Pope John XXIII High School is a private, Roman Catholic high school in Everett, Massachusetts, in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. The school was established in 1965. It is an independent, coeducational, Catholic, college preparatory school serving metro-Boston that provides young men and women with a college preparatory education.
Maps, Directions, and Place Reviews
Academics, Abuse, and Workers' Rights Violations
The curriculum at Pope John XXIII High School provides multiple pathways of distinct academic function - College Preparatory, Honors and Advanced Placement.
Tom Mahoney is a verbally and emotionally abusive principal. Steve Skerry is a verbally and emotionally abusive math teacher. Both of them, alums of PJXXIII's first graduating class in 1970, call all of the international students, mostly from Asia but also from Europe, Latin, and South America, collectively the "foreigners." They also refer to the all of the Asian international students, whether they are from China, Korea, Vietnam or other country in Asia, as "the Chinese." I taught math there for 7.5 months before being illegally terminated. It was as if I worked for two Archie Bunkers; quite frankly, I'm surprised they did not use the insanely derogatory terms "Chink" or "Oriental." If you are considering sending your international students here, please please do not do so. I highly recommend looking into Saint Joseph's Preparatory High School in Brighton, MA, Malden Catholic High School in Malden, MA, Boston College High School in Dorcester, MA, or St. Mary's in Lynn, MA. Your children will suffer the trauma of being verbally and emotionally abused, and this is something they will carry with them for a lifetime. Children of any age do not deserve this tormenting treatment; children deserve to be supported, loved, encouraged, and guided through some of the toughest years of their life -- high school. Since about 80 international students live on the 5th floor with minimal supervision, I would not be surprised if students are sexual abused while boarding at Pope John. In addition to being racist, Mahoney is openly anti-gay, to the point where I had a student tell me she was afraid to dance with another girl at the fall dance.
As for being illegally terminated, this is what happened to me, a 22 year old, happy, energetic math teacher who was loved by her 112 students. I taught 5 classes, 4 of which were completely separate courses. I taught 28 students in Honors Calculus, 2 classes of 23 students a piece in Honors Pre-Calculus, 15 students in College Prep Pre-Calculus, and 23 students in Algebra I. For the first month or two of class, I also had 3 students in one of my two periods for a study hall. This is the most absurd schedule for a first year teacher. My fellow teachers, Steve Skerry and John French both had less than 100 students. Steve Skerry even teaches a class of 5, yes only 5, students Multivariable Calculus. However, "teach" is quite a stretch. Instead of actually instructing the students, he has them watch videos of a professor at MIT and then assigns homework that he never checks, collects, or grades. (John French does not check, collect, or grade math homework either -- why any one ever does their homework for Steve Skerry and John French I will never know.) Skerry teaches 3 classes of Geometry, Multivariable Calculus, and AP Calculus AB. John French teaches 4 classes of Algebra II and one class of AP Statistics -- now wouldn't that be a wonderful course schedule for a first year, 22 year old teacher.
On January 12, 2017, I was called into the principal, Tom Mahoney's office, for about an hour or so the week before midterms, without regard for the fact that I had students who needed extra help and that I had an insane amount of grading and work to get done that day. I was told by Mahoney that 5 of my 112 students complained about me, that is only 4%, so I took the criticism but considered it extremely, extremely minimal. If I have a 96% approval rating from my students, I'd consider that pretty good. Two students complained about grades, two complained that "reviewing for midterms is boring" (we did 3 days of practice problems and I had two days of review games, videos, and Algebra I songs planned for Thursday and Friday), and one student, a freshman in Algebra I, lied to Tom Mahoney and Steve Skerry and said I was late to class by 20 minutes or more every single day since Christmas break. This could not have been further from the truth -- in reality, for days and days at a time, I didn't even leave my classroom during lunch or my free periods, not even to use the bathroom once. Mahoney taught math at Malden High School and at Pope John for more than 20 years. Skerry had also been teaching math for about more than 10 years at Pope John. One would think that math teachers would verify such a devastating claim, but they flat out refused. Instead they called me a liar and told me that I, not the freshman, was blatantly lying to save my job. I didn't even want to work for them, so that certainly wasn't it, and I am a lifelong Girl Scout, always honest and fair. I do not lie to people, especially to those in positions of power, and even more especially to old white men who can control me, manipulate me, and make my life a living hell.
