Commonwealth School
| Commonwealth School | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
|
Boston, Massachusetts USA |
|
| Information | |
| Type | Private |
| Established | 1957 |
| Founder | Charles E. Merrill Jr. |
| Headmaster | William D. Wharton |
| Grades | 9–12 |
| Gender | Coeducational |
| Enrollment | 150 |
| Athletics conference |
|
| Accreditation | New England Association of Schools and Colleges |
| Website | www.commschool.org |
Commonwealth School is an independent high school of about 150 students and 35 faculty members located in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts United States. It is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.
Charles E. Merrill Jr., son of the founder of Merrill Lynch, founded the school in 1957, locating it in Boston's Back Bay to "restore good secondary schooling to the city." He encouraged Commonwealth students to be "decent, socially responsible, generous people," actively engaged in public affairs. Merrill returns to the school once a year to give a speech on a topic of his choice, and his books are on display in the school library alongside those of Commonwealth alumni.
Merrill insisted that the school have only one rule: "No rollerskating in the halls," — an exhortation that students should not "...act like a damn fool, but think about your actions and how they affect others."
Merrill retired in 1981, and his memoir of the first 23 years of the school's history and his experience as headmaster, The Walled Garden, was published the following year.
The school's symbol is a mermaid with a sword and shield, derived from the coat of arms of Warsaw, Poland. This symbol appears on the school flag, publications, and the outside of the building. Because the school has no official sports mascot the mermaid is sometimes used, and the school's sports teams are sometimes referred to (partly in jest) as the "fighting mermaids."
There is no official school song, but "The Spacious Firmament On High" (Joseph Addison, Joseph Haydn) is sung each year at the opening of school and at the graduation ceremony.
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Wikipedia