Boston Latin Academy
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| Boston Latin Academy
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| Image:BLA.jpg | |
| Motto | vita tua sit sincera. |
| Founded | 1877 |
| Head Master | Maria Garcia-Aaronson |
| School type | Public high school
Grades 7–12 |
| Enrollment | c. 1,800 |
| Mascot | Dragons(Jabberwock) |
Boston Latin Academy is a public exam school school in the Boston Public School system for students from 7th to 12th grade. Founded in 1877 as Girls' Latin School, the school is currently located in the Dorchester section of Boston, Massachusetts.
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[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 sub committee'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 Roxbury. Latin Academy has adopted a nuturing environment contrary to that of its sister school Boston Latin. Though Latin Academy is nurturing, a great number of students transfer out due to the difficulty of the courses. In 2006 Boston Latin Academy had 247 graduates, the largest class in its history. In 2008, there was a sever lockdown in the school. The first lockdown was initiated on the day of Wednesday, March 12th after a live bullet shell casing was found in the sink of a 3rd floor boy's bathroom. The school remained on lockdown for about two hours until the school had been checked from top to bottom.
[edit] Academics
Boston Latin Academy's curriculum is deeply rooted in the classics. Students are requried to take rigorous college preparatory classes and a required four years of Latin. Over 20 different types of Advanced Placement classes are offered along with a myriad of Honors classes. Boston Latin Academy has a long tradition of academic excellence and has been recognized by U.S. News & World Report as an Outstanding American High School and by America ’s Best Redbook Schools for Overall Excellence. Some characteristics of the school are
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[edit] Athletics
Currently Latin Academy offers a wide variety of sports.
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[edit] Admissions
To gain admissions to Boston Latin Academy a student must take the ISEE admissions test which is administered in early November. Students must also be residents of Boston. Entrance is allowed in the 7th. and 9th. grades.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Boston Latin Academy is at coordinates Coordinates:
