suitable accommodations, but without success. Such unoccupied school buildings as were available were not at all suited for the purpose in view, nor could a locality that was on the whole as desirable as the one in Franklin Park, be found.
In response to an inquiry made by the Park Commission as to how soon it would again be safe for the open-air class to be housed in a tent if the temporary use of a part of the refec- tory building should be allowed, reply was made that May 1 would be as early a date as it would be safe to rely upon. The attention of the Park Commission was also called to various considerations which had governed the School Com- mittee in its action in this matter. Among them are :
1. The desirability of reaching an intelligent conclusion as to the real value of such a class.
2. The failure of the School Committee to secure suit- able accommodations elsewhere.
58 SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 8.
3. The opinion of the best medical authority in the community that the hves of at least a majority of these children would be sacrificed if remedial measures were not promptly taken.
4. The assurance that the proposed use of a part of the refectory building would not in any way jeopardize the health of persons frequenting the park, nor be dangerous to those using that part of the building devoted to library purposes. It is understood that the children whom it is proposed to place in the school are to be carefully examined before assignment, and only those admitted who are in the incipient stage of tuber- culosis, or who are of the pre-tubercular type. No advanced cases of tuberculosis, for the care of whom the city has made other provision, will be admitted to this class.
5. Finally, whether the proposed use of the building in question was within the original purpose contemplated when parks were established by the city. To this the reply was made that no definition made at any one time is a safe rule for the future; for example, the primary and original view of the duty of the School Committee was that it should provide for the instruction of children, yet it is charged to-day with many responsibilities not thought of at the time it was created. The Park Department formerly had little to do with play- grounds and out-of-door gymnasia. The Common was originally a pasture. In short, it would seem that the broad view to take is, that any city department should do what it reasonably can for the benefit of the community, and, in this particular case, that the health of children is a matter of vast importance whether the problem be viewed from the humanitarian or from the economic standpoint.
Favorable action was taken by the Park Commission late in the year, the necessary alterations and repairs in that part of the refectory building devoted to class purposes were under- taken by the Schoolhouse Department, and the first public open-air class will begin its sessions in these accommoda- tions on January 18, 1909. Kitchen acconmiodations were
ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT. 59
provided in the basement; a room upstairs suitable for the accommodation of thirty pupils was fitted out for school- room purposes in case of extreme inclemency of the weather. A shack was built on the roof forming school-room acconnno- dations for twenty-five pupils. In this structure class-room exercises have been conducted daily. The desks and seats are on movable platforms, so as to allow changing position in order to ensure each child the greatest amount of direct sunshine on his body during the whole course of the day. Each child is provided with a canvas bag in which he is encased during the school-room exercises. During the noon hours (12 to 2) the child rests, encased in his canvas bag and rolled in a blanket, exposed to the sun on the roof of the refectory. A fixed program combining rest, physical exer- cises, breathing exercises and regular school exercises is carried out daily. A daily chart of weight and temperature of each child is rigidly kept. The children are examined ever}^ two weeks at the clinic of the Municipal Tuberculosis Hospital. A nurse from the Tuberculosis Hospital \dsits the home of each pupil in the school and acquaints the teacher with home conditions likely to be a cause of the mental retar- dation of particular chUdren. When a child is pronounced by the physician at the clinic to be free from disease he is returned to his appropriate grade in the regular school course, and the school nurse takes up his case and returns him at regular intervals to the clinic for re-examination, so as to anticipate any return of the disease.
Since October 21, 1908, there have been thirty-nine cases of tuberculosis admitted to this class. Fourteen children have had the disease arrested and have been pronounced cured and returned to the regular grade schools. Four others have left the school on account of removal from the city. At present there are twenty-one children in the class. All cases have increased in weight, ranging from three pounds to seven- teen pounds. The Boston Association for Relief and Control of Tuberculosis supplies sleeping bags, overcoats, and blankets;
60 SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 8.
and also provides the matron and kitchen assistants. The School Committee pays the cost of street car transportation of the pupils, and the Boston Association for Relief and Con- trol of Tuberculosis provides them with breakfast, dinner and , luncheon, for which each child pays ten cents a day. The actual cost of the food alone is about twenty cents a day.
