Dedham High School

A postcard of the building that housed Dedham High School in Dedham, Massachusetts from 1886 to 1915 on Bryant Street

After moving from Masonic Hall, the classes were held at the Town House for one year until, in 1855, a new school was built on Highland Street and dedicated on December 10.[16][19] A new school was built on Bryant Street in 1887, and students moved in on October 3.[20][19] That building was 80' long and 77' wide.[19] After 1915, when the high school moved to Whiting Avenue, the building housed the Ames Junior High School, and today it is the site of the Dedham Town Hall.[20][19]

From 1916 to 1959 the high school was located at 70 Whiting Avenue.[20][21][19] Governor Calvin Coolidge took part in the dedication ceremony[21] on March 31, 1917.[19] Students first occupied the school in the spring of 1916.[19] It was three stories tall, plus a basement, and was built of water-struck brick and featured terra cotta trimming.[19] It later served as the Dedham Middle School.[19]

In 1932 a new wing was added at a cost of $200,000.[20][21] It contained an auditorium dedicated to George Frederick Joyce, who was connected to the school for 25 years and principal for 21 of them, on May 12, 1933.[21] Later, this wing was used as the Oakdale Junior High School.

Special laws were passed by the Massachusetts General Court in 1957 allowing the town to use Stone Park across the street to build a new high school.[22] Classes began at 140 Whiting Avenue in 1959, and continue to the present.[20] An addition to this building was constructed in 1967, which consisted of a new academic wing and an additional gymnasium. In 1976 a new library, a larger cafeteria, modern science laboratories, swimming pool, and more classrooms were added.[18] The old cafeteria was converted into an auto body shop,[18] and is currently the home of the town's Facilities Department.

The library was renovated and expanded in 1999,[18] and the C-Wing of the school was renovated with state-of-the-art new science labs in 2002.[23] The superintendent and other central administrators have offices in renovated classrooms in the B-wing, and the town's Youth Commission has offices in the A-wing.

There have been 18 principals of Dedham High School, a position currently held by James Forrest.[24] The longest serving was Carlos Slafter, who served for 40 years,[24] and who hired his own daughter as a teacher.[25] Peter Smith served twice, from 1976-1987 and from 1997-2000.[24]

Between 2006 and 2013, scores on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System improved 20%.[29] In 2012, 91% of students scored proficient or higher on the English Language Arts portion. For the math and science portions, the numbers were 89% and 79%, respectively, both of which were at least 10% higher than the state as a whole.[30] In the biology subject exam, Dedham High School has ranked as one of the best in the state, with three students earning perfect scores.[31]

Students taking some honors or AP courses can dual-enroll for college credit at the nearby Massachusetts Bay Community College.[32] The three credits can then be transferred to another state college or some private colleges, allowing students to place out of those classes in college. Courses eligible for dual enrollment include English 4, calculus, pre-calculus, world and U.S. history, psychology, biology, chemistry, anatomy and physiology, and environmental earth science.

More than 260 sophomores, juniors, and seniors, which amounts to nearly half of those classes, are taking at least one Advanced Placement course.[7] In 2009 the school joined the Mass Math + Science Initiative, a program sponsored by Mass Insight Education, and by 2012 the number of students who have scored a qualifying score on the exam had risen by 57%.[7] By 2013, the number of qualifying scores had risen 68% to 141.[33] During the 2015-16 school year, 26.6 percent of students took at least one AP exam.[8]

The town of Dedham has made a substantial commitment to making sure every student has access to the latest educational technology. Beginning in 2011, each incoming freshman was provided with a new netbook computer to use in class and take home at night.[34] While the computers remain the property of the school district, students are responsible for them. As the district has a policy of replacing computers every five years, and since one of the machines would be nearly depreciated by the time a student is graduated four years later, the district allows students to keep the computers after commencement.[35]

The original plan was to provide each new freshman with a netbook until, four years later, the entire school would be outfitted with them. In the 2012-2013 school year freshmen were given netbooks, while sophomores received iPads.[36] The schedule was accelerated beginning with the 2013-2014 school year, when freshmen received netbooks while all sophomores, juniors, and seniors received iPads.[36] Eventually all students will be issued iPads.[36]

Parents are asked to pay a $100 technology fee to help cover the cost of the equipment. However, for students who receive free or reduced price lunch, the fee is waived.[34] The program may be extended in future years to include middle school students as well.[36]

Most teams play at Veteran's Memorial Field at Stone Park, which was rededicated on Thanksgiving Day, 2011, following a major upgrade and renovation.[43] The land where the stadium and school stand was originally donated by Col. Eliphalet Stone.[44][45] Stone deeded 49,897 sq. ft of land to the Dedham Improvement Society, an unincorporated organization, on June 2, 1884, to be used as a park.[46]

On January 2, 1895, Town Meeting took the property, per Stone's instructions, and purchased an adjoining parcel for from Louise M. Morse for $8,750, bringing the entire parcel up to 6.25 acres.[47] It was later expanded again to 8.49 acres.[47] Town Meeting appropriated $2,500 on September 16, 1895, and the land was graded and developed with a cinder track of .2 miles and a dressing house.[47] The original land donated by Stone became a playground of 250' by 425'.[47] In 1957, the Great and General Court of Massachusetts passed laws allowing the town to use the land to build a new high school.[48]

The senior class at Dedham High School has a long tradition of putting on a play, usually a musical, as one of their final efforts as a class. Tryouts are usually held in December, and the production is staged in mid-March. While the play has been held annually since at least the late 1960s, the tradition is much older than that. Connie Hines, a member of the class of 1948, tried out for a role in her senior class play but did not make the cut. After graduation she went on to Hollywood and starred in a number of television shows, including Mr. Ed.[49]