Florida Ruffin Ridley School

The Florida Ruffin Ridley School, formerly known as the Coolidge Corner School[2] and the Edward Devotion School or Devo, is a public K-8 school located at 345 Harvard Street, Brookline, Massachusetts, United States. It is a part of Public Schools of Brookline.

Florida Ruffin Ridley School
Location
345 Harvard Street
Brookline, MA 02446
Information
TypeK-8 school
Established1892
School districtPublic Schools of Brookline
PrincipalJennifer Buller
David O'Hara
Monica Crowley
GradesK-8
Enrollment798[1]
Student to teacher ratio11.6[1]
WebsiteFlorida Ruffin Ridley School

The school was founded in 1892 on land formerly owned by Edward Devotion (1621-1685) and later by his grandson, another Edward Devotion (1667-1744). The land was purchased by the town from a later owner.[3] The Devotions' 18th-century house[4] is preserved by the Brookline Historical Society[5] and stands amidst part of its original gardens in the school's forecourt.

Demographics

The school is attended by over 800 students from pre-kindergarten to eighth grade, and is the largest of eight public elementary schools in Brookline. The school emphasizes diversity, with English being a second language to over one third of the student body, among which about 40% are English Language learners. Roughly 37% of students are non-white or multiracial.[6]

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.[7]

Renovation

The school was reconstructed and enlarged (completed in August, 2018).[8] For the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 academic years, the student body was split between two temporary buildings, termed Lower Devotion School (grades K-4) and Upper Devotion School (grades 5-8).[9] The principals of Lower Devotion were David O'Hara and Jennifer Buller,[10] and the principal of Upper Devotion was Monica Crowley.[11]

History

Built in 1892, the school was named for the second Edward Devotion, who decreed in his will that any money left over after the payments of his debt and funeral expenses be given to the town for use "towards Building or Maintaining a School as near the Centre of the said Town as shall be agreed upon by the Town."[12] Although the money was long gone by the time school was built, the school was apparently named for him in recognition of his original request, although no records from the 1890s survive discussing the naming.[13]

John F. Kennedy attended the school from 1922 to 1924.[14]

Until 2005, the school librarian was award-winning author Norman H. Finkelstein, who wrote the book The Other 1492[15] (not to be confused with the similarly named professor Norman Finkelstein).

In 2018, a citizen-led movement endorsed by Brookline's Town Meeting and School Committee began the process of renaming the school, recognizing that the estate of Edward Devotion sold for his bequest included a slave.[16] In May 2018 the name was changed to the Coolidge Corner School pending a new name.[17] The name was changed to the Florida Ruffin Ridley School as of September 2020, following the vote of Town Meeting in November 2019.[18]

References
  1. "2017 Massachusetts School Report Card Overview". School and District Profiles. Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  2. "Brookline Town Meeting votes to rename Devotion School". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2018-05-30.
  3. "1919 Proceedings of the Brookline Historical Society". www.brooklinehistoricalsociety.org. Retrieved 2018-03-03.
  4. "House website". Archived from the original on 2009-05-18. Retrieved 2006-04-03.
  5. Brookline Historical Society website
  6. "2013 Report Card - Coolidge Corner School (00460015)".
  7. "PTO / Home". Archived from the original on 2016-09-23. Retrieved 2016-11-03.
  8. "October 15, 2015".
  9. "Devotion School / Homepage". Archived from the original on 2016-11-04. Retrieved 2016-11-03.
  10. "School Administration / Administration".
  11. http://brookline.k12.ma.us/Page/849
  12. Brookline (Mass.) (1875). Muddy River and Brookline records. 1634-1838. The Library of Congress. [Boston] J. E. Farwell & co., printers.
  13. "Minutes of the Ad Hoc Task Force on School Names" (PDF). www.brookline.k12.ma.us. 2018-04-24. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-09-11.
  14. Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation, National Park Service (2012). "Cultural Landscape Report for John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site" (PDF).
  15. "Photo-article showing Finkelstein with Devotion students".
  16. Murphy, Emma R. (Mar 14, 2018). "Brookline considers renaming Devotion School". Brookline TAB. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  17. "Brookline Votes To Change Name Of Devotion School". www.wbur.org. Archived from the original on 2018-09-11. Retrieved 2018-09-11.
  18. "Coolidge Corner School Renamed, Fossil Fuels Out In Brookline". Brookline, MA Patch. 2019-11-20. Retrieved 2019-11-21.

42°20′40.35″N 71°07′26.19″W

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