EXTENSION OF TERM OF EVENING SCHOOLS FOR FOREIGN- BORN PUPILS.
One of the most important phases of the great develop- ment of the evening schools that has taken place, especially during the last few years, has been in the instruction of pupils of foreign birth. The immigrant arriving in this country finds it of immediate and practical importance to acquire a working knowledge of the English language ; in fact, in many cases his actual livelihood depends upon it, and the pressure of the conditions surrounding him impels him to seek this knowledge at the most available source. The advantages offered by our evening schools along these lines speedily become known to him, and he usually hastens to avail him- self of them. Hence the immigrant, even of adult years, is found in annually increasing number in these schools, and with his thirst for knowledge is coupled a keen appreciation of its economic necessity to him, and his progress is therefore generally rapid and satisfactory. This teaching of foreigners in our evening schools has continued for so many years that the problem of efficient instruction is now well understood^ and there is little difficulty in finding teachers well skilled in this department of the school system. The elementary even- ing schools in some sections of the city are almost wholly composed of pupils of foreign birth, and the instruction in English, which forms the most important part of the course, is supplemented to a veiy large extent by equally valuable instruction in civic ideals, and earnest and necessary efforts to inculcate an appreciation, not only of the rights, but also of the duties of self-respecting and useful citizenship.
ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT. 61
While in many cases the native-born pupil who enters an evening school, because of other matters of interest or amuse- ment engaging his attention, fails to complete the term, and thereby compels too frequent reorganization of classes, the foreigners are usually punctual and regular in attendance, and view the closing of the evening school term with dismay rather than with hopeful anticipation.
Recognizing the great importance of more extended even- ing instruction for foreign-born pupils, the School Committee late in Februaiy, determined to continue evening classes for the instruction in English of such pupils after the close of the regular term, and, notwithstanding the difficulty it was experiencing in maintaining the school system upon inade- quate appropriations, devoted $500 to this purpose. It is very doubtful if the expenditure of an equal amount for any other educational purpose has met with more sincere appre- ciation by a group of pupils, and it is hoped that it will be found possible in the near future to establish and conduct similar classes for a larger part of the year than has hereto- fore been practicable.
EVENING INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL.
In November, 1907, the School Committee called the atten- tion of the State Commission on Industrial Education estab- lished under chapter 505 of the Acts of 1906, to the free evening industrial drawing schools maintained by the city, and requested the commission to visit and inspect these schools, to approve their location and the courses of study and methods of instruction pursued therein, to the end that the state should aid in their maintenance. The commission, however, in view of an opinion rendered by the Attorney-General, replied that it would be unable to take any action in the direction suggested, and could not legally accept any schools in operation which are now required by public statute to be maintained.
62 SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 8.
In September of the current year the Board passed an order requesting the superintendent, in co-operation with the Com- mission on Industrial Education, to formulate and submit a plan for the establishment and maintenance of an evening school of industrial training and design, with such branches as might be deemed expedient, to be conducted by the School Committee, with the aid of the Commonwealth, under the provisions of the act referred to.
The result of this action w^as the establishment of a central school for industrial training, named the Evening Industrial School, in the Mechanic Ai*ts High School-house, with branches in Charlestown, East Boston, Roxbury, and in the Public Latin School-house on Warren avenue. The course of study for this school and its branches, as finally adopted, includes free-hand, mechanical, machine, and architectural drawing, ship draughting, tool and jig making, steam engineering, and related courses in industrial mathematics.
One principal was appointed at a salary of -$8 per evening; one assistant-principal at $6 per evening; a first assistant in charge for each of the four branches of the school at a sal- ary of $6 per evening; and the compensation of the regular assistants, or teachers, was fixed at a minimum of $3 per evening for the first year of service, $4 per evening for the second year, and for the third and subsequent years of ser- vice $5 per evening.
This action by the School Committee was approved by the Industi'ial Commission, who appointed the School Committee agents of the commission in the management of this school.
