1 10 1 https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/32209/archive/files/fa9e3ac25ac5152c344e2a3aa5e7a257.pdf?Expires=1774483200&Signature=C6inepmNuDrI5HCq-CaMVIjpgF8AFtWg6iFkIY8HvBFdQic7eYcbmM8htyXvH5udA9JFxJ91mZ0hE728I9FHoQIGcG189qadOo0ZZgBzHv2f4y1ephN04bSviLhZfooBPmmyroT2VShlfh9PYDcKIyJXQUyTImwzhgtIottW8TRezxqBDMqAIl7PaQ7kA5fNvatKZs6aTK2ZxWMYh-8v7NnMPWUECo7o02aUHx9ss2We2A0v4qjWMUChyT-RD%7ECErGMB2lIyD9qRtH68eEJjHKn3sBxX0bk3bH6VvLgx5gWnd7LT0%7ECGR-vNTsDrdLmFWFIrpHv6SZMaFMs2SZLyjA__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM b846e30a32b4ad806729b7f8fc56e87f PDF Text Text Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth Postcards from Falmouth Oral History Transcript Recorded: March 11, 2022 Oral Historian: James Kalperis, Otis Porter Interviewer: Barbara Kanellopoulos Topic: Falmouth Public Schools Note: The right column references postcards by identifiers searchable in the Digital Commonwealth online collection. 0:00 0:45 0:52 0:57 1:04 1:11 1:16 1:23 1:29 1:35 1:42 1:49 1:55 2:02 2:09 [Music] hello and welcome to the Falmouth public library's program of oral history I am here today with two oral historians who will talk about the Falmouth library’s collection of historic postcards that trigger memories of Falmouth's past it is March 11 2022 and we are going to hear about what was going on in some of the early days of Falmouth welcome to the program and I'll let I'll let you introduce yourselves we have the oral historians go ahead thank you I'm Otis Porter from Falmouth lived here all my life and I was a teacher at Falmouth High School and before that Lawrence School the junior high but I was also a student at the Mullen School which was then known as the Village School and the Hall School which was next door to it which has been torn down since yes and I arrived here in 1955 as a teacher science teacher and later on and as an administrator and I retired in 1994. yes and Jim Kalperis is well known as Kalpy his former students always had that affectionate term for him so welcome to the program let's begin by 1 #falmouthhighschool #falmouthpublicschools #lawrenceschool #mullenschool #villageschool #hallschool �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 2:16 2:23 2:30 2:36 2:41 2:46 2:52 2:57 3:03 3:08 3:14 3:19 3:27 3:34 3:40 3:48 3:53 3:59 4:07 4:12 4:17 looking at some of the earliest schools in Falmouth Otis you have some memories of that yes I do the first school we'll talk about or mention in brief is the current Chamber of Commerce building on Academy Lane and originally it was set up as Lawrence Academy after Shubael Lawrence around 1842 donated ten thousand dollars to create this school it was a private academy at that point and a little bit later on the town of Falmouth petitioned the general court or the state supreme court to take the funds and use it for public school and it became known as Lawrence High School and that was the genesis of the public school there in Falmouth I'm sure the early history of Falmouth town meeting would have records of the of the community coming together to make that to make that vote oh yes they probably do and the town records like in Town Hall with all those town meeting votes that's really interesting so now we're coming to the well before we talk about Jim your experience of the first of the first high school that was the Lawrence High School tell us about what happened to that high school on Main Street well that was part of a four building green campus I guess you could call it before Katharine Lee Bates Road was put in there and we'll mention about the elementary schools but the old high school went up around 1891 and that was where the library parking lot is currently and if you notice on Main Street across from the Indian restaurant and the breakfast restaurant there there's a sidewalk that goes up and that was originally the sidewalk to the Lawrence High School from 1891 right interesting thing that I was telling Barbara and Jim when I was a boy 2 #falmouthchamberofcommerce Gunning_Village_Bldg_0236 Gunning_Village_Bldg_0237 #shubaellawrence #lawrencehighschool Gunning_Village_Bldg_0280 through 0287 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 4:23 4:29 4:36 4:41 4:47 4:55 5:02 5:08 5:15 5:20 5:27 5:33 5:39 5:47 5:52 5:59 6:05 6:11 6:16 6:23 6:29 6:36 6:41 6:47 going to Hall School in grade six the old Lawrence High School was torn down and burned right there you saw the ashes I saw the ashes I saw the flames too of course we wouldn't do that now with a public building or any kind of a building just burn it right there but right it was right yeah very interesting so that Main Street high school got transferred to what is now the Lawrence School or the junior high and Jim you remember you were a teacher there when at the new high school at the where the Lawrence School is now yes and the stories I heard when this the new Lawrence High School and by the way the movie Lawrence of Arabia came out at the same time so it was you know when I was involved in some of the sports activities and so on and we used to go to some of the other schools here comes the Arabians they used to say to us really so it was it was fun but I do remember uh some of the teachers that were in both schools uh Ugo Tassinari and John Quick and some of these names that I'm sure some of these people listening to this program watching this program will remember they told me that the day the school opened the students all