Dedham Public Schools
The Dedham Public School System is a PK–12 graded school district in Dedham, Massachusetts. It is the oldest public school system in the United States.
History
On January 2, 1643, the town meeting set aside land for three public purposes: a school, a church, and a training field. Two years later, on January 1, 1645, by unanimous vote, the Town of Dedham authorized the first taxpayer-funded public school in the United States, "the seed of American education." It is believed the success of Dedham's school helped convince the Great and General Court to enact a law mandating schools in every community. Dedham's delegates to that body also served on the local School Committee.The early residents of Dedham were so committed to education that they donated £4.6.6 to Harvard College during its first eight years of existence, a sum greater than many other towns, including Cambridge itself. By the later part of the 17th century, however, a sentiment of anti-intellectualism had pervaded the town. Residents were content to allow the minister to be the local intellectual and did not establish a grammar school as required by law. As a result, the town was called into court in 1675 and then again in 1691.
School was held year round, with students attending from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the summer and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the winter. Initially held in the village center, the school began travelling around town as families moved to outlying areas. From 1717 to 1756, school was held in different parts of town according to population and taxation. In 1762, for example, it was held in the village for 166 days, in South Dedham for 79 days, in Clapboard Trees, for 69 days, and in the West Precinct for 52 days. When in the outer precincts, classes were often held in private homes, but in some parts of Dedham residents privately built schoolhouses. One such school, in Springfield, was built by residents before that part of town had even organized as a parish. In addition, both boys and girls attended dame schools.
The grammar schools prepared students to attend the Latin school which, in turn, prepared students to attend Harvard College. Harvard was established in 1636, the same year Dedham was, and the town supported the university generously in its early years.
In early days, boys were expected to rule their own paper, make their own rulers, frame their own slates, and older boys took turns building a fire one hour before class began. Many made their own ink, pewter ink stands, or quill pens. Girls took turns dusting and sweeping the room and furniture.
Many schools were built in the years following 1897, and were adorned through purchase and donation with a number of works of art. In 1896, the Avery School began running a program to teach illiterate adults how to read. There was also in the 1840s a Lyceum that put on plays in addition to the usual public education programs.
First public school
Other schools, including Boston Latin School and the Town of Rehoboth have claimed to be the first public school, but Dedham's was the first to be supported exclusively by tax dollars. On June 25, 1894, the Great and General Court passed a Resolve to erect a monument commemorating the site of the first public school. Lt. Governor Roger Wolcott led a committee that heard the claims of several cities and towns, including the presentation made by Dedham's Don Gleason Hill and Rev. Carlos Slafter.Wolcott's committee presented Dedham's claims to Governor Frederic T. Greenhalge and the Governor's Council. The governor and council, in accordance with the law, then confirmed that Dedham's was the first. On June 17, 1898, a monument was unveiled on the grounds of the First Church Green, near the site of the original schoolhouse. Hill gave an address in which he noted the school stood in proximity to several important religious, civil, and historical buildings and monuments.
First schoolhouse
The first classes were likely in the meetinghouse. The first schoolhouse was built in present-day Dedham Square near the First Church and Parish in Dedham by Thomas Thurston at a cost of £11 3 pence. Approved at a town meeting in January 1648–9, it measured 15' by 18' with two windows and a fireplace. Each boy was responsible for providing his share of firewood during the colder months. The building likely resembled contemporary schools in the English countryside with a raised platform, wooden wainscoting, and high windows. The teacher's desk would look like a pulpit and students would sit on plank seats.The schoolhouse also included a watchtower at one end to prevent Indian attack. Placing the school next to the church was deliberate and symbolized the need for both academic and moral instruction. It stood for nearly 50 years, although in 1661 school was kept in the house of the teacher, Francis Chickering.