Thus the free evening drawing schools, so long a part of our school system, no longer exist, but in their place has been established this new school which, with its branches, presents the same opportunities that were formerly provided in the evening drawing schools, and also offers by its broader cur- riculum and improved facilities far greater advantages than were available in the past.
The city profits in a financial way by the change as the
ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT. 63
state now assumes one-fifth of the cost of conducting the school and the finances of the School Committee are thus relieved to that extent.
EXCHANGE OF TEACHERS WITH PRUSSIA.
By an arrangement made under the auspices of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching for an exchange of teachers between this city and Prussia, Mr. Lyman G. Smith, of the High School of Commerce, is now teaching in a gymnasium at Harburg, Germany, and may in the spring be transferred to Berlin. In exchange, Dr. Johannes Adler has been accredited to the Boston schools by the Prussian Gov- ernment, and assigned to the High School of Commerce where he is now serving. Under this arrangement the visiting Boston teacher is given a year's leave of absence for study on half pay, under the provisions of the rules, and is paid by the Prussian Government 150 marks (about $37.50) a month. The visiting Prussian teacher receives no salary from his own government, but is allowed reduced rates on transportation by the influence of his government and is paid by the City of Boston at the rate of $50 per month. The influence of Dr. Adler in the High School of Commerce has been very marked. He has given a vividness and an interest to the study of the German language which it did not possess before, and which it is difficult to bring into mere book teaching of modern languages. He gives frequent talks in German on the customs, habits, and industries of his country, at the same time refer- ring to a large map which is in sight of the class. His pupils exhibit marked interest in these exercises, and give every evidence of profiting very largely by them.
This opportunity of enjoying the services of an able and skilled German teacher in a school whose special purpose is to fit its graduates to fill important positions in the commer- cial world is undoubtedly of great value and might well form a permanent feature of the work of the school.
In pursuance of this plan, a second German teacher is
64 SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 8.
expected to arrive early in 1909 and will be assigned to service in another high school.
SPECIAL CLASSES IN GERMAN.
In June a communication was received from a committee representing the principal German societies of the city, stating their wish to conduct Saturday morning classes in some school-house for the instruction in German language and literature of any child between seven and fourteen years of age who might desire to attend, no distinction being made with regard to the religion or nationality of the pupils. The United German Clubs also agreed to assume all the expense of conducting these classes and desired only that the School Committee should allow the use of three class rooms in a school building conveniently located. Subse- quently, the petitioners interested in this movement reorgan- ized under the name of the United German School Alliance of Boston, and established classes in three rooms in the Wyman School-house, Jamaica Plain, on Saturday morn- ing, September 19. The success of the movement far exceeded the expectations of its promoters. The accommo- dations provided proved from the start absolutely inade- quate, and, with the approval of the School Committee, the use of six rooms in the Lowell School-house was granted instead of the three rooms in the Wyman School-house, and the classes were at once transferred. The progress of this interesting and somewhat novel departure in this city at least, will be watched with much interest.
BOSTON SCHOOL BULLETIN.
On June^ 1 the School Committee authorized the Board of Superintendents to issue from time to time a School Bulle- tin in printed form, the object being to allow the Superin- tendent, Assistant Superintendents, and other school officers opportunity to give to the schools such full information and facts as may tend to increase the ease and effectiveness
ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT. 65
of administration; to note the nature and desired effects of additional or changed legislation; to call attention to and describe professional activities in progress; to empha- size particularly successfu? phases of educational endeavor in Boston or elsewhere; and to outline, or to discuss, edu- cational policies. In brief the purpose of the Bulletin is to place before each member of the force the aims, purposes, and activities of the administrative and supervisory staff of the schools.
It is believed that the Superintendent's circulars which have hitherto been the only means of conveying such infor- mation cannot unaided meet conditions in a large school system. These circulars are neostyled and cannot be easilj^ and economically produced in large numbers, and they are therefore seen by a very small fraction of the teaching corps. The space these circulars afford permits only very inadequate treatment of any topic.
