Florida Ruffin Ridley School
{{Short description|K-8 school in Brookline, Massachusetts}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox school
|name = Florida Ruffin Ridley School
|image = Edward Devotion School, Brookline MA.jpg
|coordinates =
|established = 1892
|location = 345 Harvard Street
Brookline, MA 02446
|type = K-8 school
|grades = K-8
|district = Public Schools of Brookline
|faculty =
|SAT =
|team name =
|mascot = Bees
|colors =
|website = [https://www.brookline.k12.ma.us/coolidgecorner Florida Ruffin Ridley School]
|principal = Candice Whitmore
Steven Simolaris
Emma Gardiner
Marianne O'Grady
|information =
}}The Florida Ruffin Ridley School, formerly known as the Coolidge Corner School{{Cite web|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/05/29/brookline-town-meeting-votes-rename-devotion-school/pJeGLVp7PrVSoZjZgRFaZI/story.html|title=Brookline Town Meeting votes to rename Devotion School|website=The Boston Globe|language=en|access-date=2018-05-30}} and the Edward Devotion School or Devo, is a public K-8 school located at 345 Harvard Street, Brookline, Massachusetts, United States. It is a part of Public Schools of Brookline.
The school was founded in 1892 on land formerly owned by Edward Devotion (1621-1685) and later by his grandson, another Edward Devotion (1667-1744). The land was purchased by the town from a later owner.{{Cite web|url=http://www.brooklinehistoricalsociety.org/history/proceedings/1919/1919.html|title=1919 Proceedings of the Brookline Historical Society|website=www.brooklinehistoricalsociety.org|language=en|access-date=2018-03-03}} The Devotions' 18th-century house{{Cite web |url=http://www.brooklinehistoricalsociety.org/facilities/devotion.asp |title=House website |access-date=2006-04-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090518025425/http://www.brooklinehistoricalsociety.org/facilities/devotion.asp |archive-date=2009-05-18 |url-status=dead }} is preserved by the Town of Brookline and managed as a house museum by the Brookline Historical Society[http://www.brooklinehistoricalsociety.org/ Brookline Historical Society] website and stands amidst part of its original gardens in the school's forecourt.
Demographics
The school is attended by over 800 students from pre-kindergarten to eighth grade, and is the largest of eight public elementary schools in Brookline. The school emphasizes diversity, with English being a second language to over one third of the student body, among which about 40% are English Language learners. Roughly 37% of students are non-white or multiracial.{{Cite web | url=http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/reportcard/rc.aspx?linkid=37&orgcode=00460015&fycode=2013&orgtypecode=6& |title = 2013 Report Card - Coolidge Corner School (00460015)}}
Student life
The school has a Parent Teacher Organization supporting activities including field trips, "Arts Council," a science fair, Math night, and an International Night.{{Cite web |url=http://www.brookline.k12.ma.us/devotion/pto |title=PTO / Home |access-date=2016-11-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160923150814/http://www.brookline.k12.ma.us/devotion/pto |archive-date=2016-09-23 |url-status=dead }}
Renovation
The school was reconstructed and enlarged (completed in August, 2018).{{Cite web | url=http://www.brookline.k12.ma.us/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=325&ModuleInstanceID=1786&ViewID=047E6BE3-6D87-4130-8424-D8E4E9ED6C2A&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=2925&PageID=878 | title=October 15, 2015 | access-date=November 3, 2016 | archive-date=November 4, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104030712/http://www.brookline.k12.ma.us/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=325&ModuleInstanceID=1786&ViewID=047E6BE3-6D87-4130-8424-D8E4E9ED6C2A&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=2925&PageID=878 | url-status=dead }} For the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 academic years, the student body was split between two temporary buildings, termed Lower Devotion School (grades K-4) and Upper Devotion School (grades 5-8).{{Cite web |url=http://www.brookline.k12.ma.us/devotion |title=Devotion School / Homepage |access-date=2016-11-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104030905/http://www.brookline.k12.ma.us/devotion |archive-date=2016-11-04 |url-status=dead }} The principals of Lower Devotion were David O'Hara and Jennifer Buller,{{Cite web | url=http://brookline.k12.ma.us/Page/850 |title = School Administration / Administration}} and the principal of Upper Devotion was Monica Crowley.{{Cite web |url=http://brookline.k12.ma.us/Page/849 |title=Upper Devotion Administration |access-date=2016-11-03 |archive-date=2016-11-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104031007/http://brookline.k12.ma.us/Page/849 |url-status=dead }}