Curriculum
1600s and 1700s
Early students studied reading, writing, and arithmetic, and as much Latin as the teacher could manage. In the arithmetic book used, one or two problems were shown as examples under each rule, and the teachers provided the rest. There were no problems for students to solve. Reading was taught using the English primer and then a Psalter.Spelling was not taught at first, but eventually the "Youth's Instructor in the English Tongue" was used. In addition to spelling, it also touched upon penmanship, reading, arithmetic, business forms, and bills of exchange. Eventually, spelling contests became a popular winter entertainment for students. In 1784, the schools began teaching geography. A special penmanship teacher, John L. Howard, was hired in 1904.
Girls were taught to read and write, as well as sewing, but they did not study math as they had no need for it. Needlework, including patchwork, samplers, and embroidery, were taught as early as 1780.
1800s
In the early 1800s, students would be marched from the schoolhouse to the First Church and Parish in Dedham every six weeks on Thursday. There they would listen to the Rev. Joshua Bates's preparatory lecture in advance of Sunday's Lord's Supper. On the Monday following, Bates would visit the school to quiz students on the catechism. Semiannually, students would spend a half day reciting the catechism. Those with the best recitations were awarded small pamphlets with marble covers.John Wilson taught an evening writing course for adults in the mid-1800s. Children attended school in those days from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and then again from 2 p.m. to 5.m. Each winter, the schools would hold a sleighing party for the children, led by Alden Bartlett's "Naiad Queen" which featured a high dasher on which was painted a mermaid. It was followed by Sanford Carroll's party sleigh, and then others. Students would occasionally go on field trips to exhibitions in Boston, at Temperance Hall, or at the [|Town House].
The first sewing teacher, hired at the Avery School in 1868, was Jane S. Small. It expanded to other schools, was discontinued for a time, and resumed in 1888 under the tutelage of Mary Elizabeth Cormerais.
Asa Fitz, an itinerant music teacher, visited the Dedham schools once or twice a year in the mid-1800s. Fitz taught primary school students by rote exercise and taught popular melodies to older students, but did not teach any of them to read music. From 1873 to 1879, Charles Edward Whiting was hired to teach music two days a week. Maria T. Delano taught music in the high school from 1873 to 1884. From 1884 to 1898 it was taught by Arthur Wilder Thayer.
After the Commonwealth mandated that drawing be taught in 1870, Henry Hitchens was hired to teach Dedham's teachers how to instruct in the art form. In 1877, May Flagg Taft, Hitchen's future wife, was hired as a drawing teacher in the high school. She was replaced in 1887 by Anna Rebecca Slafter who previously taught in the [|village school].
For seven weeks in the summer of 1891, the schools ran a sloyd program at the old high school building on Highland Street. It was so successful that it was instituted as part of the regular curriculum in 1893. When Annie G. Spencer was hired to teach the Manual Training course, Dedham became the first town in Norfolk County to teach an industrial training program. William Ware Locke took over in 1898.
A program of physical education was introduced in 1893 when Olive F. Moakler began teaching the Ling System of gymnastics.
1900s
Marion Spaulding began teaching Domestic Science in 1909. The chemistry lab was especially outfitted with a gas stove and cooking utensils for the class. The following year, Alfred C. Cobb began teaching woodworking, including mechanical drawing, bench work, lathe work, and pattern making.A stamp saving program was instituted in 1901. Margaret Warren and Emily Ames visited the Avery and Quincy Schools once a week for several years. Students would deposit with them a sum of money and receive a stamp indicating the value in return. When their deposits totaled $3 the money was deposited into a savings account and a savings book was issued to students. In 1902, 237 students saved $331. A state law passed in 1911 explicitly allowed schools to do this and a program was set up with the Dedham Institution for Savings. The bank would later set up a branch for students that was open during lunch hours in the high school cafeteria.
Jessie M. Moulton was hired as the school nurse on January 1, 1912, and conducted 5,684 examinations in her first year.
School farm and kindergartens
On March 16, 1695, Dedham and several other towns established a 300-acre School Farm in what is today Wellesley, Massachusetts, near Wellesley College. It did not prove to be profitable, and so it was sold on March 13, 1699, for 50 pounds.A kindergarten supported by private subscription was established at the Ames School in 1893 and ran until 1896. In that year the town appropriated money for kindergartens at the Ames, Avery, and Oakdale Schools, but they did not last long.