assembled in the old high school and whatever they could bring and carry by hand they all marched from that school over to the new Lawrence School it was quite an adventure I don't know Otis if you were part of that or not no I was the second uh group to go in in 1954 it opened in 1953. well that seemed like a convenient way to get some some material transfer it certainly sounds a bit like New England frugality too instead of hiring movers that that's pretty amusing now you were a teacher at right I was a teacher and that was interesting at that time 3 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 6:53 7:00 7:07 7:13 7:19 7:24 7:30 7:35 7:41 7:49 7:56 8:09 8:16 8:22 8:28 8:35 8:43 8:50 8:55 9:03 because that high school was a six year high school six seven 9 10 11 and 12. and uh it was it was interesting from the point of view that we enjoy we could enjoy the younger people it was it was it was nice seeing young people and the difference oh yes there were certain I'm sure Otis remembers this too there are certain ways you could enter the school oh if you were a senior you were allowed to go through the front doors and up the stairs otherwise you entered on either one of the two wings of the school the uh let's call them the underclassmen the that's glorious the lower classmen yeah yes and the and the uh when the lunchtimes came the younger people ate first and then they cleaned up the cafeterias and then the older I would say the ninth graders and up yes went into the school into the cafeteria at that time what they did Barbara I was there for grade seven through seventh grade was on the lower floor eighth grade went up to the next floor but it was like on the wings and the rest of it was all high school and what Kalpy was just saying that center staircase was reserved for staff and seniors only yeah and you could never go up those center stairs unless you were escorted right and the funny part of that was that when the seniors graduated the juniors even though they were still juniors went up those stairs it was a lot of fun you mean it was a sort of rite of passage rite of passage exactly how interesting and everyone paid attention to it really yeah really they did and I'm I'm sure yes sir 4 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 9:10 9:16 9:22 9:29 9:35 9:43 9:48 9:55 10:02 10:09 10:16 10:23 10:29 10:34 10:42 10:48 10:54 11:01 11:08 11:15 11:20 but now were you a student there when it suddenly became very overcrowded yes I was a student there until 1960 when our graduating class happened and it was just starting to get overcrowded because a couple of years later they made the intermediate school which covered uh grade six seven and eight and I first started teaching there and then when the new high school the current one on Gifford Street opened up we all transferred in junior high to large school it was taken you know the name Lawrence High School was taken off and went to Falmouth High School yes and we kept that as Lawrence but there are some other things too we can talk about if you wish on the elementary schools yes let's get to that while we're still talking about this newly built high school from Main Street to where the Lawrence School is now there's something peculiar about the architecture because Jim uh wasn't it possible for some students to find secret passageways that's interesting in the fact that originally in the original plans there was an elevator scheduled for that school well for one reason or another it never got built but the space that was going to be needed ended up being in back of the lockers the lockers in that school were placed all in all the corridors both the with both wings even in some in the front isn't that the way it is today pretty much yes yeah so go on so uh well not at the high school I ever at Lawrence in Lawrence yeah but at the high school they were all down yeah we'll leave that alone so at the time when I was uh doing certain administrative work uh of which was disciplining youngsters and so forth once in a while not me though 5 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 11:25 11:31 11:36 11:43 11:48 11:54 11:59 12:04 12:10 12:16 12:22 12:29 12:36 12:43 12:49 12:54 13:00 13:05 13:11 13:18 13:24 13:30 13:36 no but once in a while somebody would escape and go running down the corridor and obviously I'd go galloping after them to see if I could corral them and when I get around the corner they disappeared and I couldn't understand what happened well after a while somebody ratted out on them and told us what was really happening is that if you knocked out the back of these uh lockers there was a big space there and that space allowed you to move from one end of the building to the other and not only that you were able to get up into the attic off the second floor to the attic and an interesting situation occurred that one year we were examining what was going on there and for some reason we got up into the attic and there was an airplane in there it had been built by young Teddy Tripp Dr. Tripp's son who was a magnificent brilliant young man and I don't know how he got all the stuff up there but you know the wingspan was at least 10 feet oh my gosh and yeah and I'm sure other things occurred up there I remember one youngster I was told fell through the ceiling oh good grief you know he stepped on the right wrong spot and his leg came down through the ceiling those are stories that history let's leave it at that