1948 CURRICULUM

Basic job of the schools today is similar to that of 1871, in that we still require the fundamentals of learning, namely, reading, writing, arithmetic and spelling, but methods of teaching have changed to a considerable degree because our society and mode of living have become more complex.

The elementary department realizes that a healthy child is a happy one, and they emphasize his physical growth through supervised play and exercise, as well as through studies in health and cleanliness. His intellectual growth is encouraged through the teaching of reading, writing, arithmetic, history and geography with emphasis on a knowledge of his own community. His social development demands ability to get along with others, and yet develop his own personality, respect authority, keep open minded and tolerant.

The junior high department functions on the need for special attention to the adolescent, when he must continue his basic learning with the added responsibility of adjusting himself to a larger group, and an opportunity to use his talents in a tangible way. He is given a greater chance for self-development through student government, the school paper, science projects, club groups and visits to industries. He is allowed to elect some subjects that have special appeal. Through conferences with parents, home-room teachers and counselors, he is aided in making a choice for his higher education. As member of a group, his social attitudes are important, hence an extensive recreational and social program has been planned, including athletic contests, games, parties and dances.

The senior high department continues the program of best individual needs, giving each student a good foundation for future living whether he goes on to college or into industry. There is a realization that the present graduate must know more about the world in general than he did a number of years ago. Hence he should be better equipped in understanding world problems, which involve the study of the literature of other countries, world history, geography and science. He must be physically fit to meet the tempo of business and social life thrust upon him. He must be alert to the fact that as travel becomes more common, the study of languages will become more important. Music, art and drama will have unlimited opportunities for self-expression and will gain importance with added leisure. Technical work, home economics, and commercial subjects will build background as well as specific training.

Adding richness to class work in the elementary, junior and senior high schools is the visual education program and the use of the school libraries which are staffed with trained workers, who understand the supplementary reading needs of growing boys and girls. Music and art also play an increasingly important part in the school curriculum.

The first step toward musical instruction was made November 13, 1882, when Miss Sarah Alexander, elementary teacher at Central, was given permission to put a piano in her room.

Today the Music department's primary aim is to instill in the student a love and appreciation for music, through actual participation. From kindergarten through high school he is taught techniques suitable to his range and ability. Opportunities are given in group singing by the formation of choirs and glee clubs. Solo parts are given to those with unusual talent. Visits are made to the Cleveland orchestra; and attendance at good musical productions is encouraged.

Bands and orchestras are formed from those interested in instrumental music. In the elementary grades, professional teachers are engaged in giving group instruction at a minimum charge, and often instruments are furnished free until a pupil is sure it is what he wants to learn to play.

Choirs, glee clubs, bands and orchestras are in constant demand '. for special school and community functions. These musical activities give added impetus to the fundamental purpose of the department.

The Art department also functions from kindergarten through high school, its main purpose enrichment of every-day living. In the elementary grades it is an outlet for graphic expression, and with guidance has led to the discovery of hidden talent. Making art objects out of soap, wood or plastic creates a certain stimulation only secured by working with one's hands. Painting, drawing, lettering, finger painting, paper cutting', block printing, stenciling, clay modeling or hemp designing may mean a gifted career for a few, but it does mean appreciation for a great many.

The high school offers elective courses in art for those who find it their special outlet. There are courses in design, sketching, perspective, figure drawing, lettering, poster techniques, commercial art, murals and crafts.

The Department of Research and Guidance was instituted to coordinate counseling and guidance activities in all the schools. It is headed by a Director whose functions are three-fold; first, to administer and interpret a program of modern testing; second, to study and recommend remedial measures for individual cases; third, to conduct research studies which might increase the effectiveness of instruction or improve procedures in recording and using information about pupils.

In the course of a school year the department gives over twenty thousand tests in reading, arithmetic, spelling, English, history, etc. Tests have been scored by machines which will do in eleven hours what one person could do in two thousand hours. Intelligence tests are given more often than in previous years. Pupils are tested in the first, fourth, seventh, ninth and eleventh grades, and are given personality and interest tests in high school.

The need for specialized training for handicapped children was evident in 1913, when the first school was started at Grant School with classes in handwork. It was pronounced very successful, and in 1915 a similar school was started at Garfield, followed in 1917 by another at Harrison. Today Lakewood has two special schools, one for ungraded or mentally retarded children at Harrison, many of whom improve sufficiently to take their places again with children on their age level.

