Billerica Memorial High School

Billerica Memorial High School (BMHS) is located at 35 River Street in Billerica, Massachusetts. It is one of two public high schools in the town. Kevin Soraghan is the principal of Billerica High. Grades 9 through 12 are taught at the school and are managed by four assistant principals who oversee the students in each grade. Billerica's arch-rival is Chelmsford High School. The colors of BMHS are green and white, and the school's emblem is the Indian Head. [ [http://www.billerica.mec.edu/BMHS/index.html Billerica Memorial High School ] ]

History

Education always seemed to be on the minds of the founders of New England and BMHS was no exception. Shortly after the foundation of Billerica in 1655, the town made plans to ensure education for its young residents. The first schoomaster of Billerica was Joseph Tompson. His private room was the first classroom. As the town of Billerica grew in the 1700s, other schoolmasters were hired.

In 1794 the first school in Billerica was opened. This private school, Pemberton Academy, had such famous pupils as James Madison and Aaron Burr. It closed in 1808. Another private school was established in 1820 known as Billerica Academy, and classes were held in an old hotel. It also found itself closed in 1836. Reverend Mr. Stearns then tried to pick up the burden of higher education by teaching classes in his church, but this school also eventually closed.

The first official high school under town control was established in 1851 (although the town did officially control it until about 1910). It was named Howe School after its founder Dr. Zadok Howe. Dr. Howe funded the building of the school but died before construction was completed. His estate ran the school, free of charge to Billerica residents. It took in students from all over New England and some from as far away as Illinois. The total enrollment was 46 boys and 42 girls, with the senior class graduating a total of six students (four boys and two girls).

In 1896, the Town of Billerica officially named the school as the town's high school as was mandated by law. It was also in that same year that a group of alumni from the school founded an association that is still active today: The Howe High School/Billerica Memorial High School Alumni Association is the second oldest active high school alumni group in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts behind the Alumni Association to the Boston Latin School.

When Dr. Howe's estate announced, in 1910, that free tuition would end for Billerica students, the town took over the school.

The Howe School soon became overpopulated and the town was forced to rent out rooms in houses opposite the building. The principal at this time was Mr. Vining. He himself taught six classes a day. The superintendent at the time was Mr. Arthur B. Webber.

In 1914, the overpopulation of the Howe School became a serious problem for the town. A suggestion was then made to erect a new high school. It was brought to the Town Finance Committee. The committee eventually voted to recommend the building of a new high school to cost no more than $90,000. The town issued 20-year, four percent serial bonds to this amount. In September 1916, the new Howe High School was open across the street from the original Howe School.

Billerica Memorial High School was officially opened on September 26, 1955. The school opened with Philip G. Hines as superintendent of schools and Royal S. Adams as the principal. In 1955 the high school received 700 students as well as four groups of elementary students. The total cost to build this new institution was approximately $2,425,000. Shorty after its opening, the Billerica school again became overpopulated. A suggestion was made to build an addition to the building. Billerica Memorial High School then added a new addition in September 1974. The cost of this addition was approximately $15,469,000. This addition provided 90 additional rooms, giving the faculty more room to work. The superintendent was William Flaherty and the principal was William Archambault.

[Hazen, Henry (1989). "History of Billerica". Salem, Mass.: Higginson Book Company.] [Website of the Howe/BMHS Alumni: http://www.billericaalumni.com/.]

School days

Schools days are based on a seven day rotating schedule with six periods lasting 53 minutes. Like other public schools in Massachusetts 180 days make up a school year. Students attend homeroom between second and third period for 15 minutes. Fourth period is extended to fit the three lunch blocks, A B C, which are about 23 minutes in length. Between each period there is a five minute passing period for students to get to their next class, eight minutes in the case of before homeroom. Officially, school starts at 7:15 am and ends at 2:02 pm. In May 2008 BMHS students and teachers were officially notified that starting next year, they would try a new rotating schedule. This new schedule would have two blocks starting at the beggining of the day and rotating back and forth. Then the next two blocks remained the same throughout the schedule. The last two blocks follower the same structure as the first two. Another block rotates all the way throught the schedule. This new schedule was created to allow students to leave school for off campus classes and to in time reopen many old classes such as shop and auto shop.

The building

BMHS consists of two buildings: the Old Building (aka Memorial Building) and the New Building. The New Building is an addition that was added to the original building in 1974, but it was built as a free-standing structure. Because of this, there are two gyms and two cafeterias. Only the cafeteria in the New Building is in use. There is one auditorium; it is in the Old Building. Each building has three floors, but only the top two floors of the Old Building are used by the school. The lower floor is used by a town elementary school for its kindergarten, as well as storage for the drama program's set materials and costumes.

Though the buildings are designed to operate on their own, they are connected by two narrow doorways. This causes traffic issues during the passing periods for students who are trying to get to their next class. The building is clearly falling apart in many areas, and much of the pipes contain water with extremely high lead levels. There is also a problem in the school with graffiti tagging between students from "NB" (North Billerica) and Pinehurst.

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