The West Gray District #4 school students are shown here in 1918-19.
The teacher is Josephine Davis, back row, third from left.
Two years later, in the 1921/22 school year, West Gray School
only had 8 students, which was below the state minimum for
a rural school to remain open. North Gray School only had 8
students in 1921/22 as well.
Image from Gray Historical Society
This post includes materials about the rural schools in Gray, Maine as reported in the February 1922 Annual Town Report.
A resource for educators
Maine Historical Society has created companion lesson plans inspired by Teddy Roosevelt, Millie, and the Elegant Ride - These State-standard-based lesson plans are for classroom use in grades 6, 7, and 8. The lesson plans and companion vocabulary and reading activities are available as free downloads through the Seashore Trolley Museum's website at www.trolleymuseum.org/elegantride/ or Click Here.
The eight Social Studies/ELA units were also uploaded to the Maine Memory Network and are available with other statewide lesson plans for grades K-12.
The audiobook is now available Click HERE to go to the Audible page. the eBook is available Here
This blog post was created specifically to support the new lesson plan titled:
* Then and Now: Life in Maine
Objectives:
* Students will practice the skills involved in analyzing primary sources.
* Students will be able to describe life on an early 20th-century Maine family farm and how life has changed in Maine since the early 1900s.
* Students will be able to describe the differences between attending school in the early 20th century and attending school today.
This post is to provide supplemental information, images, and descriptions in support of research using the primary source of the 1922 Annual Report for the Town of Gray, Maine. The town's fiscal year of February 1921, through January 1922.
Front cover of the Annual Report
Click Here: Interview transcript: Elizabeth Megquier Whitney (1918), Miriam Bisbee (1920), & Charlotte Verrill Frost (1922) at Gray Historical Society.
Digital Maine Repository has many annual reports for many Maine communities. Teachers, instructors, parents, and students throughout Maine can search for their digitized town reports going back many years for many communities. This link will take you to the digitized annual reports for Cumberland (Gray annual reports are not available digitized in the DMR yet).
I acquired the Gray, Maine Annual Town Reports for the years, 1921, 22, 24, 25, 26, 28, & 29. I was in search of clarifying information about the name and location of the junior high school in Gray, before the Hancock School opening. The building that was formerly the Hancock School is now the Gray Public Library. Information I garnered before mentioned that the Hancock School as a Junior High had opened in 1920. So, I thought if I read through the Town of Gray Annual Reports through the 1920s, there might be some reference to the name and location of the previous junior high school in Gray. Much to my surprise, there is no mention of Hancock School in any of the Town Reports I acquired. In the Town Reports, some reference to the "Laboratory" building, next to the Pennell Institute High School, hosting junior high school classes.
Starting in the early 1920s, Gray started discussing the consolidation of the rural one-room schoolhouses and transitioning those students to a central location in the village of Gray. Read the superintendent's report below.
Report of the Superintendent of Schools
To the Superintending School Committee and the Citizens of Gray:
I herewith submit my fourth annual report of your school.
Teachers
We have been obliged to make several changes in our teaching force since last year. Miss Mary Sweetzer accepted a position in Connecticut at a much larger salary than we could offer. None of our rural teachers returned except Mrs. Edith Cobb. Frequent changes in our corps of teachers make it difficult to keep up the high standard of work which we desire as no teacher can do her best work until after she has been more than one year in a school. It is hard to improve conditions, however, for few experienced teachers wish [for] positions in small rural schools.
Something must be done or we shall soon have two classes of schools, and our rural pupils will be the losers. We need only to study the educational systems of some of the foreign countries to know what it means to have two types of schools.
Teachers' Wages
Our highest-paid teacher receives a salary of $182.00 less than the average salary for elementary teachers in Cumberland County. To secure beginners, it was necessary to pay them within $140.00 per year of the salary paid to teachers who have taught faithfully for years. In fact, a girl from last year's graduating class at Pennell was offered $18.00 per week to teach in a nearby town. Under present conditions, there is little encouragement for a teacher to remain in Gray after she has secured her training and experience.
Music
Miss Floy Pearson, our music supervisor, has made a very good start in the teaching of music in the schools. She visits each school once a week and not only teaches during the time she is in the building but also lays out the work for the regular teachers to follow until the next visit. In rural schools, the work is taught to the pupils in two divisions, each division receiving about fifteen minutes of instruction per day.
Mis Pearson says that some of the schools have shown much musical talent, while in others the ability to sing has been lacking yet nearly all the children have been interested and have worked well. She reports that the teachers have done their work faithfully, and the results have been satisfactory.
Music was not introduced until the fall term so the money raised at our last annual town meeting had paid for musical instruction from September until February. This year it is necessary to make a larger appropriation as we shall, of course, have music taught for the entire fiscal year.
There is nothing in our course of study which gives more pleasure to the individual than music. I think that most of you will consider it money well invested.