The Bulletin, in its time to time issues of 3,000 copies, four pages each, promises to remove an existing handicap to general efficiency, namely, the lack of means of com- munication between the Mason-street offices and the schools.
SEMI-MONTHLY PAYMENT OF JANITORS.
For many years it has been the custom to pay janitors' salaries in equal monthly installments, and this plan seemed to be acceptable to a large majority of the janitor force. In a number of cases, however, it was alleged that this method of payment worked considerable hardship to individuals, many of whom were obliged to make weekly payments to their assistants, while they received their own compensation but once a month. During the last tw^o years repeated appli- cations were made by representatives of the janitors to have the salaries paid weekly instead of monthly, and the reasons advanced in support of their desire were of considerable force. There were, however, certain difficulties in the way of making the desired change. All city employees are paid
66 SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 8.
by the City Treasurer, and the schools are visited each month by paymasters who personally pay the teachers and the janitors employed in the several buildings. To rearrange the trips of these paymasters in order that they might visit each school-house weekly would have involved a large additional expense, and have made necessary a general readjustment of their schedules. A far more serious objection was the effect the change would have upon the finances of the School Committee for the first year, which would result in the school appropriation of that particular year being charged with the total compensation of janitors for a period of thirteen months instead of twelve. This, of course, would operate only during the initial year, but would mean that the appropriations of that year, which are absolutely limited by law and cannot be increased, would be called upon to meet an additional expenditure of about $20,000. This was out of the question, as the School Committee for years has been obliged to exercise the strictest economies in order to avoid serious deficits.
Repeated conferences were held between the School Com- mittee and representatives of the janitors' association, who showed no desire to embarrass the School Committee in this respect, although maintaining the justice of their claim, which the Committee willingly admitted. An arrangement was finally adopted by which, beginning March 1, the School Committee should prepare semi-monthly pay rolls for the janitors, and the latter arrange with the City Treasurer, with the assistance of the School Committee, some con- venient way of receiving their compensation.
Under this plan the total additional expense to be borne by the school appropriation for the current financial year would be reduced from $20,000 to $10,000 approximately, and the School Committee agreed to arrange, if possible, to pay twelve and one-half months' salaries within the current year.
While the janitors were, of course, extremely desirous that
ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT. 67
their application for weekly payments should be granted, they recognized that the finances of the School Committee could not possibly in one year admit of this plan being carried into full effect, and the arrangement arrived at was in the nature of a compromise which, by the exercise of a good deal of care and economy on the part of the Committee, was successfully put into operation.
COMPENSATION OF JANITORS OF EVENING SCHOOLS.
The method of determining the compensation of janitors of the evening schools which had been in effect for several j^ears, while an improvement over the former plan, had given rise to a good deal of dissatisfaction, owing mainly to ambiguities in its provisions. Consecjuently the different constructions of the real meaning of the schedule by the accounting department of the School Committee and by the janitors affected, while petty from a financial point of view, provoked serious and perhaps justifiable complaint on the part of the janitors.
The principal objections to the plan formerly in effect were : The arbitrary decisions that it was necessary to make as to the real meaning of some of its provisions ; the difficulty of applying the schedule, making the work of computation and auditing unnecessarily long and expensive; its unfairness, in that it did not pay proportionately for work done. The Business Agent, therefore, undertook the preparation of a new schedule which was adopted by the Board, and which possessed the advantages of simplicity and fairness — simplicity, in that the janitor can easily determine for himself the amount which is due him for any period of time, thus removing a source of misunderstanding and dispute, and I'etlucing to a minimum the work of computation and auditing; and fairness, because the same rate of payment is provided for all work done.
The increase in the item of salaries of janitors under the new schedule will not exceed by more than §400 the expendi-
68 SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 8. .
tui'c of last year, assuming that the length of the evening school term and the number of buildings occupied remain unchanged.
The principal difference between the old and the new schedule is in the method of computation. Under the first plan the salary of the janitor was figured on a monthly basis, while the new plan is on a per diem basis. An evening school month is an uncertain quantity, while there can be no differ- ence of opinion as to the number of evenings the schools are actually in session.
