Boston Latin School

The agony of the acceptance letter

adamg — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 12:38:26 +0000

Parent Imperfect walks us through the angst of getting a Boston Latin School acceptance letter and then deciding whether to send your kid there:

For families in the Boston Public Schools, at least, the decision NOT to go to take an invitation to attend BLS can be a very tough one. Liz and the PI remember well the strange momentum that took them in just a few months from not thinking much about the exam schools to deciding that Vince should give BLS a try. Some parents seem very confident that they know how their child will respond to BLS. Liz and the PI were not of that sort. Since Vince had not done Advanced Work in fourth, fifth or sixth grade, they really had to guess how he would respond to the kind of pressure he’d face at BLS. Have you heard yet that ominous, "BLS is not for everyone!"

Boston Latin School student arrested on arson charges

adamg — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 23:05:32 +0000

1/11/12 (All day)

The Boston Fire Department reports arson investigators arrested a 16-year-old male student at the exam school around 5 p.m. in connection with three fires over the past three days.

The student, not immediately identified, will be arraigned tomorrow, the day after a third fire sent students and staff into the street again and fire inspectors and police swarmed the school, looking for evidence and witnesses and handing anonymous-tip-line pamphlets to arriving students. The Fire Department said the investigation is continuing.

"We look forward to an uninterrupted day of learning," school Headmaster Lynne Mooney Teta told parents in a robocall tonight. She said that police will maintain a heightened presence at the school tomorrow.

Boston Latin pyromaniac strikes again

adamg — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 20:09:22 +0000

For the third day in a row, somebody set a trash barrel on fire at Boston Latin School, this time around 1:30 p.m. in a third-floor restroom. Teachers used an extinguisher to put out the fire, the Boston Fire Department reports. The school was evacuated for about 20 minutes.

Fire and police arson investigators got to the fire scene quickly - they were already on another floor investigating the previous two days' fires. There were no injuries, BFD says.

Somebody's setting fires at Boston Latin School

adamg — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 21:38:57 +0000

UPDATE: Arrest made.

For the second day in a row, Boston firefighters had to respond to the exam school on Avenue Louis Pasteur for what school officials are telling parents was a deliberately set fire.

Yesterday's fire, at lunchtime, was in a trash barrel in a second-floor girl's bathroom. Today's fire was also in a trash barrel, in the basement.

The Boston Fire Department reports nobody was injured in either fire - and that today's, reported around 1:15 p.m., was set under a sprinkler head, which activated - putting out the fire and causing $5,000 in water damage. The school did not have to be evacuated due to either fire, although some students had to be relocated temporarily, the department says.

Some students yesterday did walk outside when the alarms went off; today, eighth graders had to be relocated to the cafeteria because of the water in the basement, where there classes were.

Headmaster Lynne Mooney Teta informed parents of the fires in a robocall this afternoon, in which she asked them to talk to their children to see if they might have any information about the culprit or culprits. The Fire Department is also investigating.

MBTA bus driver suspended for doing what probably every school-bus driver, ever, has dreamed of doing

adamg — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 11:40:31 +0000

The Herald reports the MBTA has suspended a driver who basically locked a bunch of Boston Latin School students in and then took them for an angry ride off her route after some pranksters kept pushing the stop strip and wouldn't fess up. Among the mini-hostages: Tom Menino's granddaughter.

When life gives you vile, putrescent slime, make lemonade

adamg — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 16:42:09 +0000

OK, maybe not the best of metaphors, but the kids at Boston Latin School are raising money for LGBT acceptance programs based on next Monday's visit by the screaming loser bigots from Kansas, who apparently can't get enough of the Boston area.

Lying suburbanites continue to try to get their kids into Boston exam schools

adamg — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 12:21:32 +0000

City Councilor John Tobin wants a year-long residency requirement just to take the ISEE test that helps determine whether a kid gets accepted into either of the two Latin schools or the O'Bryant.

Ed. Note: Despite what the story, in a Boston newspaper, says, it only takes sweat and tears - and hard work - to get into an exam school. No blood is normally shed.

An important week for a lot of Boston school kids

adamg — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 02:47:48 +0000

Not only is this the week parents of would-be pre-schoolers and kindergarteners learn their school assignments, it's the week sixth graders learn if they got into one of the exam schools.

The kidlet knew when she saw both me and her mother at the bus stop this afternoon we'd gotten a letter from BPS - because I almost never pick her up. And she knew right away by the grins on our faces that it was an acceptance letter. And then she surprised me, if not her mom, by saying immediately she wanted to go to Latin. So the next adventure begins.

What shall become of us if we park under this sign?

adamg — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 00:55:53 +0000

Also, shouldn't the sign be in Latin?

We shipped the kidlet off to basic training today

adamg — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:10:22 +0000

Or, at least, it felt like that.

Today was her first day at a three-week program at Boston Latin to get ready for the ISEE test this fall - which will determine whether she has a chance of getting into Latin or the other two exam schools (Boston Latin Academy and the O'Bryant School of Math and Science).

BLS student wins international honor

adamg — Fri, 22 May 2009 12:54:48 +0000

Olivia Schwob wins one of three Young Scientist awards at recent Intel International Science & Engineering Fair for her project How Worms Learn III: Mammalian Gene Expression and Associative Conditioning.

City to shut Boston Latin School because of flu outbreak

adamg — Tue, 19 May 2009 18:45:20 +0000

The Dorchester Reporter has the scoop.

No word if vampires can contract swine flu.

They may not have any vampires, but I think I see a sucker

Kaz — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:06:00 +0000

Lynne Mooney Teta, headmaster at Boston Latin, sent out a letter to parents and faculty explaining that there are no vampires at the school:

The notice, which was addressed to faculty and students and forwarded to parents, did not say exactly what the rumors were. Teta's office referred questions to a Boston schools spokeswoman, who didn't immediately have a comment.

"Seriously?" said Melissa Duggan.

Police visited the school on Wednesday to help ~~cover the identity of their vampire friends~~ explain to the students what rampant rumors can do to disrupt the student population.

Boston Latin School has always been a punishing place

adamg — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 13:03:28 +0000

Although it's no longer quite as physically punishing as it used to be, J.L. Bell reports:

... Latin scholars recalled one father telling Master Lovell, "Sir, you have flogged that boy enough." However, that was a special case. The father in question was James Lovell, the schoolmaster's son and assistant, and the boy was James's own son - perhaps the one born illegitimately in 1758. ...

He has even more on the topic.

Schoolboy insults and the history of downtown

adamg — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 17:28:32 +0000

J.L. Bell weaves them together - and shows how, even back in the 1700s, Latin School students had a high opinion of themselves.