School Laws
I wish to call your attention to a few of the school laws. The state school funds are now distributed as follows: One hundred dollars for each teacher and for each transportation team which is approved by the state superintendent of schools and comes from a district closed after this law goes into effect, September 2021, three dollars for each person returned in the school census for [the] said town; a varying amount on the aggregate attendance.
"On or before the first day of September, nineteen hundred and twenty-four, all school buildings or buildings used for school purposes shall be provided with toilet facilities that shall be installed in such manner and location as to (provide) privacy, cleanliness, and supervision by teachers and that shall meet at least one of the following minimum requirements:
"(a) Flush water closets connected with sewer, filter bed, septic tanks or protected cesspool with separate compartments for the sexes, accessible only by separate passageways from school rooms or corridors."
"(b) Chemical toilets of such type and manufacture as shall be approved by the state superintendent of public schools, with separate compartments for the sexes, accessible only by separate passageways from school rooms or corridors."
"(c) Privies located in attached buildings provided with separate compartments for the sexes, accessible only by (two) separate ventilated passageways from school rooms or corridors and constructed in such a manner that the vault of said privy shall be at least ten feet from the nearest schoolroom wall and adjacent to the outside wall of said building in which said privy is located."
"The first Friday in March of each year or the school day in each year nearest that date shall be designated as Temperance Day, and in every public school in the State of Maine not less than forty-five minutes of the school session shall be set apart and used for instruction and appropriate exercises relative to the history and benefits of prohibition and the prohibitory laws, and schools to continue their work so far as practicable during the remainder of the day."
"A1 teacher of public schools in the state may close their schools and draw the same pay the same as if schools had been in session on any of the following days: Patriot's Day, April nineteen; Memorial Day, May thirty; Independence Day, July 4; Labor Day, first Monday of September; Christmas Day, December twenty-five; Thanksgiving Day, appointed by the governor and council. When any one of the (above) named holidays falls as a Sunday, the following Monday shall be observed as a school holiday, with all of the privileges applying to any of the (above) named holidays. In addition to the foregoing each of the days hereinafter named shall, upon vote of the superintending school committee of any town, be observed by teachers and pupils of the public schools of said town by an exercise appropriate thereto; such exercise to be held during such part of the school session as the teacher of each school may designate. The exercise so held shall aim to impress on the minds of the youth the important lessons of character and good citizenship to be learned from the lives of American leaders and heroes and from contemplation of their duties and obligations to the community, state, and nation of which they constitute a part. In the absence of any vote of the superintending school committee said days, hereinafter designated, shall be observed as legal holidays with the closing of schools. The days thus designated for school observance upon vote of the superintending school committee of any town shall be as follows: Washington's birthday, February twenty-two; Columbus Day, October twelve."
Repairs
Owing to the change in the school laws regarding toilets in school buildings, we did not make changes as planned in the Intermediate building. This year, either flush or chemical toilets should be installed. The East Gray building needs shingling. There are small repairs which should be made on the other buildings. I also recommend that one or two of the buildings be painted one coat.
Better Schools
A1 parents and other citizens who are really interested in the children [and] wish to give them the best possible opportunity to secure an education. The only question is, "How shall this be done?"
We hear a great deal about famous men and women who were educated in the schools of the old type. They were educated for their day and not ours. It is also true that the best teachers of that time were found in the rural schools, while now the larger wage(s) and better working conditions attract a large percentage of the best teachers to the village and city schools. Business methods have changed much during the fifty years, and if we are to fit our boys and girls to take their places in the modern world, we must make our schools modern. too.
In a town like Gray, a general plan of consolidation can be worked out in a manner that will give the children of the entire town as good a chance for education as their urban cousins. Suitable transportation wagons should be owned by the town. The Wayne wagon now used in Windham is as comfortable to ride in as an electric car.
I recommend that the schools in North, East, and West Gray be transported to the village in suitable conveyances so that the parents may have a chance to see [the] real value of consolidation. The amount which would be saved by this method would enable us to increase our school year by two weeks without any increased cost to the town. With a school year of thirty-six weeks, we could do the work in eight years better than we are now doing it in nine years in our rural schools. Therefore, we could save one full year of a pupil's school life.
(To) conform to the new law, all the toilets at the rural schools will have to be rebuilt if the schools are continued. This expense will be saved if transportation is adopted.
The above plan of consolidation can be carried out without any change in the present buildings or teaching force. (To) transport all pupils to a consolidated school, it would be very necessary to increase the size of our present building. It is for this reason that I have not recommended a full consolidation at this time.
While I have emphasized the economy of the consolidated school, we must not lose sight of the fact that its greatest advantage lies in the better opportunities it gives the pupils.