The new plan was adopted by the School Committee in June, and went into effect with the beginning of the 1908-09 term of the evening schools.
USE OF INTOXICATING LIQUORS BY JANITORS.
It appears to be the steadily growing custom on the part of corporations employing large numbers of men, to insist upon total abstinence as a condition of employment, especially in positions in which there is a large degree of personal responsi- bility for the lives or safety of others.
While the janitors of our public school-houses as a class have been singularly free from well-grounded criticism for their use of intoxicants, and complaints of that nature have been extremely rare, the Board felt that the responsibility attaching to this position is so great, and the possibility of serious harm resulting to the children under its charge so alarming in case of intoxication on the part of a janitor in charge of perhaps a complex and important heating plant, that it should have a rule on the subject, not because it felt that such a rule was especially needed for the conduct of those already in the service, but rather to establish a definite policy in the matter. The Board, therefore, adopted the following rule for janitors and engineers on October 19, 1908:
ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT. 69
The use of intoxicants, or being under the influence of intoxicants, while on duty or on school premises, or their habitual use, or the frequenting of places where they are sold, is prohibited, and is sufficient cause for dismissal.
TRUANT OFFICER FORCE.
The duties of the truant officers are increasing each year, and in addition to investigating and dealing with cases of truancy they are now required to perform additional duties which have been imposed upon them by Legislative enactment. Among them are: Visiting workshops and mercantile establishments with reference to the illegal employment of minors ; requiring illiterates over sixteen and under twenty- one years of age to attend evening school ; exercising super- vision over minors under fourteen years of age who are licensed by the School Committee, and seeing that immigrant children of school age are promptly placed in school. They also act, unofficially, as charitable agents for the overseers of the poor, and for various philanthropic organizations and individuals in providing food, clothing, medical attendance and medicine to those in need of assistance. The work of the truant officers is very far from being limited to the ordi- nary hours of school or even a business day. Many of their evenings are devoted to calling upon the fathers of children who have come under the observation of the officers, and enlisting the interest and support of the parents in influencing their children to observe school regulations.
The fact that a large number of children of school age may be found on the streets during school hours is far from indicating any lack of efficiency on the part of the truant officer force. There are about 100,000 children in the public day schools. The sessions of all or part of the schools are suspended from time to time for various and proper reasons. For example: There may be a heavy storm in progress at about 8 o'clock in the morning, by reason of which
70
SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 8.
the no-session signal may be given, and the schools sus- pended, while later in the day, the storm may cease. On such days the number of children on the streets would be noticeable, and the reason for it forgotten or not consid- ered. There are also a number of Jewish holidays in the year, and for this reason classes composed wholly or largely of children of this faith may be dismissed, while other classes are in session. The sudden illness of a teacher and the possible inability to secure a substitute at short notice occa- sionally requires the dismissal of a particular class. There are about 17,000 pupils attending the parochial schools, and the holidays in these schools do not always coincide with the holidays in the public schools. In addition, there are days when a considerable number of children, sometimes several hundred, are excluded from school by order of the Board of Health because of possible exposure to contagious disease. The extent and variety of the duties performed by the truant officers may be seen by reference to the following statistics which are for the year ending August 31, 1908:
Truant Statistics for the Year Ending August 31,
Whole number of cases investigated by the several officers .
Number of transfer cards investigated
Number of census cards investigated
Number of immigrant cards investigated ....
Number of new pupils put into school
Number found to be truants
Number complained of as habitual truants . . . . Number sentenced to the Parental School ....
Number placed on probation
Nimiber complained of as absentees . . . . . Number sentenced to the Parental School ....
Number placed on probation
Number complained of as habitual school offenders Number sentenced to the Parental School ....
Number placed on probation
Number returned to the Parental School for violation of parole Number complained of as neglected children ....
Number placed in private homes
Number placed in charge of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
1908.