well it sort of lets us know that students know how to make the best use of their time although some of that might have been class time that that's really interesting so let's go back then to the of the early we did have a grammar school yes we did the grammar school when they went to public education was on Main Street at the entrance to what's now Town Hall Square it later became known as the Community 6 #tripp #communitycenter �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 13:41 13:47 13:53 13:59 14:04 14:10 14:19 14:26 14:31 14:38 14:43 14:48 14:54 14:59 15:05 15:11 15:17 15:22 15:27 Center they had a little courtroom in there too in some town offices before they tore it down in the 60s when the new town hall was built and my mother happened to be a teacher there for a couple of years then they transitioned to a brand new school called the Village School we know it now as Mullen School and that was no kindergarten in those days they had what they call a sub-primary and that was like a voluntary thing for parents to send their children to but it was grades one through five maybe six and junior high was the later building called the Hall School which is about where the parking lot for staff is at the Mullen School complex now interestingly enough I was telling Barbara and Jim when we were talking before Mullen School was named after the principal #margaretmullen Margaret Mullen known as Peg Mullen right do you remember red hat red hair and every day she had something purple every day and those of us who remember her as a principal remember that very well she happened to have lived down my street in Falmouth so on occasion when I would go to school walking to the elementary she'd pick me up and take me in and not too many people can say they came to school with the principal but we I found out from a neighbor Barbara that I had taken the school bus outside of our street on Locust Street and all of a sudden we weren't taking it anymore well a neighbor found out recently he was Googling my name came across an article in the old Enterprise our neighborhood and Pin Oak Way were kicked off the bus because we were within a mile yes of the school oh yes and a parent down off 7 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 15:34 15:41 15:48 15:55 16:02 16:08 16:14 16:22 16:28 16:35 16:41 16:46 16:54 17:00 17:07 17:13 17:19 Palmer Avenue had complained because she had wanted her daughter to ride the bus and said well why are these kids riding the bus so we were walkers but I never knew that story until last year I know and that's why it was quite it was quite common at that time not going in with the principal was right was not common right no but that school that we’re- now the facade is still the same and you notice they had two wings and then the main section and up above it says learn to live and live to learn were two mottos that we students you know had to learn to live with and there was a nice green campus there they had a large lunchroom and the Hall School which we were saying a lot of people think it was because of the had a big hall in the center but it was actually named after Henry Hall right who was the principal for the junior high so you had the elementary school the Village School or Mullen you had the Hall School for seven and eight and you had the then new high school right where the library parking lot is and the other part of that whole campus was the Falmouth Public Library so it made a nice green yes kind of an educational campus right here on Main Street and we're fortunate to still have that pretty much the same except for the road intersecting police station was a little farther but it wasn't that yes it was behind the old town hall which is where Peg Noonan Park is and I recall that when the new high school got going it really did we talked about when it became overcrowded and then wasn't there a program to allow students to leave 8 Onscreen: Gunning_Village_Bldg_0233 #henryhall #falmouthpubliclibrary �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 17:25 17:31 17:39 17:45 17:51 17:56 18:02 18:08 18:13 18:19 18:26 18:32 18:37 18:45 18:53 19:00 19:05 19:11 19:18 19:25 19:33 19:38 and so kids were coming going in and out going to Main Street I had the I kind of imagined how difficult that was for keeping track of students I came I came to school on one day opening school and I next in and in fact I came in a little bit late the assembly had started already and Mr. Merson #harrymerson who was the superintendent of school said we're going to have a new director we're going to have a new program and that director is Jim Kalperis I had no idea what they were talking about or what I was supposed to do but the program #opencampusprogram was called the Open Campus Program in which there were three divisions you see the problem was we were so overcome crowded we went from a school that was built for 800 students to 1700 students and in order to get the classes the variety of classes and subjects that we needed we had we didn't we just didn't have room for it so what they came up with the idea of eliminating the study halls and using the study hall periods as classrooms and by the way do you know what the in setting up the curriculum and the way in which certain subjects would get priorities do you know what's as far as getting the students they needed to get into a particular class ability grading or something of that sort the first the first and Mr. Dick