Brookline High School

Brookline High School is a four-year public high school in the town of Brookline, Massachusetts. It is a part of Public Schools of Brookline. As of the 2021–22 school year, 2087 students were enrolled in the high school, served by 194.8 teachers (on an FTE basis), the student to teacher ratio was approximately 10.4 to 1. As of 2022, the enrolled student body race/ethnicity was self reported as 7.3% African American, 15.1% Asian, 12.7% Hispanic, 54.3% White, and 10.5% Multi-Race Non-Hispanic. History Brookline High School was founded in the Spring of 1843. Instruction began on August 17, 1843, on the lower floor of the Town Hall on Walnut Street described by a former student as a "dismal, damp and dark room...not unlike a tomb". Benjamin H. Rhodes, a Brown University graduate, was the founding Headmaster, serving until 1847. Rhodes was succeed as Headmaster by Hezekia Shailer who served until 1854. John Emory Horr, a Harvard College graduate, then served as Headmaster for 33 years until 1888. The second Brookline High School location was a newly constructed two-story building on School Street designed by architect Joseph L. Richard that opened on November 3, 1856. The third and present location of Brookline High School was Shailer Hall a new three and a half story brick structure with a pitched roof designed by architects Andrews, Jaques and Rantoul which opened in Fall, 1895. The Manual Arts building was built at a cost of $100,000 on Tappan Street, and opened in September, 1903. The ninth grade moved from the School of Practical Arts in the elementary schools to the high school in September 1921. An addition to the main building was finished at that time to increase the capacity to 1500 students. The main building was expanded and remodeled in 1965 with a budget of $1.5 million. Architecture The school has Symbolic Panels made by the sculptor John A. Wilson. In May 2018, Brookline voters supported a debt exclusion override to fund the expansion and renovation of Brookline High School. This building project included the construction of a new building at the 111 Cypress Street site, a new Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) building to replace the building at the corner of Tappan and Greenough Streets, renovations to the 3rd floor of the main building and the Tappan gymnasium, as well as improvements to Cypress Field. In early 2022, Brookline High School opened a new building on 22 Tappan Street, designed primarily to house freshmen.