48,470
9,839
461
393
404
5,827
192
125
67
18
5
13
3
1
2
14
19
9
10
ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT. 71
Number complained of for not complying with Chapter 383,
Acts of 1906 11
Number paying fines under this act 4
Number placed on probation 7
Number complained of for not complying -nath Chapter 65,
Revised Laws 1
Number paying fines under this act 1
Number complained of for violation of city ordinance ... 5
Number paying fines 4
Number placed on probation ' . . 1
Number complained of for larceny 3
Number found guilty, sentenced, appealed to Superior Court . 3 Number of mercantile establishments inspected for the illegal
employment of minors 340
Number of children found illegally employed and returned to
school 227
Number of children found without working certificates, and
forced to procure same 113
Number of children provided Tvith shoes by the officers . . 71 Number of pieces of clothing collected and given to
needy children 17
SALARIES OF TRUANT OFFICERS.
When the Committee took up for consideration in June the schedule of salaries for teachers which, under the law, it is obliged to fix annually, it seemed advisable that the general plan which provides that practically every teacher shall enter the service on a minimum salary and advance by successive steps to a fixed maximum, should also be applied to truant officers who may hereafter be employed, and the Committee therefore adopted the following schedule for the position: First year, Sl;080; annual increase, $80; maximum, $1,400, which is the salary of the officers already in the service.
LICENSED MINORS.
An act was passed by the Legislatui'e in 1902 (Chapter 531) providing that the issue of licenses to hawkers, pedlers, and bootblacks under the age of fourteen years in the City of Boston should be vested in the School Committee instead of in the Board of Aldermen, as had previously been the case. The number of licenses issued under this act has steadily
72 SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 8.
increased from year to year. In 1908 3,057 licenses were granted to minors under the age of fourteen as compared with 2,447 licenses issued in 1903, the first full year after the passage of the act.
The exercise of proper supervision and control over these licensed minors has become a matter of considerable impor- tance, and in January of the current year the Board adopted an amendment to its regulations which allowed the Superin- tendent to assign one of the truant officers to act as super- visor of licensed minors, and in February such an assignment was made.
The devoting of the entire time of one officer to this impor- tant matter has resulted in a much better enforcement, not only of the letter, but also of the spirit of the law relating to the employment of minors generally, and in the correction of some abuses that had not previously received the atten- tion their importance deserved.
It should be noted in this connection that very close and cordial co-operation exists between the Juvenile Court and school officials in dealing with the problems in which they are mutually interested.
In December the regulations relating to the issue of licenses to minors were redrafted, a number of unnecessary restric- tions and conditions existing in the old regulations elimi- nated, and the whole chapter relating to this subject improved and simplified. The more important changes made were as follows :
Badges are loaned instead of sold, and as they are thus the property of the city it is easier to secure their return after the expiration of the licenses, or for other good and sufficient reason, than if they were the property of the holder. The minimum age at which a minor might receive a license under the former regulations was ten years. This minimum has been increased one year, and no license is now issued to a boy under eleven years of age.
The old regulations prescribed no hour at which a licensed
ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT. 73
minor might begin to ply his trade. It was found that a large number of boys who held licenses failed to secure the minimum amount of sleep required to preserve their health; that going late to bed they were out at 5 o'clock in the morning, or even at an earlier hour, in order to increase their earnings. Later in the day, while in school, exhausted nature enforced her claims, and, especially during the morning ses- sions, such boys were absolutely unable to keep awake, and spent in sleep the time that should have been devoted to study. The new regulations, by prescribing that newspapers shall not be sold by licensed minors under the age of fourteen before 6.30 o'clock in the morning, seek to improve former conditions, and to insure to the boys a longer time for sleep and rest.
PROTECTION AGAINST FIRE.
The Cleveland fire catastrophe aroused great anxiety not only on the part of parents, but in the minds of the School Committee as well, as to the sufficiency of protection of the public school children of this city against a similar accident.
The Chairman of the School Committee, with the Superin- tendent, made a personal investigation of a large number of our school buildings, and the Schoolhouse Custodian was instructed to, and did make a careful examination of every school-house to see if anything had been left undone that would contribute to the safety of the inmates in the event of a fire occurring therein.
