Scarborough High School - Four Corners Yearbook (Scarborough, ME)

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DUNSTAN SCHOOL .......-.....-..? 'WTF ' v Q OAK HILL GRAIVIMAR SCHOOL

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THE FOUR CORNERS 5 was graduated from Portland High School in 1887, following which he attended Bow- doin College, later transferring to Dart- mouth from which he was graduated in the Class of 1891, completing his college course in approximately three years. He also studied piano under Hermann Kotseh- mar, in whose memory the City Hall organ was given by Cyrus H. K. Curtis. Mr. Heald moved to Scarboro in 1893. purchasing the Captain Thornton place at Oak Hill, where he has lived ever since. At the time of its purchase, the property included the land later bought by Mr. John Edwards and Mr. Abram Hodgman, also the land now owned by Mr. Vliiford White and that part of the former H. J. Libby estate between Route 1 and the side road leading to the present brick grade building opposite the Heald home. For a while he was engaged in farming, later turning to educational work, where he surely found the proper outlet for his great ability. When Mr. Heald first took over the schools of Scarboro. there were ten rural schools and the high school. Grammar grades and primary were housed on the first floor and the high school on the second floor of the building now commonly called 'fthe white building. All these buildings were one-room except the 'fwhite build- ing. The high school had but two teachers at that time. and in case of teacher ab- sence, Mr. Heald himself occasionally sub- stituted. In those days it was the custom for a pupil wishing to enter college to take further preparatory work at some other school, a practice which has now practi- cally ceased, Of the ten rural schools, three, namely, Black Point, Seottows Hill, and Beech Hill have been closed, and 'the others either replaced or remodeled and given proper seating accommodations, lighting, and city water as far as possible. All of the schools have electric lights and the larger units have the telephone. The first step in general school improve- ment was the division of the buildings at Black Point, llunstan, and Beech Ridge to provide for separation of Primary and Grammar grades. ,Next the North Scarboro School was remodeled into a model rural school to fully satisfy state requirements. The physi- cal improvements included lighting from the left. new toilet facilities. division into two rooms, and the introduction, shortly thereafter, of a helping-teacher system. At the dedication of the remodeled school, Governor Baxter and State Superintend- ent of Schools, Dr. Augustus 0. Thomas. later head of the World Federation of Education, were present. Then new model rural schools were built at Blue Point, and a few years later at Pine Point. The old llunstan School was closed and the build- ing turned over to the American Legion. A new two-room building was then erec-ted on the town lot at the juncture of Route 1 and the Payne Road. This in turn was recently replaced by the beautiful new building erected on the outer corner of the same lot in 1945. One of Mr. Heald's first concerns was the bolstering of the foundations of the school system by the strengthening of the elementary schools. This process included equalizing the pay of all elementary teachers and improving teaching condi- tions especially in the outlying units. Mr. Heald continually urged the raising of teachers' pay and was very much gratified when a state law raised the minimum sal- ary for teachers to 341,000 annually. The wisdom of this policy was fully justified when during the recent war the teachers of Scarboro stuck by their profession instead of deserting it for more lucrative positions. The improving of thc physical equip- ment of the schools has already been- spoken of. Helping teachers were sent to Castine, the Educational Plattsburgf'

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THE FOUR OORNERS 7 through the help of a 25? bonus from the state, and in turn. the teachers thus trained agreed to return to the rural schools. Among those sent were Bliss l.ena Sher- man, Catherine Bartlett, and Glennys Knapp. This was a great stimulus in bringing up rural schools. Mr. lleald has kept constantly in touch with all the trends in education, and has consistently taken advantage of every outside assistance to benefit our schools, such as the Smith- llughes Act, which provided Federal funds to assist in maintaining the Voca- tional Arts courses. When the superin- tendency was taken over by Mr. Heald only one elementary teacher was a gradu- ate of Normal School. Now at the conclu- sion of his career, the entire teaching staff has had either college or normal training, and ma11y, in addition, have earned extra degrees by taking summer school courses. The staff has increased from twelve ele- mentary and two high school teachers to twenty-one elementary, eight high school, and a music teacher. Several of his teachers have bee11 with him more than twenty-five years, certainly a tribute to the deep affection which his fellow workers bear him. ln turn, Mr. lleald has paid tribute repeatedly to the fine professional spirit of his teachers. A high spot in Mr. Heald's long career was the construction of our present high school, a building which is rapidly being outgrown by its student body. At the time the high school was built, it was far in ad- vance of the high school buildings of neighboring towns. Hy instituting their own building programs, they have now out- distanced us, and an examination of the prospective entering classes show us that a. new building program must be under- taken in the not remote future. lVe regret deeply that this could not have been started during Mr. Heald's superintcndency and thus cliniaxed his notable achievements in behalf of our schools. The new brick grade building at Oak llill originally was designed to provide four rooms, but the unusual growth of the elementary schools soon demonstrated the inadequacy of the building and two other rooms were fitted out in the basement to take care of the overflow. The building, however, made it possible to effect a further regrouping of classes at the Hwhite School and this building has also been re- modeled with an activity room and class room for sub-primary in the basement. The llunstan School, built in 19-15, is a splendid addition to our school buildings. It contains besides six class rooms. an auditorium, a cafeteria managed by the P. T. A., a large library, a large teachers' room, supply room and toilet facilities on each floor, a great improvement over the usual basement arrangement.. It is a school which should be the object, of the greatest possible pride to the citizens. The old school building and the police barracks are to be removed from the site, thus making possible further beautification of the grounds Hllll the development of a fine playground. All the building projects have resulted in rather an advanced centralization of the school system making better grading ar- rangements and decreasing the teacher- load by reducing the excessive number of classes the grade school teachers used to carry in the good old days. School buses have contributed greatly to the program. N ow only four rural primary schools are left. There are no grades above the fourth in any rural school. It has always been Mr. Heald's dream to have bus service pro- vided for high school students, a feature not compulsory at present under the school laws of the state. ln addition to Mr. Heald's years of service in Scarboro, he was also for seven- tee11 years, superintendent of Old Orchard as well. lVhen Dr. Thomas became State Superintendent, lllr. llcald was the first superintendent in the state to have a con- ference with him, this concerned the re- organization of schools in Old Orchard.