The department is especially proud of the second school. Lincoln Center, one of the few in the country for training of the emotiona1ly maladjusted. These children are usua1ly very intelligent but due to some disturbance in their environment cannot compete with the normally adjusted child. They take their art, music and physical education with the other classes. Most of the day they spend in their own two classrooms under a qualified teacher who has also met the requirements for a certificate in psychology in the State of Ohio. As soon as they have improved, pupils are returned to normal school routine.

Mild and severe cases of maladjustment are often referred to a psychiatrist at Lakewood Hospital, whose services are furnished one-half day each week to agencies that need his help.

The present department of research and guidance is not limiting its activities to students, but is attempting to make it a community project. This year they are working with the parent education chairman of the P. T. A. in promoting group discussion on child behavior in home and school. Special programs on this group method are being tried in most of the schools.

A speech and hearing therapist, who has a masters degree, is aiding the department by conducting surveys of speech and hearing in a1l the elementary schools, using a pure tone audiometer to screen the hearing of children from the first to the sixth grade. The audiometer discloses loss of hearing.

In the speech survey, she uses pictures, reading material and conversation. This screening process will provide a working basis for establishing classes for children with similar difficulties.

The therapist handles all elementary cases that need individual attention, and accepts those referred to her from the kindergarten, junior and senior high. She also hopes to have adult classes in speech and hearing.

The visiting teacher works closely with the department of research and guidance. Her main objective is to clarify difficult school situations by visits to the homes and by conferences with the parents and children. Some of her duties are to arrange for home instruction for those who are mentally sound, but physically unable to attend school; to take care of placement and transportation for Lakewood children who attend Cleveland schools where special instruction is given those having sight and hearing difficulties and those permanently or temporarily crippled. Tuition is paid by the Lakewood Board of Education for children over six.

In helping a child to get adjusted the visiting teacher may sometimes find it necessary to enlist the support of community resources, such as children's agencies, psychiatric clinics, family agencies and the juvenile court. She acts as the main contact between the schools and the psychiatrist at Lakewood Hospital, who has been of inestimable help in many cases.

With the assistance of a secretary, the visiting teacher keeps the school census records and issues working permits. From July, 1947, to June, 1948, there were 733 working permits issued. During the war years they numbered about 1,900 per year.

A very important department in junior and senior high schools is the cafeteria headed by an able manager who purchases food and equipment for the three junior and one senior high schools. Each school in turn is managed by its own home economics teacher, who also conducts classes in foods. Adult employees prepare the food, and students help to serve and assist in various minor capacities.

The Cafeteria Manager aims to serve hot well-balanced nutritious lunches for as Iowa price as possible. In 1948 Lakewood School cafeterias served a special plate luncheon of a hot protein main dish, vegetable, salad and milk for thirty cents. The price in restaurants was more than twice that amount. The cafeterias have been self-supporting.

The Audio Visual Instructor supplements the elementary instruction with audiovisual material that adds interest to the subject studied. She uses sound and silent movie films, lanternslides and sets of pictures. Visits are made to the fourth, fifth and sixth grades once each week, and to the primary classes once every two weeks. In 1948, the department owned 119 films on geography, social science, arithmetic, nature study, history, health, safety, etc.

The Board of Education has purchased for each school, overhead projectors for lanternslides, classroom radios, and record.' players. The Parents-Teachers Association has provided sound movie projectors, slide film strip projectors, and opaque projectors.

The junior and senior highs supplement their curriculum with sound film secured through libraries and the state department. The projectors are manned by especially trained students.

The School Health Department is staffed by three physicians, one of whom is the director, one dentist and three nurses. One nurse is on duty at the high school each day, and the other nurses divide their days between the schools so they are on duty part of a day in each school. They refer special cases to the school doctor who comes the following morning. Duties of the medical staff are to give each child a moderate examination every other year that he attends school; to watch especially for hearing, vision and dental defects; to vaccinate against smallpox and immunize against diphtheria; to give first aid and to be on call for emergencies.

RECREATION

Recreation is very young in Lakewood. There was no official park until the dedication of Lakewood Park on July 4, 1918. It proved to be a beautiful picnic ground for families to enjoy, but no attempt was made to install play equipment or supervise play.

