Malden High School

Early years Malden High School was established in 1857 by the school committee after a vote in favor for the establishment. The school first started in the Centre Grammar School Building of Pleasant Street with Joseph H. Noyes as Principal, Annie L. Woodford as his assistant and 38 students, which would later grow to 57 over the year. However, the first Salem Street building, after only a few years already became as overcrowded as the old school. In the following years of the 1950s and 1960s, the Malden High School reached its zenith as the school grew to become one of the preeminent schools in the state with wide praise and strong reputation sending many to the Ivy league. In 1958, the school saw 54% (13% higher than the state average) of its graduating class to continue on to college to 45 schools. This was especially impressive for a working class town in the late fifties. By 1968 the percentage of students accepted at colleges declined to 33% with only one Ivy League student. Decline Malden High School entered into a slow decline in the subsequent years during the mid 1960s and through the 1970s. The school's College Board scores declined steadily over the decade, becoming well-below the national average in 1979. With the declining scores, the percentage of college-bound graduates dropped to 42% for the class of 1975 (while college-bound graduates rose nationally). Some students recognized the problem and asked the school committee to be allowed to take a heavier workload by taking more than five courses to be able to compete for college admission better. In addition, the school building began to show its age and marred the school with disruptive and behind-schedule repairs that even forced an early dismissal for a day. Construction for a new addition in the mid-to-late 1970s was riffled with delays and cost overruns from unexpected problems including discovering undetected peat and mysterious tunnels that needed to be excavated and filled with gravel. One of the new addition buildings was nearly torn down to start after the contractor ignored an error that one of the foundation footings were misaligned nine inches the correct line. After it reached completion in 1980, problems continued to persist well after construction including leaking roofs and even falling concrete. Adding to the decline, school vandalism reached extreme levels in the late 1970s with trashed bathrooms, ransacked classrooms, damage to the new school pool, and fires during the early 1980s. Teachers and the city began openly talking about the decline of the student body and disciple with rampant truancy, drugs, and alcohol with intimidation to more studious students. Finally cutbacks from funding (many blamed on the controversial proposition 2½) forced layoffs and cutbacks to many of the school offerings. The school since then has begun to recover and now beginning to receive new lockers, desks, computers, and other new equipment. The courses continue to expand breadth of its offerings with new courses including Mandarin Chinese and new AP courses. A comprehensive $77 million renovation to school buildings was completed in 2012. On April 7, 2022, a student was taken to a medical facility following an “altercation” with another student. ==Academics==