Jones was the one who was involved with this as well was interesting because the in order to do to get the people the first one was the band the band kids got the first they had to have all the band kids in for band practice at one time so that changed the whole curriculum around us with relation to 9 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 19:45 19:52 19:58 20:04 20:11 20:17 20:22 20:29 20:35 20:41 20:48 20:55 21:00 21:05 21:11 21:17 21:23 21:29 21:36 21:42 21:49 21:55 22:01 22:07 where they were going to these other kids were going to go and then you had the chemistry and then you know the A-1s or the whatever you had for different variety of classes and we at those years we had shop we had we had agriculture we had shop and automotive those courses were actively- and kids had to come in and it was a it was a very big task yes it sounds it sounds really complex and it occurs to me that we did not have computers no that would have helped with- made scheduling I'm sure it sounds to me as if scheduling must have been a nightmare well now it's making me want to because I was in the band so all these years I thought my classes were based upon my ability not because I was just in the band yeah you had to be available right yeah some of the other things that went on at that time was that which was nice that we when it came time to put the grades or master grades and put them so they would go into report cards we used to sit in teams of three that's that were for the same grade level ninth or eighth and so forth because we we were able to you know be involved when you had you had five preparations those years all different like eight-one or nine-one or ninetwo or eight-six or whatever you want and so and what we did was we'd sit down in three of us and we say a name Otis Porter and I'd say well I'm going to give Otis an A because of he's in general science at this time and then there was a math teacher there and we compare so when we get to a certain youngster that there was we had B-pluses and A-minuses and so forth sometimes a youngster would go from a B to a B-plus only because 10 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 22:14 22:21 22:26 22:32 22:38 22:43 22:49 22:55 23:00 23:06 23:12 23:18 23:24 23:29 23:37 23:42 23:49 23:56 24:02 24:07 24:13 24:20 of what we heard and how that she or he were in that other class I see so those were that's the way that went on at that time it was kind of nice to sit back there of course we all we all wanted to do the best we could yes do you know that might be considered in modern pedagogy an innovation yes an interesting way to think about assessing a student sort of like the portfolio system so that's sometimes what's uh what what's new is really very old yes right it's true and so now we that school had a really remarkable principal I think his name was Russ Marshall #russellmarshall much admired for his particular talent as an administrator do you recall him I do and I unfortunately I never worked with him as a teacher when I came on doing practice teaching he and Peter Clark were co-principals in their #peterclark last couple of years I guess or last year you know when I started teaching at the #henryfrank junior high I had Henry Frank as a principal at the intermediate school but back to Mr. Marshall Mr. Marshall to me was a man of integrity he was quiet spoken I've I never heard him raise his voice he commanded respect just by his persona and I think every boy and girl grades 7 through 12 admired him very very much I can't say anything about how he was to work for it was interesting that you mentioned that occasionally he'd have a a meeting of all the students in the auditorium assemblies and he'd get up on that stage there and it usually was something serious somebody had done something in this case somebody had put in a skunk in a teacher's car and nobody knew who did it yet Russ Marshall 11 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 24:26 24:33 24:40 24:47 24:53 25:00 25:07 25:12 25:19 25:25 25:33 25:40 25:45 25:50 25:55 26:01 26:07 26:13 26:18 26:24 26:30 26:38 looked right down at one I know the boy I'm not even going to get involved in that but he looked right at him although he was speaking to the whole assembly he says that is a terrible thing you did and everybody knew at that time who that person was and as one of my one of my first functions as an administrator was to go and get the skunk out of the car above and beyond the call of duty When Kalpy mentioned the assemblies we would all gather in the auditorium quickly and he would come out on stage and everything calmed right down for the most part I mean there might be some whispering here there but he just had that persona of you know that gravitas that exuded confidence and respect yeah very nice yeah and you're you are very also quite surprised about what your duties were going to be I understand that so sometimes it came as a surprise for example walking into an assembly and finding out that you're going to be a director of - and so you became a baseball coach oh no I was oh yeah well that was I had the junior in 55 you see that I started at three thousand dollars as a teacher yeah and the reason I had I could have gone to Martha's Vineyard for $3,200 and I could have gone I forget where else that was for $2,800 my wife didn't want to go to the island she says I don't want to go back and forth and I said all right so we ended up in Falmouth