Newton Schools history, part 7: Emerging from Great Depression and World War II as one of America’s best high schools

In the early 20th century, Newton was known throughout the state and nation for its innovative public school system, with high educational standards and cooperative officials. In 1930, Boston University’s School of Education contracted with Newton Public Schools (NPS) for their students “to see progressive principles of education at work under the ordinary conditions of public schools.”[1]

The Association of American Soap selected NPS for a Hand Washing Study to test their equipment and supplies under everyday conditions. Four 6-foot sinks, powdered soap dispensers, and paper towels were installed in 8 schools. The soap study concluded that handwashing before eating lunch and “after the toilet” could not become a regular part of school because of the limited time available and the expense.

The Great Depression

The city was in the throes of the Great Depression. Unemployed workers led by an “alleged Communist” marched on City Hall. Among their demands were “free hot lunches at school and shoes for their children.”  The Junior High Schools (7th, 8th, and 9th grade) and High School (10th, 11th, and 12th grade) had cafeterias that sold lunch. The elementary school children were expected to go home for lunch until after World War II, when a cafeteria was added to Hyde School. 

In 1932, parents petitioned the school committee for a bus to take their children across the busy streets of Beacon and Commonwealth. Motorized vehicles had replaced horses, streetcar routes were being converted into bus lines, road regulations were under development, and traffic deaths were soaring. In 1931, Massachusetts had 1,009,876 registered vehicles and 199 children killed in traffic. (As a comparison, in 2023, there were an estimated 5.2 million vehicles and six children killed.) Massachusetts law allowed school committees to purchase safety patrol belts for “pupils aiding in the directing of traffic as a means of providing additional safeguards for pupils in crossing public ways.” The school committee voted to put police officers, not fifth and sixth graders in the roads. (In 1935, the law was amended: “school patrol leaders shall not direct vehicular traffic.”) Eventually, Newton had both police and student safety patrols helping younger children across streets. The State Board of Education wanted high schools to implement driver’s education. New drivers aged 16 to 21 had the highest number of crashes. Once again, the school committee decided against it because of time and cost constraints. Driver’s education would have to wait until 1947, when Teacher Edwin Wiest began a one-credit elective class. 

In 1933, all City employees, including teachers, took a 7.5% pay cut. Despite the financial constraints, NPS maintained its music, art, kindergarten, and summer vacation school, which was now for children “failing in one or more subjects.” Only seven Massachusetts school districts had vacation schools. A new guidance department was established, with a psychologist and counselors to provide educational and career guidance to high school students and promote ‘healthy mental attitudes’ and ‘normal social development’ in elementary school students.

In 1935, a new State law aimed at preventing the infiltration of communism required public school teachers to swear an oath to uphold the Constitution. The Massachusetts Teachers Association opposed the law. Day Junior High School’s Principal Russell Burkhart was among the educators, union leaders, and prominent citizens who signed a petition to the State House to repeal the law. The law was strengthened in 1949 to include a requirement to promise not to support violently overthrowing the government, and it remained in effect until 1967. Principal Burkhart remained at Day through the 1940s.

Newton students took standardized national tests, such as the Metropolitan Achievement Tests, every other year beginning in first grade. Testing in 1937 found that students were performing better than the national average in reading but worse in math. (NPS used the Adeline system to teach reading, which combined sight word memorization with phonics exercises.) Only 24% of students were doing “as well as expected” by the end of sixth grade. Most were 7 to 8 months behind the national norm. “Yet the median intelligence quotient of the sixth grade of Newton as of April, 1936, was 103, which is definitely above average.” Newton revised its math curriculum with a focus on “material that is of practical use in life” and math drills to increase proficiency once “ideas and processes were understood.”

Students had “flexible subject matter grouping within each grade [that] makes it possible for each pupil to move at a rate of speed to which he as an individual can adjust” until 9th grade. Junior High School offered a variety of elective courses for the students to sample before tracking began into college prep, business, or trade studies. 