Following the war, churches were the first to realize the value of organized play in combating juvenile delinquency. The Women's Association of the Lakewood Congregational Church appointed a civic committee headed by Mrs. L. R. Ziemer to study the scene in 1920. They installed tennis courts and secured permission to use McKinley School grounds, with the youth activities director from the church as supervisor.

In 1921 the Lakewood Playground Association was formed, with Mrs. Ziemer as chairman. Its members raised $1,800 which the City Council duplicated. For the next two years they operated eight playgrounds. Assistance appeared from a number of new sources: the Young Men's Christian Association, Young Women's Christian Association, and the Kiwanis Club. The Kiwanians had just built a cabin in the Rocky River Valley, now officially established as a Metropolitan Park. They offered it to children for a camp. For a time the Y. M. C. A. directed a community program in church and school gymnasiums.

Organized citywide recreation started in 1925, when a one-tenth mill tax levy for recreation was passed for a five-year period. It meant an income of $15,000 which covered the salary of a director, play equipment and a supervised program for the summer. The Board of Education appointed as director George Bickford, who supervised the school and park playgrounds, and started ball leagues.

In 1930 the levy was passed again and Miss Sophie Fishback was appointed director. A winter program was instituted to include adults, who were charged a small fee for classes in gymnastics, basketball, bridge, sewing, woodshop, etc. In 1933 Wilson School was opened as a recreation center, and became very popular as a meeting place for clubs, classes, and later Red Cross and war registrations.

In 1935 the levy failed because of a required 65 per cent, instead of a majority vote as in previous years.

In 1936 the Board of Education put up a two-mill operating levy which absorbed the former one-tenth-mill recreation levy. The school recreation department has since been functioning with the Director, Charles Foster, part time helpers and a secretary.

The City furnishes and maintains the equipment in all the parks, but the Board of Education has charge of all supervision. The 1948 budget was $28,000, of which $5,000 came from small fees and $23,000 from tax money, amounting to 32 cents per capita population, one of the lowest per capita costs for recreation in the country.

The bulk of the funds are used for children's summer recreation, which includes planned programs in ten schools, junior baseball, swimming lessons at the high school pool, and supervision at many of the parks. The winter program has established dramatic clubs after school, Saturday dancing classes and supervised play on the school grounds after school hours.

For adults there are softball and baseball leagues, and the use of the pool. In winter, events are scheduled at Harding, Horace Mann and Emerson Junior Highs. Greatest activity centers at Harding, where for a small fee adults may join classes in photography, public speaking, bridge, dancing, badminton, gymnasium, sewing, wood and metal work, typing, cooking or basketball.

Emerson cooperates with the parochial schools in allowing them the use of their school building for their special programs on certain nights each week.

Harrison Junior Recreation Center has made tremendous strides in community development. It is open two evenings a week with facilities available for any youngster in the vicinity who cares to come. There are rooms for dancing, reading the latest magazines, shuffle board, ping pong, pool and even boxing.

A number of interesting projects connected with the schools deserve mention, such as the night high school, the course in good citizenship and the "Cabin in the Sky".

Night High School classes have been instituted at a minimum fee for adults interested in a certain subject, or needing credit for further study. All courses are credited and are taught by regular Lakewood High teachers, including two heads of departments. Subjects taught in recent years include English, history, mathematics, from arithmetic to calculus, commercial chemistry, physics, sewing, foundry and machine shop. Classes are held 7:30 to 9:30 P. M. Mondays and Wednesdays, and run for two fifteen-week sessions from September to May.

In 1945 the beginning of a course in "Good Citizenship" was introduced by Superintendent Paul Rehmus. It stressed courtesy and good manners, not only in schools, but in all phases of community life. Principals and their assistants, specially appointed
teachers, and a representative and interested parent from each school formed discussion groups which met regularly. From these meetings there evolved a working plan which could be adapted to curriculum use in the schools. The undertaking recognized that the task of education transcends subject matter and includes those human factors which build for normal contentment in the individual, thus making him a better citizen.