at that time Mr. Merson was a great thinking man and he tried to diversify the academic population itself and he was always changing and looking for different types of experiences that he could bring to the 12 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 26:44 26:50 26:57 27:04 27:09 27:16 27:22 27:28 27:33 27:39 27:45 27:50 28:00 28:06 28:12 28:18 28:24 28:31 28:39 28:45 28:52 28:59 29:05 29:12 student body he was a wonderful man he was a man of all ages let's put it that way anyway I did coach a little bit but then we had a wonderful athletic director and his name- and Physical Ed. at that time there was just one job athletic director and physical education director and that was Earl Mills and #earlmills he's a he is certainly a star of stars in this in our minds yes he was in this community an outstanding individual just he there's nothing he couldn't do to help kids always so anyway we did with you I'll tell you the truth right now I lost I apologize but I just lost my train of thought well you were talking about the these schools and the we were asking about your duties I don't like to say too much about then I became track coach and I was very successful that there was a lot of young men and I would say that one of the things that helped us was that as a six-year high school we were able to use those youngsters to develop those youngsters that young seven eight and nine seventh grader could play with the varsity if you had somebody that was really outstanding then the varsity coaches would bring these youngsters up even as an eighth grader I remember one young man named John Souza who went on to #johnsouza be a it was a left-handed pitcher and became a great baseball player baseball pitcher and he was on my team as an eighth grader at that time because I had the junior high kids and the next thing I know Joe Elliot who was the baseball coach comes down and says no John Souza is going to come he's going to come and pitch the game he pitched the varsity game and he won it and wow 13 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 29:19 29:25 29:32 29:38 29:43 29:50 29:57 30:02 30:09 30:15 30:21 30:27 30:32 30:39 30:44 30:51 30:56 31:02 31:07 31:14 what a thrill yeah and I'll tell you another quick story about John Souza again as I was a baseball coach we had a big game coming up and John was supposed to pitch I said where's John he's in catechism I said catechism what's catechism and he said well where is he says he's over at Saint Anthony's Church okay so I got in my car and I go over to Saint Anthony's Church and I better think Father Avila was the priest at the time and I said “Father,” I said, “I need John” he turned around and he says “God needs him more” and that was the end of John Souza pitching that day I see yes that's a great story a lot of what Kalpy is saying is strikes me after the war World War II and of course Korean War we saw a large influx of male teachers coming in oh yes and Kalpy has mentioned some of the names which makes me think back to the time you know being a student in the 1950s right and some of whom I might talk with later you know as I started to teach I wonder if the G.I. Bill which has was remarkable in changing American culture the fact that soldiers could then get a college education and many of them went into teaching I think you're right on that I think it's very true yes Kalpy might know more about that part of it but there really were I mean there were male teachers before don't get me wrong you know some of the older you know like yeah that was a good Mr. Barros from East #eastfalmouth #teaticketschool Falmouth and Teaticket School and Henry Hall things like that but not as many as not as many and not as diversified as this group that were coming in oh yes you know they were taking over so you when you were a student then you 14 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 31:19 31:25 31:32 31:38 31:44 31:51 31:56 32:02 32:07 32:13 32:20 32:26 32:32 32:40 32:46 32:52 33:00 33:06 33:13 33:18 had lots of male teachers yes I did right yeah right starting incidentally at the old Village School we had Frank Verre V-E-R-RE and he taught grade five and then there were a couple in the junior high at the Hall School for grade six but really once we got to the new Lawrence High School which is now Lawrence that was where we saw most of the new male teachers some of them went on to become principals that's great do you can you have some names or some principals of maybe the schools as we developed the Teaticket School and others there was a man who was a teacher in grade six at the Hall School [unintelligible] Mr. Berry B-E-R-R-Y and he became principal at one of the Barnstable school system one of those I'm not sure which one but some of the others moved up to a system principal like Paul Wasseth Paul Wasseth yeah he went here yeah and yeah and I remember teaching at Falmouth High School with Sydney Roberts was he one of your colleagues there was a fifth grade teacher at the Mull— at the Hall School I think and he became principal at at the he died he died young in fact there's a plaque for him and there's a monument there on the Cape Cod Country Club golf course his name is on the tip of my tongue and I'm sorry I just can't remember him but Morway Morway was his name oh Paul Paul Morway and he was a teacher and then he became a principal yes up at North [unintelligible] right he was a teacher and then a principal but Sid Roberts