1851-1852 School Committee Report

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is secured there is reason to apprehend that the principal ob- ject for which the school money is appropriated is not gained. During the past winter the School has been taught by Mr. James Crocker. While in operation, certain acts of insubor- dination on the part of the larger boys, which resulted in their final expulsion, led the Committee to fear lest its success would be little more than passable. But on the examination, they were happy to find, that, notwithstanding the difficulties to which we have referred, the School had made a very commen- dable degree of improvement, giving very satisfactory evidence of thorough instruction. NORTH DISTRICT. For good depormtent and quietness, this School is invariably to be commended. Though not the most advanced of your Schools, still, it stands well in view of the age of the pupils. And the Committee are happy to speak in praise of the labors of Miss Lucy B. Fiske, who taught the last summer and has been the teacher for a series of terms. To her earnest and af- fectionate efforts, much of the good order and respectful ap- pearance of the School is doubtless to be attributed. Under the instruction of Mr. Elijah M. Hussey, the School of the past winter made a fair degree of improvement. WEST DISTRICT. Miss Mary A. Hartwell had the charge of the School during the summer. Her tact in government, perhaps, was not quite up to her position ; although the Committee think that a fair degree of co-operation on the part of the parents would have enabled her to have maintained better order. For the past winter Mr. Charles Tidd has been the teacher. He seems to have a peculiar fitness for that locality, if we are to judge from the length of time that he has been employed by the District. He probably knows the condition and wants of the School better than any other person ; and from the highly satisfactory manner in which the last examination passed off, we judge him to be better qualified to discharge the duties of teacher to that School than any body else. V SOUTH DISTRICT. No one of our Schools enjoyed a longer term of instruction than this during the summer. Nor do the Committee think the term to have been unprofitably protracted, in as much as they do not perceive that there was any waste of time. Hitherto the order -of the School had been notoriously bad, and, as a necessary consequence, the progress was not what it might have been. But under the effective government and judicious training of Miss Maria A. Merriam, good order was restored and a very commendable progress made. Miss Ann Weston had charge of the School the past winter. And we judge that the instruction for the most part was pretty thorough, and a middling degree of success attended the School. While in the enjoyment of a somewhat expensive, and quite commodious house, the Committee would suggest the necessity of a little more vigilance on the part of the District, by way of preventing any injury to the house that may arise from the rough play of the larger scholars. Let the one who is guilty of marring or defacing the rooms in any way, be ferreted out, and no pains be spared to have ample amends promptly made by his parents or friends. EAST DISTRICT, Embracing two departments -- the Primary and Grammar — the School has enjoyed the last year the uninterrupted la- bors of Mr. L. B. Hannaford and Miss Susan E. Rice. We think we have here an example of the good effects of retaining the same teachers for a series of terms. Providing, we would have it understood, that as good satisfaction is given in all cases as in the present one. With no intention of at all under- rating the other Schools, much less of making an invidious comparison, the Committee would say, that for proficiency in the several branches of study, promptness and accuracy in re- citations, and general excellence, this School stands at the head