Early in 1941, students, teachers and parents conceived the idea of raising funds for a recreational center on the High School grounds, and labeled their project a "Cabin in the Sky". They fixed their goal at $20,000 and the amount was finally raised in 1947 from receipts of paper sales, sales tax stamps, donkey basketball games, bazaars, fund parties, contributions of graduating classes, and the Parent-Teacher Association. However, due to high building costs, the money has been invested until such a time as it seems wise to build. One of the most heartening aspects of the project was the zeal with which students worked, knowing that they themselves could not enjoy the cabin, nevertheless continuing unselfishly to work for those who came after them.

Today the Board of Education consists of five members serving without compensation for a period of four years. Elections are every two years in an odd year, two elected one time and three elected the next time.

Meetings are held the second Thursday of each month at eight P. M. in the Board of Education Building. The administrative functions of the schools are handled by the superintendent, who reports to the board, which is the policy-making division. Each member of the board serves on at least two of five committees: Building, Education, Finance, Recreation and Supplies.

The 1948 Board has the following members:
Clarence Fowerbaugh, President
T. D. Auble, Vice-President
T. F. McDonald
George E. Rich
Mrs. Etta F. Abernethy

Clerk-Treasurer of the 1948 board is Mrs. Gertrude Fullerton, a former board member. Only a few women have served on the Board of Education. Pioneer was Mrs. C. Lee Graber, followed by Mrs. Arthur Pyke, Mrs. A. N. Dawson, Mrs. V. G. Fullerton and Mrs. H. D. Abernethy. Mrs. Pyke was also a pioneer in the Parents-Teachers Association movement, and was the only woman ever to run for Mayor of Lakewood. She has been serving for many years as U. S. Collector of Customs in Cleveland.

Lakewood has had nine superintendents: S. H. Herriman, 1879-81; W. L. Lippert, 1882-88; C. .1. Weeks, 1888-1895; .1. M. H. Frederick, 1896-1910; C. P. Lynch, 1911-1927; Julius Warren, 19271934; George Bowman, 1934-1941; Paul Rehmus, 1941-1947, and the present superintendent, Martin W. Essex.

When Mr. Herriman was elected superintendent in 1879, his salary was $900, with a staff of four teachers. Mr. Frederick's salary in 1896 was $960 when he had 11 teachers, but by 1909 he had 68 teachers and his salary was $3,000. In 1911 Mr. Lynch was engaged at $3,600 and he had 77 teachers. Today Mr. Essex is head of a school system of 289 teachers. His salary is $9,750.

The approximate enrollment in 1890 was 215 pupils; in 1907 there were 1,105; in 1922 there were 4,865. Today there is an enrollment of 6,871.

LAKEWOOD PUBLIC SCHOOLS-EXECUTIVE STAFF-1948

Martin W. Essex, Superintendent
Samuel S. Dickey, Assistant Superintendent
Kent W. Leach, Director of Research and Guidance
Ethel K. Howard (Mrs.), Director of Elementary Education
Ada B. Beckwith, Supervisor of Art
Ralph P. Orchard, Director of Operation and Maintenance
Thelbert R. Evans, Supervisor of Music
Zara Olive Sumner, Assistant Supervisor of Music
Arthur R. Jewell, Director of Instrumental Music
Nell W. Leet (Mrs.), Visiting Teacher
Natalie D. Betts, Director of Cafeterias
Charles A. Foster, Director of Recreation
Eugene F. Roach, M. D., Medical Director
Concetta Siena, Speech and Hearing Therapist
Lucille Kenney, Visual Instruction Teacher

SCHOOLS AND PRINCIPALS

Franklin — Arthur J. Knape
Grant — Arthur .J. Knape
Garfield — Sylvia N. Kleinsmith
Taft — Sylvia N. Kleinsmith
Harrison — Donald A. Lee
Hayes — Ethel Griffiths
Lincoln — Montgomery Will
Madison — Alma E. Johnson
Lakewood Senior High — Mahlon A. Povenmire, Principal
Lakewood Senior High — Robert L. Meeks, Assistant Principal
Lakewood Senior High — Lucy Helen Kimball, Assistant Principal
McKinley — John D. Cantrell
Roosevelt — Rachel I. Bevington
Emerson Junior High — Grace Needham, Principal
Emerson Junior High — Margaret Abby Rush, Assistant Principal
Harding Junior High — Virgil A. Wallace,. Principal
Harding Junior High — Ethel Palmer, Assistant Principal
Horace Mann Junior High — Caspar C. Clark, Principal
Horace Mann Junior High — Marie A. Disney, Assistant Principal