I believe Mr. Roberts came earlier in that earlier group of men he was my teacher in high school for civics he was a dad advisor for DeMolay a boys’ group he was my 15 #sydneyroberts #capecodcountryclub #paulmorway #demolayinternational �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 33:25 33:32 33:38 33:45 33:53 33:59 34:05 34:11 34:17 34:23 34:31 34:37 34:43 34:49 34:55 35:02 35:07 35:16 35:21 35:30 35:36 35:42 practice teacher when I was learning and I enjoyed working with him very much but he came I think in the 1930s or maybe in the 40s I don't think he was part of World War II well I do want to say something about Otis too yeah in the old days in that Lawrence High School there was the classrooms I had room 112 and across the hall from my school was the principal's office I mean the superintendent's office oh the superintendent's office was in the school yeah that's interesting on the other side was room 108 but in the in the middle was a space and that space became the audiovisual center and guess who was working in the audio-visual center Otis with Stanley Eldridge these are these two young men and what they did was and I was in charge that a teacher needed a projector of either a film projector or a what do you call the applied projection slide projectors they'll they notified us and then the boys would come on there during their study hall periods their free periods and they'd work in there with me or in that room and then they would deliver those that equipment and pick it up at the end of the of that session as well was that something you enjoyed doing it was and I could see the movie or the slides right right whatever the teacher was offering right right yeah you're sort of your stint high tech of the 50s compared to now trying to do remotes and things like that right right so I'll tell you another interesting story was as when I was a track coach a new develop- a new eight pound shot put to be used indoors it was it had some kind of material on the inside and it was all plastic on the outside and of course we were throwing it in the gymnasium 16 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 35:48 35:54 35:59 36:06 36:12 36:20 36:30 36:37 36:44 36:49 36:54 36:59 37:06 37:12 37:17 37:23 37:31 37:36 37:42 37:50 37:57 38:02 38:07 38:13 which is by the way named after Russell Marshall so there was some there was a complaint or some some off the bat somebody else that said you know this might be dangerous I said oh no no no they guarantee this is going to be good and Russ Marshall came to me said listen he said we have a complaint here about damage that this is going to cost so I said well come on down Russ and I'll show you and then I had Bruce Morgado who was our shot put really really competitor and so he's standing there and the dis- the width of the gymnasium is 50 feet that's the way so he launched one out and went high in the air and came down and broke the floor really that was the end no but I mean it wasn't supposed to happen but it must have been a weak spot in the floor itself another incident oh wait did that end the no no as a matter of fact but that's not Bruce was a student yes what grade he was probably at the time I believe Bruce was a sophomore I see yeah and then in the winter time we still had to compete and so we used to throw the shot put indoors and I brought in a former a coach from Wareham High School Allan Longhi was his name and he was an expert on the fundamentals of the shot put and I had the kids there to learn and Allan launched one up and it hit the corner of the glass backboard and shattered the glass backboard now I had to run to Russ because it was a game that night oh my goodness we had to have a ba- we were going to have a basketball we had no basket so but Russ with his magic however he did 17 #brucemorgado �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 38:18 38:24 38:30 38:36 38:42 38:48 38:54 39:00 39:07 39:14 39:19 39:26 39:31 39:38 39:44 39:51 39:58 40:03 40:10 40:16 40:23 40:29 it he got a glass backboard there and installed so they could play the game that night that very evening that's remarkable that's why they named that gym Marshall Gymnasium but this is a funny side story on that one of the L's fell down off his name that's up above oh so my wife and I were coming up I guess something at the school when I was a teacher there and she said who's Marsha L. so I said what do you mean and she said it says Marsha L. Gymnasium I said it's for Marshall right you know the L fell down that you had that shortly repaired yes Barbara you were going to talk about how things changed well first before we get into that I think we must say that there's something about your background was not in athletics but you became a a coach with many awards so there must be tell us about what your secret was with students you managed to turn out champion athletes and of baseball shot put well no baseball was a short year and it was all in the minors but the varsity end it was very I was very fortunate to be able to to corral youngsters that had never been involved that lived in on Sandwich Road and in Mashpee we had some tremendous athletes from Mashpee as well and for one reason or another they took a liking to me they were never they were always at the school but other than very few would ever be involved for some reason I was able to corral them and get them involved and we were very fortunate and I suspect that you built a personal