Edward Devotion School
The Edward Devotion Elementary School, affectionately known as "Devo," (which tends to confuse a lot of people) is a public elementary school located at 345 Harvard Street, Brookline, Massachusetts, USA. The school was founded in 1894 on land bequeathed to the town by Edward Devotion (1667–1744) and is probably named for his eponymous grandfather (1621–1685),[1] the constable for what was then Muddy River around 1650. Devotion's 17th-century house[2] is preserved by the Brookline Historical Society[3] and stands amidst part of its original gardens in the school's forecourt.
The school was attended by John F. Kennedy from kindergarten in 1922 to third grade.
Contents
Demographics
The school is attended by over 800 students from pre-kindergarten to eighth grade, drawn primarily from the Coolidge Corner neighborhood, and is the largest of eight public elementary schools in Brookline. The school emphasizes diversity, featuring Hebrew language and Societal and Behavioural Special Education programs, and English as a second language to one third of the student body. Approximately 28 languages are spoken at the school. Parents are "encouraged to share their cultural traditions in the classroom."
Student life
The school has a Parent Teacher Organization supporting activities including field trips, "Arts Council," a science fair, Math night, and an International Night.
Until 2005, the school librarian was award-winning author Norman H. Finkelstein who wrote the book The Other 1492[4] (not to be confused with the similarly named professor Norman Finkelstein). Another former librarian, Christine McDonnell, is an author of many popular children's books including Dog Wants to Play and Ballet Bug. She retired in 2014.
The interim principal of the Edward Devotion School is Joseph Connelly.
Sports
The Devotion School has been known as the "sports" school, placing first many times in all sports between the Brookline public middle schools. Devotion has a football league called the DFL (for Devotion Football League) and the DDL (for Devotion Dodgeball League). Devotion won the volleyball finals and the girls and boys basketball finals.
In popular culture
The school is the inspiration for Abigail Adams Junior High School, the fictional school featured in the Beacon Street Girls children's books series.
References
- ↑ Biographical entry
- ↑ House website
- ↑ Brookline Historical Society website
- ↑ Photo-article showing Finkelstein with Devotion students
External links
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
