Boston Latin Academy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Boston Latin Academy
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| Motto | Preferet obdura dolar hic tibi preferit olim |
| Founded | 1877 |
| Head Master | Maria Garcia-Aaronson |
| School type | Public high school
Grades 7–12 |
| Enrollment | c. 1,700 |
| Mascot | Dragons |
Boston Latin Academy is a public exam school in Boston, Massachusetts founded in 1877 as Girls' Latin School. The school is currently located at 205 Townsend Street in Dorchester, Massachusetts and has a student body from 7th grade to 12th grade.
The school is a part of the Boston Public Schools.
[edit] History
Boston Latin Academy was founded in 1877 as Girls’ Latin School. The founding of the school was the result of citizen and parent participation and the intention to establish college preparatory training for girls. A plan to admit girls to Public Latin School was formed by the Massachusetts Society for the University Education of Women and Henry Durant, president of Wellesley College.
A committee was formed to discuss the issue. A petition with a thousand signatures was presented to the School Board in September 1877. The board referred the question to the subcommittee on high schools.
Meanwhile a group of parents met with the headmaster of Public Latin School and asked that their daughters be admitted. Although the headmaster was willing to teach the girls, he thought it best to wait for the subcommittee’s decision. Ultimately the subcommittee recommended that a separate Latin School for girls be established.
Girls’ Latin School opened on West Newton Street in Boston ’s South End in 1878. The school had only 37 pupils in its 3 classes. The first class graduated in 1880 with 6 members. The number of students grew each year. When the number of students exceeded 350 in 1898, the school committee moved the first four classes to a building in Copley Square while the fifth and sixth remained in the old building. In 1907, Girls’ Latin School moved into a new building, shared with Boston New School located on Huntington Avenue in the Fenway.
The school remained there until 1955, when Teachers’ College expanded, forcing Girls’ Latin School to relocate to the former Dorchester High School for Girls building located in Codman Square.
In 1972, the School Committee recognized a state law that ended sex discrimination in the two Latin Schools. Soon after, boys were accepted into the school and the name was changed to Boston Latin Academy.
In 1981, Latin Academy moved back into the Fenway area, this time to Ipswich Street, across from Fenway Park. It remained there until the summer of 1991, when it moved back again, this time to its present location in the former Boston Technical High School, located on Townsend in Dorchester. In 2006 Boston Latin Academy had 247 graduates, the largest class in their history.
[edit] Athletics
Currently Latin Academy offers a wide variety of sports. Football, Baseball, Girls and Boys Basketball,Girls and Boys Hockey, Girls and Boys Soccer, Girls and Boys Volleyball, A Coed Swimming team, A Coed Track Team, Golf, Softball, Tennis and Cheerleading.
[edit] In the News
On Halloween of 2006, Boston Latin Academy made headlines when the head mistress decided to keep students out of school because they decided to wear costumes. Aaronson announced the prohibition the day before. Mainly seniors were targeted and kicked out. Many of the class of 2007 seniors can be seen on the local news stations. Videos of the broadcast can be seen on YouTube.