Junior High School
It has been learned that many high school subjects can be better taught if they are commenced lower in the grades. This has led many progressive places to adopt new plans in the organization. The most common one is called the 6-3-3 plan. Through the first six years, the same course of study is used as at present. Beginning with the seventh grade, some of the high school subjects are begun in an elementary form. This not only lays a better foundation upon which to build the last three years of high school but also bridges the gap (that) now exists between the ninth grade and the freshman class. The name Junior High School is given to the three years now known here in Gray as the last two years of grammar grades and the first year of high school. The last three years of high school work are called the Senior High School and have the advantages of such a school system are much better prepared when they have finished their high school course than is now possible under the old plan.
Here is a little more info on the Laboratory at Pennell
filing in as the Junior High School. This is from the
1929 Gray Annual Report - Fiscal year February
1928 through January 1929.
School Nurse and Physician
We know that pupils cannot do their best work if they are not physically fit in every way. Sometimes the parents do not notice their children's weaknesses as much as someone from outside does, especially if that someone is trained to notice such things.
We are very fortunate this year to be able to secure both Miss Best and Dr. Andrews to examine the school children. They have found out any physical defects that the children have, and in most instances, the parents have been ready to follow any suggestions that have been made.
The various phases of Miss Best's work are well known to you all. I do not need to speak of the wonderful work she is doing, either, for most of you are fully aware of it as I am. Every day or two, I meet someone who says, "I don't know how we ever got along without Miss Best." For particulars of her last year's work, I refer you to the Red Cross report which is found in another part of the Town report.
The first page of the Red Cross report is mentioned above.
The second page of the Red Cross report.
Co-Operation
The keyword of success is cooperation. With all of the citizens working toward one end, better schools, we can make the schools of Gray second to none [in] the state.
I wish to thank the Superintending School Committee, the Teachers, and other Citizens who have aided me in my work. Whatever success we have had is due to your co-operation.
Respectfully submitted,
Charles E. Varney
Superintendent of Schools
Tabular Statement
Enrollment Average Cost @Pupil@Week
School Fall Term Teacher Annual Salary Weekly Salary Instruction & Transportation
Laboratory 33 Mertelle K. Snow $680.00 $13.08 $0.61
Intermediate 30 Virginia Gates $680.00 $13.08 $0.70
Primary 28 Elizabeth Stiles $680.00 $13.08 $0.71
North Gray** 8 Alice Sweetser $544.00 $10.46 $2.00
East Gray 11 Eleanor Russell $612.00 $11.77 $1.64
South Gray 22 Marguerite Morrill $578.00 $11.12 $1.05
West Gray** 8 Edith Cobb $612.00 $11.77 $2.25
Dry Mills 13 Susie Spiller $612.00 $11.77 $1.38
** These schools will not maintain a lawful average and will be closed unless kept open by a special vote of the town.
The following appropriations are recommended for the common schools.
Common schools, $4,200.00
Common school books, 275.00
Common school supplies, 150.00
Music supervisor for common schools, 400.00
Some amount should be raised for putting the toilets in a condition to conform to the law. The amount depends upon the number to be built this year.
Charles E. Varney
Secretary School Committee
Students in Gray attended Pennell Institute for high school.
The Pennell Institute is seen on the left in this image. Pennell
also built the building on the right, the Laboratory. For
several years, the Laboratory hosted Gray students attending
junior high school. Photo from Gray Historical Society
Report from the principal at Pennell Institute.
15 students graduated from high school in 1921.
Report from the University of Maine on the academic standings of the
Freshmen from Gray in 1921.
Gray School Committee Report - pg 1
School Committee Report - pg 2
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We continue the restoration work on the 1912, Narcissus, the only surviving high-speed, luxury interurban coach of the Portland-Lewiston Interurban.
Click Here: Narcissus Restoration-Related Posts
Being more than a century old, the stately, "Elegant Ride," Narcissus, is a gem. This shimmering precious stone of Maine transportation history is brilliantly resplendent as it emanates so many elements of history, including; time, places, people, and events, that it was coupled to, that when just a smattering of its seemingly innumerable stories are shared, the contents captivates, fascinates, then generates, interest to learn more 🙋. The majestic Narcissus is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Please consider joining the epic journey to complete the Narcissus Project by making a donation today!
Click Here: Donation Options
The restoration of this majestic icon of Maine's electric railway history is but one in a series of captivating stories containing an abundance of incredible coalition of narratives.
Click Here: History-Related Posts - Narcissus and Portland-Lewiston Interurban
The Narcissus is featured in the national Gold Award-winning novel, Teddy Roosevelt, Millie, and the Elegant Ride. The "Elegant Ride" is the Narcissus. Theodore Roosevelt was a passenger on the Narcissus on August 18, 1914, between Lewiston and Portland, Maine, while campaigning for the Progressive Party candidates.
Click Here: Bookstores and Businesses promoting the Narcissus Project
Independent book publisher, Phil Morse, holding
the Gold Book Award Winner plaque for
the Middle Reader category for The Eric
Hoffer Book Award. Congratulations to
award-winning Maine author,
Jean M. Flahive
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.