Gilbertsville Central Rural School - Yearbook (Gilbertsville, NY)

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Several of the departments and innovations established since centralization deserve special commendation. One hun- dred and seventy-four, or 60 per cent of our- student body, have been transported daily either by the three district owned busses or bythe tive cars under private contract. Through along severe winter the trips have been made successfully twice each day, the children arriving at school and returning home dry warm and comfortable The drivers certainly deserve to feel justly proud of this achievement. Our Music Department has been thoroughly trained under the competent direction of Mrs. Waterman. We are hoping to have a larger orchestra next year. Once established it should be a real source of pride and inspiration to our school and community: We are very grateful to Dr. and Mrs. Fuller and to the entire cast of Piuafore , which was so successfully presented in this and other towns last winter, for their very generous gift of money which is to be used for the purchase of musical instru- ments. A iifekand drum corps has been suggested as a com- panion organization to the orchestra and glee clubs and if such an idea meets with the approval of the students one will be or- ganized if possible. It is planned next year to recommence the extension of regular musical training, as well as the supervision of physical education to all the branch schools. The employ- ment of Mr. Stowell will, no doubt, make this possible. The Commercial Department under the leadership of Miss Slocum continues to be successful and popular with many of the High School students. It oifers a complete course leading to a commercial diploma or valuable elective courses, the fore- most of which are typewriting, commercial arithmetic and in- troduction to business. The Agricultural and Homemaking Departments are now organized on a half time basis and next year the teachers will be employed jointly with Mt. Upton Central School. These departments oifer courses leading to the vocational diplomas or as electives giving credit toward any of the State academic diplomas. We welcome Miss Lyon and Mr. Eskeli to our schools. Miss Lyon will live in Gilbertsville and Mr. Eskeli in Mt. Upton. Both will have cars so that Home Project work may be supervised and 4-H Club work be introduced again particulariy among the younger students in the branch schools. 9

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is concerned primarily with building and maintaining a health- ful student body and not with coaching athletic teams, although the latter duty is not a minor one and is sorely needed by our school. Two instances of the co-operation of outside organizations with our schools are worthy of special mention in this report. The first is the home instruction being given to Robert Cran- dall by Mrs. Tillson of the Hakes School. Robert is a cripple, unable to leave his wheel chair, but he is progressing rapidly with his studies and much happiness is coming into his life as a result. This home teaching is made possible through the Crippled Childrens Bureau of the State Department of Edu- cationj and much. 'credit is due Superintendent Preston for securing their aid. The second is the purchase of glasses for several of the students whose eyesight is impaired. This was made possible through the generosity of the local chapter of the American Red Gross. It is surely a very praiseworthy and sensible use of funds and is in line with the best traditiiins of this great organization. 3 For many years educators have advocated the study of Civics in our schools as a means for iuculcating the principles of free government was laid down by the founders of our Re- public. ' Of late thissubject has been the object of the closest scrutiny with the result that the content has been modified to meet the needs of present day conditions. The fundamental concepts are retained but the right relationship between the citizen and his family, his neighbors and his community are now stressed more than ever before. This teaching has prac- tical applications in school government, school f clubs and school athletics in which students are given a larger and larger con- trol. Another result has been the institution of courses in Ed- ucational and Vocational Guidance -and in Economic Citizen- ship in our curriculum. In these +the study of thrift makes up an important part. One of the concomitants of the latter may well be the establishment of a school bank, in which students may actually start an account and regularly-vdeposit their sav- ings however small they may be. I believe -lthat such an en- terprise could be carried out successfully, in this school and would be well worth the eifort. 1 ' 8

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n Text books were furnished by the school in the first and second grades last year. The plan was very successful from the learning standpoint and I believe met with the full ap- proval of the parents. I recommend that this plan he extended to the third and fourth grades next year and to the rest of the school as soon as practical. It is entirely feasible from an economic standpoint and certainly increases the efficiency of a class so equipped. In many communities Parent-Teacher Associations are active and give a great impetus to Worth while activities leadil g to a better school system. I feel that such an organization here would do much good. There are constant challenging problems to discuss and solve, particularly since centralization has brought together a much larger school unit. In closing, a Word of appreciation to those members of the faculty who are leaving us is most certainly due. Mrs. Deitz, Miss Tarnsett, Miss Gregory, Mrs. Waterman, Mrs. Holden and Mr. and Mrs. Neher have each given to our school several years of valuable and efficient service. I am sure that the boys and girls they have helped so much join with me in wish- ing them every success in new fields of work. 10