Josiah Quincy Elementary School  昆士小學

Timeline

Josiah Quincy

JQS History

The Josiah Quincy Elementary School is an excellent school. How did it become the school it is now? It has a very interesting history you should learn about. The school there is now wasn’t always there. Let’s begin the story back before this school was built…

Before this school was built, there was the Old Quincy School . The Old Quincy School was located on 88-90 Tyler Street . This school is the oldest school building in Boston that continues to be used as a school. It was built in 1847 in Chinatown . Something special about it is that it was the first school in the whole country to have separate classrooms for each grade and separate desks for each student. This school was named after the second mayor of Boston , Josiah Quincy. The Old Quincy School was only for children in the neighborhood, and that later became a problem.

Around the time, different neighborhoods were segregated by race. There was a law that children could only go to schools in their neighborhood. That meant that many schools only had one race in them! Many people were upset about that, and one of those people was Judge Garrity. Judge Garrity was not pleased- he wanted schools to have a mix of different races. He strongly believed in integration. He also had many ideas of how to improve the school system. Finally, he came up with one that worked…

In the year 1976, a decision was made that the Old Quincy School and the Abraham Lincoln School (Now known as the Josiah Quincy Upper School ) was to be joined together into one big school. The whole idea was to integrate the two school groups into one bigger group. This integration was supposed to make a better school by combining both strategies of each school. There was a mix of races, because now buses were also transporting children from different neighborhoods to the school.

The Quincy School opened on September 19, 1976. It had a new environment to adjust to. The new school was an open-space school. That meant that in each pod, there were no walls between the classrooms. Classrooms were only separated with low furniture. This was supposed to help everyone learn better, by being able to communicate with others. Since all the teachers and students weren’t used to this kind of environment, everything was a little confusing and noisy. But it did have some benefits, like easier communication and more space out in the hallway. Eventually, everyone thought they would be more comfortable with some walls.

        Finally, walls were put in, but only some. The last few walls were put in about 10 years ago. Now, our school is still different from others. Some classrooms are still separated with furniture and most classrooms don’t have doors. It might still be a little noisy in the pod, but it has improved a lot since the school first opened.

        The second floor playground wasn’t always there from the start. Actually, it was built by Quincy School and community volunteers on September 25, 1998. That play structure is still there today. Later, the Quincy Schoolyard Committee met to plan the second play structure, on the rooftop. On November 13, 1999, parents, teachers, administrators, City Year Corps members, community people, and the entire Harvard University Rowing Team built the play structure on the rooftop. That playground is also in use today. 

          The Josiah Quincy Elementary School has won many awards and high ratings for its success. Here are some of them:

·  Rated one of the top 100 schools in Eastern Massachusetts in 2005

·  The Excellence in Education award- 1986

·  Effective Practice award- 2001, 2002, 2003

Today, our school is very successful. We have 108 dedicated staff and 828 terrific students. Everyone works hard and tries their best to accomplish great achievements and to prepare our next generation for global citizenship!

List of principals:

JQS TIMELINE 

WHO WAS JOSIAH QUINCY?

Connie Wong