relationship with them that you knew them you knew them and knowing one student well is critical you see let me tell you something as a teacher and as a coach 18 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 40:37 40:44 40:50 40:55 41:01 41:06 41:14 41:21 41:27 41:34 41:39 41:44 41:50 41:56 42:01 42:07 42:12 42:17 42:23 42:31 42:38 42:44 42:50 you have to understand one thing with kid kids make mistakes if they didn't make mistakes they don't need us that's the whole story that's the game and again when they make a mistake it's how you approach that situation and how you deal with that as an individual and some you know and that's how you get the different what he has said probably explains the genius of Russ Marshall knowing how to deal with somebody who's it's something I was mentioning to you before that I tried to do pretty much what Kalpy is talking about that you didn't fault the kid like he's an awful boy or you know not a nice girl or whatever you address whatever the action was that you didn't like their action you didn't you were ashamed of the language that they used you know that kind of thing yes and approach it from that way and I think Kalpy yes doing the same yeah I always thought of myself more of a cheerleader than a coach oh really really yeah that's bad it was it was passing in passing it's at all may I ask what some of those awards were oh in well I the award obviously we won I don't know I think one once stretch we had eight state championships right in a row and I and I really I do know that in I was elected to the high school Hall of Fame then I was elected to the state track Coaches’ Hall of Fame in '91 I was elected to the United States high school coaches’ Hall of Fame and also in '91 I was selected as by the Massachusetts Principals Association 19 #mstca #nfhs [the Massachusetts Secondary School Principals’ Association, absorbed by the Massachusetts �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth School Administrators’ Association in 2017] 42:56 43:01 43:07 43:12 43:18 43:23 43:29 43:36 43:42 43:47 43:52 43:58 44:05 44:11 44:18 44:23 44:30 44:37 44:43 44:49 44:57 45:04 45:11 45:16 as the outstanding principal for that year I mean they picked they picked a principal one year a superintendent an assistant principal another year in '91 they sent us out to to Chicago as part of a program where there was an assistant principal from each state and we sat there and we discussed problems of a much bigger nature with relation to education for a whole week so that was and oh and also in in '55 '56 there was a program called Atoms for Peace and again that was in #atomsforpeace Chicago and I was elected the science teacher of the of the Cape and it was sent to that conference as well I see I was able to take my wife at the same time too and that's when you were teaching at Lawrence High School that's correct right yes yeah that was a busy and a fulfilling career well certainly you know it's well deserving yeah well thank you it grew it just grew for some reason it's probably interesting for you to meet people today who were your students who it's true we'll look back on a particular lesson or class that maybe you've forgotten but they haven't I was telling you a story once about a student I have who's involved in the town government now and he was talking oh I remember the time when we had chosen a certain stock I would I would have the kids at junior high actually buy stock we everyone contributed a dollar or something like that from several classes and I had forgotten all about that but it made quite an impression upon him you know following the stock he knew which stocks we bought 20 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 45:23 45:28 45:34 45:42 45:50 45:55 46:02 46:08 46:14 46:21 46:26 46:32 46:38 46:44 46:49 46:55 47:02 47:08 47:16 47:21 47:26 47:33 oh years later he remembered years later as an adult yeah he was telling me this when we had seen each other at a gathering and I thought that was kind of remarkable but you never knew what kind of an impression you'd have on some student yes you know earlier in life how true this is often said about teaching that you never really know what your influence is hopefully it's all good yes yes yes hopefully and so well now looking at the past we'll try I'll ask you first Jim what do you think then was very different from the way teaching might be now well the when we first started out zero the philosophy was to bring that youngster as far as you could in education in other words don't flunk them that was the whole story and if you flunk too many kids you got a you got a message to come and see the superintendent never mind the principal you had to see the superintendent also the feeling was that both discipline and education belonged in that classroom and when you close the two doors they felt the teacher was lord and master in that classroom and should take care of the discipline problems if for instance you sent too many kids to detention or to or actually kicked them out of class and sent them to the principal's office you got a visit from the principal saying stop that so take care of your own problems a good teacher was a good class manager right yeah I remember another situation where Russ Marshall and I had to go to court to testify on a youngster that was really and I forget what the incident was but it was bad enough so we had to go to court 21 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 