Tom Mahoney, with Steve Skerry's full and unending support and endorsement, threatened to fire me in two weeks. Mahoney had just observed my 5 classes, all of which were as perfect as high school math classes could be. He observed 4 of my classes on January 12th itself. I resigned by email the next morning to Tom Mahoney, Steve Skerry, Carl DiMaiti (the headmaster, who did nothing to support me), and Carol Balzotti (the secretary, also PJHXXIII Class of 1970, who did nothing to support me. Our lay teacher contract, standard for all lay teachers in the Archdiocese of Boston, clearly states that we may only be terminated for 1 or more of 28 causes. I did not violate or even come close to violating any of these causes. I was then told by email (as I called in for one of my two sick days that Thursday, January 13, 2017) that my resignation was effective at noon that day. This is in direct violation of our lay teacher contracts, which again, clearly states that lay teachers either who are terminated or who resign must work and be paid their salary for the next 30 days. After which, I was told by Carol Balzotti, that I would receive one more pay check and have health care until January 31st. However, my resignation should have been official on Monday, February 13th. This means that Pope John XXIII High School at 888 Broadway in Everett, MA, owes me at least 2 and perhaps 3 more pay checks. That amounts to around $1690 or $2535. I have no idea how long my health insurance coverage was actually supposed to last.
They of course did not know that I had in 3 weeks or so suffered the deaths of 4 of my good friends' parents. They of course did not know that 2 weeks later, Michele Durgin, beloved Theology and English teacher would die at 55 tragically in a car crash. My students and their parents were beyond distraught about the loss of two of their favorite teachers in only 2 short weeks, surrounding midterm exams.
I hope Tom Mahoney and Steve Skerry will someday be served with justice. This is all first-hand, primary source information from Miss S.
Performing arts
Students produce drama, musicals, talent shows, and summer productions. Recent shows include Godspell, A Christmas Carol, Guys and Dolls, and Hello, Dolly!. Visits are made to shows at Boston theatres; the Drama Club saw the production of War Horse at the Boston Opera House.
Sports
Sports teams include:
- Cheerleading
- Football with Chelsea High School
- Boys' Soccer
- Girls' Soccer
- Boys' Volleyball
- Girls' Volleyball
- Boys' Basketball
- Girls' Basketball
- Boys Hockey (Boston Shamrocks)
- Baseball
- Softball
- Girls' Tennis
In 2016 the Pope John Tigers won the Catholic Central Small League after defeating second place, Matignon (Cambridge) 93-70 in Matignon's gym. The Tigers would go on to have one of the greatest seasons in the school's history by reaching the MIAA Division 4 North Final. The Tigers would fall to St Mary's (Lynn) 68-49 (who would go on to win the Division 4 State Championship a week later) after defeating St Clements (Medford) in the Division 4 North Quarter Finals, 52-49 at Pope John and defeating defending state champion Hamilton-Wenham 50-38 in the Division 4 North Semi-Finals at Wilmington High School. The Tigers would finish with a 20-3 record for the season.
Clubs and organizations
- Adventure Club
- Ambassador Club
- Anime Club
- Art Club
- Campus Ministry
- Chess Club
- Crafternoons Club
- Diversity Club
- Drama Club/Theatre Arts Program
- Environmental Club
- Math Club
- Mock Trial
- National Honor Society
- PJXXIII Book Club
- School Newspaper
- School Yearbook Club
- Speech and Debate Club
- Student Government
- World Travel Club
Extracurricular activities include campus ministry, drama and theatre Arts, the school newspaper The Mercury, the chess club, and student government.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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