Savio Preparatory High School

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Lua error in Module:Infobox at line 235: malformed pattern (missing ']'). St. Dominic Savio Preparatory High School, formerly St. Dominic Savio High School, was a Roman Catholic high school located in the East Boston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The school was founded in 1958 and closed in 2007.

History

The school was originally founded as an all-boy's school in 1958 by the Salesians of Don Bosco, a Catholic religious order.[1][2] It was called St. Dominic Savio High School and served predominantly blue-collar Italian American and Irish American families in East Boston, Revere, Winthrop, and Chelsea.[citation needed]

Enrollment grew until the late 1970s, with peak at about 440 students.[citation needed] Those years saw a variety of new clubs and sports spring up.[citation needed] An alumnus, Paul Abbott, recalled a day when the student body voted on whether the school should add football or hockey as a new sport:

"It was 1970, the Bobby Orr era in Boston, so we chose hockey.[2]

In the 80s, the school suffered from decreasing enrollment and rising costs, partially due to an aging campus and shrinking pool of low-salaried Salesians, leading to increasing dependence on more expensive lay teachers.[citation needed]

At the end of the 1992-1993 school year, as part of a continual process to cut back on services due to a decrease in the number of priests and brothers, the Salesians announced that the school would be closing, a revelation that caused an uproar in the community.[citation needed] The decline made it harder to keep up facilities, and an increase in costs in areas such as healthcare needed to take care of an aging priest population.[citation needed]

A group of alumni stepped in and eventually the Salesians agreed to cede control of the school to the group, initially with no charge for property rental.[citation needed] In September 1993, St. Dominic Savio High was reincarnated as St. Dominic Savio Preparatory High School.[citation needed] Though there was no gap between the Salesians administering the school and the alumni taking over, the period of indecision that preceded the change saw many faculty members and students relocate to other schools.[citation needed] Savio became coeducational in an effort to increase enrollment.

New direction

Under the leadership of Fr. John Serio, S.D.B., from 1998-2001, St. Dominic Savio's enrollment grew. In 2002, however, the athletic director plead guilty to charges of indecent assault and three counts of molesting female students.[3] Then, in 2006, the wrestling coach plead guilty to raping two male students and hazing multiple others.[3] These incidents caused enrollment to drop, and money to dry up. The building fell further into disrepair, with broken tiles in stacks on the floor and holes in the walls.[3]

School closed

At the end of the 2006-2007 school year, the Salesian owners of the building did not renew the lease, citing the deterioration of the condition of the building and lack of funds to repair it.[3] Concerned parents and alumni began meeting to discuss ways to keep the school open. The group called themselves "Save Our Savio,"[3] but could never muster enough funding or support to find the school a new location. It was clear that 2006-2007 had been the last St. Dominic Savio school year.

In 2008, it was revealed that the school administration rejected an offer to join the Christo Rey School Network, which would have saved the school financially.[citation needed]

The building now houses the Edward W. Brooke Charter School. An addition has been built on the site of the former Salesian residence.[4]

Demographics

Year Enrollment Religious

Employees

 Lay

Employees

 Total

Employees
Late 1970s 440 n/a n/a n/a
2000 381[5] 4 39 43
2001 400[6] 4 45 49
2002 392[3] n/a n/a n/a
2003 n/a 3 n/a n/a
2004 n/a 0 n/a n/a
2007 165[3] 0 n/a n/a

List of administration

Director Years Headmaster/Principal Years Assistant

Principal

 Years
Fr. Joseph Caselli, S.D.B.[1] 1958-? unknown 1958-74 unknown 1958-84
unknown ?-1969
Fr. Albert Sofia, S.D.B.[7] 1969-72
unknown 1972-89 Fr. Donald Zarkoski, S.D.B. 1974-81
unknown 1981-98 Dr. Paul Dakin, Ed.D 1984-93
Fr. Patrick Diver, S.D.B.[8] 1989-95
unknown 1993-2000
unknown 1995-2000
Fr. John Serio, S.D.B.[6] 1998-2001
Edward Minor[6] 2000-01 William P. Sullivan[6] 2000-01
unknown 2001-07 unknown 2001-06 unknown 2001-07
Anders Peterson[2] 2006-07

Notable alumni

References

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External links


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