1847-1848 School Committee Report

Browse Search

REPORT. THE Superintending School Committee of Lexington, for the year 1847-4.8, in submitting their Annual Report, are called upon to recognize the hand of Divine Providence, by which Rev. Jason Whitman, who was the chairman of the board, has been removed from the scene of his earthly labors, and this town has been deprived of the counsel of an efficient friend to the cause of education. He died at Portland, Me., Jari. 25, 1848, and was taken away at a time when his advice and his services were of the highest importance. Whilst we would humbly resign our- selves to this afflictive dispensation, it is our earnest hope, that a due regard for his memory niay serve to hallow, in all hearts, the interests of the young in our community, to which he was devoted. We will endeavor to discharge the duty, which now devolves upon us, of rendering to the town some account of the condition of our schools during the past year. It should be remembered that, although each one of your committee has felt it a duty to be personally cognizant of each school, yet the duty of keeping a distinct record of them all belonged to the chairman of the board, and, therefore, our report cannot be so full and complete as it might otherwise have been. The following Tabular views will furnish a correct statement, as to the number of weeks the various schools have been in operation ; the teachers who have been employed in them; the number of scholars who have belonged to them, and their av- erage attendance; the wages and board of the teachers; and the number engaged in the various branches of study.