Turnover & Retention

.
Dissatisfaction with salary fueled teacher turnover which remained high during the late nineteenth century, and the resulting lack of continuity in rural one-room schools created challenges for students, a circumstance acknowledge by Superintendent Fitts in 1886. “With so many changes it is very difficult to show good results, and yet with the smallness of the pay, and the lonesomeness of some of the places to those who do not call them ‘home,’ we can hardly expect to keep our good teachers.” Fitts looked at improving this situation, as did the school committee which at this time began engaging teachers “with the understanding that they would stay until the end of a term, and then not leave without two weeks notice being given to the Superintendent.” The committee’s action had been prompted by the departure of Fannie W. Richards who had resigned her position in the School Street School for a higher paying position in Watertown which “so seriously … interfere[d] with the best good of the school.” (Not only had Miss Richards’ decision disrupt the School Street School, it affected the Green School as well, for Mary E. Frink was transferred from the Green to replace Miss Richards at School Street. She herself was replaced by Mary E. Deane).

Middleborough continued to lose qualified teachers throughout this period due to the lure of more lucrative wages elsewhere. The 1882 School Committee report remarked: “We find it possible to pay just so much as will satisfy the inexperienced teacher; and, when she has proved her ability, the Committee are compelled to accept in reply to their interrogation concerning her return: ‘If I cannot do better.’” Despite the wounded tone of the report, the Middleborough School Committee was clearly looking to have it both ways, paying suburban school teachers as little as possible while expecting a long-term commitment to the town on the part of teachers.

The continual turnover in teachers, seen most readily in the suburban schools, was undesirable. “The one great drawback in these schools is the lack of permanency in the teaching force.” The 1912-13 academic year at the Green was particularly notable in this regard with four teachers taking a portion of the year. Miss Erna Cornish was forced to give up her duties at the Green at the start of the year in September due to ill health so that she could “rest for a time.” She was succeeded temporarily by Mrs. Jeanette Tobey as a substitute. Miss Edith Holbrook of Lakeville was appointed to fill the position, but resigned in January, 1913, to be replaced by Miss Frances Sawyer of Kittery, Maine, “a teacher of experience” who completed the year. The continual change was not conducive to learning, particularly as the school was overcrowded at the time, and epitomized the School Committee’s concerns.

The situation was drastically improved during the 1910s when a series of wage increases brought Middleborough teacher salaries up to par with those offered elsewhere. A consequent stabilization in the teaching force was clearly discernible over the subsequent decadeat the Green School where teacher Mary R. Burke remained for eight years, leaving only in July, 1924, when she retired.

NEXT PAGE: Training & Development
PREVIOUS PAGE: Wages