OWNERSHIP
CONDITIONS
HISTORY
TESTIMONIES

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OWNERSHIP:
-- Boston Public Schools owns and runs English High School. 
-- The playing fields at English High School are owned and administered by the Boston Department of Parks and Recreation. 
-- The Community Center at English High School is administered by the Boston Community Centers (BCC)/ Boston Centers for Youth and Families

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CONDITIONS:
English High School is located at the corner of Washington and McBride Streets. The entire school is located in a single building. A large grassy section of the Southwest Corridor Park backs up to the school property, making the school highly accessible by rapid transit. A track and a combined football/ baseball field are located on the other side of Williams Street from the school. The track is used by students, but also by local residents. The field is open to any group in the city that signs up with the City's Department of Parks and Recreation, including a number of youth baseball leagues.

Population served:
The high school includes a community center and serves about 1200 students. It is one of the largest high schools in Boston and one of the most ethnically diverse. In 2001, the student population was 51.7% black, 8.9% white, 1.8% Asian, and 37.1% Hispanic.

English High School is connected to a Jamaica Plain Community Center that offers opportunities for physical fitness as well as an adult learning center with GED and ESOL classes. The High School has also formed a partnership with Brookside Community Health Center, which offers a school-based health center within English High, including a dental program.

School accountability:
For tenth graders who took the MCAS English Language Arts test in 2000, 80% failed, 16% needed improvement, 4% were proficient, and 0% were advanced. In Mathematics, 87% of students failed, 10% needed improvement, 3% were proficient, and 1% were advanced (Boston Public Schools).

In June 2002, English High School was one of six schools identified by a new State accountability program as "underperforming," in part because according to State officials it does not have a cohesive plan for school improvement (Ed Hayward, "English High is 1st Hub school on list for 'underperforming,'" The Boston Herald, June 26, 2002).

Scagnoli-Nihill Playing Field:
Adjacent to English High lies a nine acre playing field that doubles as a football and baseball field and is used by both the high school and local and regional leagues. In June 2002 this was a grass field, sections of which were in poor condition. In 2002 and 2003, the Department of Parks and Recreation replaced the field with artificial turf and transformed the space into a higher quality playing field that requires less maintenance. The Parks Department led a community planning process for the field that took place in 2001 and 2002. Included in the renovation was a synthetic fiber turf system, repairs for the bleachers, new dugouts, a batting cage, water fountains, fencing, security lighting, a scoreboard, and path and landscape improvements. The synthetic turf retains no water and rain will percolate directly into the soil. The new field was completed in 2003 and, as expected, has been very popular and in high demand among city youth groups.

The field continues to be available to any city group that wants to play ball there. Times are available on a first-come, first-served basis. All users have the same right to be on the field and there is a real shortage of fields in the city.

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HISTORY:
Founded in 1821, English High School is the oldest public high school in the United States. The Southwest High School was located at this site through the 1970s.

Former principal Steve Leonard is often credited with leading English High School in a major turnaround in the mid- 1980s after a period of decline in the quality of education at the school. Mr. Leonard subsequently moved to the Jeremiah Burke High School in Grove Hall and experienced similar success.

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TESTIMONIES:
"I'm watching my neighbors get more and more white. And then I see the kids coming to English High School every morning getting more and more diverse" (Charles Euchner, resident of the Stonybrook neighborhood in Jamaica Plain).

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