1866-1867 School Committee Report

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10 11 school, we should set this end above that of familiarity with among the children have come to our notice. The machinery has moved with regularity, and only average friction. Still, the niceties of grammar. we feel that a great deal more life and effectiveness might be attained by the hearty zeal and devotion of teachers to their TRUANTS. most interesting and responsible work, aided by a wise and Quite a number of instances of repeated truancy have been well-tempered interest in parents and children. We look for reported to the Committee during the year, and we have used better things to come than any yet attained. The town has such means as we had to remedy the evil. At the recent met the demands of the time with commendable liberality. Town Meeting, truant officers were appointed, as the law re- For some time it has grown more and more evident, that we quires; and thus is provided the requisite machinery for could not continue to command the services of able teachers giving effect to the by-laws on this subject, adopted by the for such pay as we have been giving. Lexington cannot, town and printed in the last Annual School Report. We perhaps, compete with the larger business places around her; hope that a firm yet careful use of legal force will prevent but neither ought she to be willing to sink to any lower rela- any repetition of this most injurious practice. tive rank than she has hitherto held in regard to her schools f and the provision made for them. The recent liberal appro- priation of five thousand dollars will, we trust, prove suffi- GLASS BREAKING. cient to secure to all.our schools able, diligent, and successful A very needless amount of expense has accrued to the teachers. town from the great amount of glass broken in the school- The usual tabular statements, and Report of the Book houses. This has been done mostly in vacation time, or on Agency, are appended. those days in which there is no school. A considerable part of the mischief is done in the windows of the basements or cellars, and much of it evidently in wanton mischief. Some REPORT OF BOOK—AGENCY. of the school-houses, the West one especially, are so placed as to afford mischievous children an opportunity of injuring Book-Agency to Town of Lexington,Dr. them, without much danger of being seen. It is a question To books and cash, April, 1866 . . . . . . $75.00 whether it would not be advisable to close a part of the win- $75.00 dows in these basements entirely, and to protect the others Cr. with blinds or shutters. Some such change may also be ex- 57 pedient as a better protection to the town's fuel, which is By books furnished indigent children, 1866-7 $16..36 stored in these places, and which,there is reason to think,has » » „ teachers' desks, „ „ ink and crayons furnished schools „ 13.8080 in some cases been wrongfully carried away. „ amount of books on hand March 27, 1867 75.00 $113.73 On a general review of the year, the Committee feel jus- tified in crediting the teachers, as a whole, with fidelity and Balance due Book-Agency . . . . $38.73 industry. No extreme instances of irregularity or ill-behavior H. HOLMES, Agent. APRIL 1,1867. f