Medford Historical Society Papers, Volume 2.

Girls first had the privilege of attending the Town school in accordance with a vote passed May 13, 1766, ‘that the Comte have power to agree with their Schoolmastr to Instruct Girls 2 Hours in a Day after the Boys are dismissed.’ That the committee exercised this new power is shown by an entry in the Selectmen's Order Book. To Alexander Sears Hill, Harvard 1764, belongs the distinction of first teaching the girls of Medford in her public school. The Selectmen record an order Jan. 19, 1767: to Alex. Sears Hill for teaching 6 m. £ 24-13, ‘from June 23 to Dec. 23, 1766 part of which time he Schooled the Girls as well as Boys.’ The regular salary of the teacher had been £ 20 for six months, so we may fairly infer that schooling the girls for six months was worth £ 4-13s. Brooks gives the date for first giving instruction to girls at public expense as 1776.

Whether girls were taught more than this one season or not does not appear from the records. The next teacher, John Page, received the following summer for the six months ending June 26 the sum of £ 21-6-8; then for the next six months only £ 20. Perhaps the experiment of teaching girls and boys together was not a success and was abandoned; though the additional £ 1-6-8 paid Master Page his first six months would seem to indicate that he rendered some extra service, and it is fair to assume that he too taught the girls a part of the time.