47:38 47:45 47:51 47:58 48:06 48:12 48:18 48:25 48:31 48:36 48:42 48:48 48:56 49:02 49:07 49:12 49:19 49:25 49:30 49:36 49:44 49:51 and the judge turned around and looked right at Russ Marshall and said what are you doing here he said can't you take care of your own things at school that was poor man was embarrassed it was a terrible situation at that time we really we we we left with our tails hanging below right as we walked out that may not be too different from today where there's much emphasis on outcomes on student accomplishment and so teachers are accountable for the for that there's a lot of much more advancement of course with technology you know when you think that iPads the my grandchildren at the Mullen School and the intermediate you know Morse Pond School and the older ones have the tablets so during the COVID you know they can go on those tablets and work things like that we never thought of that before social media has made such a difference there and Jim mentioned about the operators club having the slide projectors I don't think any kid would know what a slide projector is today because any videos we see are shown on you know right differently yes so there's and we don't have blackboards we have the whiteboards now excellent to write on yes so a lot of technology has come into play even since he and I have left teaching yes right it really is quite quite different many different challenges some of the same challenges the kind that Jim mentioned that is class management and knowing knowing your students well but so that we've looked at the past and we've seen some similarities and some differences and I don't want to leave and without having some final stories that perhaps you we have not talked about anything else that you can think about that no not offhand without naming names yes Jim 22 �Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth 49:56 50:05 50:11 50:17 50:22 50:29 50:36 50:42 50:48 50:56 51:02 51:08 51:15 51:20 51:26 51:31 51:38 51:43 51:48 well like I said it was a wonderful experience and I was a pre-med in college and quite frankly I was playing both basketball and baseball in college and you can't study for pre-med and play ball much to my father said grin but we will go into that so I got married and I had a child coming along so I had to do something in my senior year differently so I jumped out of that and got into education and I'm not sorry one bit I've been wonderful for the years you look back on a fulfilled career well I grew up in Falmouth went to Falmouth schools ended up teaching in Falmouth and you know have stayed here my entire life but I think teaching helps keep you young too and I don't mean necessarily physically but I mean that mental yes you know awareness right being around young people that's the key yeah that's really very important being around young people really picks you up yes yes I quite agree I quite agree well I want to thank you for being our oral historians and for telling us these stories and also for urging getting some of our viewers to check those postcards that are available on the website of Falmouth of the Falmouth Public Library a very remarkable collection of historic postcards and I so thank you very much for being with us and I'll turn to viewers and thank you very much for tuning in thank you again thank you our pleasure all right wonderful [Music] 23 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Postcards from Falmouth Oral Histories Description An account of the resource A collection of transcribed oral history interviews from the Postcards from Falmouth project, 2020-23. Postcards from Falmouth is a local history project made possible by a Library Services Technology Act grant administered by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Falmouth Public Library Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Language A language of the resource English Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Falmouth Public Library Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data docx Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Transcript of James Kalperis and Otis Porter's Oral History on Falmouth Public Schools Subject The topic of the resource Falmouth Public Schools, Falmouth, Mass. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Postcards from Falmouth Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Falmouth Public Library (Falmouth, Mass.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 11, 2022 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource James Kalperis Otis Porter Barbara Kanellopoulos Falmouth Community Television Falmouth Public Library Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Language A language of the resource English Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Falmouth Public Library (Falmouth, Mass.) Type The nature or genre of the resource Video transcript Atoms for Peace Barbara Kanellopoulos Bruce Morgado Cape Cod Country Club Community Center DeMolay International Earl Mills East Falmouth Falmouth Chamber of Commerce Falmouth High School Falmouth Public Library Falmouth public schools Hall School Harry Merson Henry Frank Henry Hall James Kalperis John Souza Lawrence High School Lawrence School Margaret Mullen MSTCA Mullen School NFHS Open Campus Program oral history Otis Porter Paul Morway Peter Clark Russell Marshall Shubael Lawrence Sydney Roberts Teaticket School transcript Tripp Village School