Entry to the Trade High School (formerly called the Technical High School) became more selective. Boys with “little or no aptitude for mechanical lines of work” were eliminated from consideration so that “teachers, pupils, and the public no longer look upon the Trade School as a ‘dumping ground’ for academic, emotional, attendance, and behavior problems.”

There were special classes for students who were three or more years behind their peers. The special classes had three goals: 

1. A positive change in personality by removing “the undeserved stigma or taunt of inferiority which they have felt in the competition in regular grades.” 
2. “Prevention of delinquency” through the provision of the “special educational help that they need.” 
3. The development of “a citizen who is able to support himself partially or completely.”

In 1937, Newton School Committee (SC) elections changed from overlapping three-year terms to biannual. Similar to today, the mayor was on the SC, Ward members were elected at large, and meetings were open to the public. School Committee members served without pay and filled their own vacancies until the next citywide election. The superintendent was the executive officer of the SC, responsible for supervising staff, developing curricula, selecting textbooks, and organizing schools, subject to SC approval. That same year, the SC approved a ten-year school building plan to rebuild or replace the oldest elementary schools. The Federal grants from the Works Progress Administration had helped fund the construction of Carr and Oak Hill schools, as well as additions to Angier, Day, and Bigelow. However, many of the older buildings remained in dire shape, with some still featuring bathrooms in their basements. 

World War II

The school building plans were put on hold by World War II.

Beginning in July 1940, the Trade School workshops operated 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, as part of the War Production Training program. In November, “tradition gave way to necessity,” and women began training to release men for the battle lines. Newton was the first place in Massachusetts to train women. Men, women, and high school students learned welding, auto mechanics, and radio equipment repair. Women, including some who were blind, were trained in light manufacturing or as inspectors at the Pierce and Hamilton schools. Teachers and pupils learned first aid, raised money for war bonds, and practiced air raid drills. 

Although the student population stabilized during the war, enlistments and new opportunities from a revived economy created a teacher shortage. Teacher salaries, nearly 80% of the school budget, were revised to decrease the annual step rate for teachers not at maximum wage, “which bears little or no relationship to the individual teacher’s professional training and competence,” and recognize advanced professional training and “the larger financial responsibilities of married men.”

By the end of the war, Newton had trained 6,460 people and received letters of appreciation, including a citation from the Army for the production of new Howitzer guns: “Fifteen women trainees, working to .001 inch tolerance, did the job. Under magnifying glasses at times, it was done with exactness and precision, with speed and accuracy.”

After the war, Newton established within the high school building a high school class for veterans whose education had been disrupted, and a two-year junior college for veterans and others unable to gain admittance to the college of their choice because of crowded conditions, to help them “avail themselves of the so-called G.I. Bill of Rights.” (The junior college was located within the high school building.) The 1946 High School Yearbook lists 154 names of men who died during the war. 

The schedules of the Trade School and Classical High School were synchronized, allowing students to take classes in both schools. Trade School students could now receive a high school diploma and participate in extracurricular activities:

Newton’s student population and reputation continued to grow. The 1937 school building plan was revised. Five of the 22 elementary schools would be rebuilt as fire-safe with modern plumbing. Three would be removed entirely. Three new schools were proposed for the booming Oak Hill area and one for Chestnut Hill. The goal was to have schools within a ½-mile walking distance for elementary school students. The idea of a second high school in South Newton was once again floated, in part to alleviate dangerous traffic and parking problems, “aggravated by the daily arrival and departure of 48 school buses.”[2]  

In 1946, Look magazine placed Newton High School on “An Honor Roll of American Public Schools — 100 of America’s Best Schools as Polled by State Superintendents and Other Prominent Educators in the United States.” Newton was the only New England high school on the list. 

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1. Quotes without links are from the Newton Public School’s Annual Report for the year given. NPS Annual Reports are held at the Newton Free Library. [back]
2. Newton Public Schools (1948), School Building Needs, Newton Trade School Press, 9. [back]

Next: Newton hosts a White House Conference on Education during a blizzard and pilots “New Math” in the high school.