1862-1863 School Committee Report

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6 been necessary to move up successive classes from the Pri- mary before they had proceeded as far as we consider it desi- rable they should before going into the Grammar School. This burdened the latter school with a greater number of classes than is consistent with its greatest efficiency ; and still the relief afforded to the other school was entirely inadequate, as the above statement of numbers shows. The Primary room is provided with but sixty seats ; and even that number is quite beyond what is required by a due consideration for the health of the pupils, the efficiency of the instruction, or the strength of the teacher. We judge that fifty is the ex- treme number of pupils that ought to be in the charge of one teacher. This difficulty is not one of sudden growth ; it has been coming on for several years ; and there is no reason to think it will prove transient. No important relief is attainable by sending a portion of the pupils to other schools. Thus the subject of a farther division of this school is forced on us. The possibility that such a step would become neces- sary was contemplated when the present schoolhouse was built ; and a third room was secured in the rear of that now used by the Primary School. This room has not been finished. We recommend that it should be finished and furnished for a third department, in which the scholars, as they enter, can be placed for the first two years, more or less, and taught those elements which can receive only very slight attention in the Primary School as it now is. Two plans have been sug- gested : one, to finish the room as it is, dimensions, when finished, about fourteen by thirty feet ; the other, to en- large it, by carrying out the rear wall, to a size about equal to that of the Primary -school room. DISTRICT SYSTEM. Some small relics of this system still linger among us. Dur- ing the year, two districts have had Prudential Committees. In all the other schools, the General Committee have attended to the duties formerly devolving upon the Prudential Commit - 7 tees. Assuming that these duties have been equally well attended to by the two classes of officers, it may be said that this small remainder is just enough to interfere with a sys- tematic order of school -business on the part of the School Committee. Simplicity, economy, and harmony would be promoted by having one set of officers responsible for the whole charge of the schools. As the districts have shown a steadily increasing want of interest in district meetings and in the appointment of Prudential Committees, if the town should vote to continue the district system, it might be advisable to have the Prudential Committees chosen by the town in town - meeting, so as to secure uniformity. There is no doubt that the interests of education may be well served under either system ; but it seems to be obviously the tendency at the present time to prefer that which throws the labor and the responsibility undivided upon the School Committee of the town. HIGH SCHOOL. We have no change to report in regard to this school. We feel sure that it has been rapidly advancing in the general es- teem ; that it was never more popular, never more valued, than now, We believe it to be fully worthy of this general regard ; that it is an institution of very great value to the town ; that it does for its pupils much of good that just the same instruction could not do for them if they were scattered in little groups through the other schools ; and that its influence is felt not to depress, but to stimulate, all the schools in town. The num- ber of pupils has been somewhat less than during the pre- vious year ; but the same remarkable constancy in attendance, cheerfulness in study, thoroughness, and good order, have continued unabated through the year. During the last term, there has been some sickness, causing more absences than be- fore ; yet the average attendance is at the very high rate of more than ninety-seven per cent. The parents of the pupils know how great is the interest felt by thein in the school, and that it is based on a deep and earnest desire to come up to