The efficiency of the fire drill was repeatedly tested in nearly every school, and the Chairman reported that after visiting unexpectedly about thirty-five school buildings located in widely separated districts, he found that the prin- cipals had conducted fire drills faithfully and efficiently, and that the order and rapidity with which the children leave the school buildings in practically every case upon the sounding of the fire-alarm signal are a great credit both to principals and to teachers. Various changes in the fire drill as generally prac-
74 SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 8.
tised, and in the mechanical means for giving the fire signal, as well as improved means of egress from school buildings were suggested and discussed in the course of the investigation, and were called to the attention of the Board of Schoolhouse Commissioners which proceeded to give them due attention.
GRADUATION EXERCISES.
Early in the spring a communication was received from the Common Council suggesting that an inquiry be made into the advisability of confining graduation exercises to the school rooms, more especially with a view to diminishing the expense to parents of children participating. The cost attend- ing the graduation of pupils both from the elementary and the high schools, is often a matter of considerable importance to parents, especially the expense of what are considered suita- ble dresses for girls, and this inquiry was welcome, inasmuch as it afforded an opportunity to take up a question to which some attention might profitably be paid. The communica- tion from the Common Council was therefore referred to the Board of Superintendents, who presented the following report on the subject:
The Board of Superintendents is of the opinion that it would be unwise to change the place of graduation exercises from the assembly hall to the several class rooms, as any slight decrease in the expense of graduation to the parents, followng such a change, would be more than offset by the loss of certain results which are highly desirable, and which come from a public graduation held in an assembly hall. A school diploma, representing as it may three, four, or eight years' work on the part of a pupil, should be awarded with appropriate ceremony and dignity. Graduation exercises held in an assembly hall possess a value and have an influence that should not be underestimated. They bring the school to the notice of the community in a manner that no other school function can; they tighten the bonds between home and school; they are an incen- tive to public spirit; they promote civic improvement and pride of citizen- ship; they foster the social and educational ideals of the community; they exert many other formative influences.
The Board of Superintendents is of the opinion that "The attending expenses to the parents of children participating in such graduation exercises," may, and ought to be diminished. Principals, teachers, and parents should unite in insisting on much less display on the part of the pupils, and on a becoming simplicity of dress.
ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT. 75
A copy of this report was sent to each school principal, with the following additional information and suggestions :
The Board of Superintendents would also remind the principals of certain customs that have in the past prevailed at the graduation exer- cises of a few schools. The present practice in some schools of prohibiting the presentation of flowers is called to your attention. If flowers are allowed, they should not be distributed to the graduating pupils while they are on the platform. Gifts, other than flowers, for the graduating pupils should not be permitted.
While recognizing that principals and teachers have done much to reduce the expenses of graduation, the Board of Superintendents would urge them to further efforts in the future.
In a certain evening school in this city last year a public-spirited woman offered a small cash prize, which was to be expended in amiice- ment for the winners, to encourage the wearing, on the evening of gradu- ation, of white dresses, the cost of each not to exceed $1. Seven pupils accomplished the end and were complimented by the principal of the school and the assistant superintendent. This year's class in the same school numbered thirty-six; of this number fourteen wore one-dollar dresses; four, two-dollar dresses, and thirteen, dresses that were left over from the previous summer. The Board of Superintendents highly approves of this simplicity in dress, and commcnfls its adoption to future graduates.
Mr. William H. Fiirber, Principal of the Prescott District, who died after a brief illness on January 24, 1908, was born at Winslow, Me., on February 19, 1859. He entered the semce of the city as a sub-master in the Prescott District on January 22, 1890. On September 8, 1896, he was elected principal of the same district, in which position he remained until his death.
Mr. Furber's eighteen years in the service of the school system of this city were characterized by a marked devotion to duty and an admirable spirit of progress. He was genial and sincere, and his loss was a very serious one to the school whose affairs he had conducted for more than twelve years.
JAMES J. STORROW, Chairman. GEORGE E. BROCK, DAVID A. ELLIS, JAMES P. MAGENIS, DAVID D. SCANNELL, M.D.
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