Thornton Academy

Thornton Academy (often abbreviated as TA) is an independent school serving grades 6-12 located in Saco, Maine.

History

Thornton Academy was first established in 1811, when the Maine region was a part of Massachusetts. It was founded because of a petition by citizens of Saco to the Massachusetts Senate, which passed a bill granting six square miles of land for the use of the academy so long as the city of Saco raised USD $3000 in funds. It was dedicated on January 4, 1813 as "Saco Academy". The school was plagued for years by financial difficulty. The name was officially changed to "Thornton Academy" in 1821 when Dr. Thomas G. Thornton donated $1000 worth of bank stock to the school.

The academy was destroyed by fire on July 28, 1848 in what was concluded to be arson, although no culprit was ever found. Almost all records were lost in the fire, and the academy was closed indefinitely. Although the board of trustees continued to meet and discuss the school's future, serious efforts to rebuild the school were not taken until 1884, when investments by trustee James W. Bradbury had more than quintupled the academy's financial endowment.

Current campus

In 1885 eight acres of land were purchased by the board at the corner of Main Street and Fairfield Street in Saco as the future site of Thornton Academy. On July 27, 1886, Thornton Academy became a legal corporation. The plans for the new school building were designed by H. G. Wadlin. It officially re-opened on September 6, 1889 and began its school year three days later with a class of 108 students.

Over the course of the 20th century, separate buildings have been added to the grounds, such as a gymnasium, a science building and a building containing a library and English classes. In 1996 construction was completed to link the original building with the science building, as well as to add more classrooms. However, since the academy consists of several buildings, it more resembles a university campus than a traditional American high school.

In fall 2006 a middle school was opened on campus.

The middle school, Thornton Academy Middle School, 'TAMS' for short, was opened to grades 6-8. Free to children from Arundel. Children from surrounding areas can pay a tuition to go to the middle school. The school consists of three sixth grade base teachers, who teach all subject except specials, [Art, band, gym, guidance, and foreign language] .

The seventh and eighth graders start off by meeting with an advisory in one of the classrooms. The advisories are mixtures of both grades, and frequently do activities together. On Wednesdays the students meet in the commons, or cafe for a school assembly, and occasionally go to the Upper school to see plays and concerts performed by them. School days run from 7:30 am to 1:57 pm.

Sports offered by the school are boys and girls fall soccer. Cross-country, basketball, indoor track, baseball and softball. The school offers a yearly play put on by the drama department, and has a chorus and bands.

Other clubs offered are the NJHS, Student Council, and Tech Team.

TAMS is part of the Maine Learning Initiative, which gives each student and teacher a laptop for use over the school year.

Administration

The academy is privately owned and governed by a board of trustees. Since 1889 the trustees have, like several other of the oldest academies in New England, contracted with local communities to serve their needs for education, as well as accepting students who do not live in these communities and whose parents pay tuition. Currently the trustees have contracts with the communities of Saco and Dayton to educate all their students in grades 9-12 and with the community of Arundel for educating grades 6-8. Arundel currently allows high school choice for grades 9-12 students and many of these students also attend Thornton Academy. The current headmaster of grades 6-12 is Carl J. Stasio, Jr. He is only the seventh headmaster since 1889, when the Academy moved to its current location.

The school's class scheduling system is one called block schedulung and is used throughout most of Southern Maine high schools. Rather than students taking all of their classes in a single day, classes are divided along a two-day cycle with four class 'blocks' in each day. This causes each class to meet for 80 minutes every two school days instead of 40 minutes every school day. The intent of this system is to allow teachers and students to be more thorough in each class meeting, with a smaller amount of time devoted every day to the transition between classes. The two alternating days are named "Maroon Days" and "Gold Days" after the school's official colors.

ports

Thornton Academy offers a variety of sports. The most successful sports for TA are the boys and girls indoor and outdoor track teams. The boys team was also very successful in the 2007-08 season, making it all the way to the Class A Championship game against Cheverus High School, as governed by the Maine Principals' Association. Sports at Thornton Academy include soccer, cross country, basketball, outdoor and indoor track, golf, lacrosse, field hockey, ice hockey, softball, baseball, swimming and tennis. The boys outdoor track team won the 2008 Class A state championship, beating Bonny Eagle by only one point.

External links

* [http://www.thorntonacademy.org/ Thornton Academy website]