History
Built in 1892, the school was named for the second Edward Devotion, who decreed in his will that any money left over after the payments of his debt and funeral expenses be given to the town for use "towards Building or Maintaining a School as near the Centre of the said Town as shall be agreed upon by the Town."{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/muddyriverbrookl01broo|title=Muddy River and Brookline records. 1634-1838|last=Brookline (Mass.)|date=1875|publisher=[Boston] J. E. Farwell & co., printers|others=The Library of Congress}} Although the money was long gone by the time school was built, the school was apparently named for him in recognition of his original request, although no records from the 1890s survive discussing the naming.{{Cite web|url=https://www.brookline.k12.ma.us/cms/lib/MA01907509/Centricity/Domain/62/4.24.18%20Minutes-Ad%20Hoc%20Task%20Force%20on%20School%20Names.pdf|title=Minutes of the Ad Hoc Task Force on School Names|date=2018-04-24|website=www.brookline.k12.ma.us|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180911151031/https://www.brookline.k12.ma.us/cms/lib/MA01907509/Centricity/Domain/62/4.24.18%20Minutes-Ad%20Hoc%20Task%20Force%20on%20School%20Names.pdf|archive-date=2018-09-11|url-status=}}
John F. Kennedy attended the school from 1922 to 1924.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/jofi/learn/management/upload/JOFI_CLR.pdf|title=Cultural Landscape Report for John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site|last=Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation, National Park Service|date=2012|website=|access-date=}}
Until 2005, the school librarian was award-winning author Norman H. Finkelstein, who wrote the book The Other 1492{{Cite web|url=http://www.nea.org/neatoday/0505/people.html|title=Photo-article showing Finkelstein with Devotion students|access-date=2006-04-03|archive-date=2006-05-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060509053024/http://www.nea.org/neatoday/0505/people.html|url-status=dead}} (not to be confused with the similarly named professor Norman Finkelstein).
In 2018, a citizen-led movement endorsed by Brookline's Town Meeting and School Committee began the process of renaming the school, recognizing that the estate of Edward Devotion sold for his bequest included a slave.{{cite news|last1=Murphy|first1=Emma R.|title=Brookline considers renaming Devotion School|url=http://brookline.wickedlocal.com/news/20180314/brookline-considers-renaming-devotion-school|accessdate=27 March 2018|work=Brookline TAB|date=Mar 14, 2018|archive-date=27 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180327145248/http://brookline.wickedlocal.com/news/20180314/brookline-considers-renaming-devotion-school|url-status=dead}} In May 2018 the name was changed to the Coolidge Corner School pending a new name.{{Cite web|url=http://www.wbur.org/edify/2018/05/30/brookline-votes-change-name-devotion|title=Brookline Votes To Change Name Of Devotion School|website=www.wbur.org|date=30 May 2018 |language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180911151434/http://www.wbur.org/edify/2018/05/30/brookline-votes-change-name-devotion|archive-date=2018-09-11|url-status=|access-date=2018-09-11}} The name was changed to the Florida Ruffin Ridley School as of September 2020, following the vote of Town Meeting in November 2019.{{Cite web|url=https://patch.com/massachusetts/brookline/brookline-town-meeting-night-2-coolidge-corner-school|title=Coolidge Corner School Renamed, Fossil Fuels Out In Brookline|date=2019-11-20|website=Brookline, MA Patch|language=en|access-date=2019-11-21}}
Notable alumni
- Ada Korkhin (born 2004), Olympic pistol shooter
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{official website|https://www.brookline.k12.ma.us/coolidgecorner}}
- {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/*/http://devotion.brookline.k12.ma.us/|title=Edward Devotion School website}}
{{Brookline, Massachusetts}}
{{coord|42|20|40.35|N|71|07|26.19|W|display=title}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ridley, Florida Ruffin School}}
Category:Educational institutions established in 1892
Category:Public elementary schools in Massachusetts
Category:Public middle schools in Massachusetts
Category:Public K–8 schools in the United States