Dover-Sherborn Gets New Headmaster

John Smith comes to the district from Westborough High School.

Westborough High School Principal John Smith will become Dover-Sherborn High School's headmaster. Smith said Thursday night he has signed a three-year contract with Dover-Sherborn school officials. "I really liked everything I saw from the community," he said. Dover-Sherborn High School has about 650 students, which presents "an opportunity to personalize learning," Smith said. "I really liked the size," he said. In December, Westborough School Superintendent Marianne O'Connor announced that Smith would resign at the end of this school year to pursue “other interests in the field of education.” Smith has served as Westborough High principal for six years. Smith will replace Dover-Sherborn High School headmaster Denise Lonergan, who is …

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Letter to the Editor

Letter to the Editor: Pancakes, Athletes and Community

DS Boosters President Bill Scatchard wishes to thank everyone in the Dover-Sherborn community.

  A sincere note of gratitude from the DS Boosters to the entire Dover Sherborn community.  This past Thanksgiving Holiday season, the DS Boosters assembled a team of dedicated sports enthusiasts to celebrate a special time of the year. In a two day span, there were 82 volunteers that came forward to lend a hand on the festivities, 630 students and athletes participating in one form or fashion and 180 people from our community enjoying a feast before the Thanksgiving Day football game. It all started on Wednesday with the Annual Thanksgiving Pep Rally at the Dover Sherborn High School gymnasium.   Many accolades were given, a lot of support and dedication noted and a chance to gather not only as a fine institution of learning, but as …

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Mass. Outside Top 10 for Graduation Rate, Dover-Sherborn Above State Average

Massachusetts had an adjusted graduation rate of 83 percent for the 2010-2011 school year, while Dover-Sherborn High School's adjusted graduation rate that year was 97.4 percent.

  Massachusetts didn't make the top 10 high school graduation rates in the nation, according to preliminary data released by the U.S. Department of Education on Monday, but Dover-Sherborn schools have a higher graduation rate than the state average. The graduation rates released Monday are for the 2010-2011 school year—the first year for which all states used a common, adjusted four-year cohort graduation rate, according to a U.S. Department of Education press release. Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) spokesman JC Considine told Patch in an e-mail that Massachusetts has been computing cohort graduation rates since 2006, which are available on the DESE website. According to the preliminary state-reported…

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District Attorney Gives Two DSHS Students Peer Leadership Award

Mollie Brach and Keaton Stoner received the award for their work with The Raider Way.

On October 24, Dover-Sherborn High School seniors Mollie Brach and Keaton Stoner were honored by Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey when he presented them with his Peer Leadership Award. The two students were surprised to learn that they had won an award when they were first told. "I had no idea," Brach said. "We were called down to the headmaster's office [who told them she had received a call from the police letting telling her they had won the award]. I'm so honored. I was very grateful. It's really exciting for the Raider Way. Brach and Stoner were 2 of 10 students from Norfolk County to receive this honor by "distinguishing himself or herself in ways that District Attorney Morrissey wishes to encourage and support, by …

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The Full-Length Video of the Nora Searle Field Dedication

The Dover-Sherborn football field was dedicated and renamed on October 5, 2012 in memory of Nora Searle. Here is the special halftime ceremony in its entirety, courtesy of Tom Oberst.

IMAGE GALLERY: Nora Searle Field Dedication

On Friday night the football field with the new field turf at Dover-Sherborn High School was dedicated and renamed in memory of Nora Searle. Hundreds of local athletes participated, making it a true community event for the towns of Dover and Sherborn.

A packed stadium full of Dover-Sherborn residents filled Nathaniel Frothingham Stadium on Friday night to take part in the dedication of the newly reconstructed football field at Dover-Sherborn High School. As the Raiders battled Hopkinton on the field, youth athletes from every sport joined high school athletes in getting ready and in the right place for a procession of athletes coming into the field area and heading onto the field as they walked together holding up signs with their sport on them. The field, which already sports the initials "NES" at midfield, was to be named Nora Searle Field, after the 14-year-old eighth grader who lost her battle with cancer last April. Many of Nora's friends, now high school freshmen, participated in …

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Nora Searle Field Dedicated Before Full House

All sports teams from the youth to the high school level participate in halftime ceremony.

Hundreds of people from Dover-Sherborn turned out last night as the newly constructed field at Nathaniel Frothingham Stadium was dedicated and named Nora Searle Field in memory of the 14-year-old eighth grader who died from cancer last April. At halftime of the Raiders game against Hopkington, youth athletes from all the sports joined all the high school athletes in a procession onto the field Superintendant Valerie Spriggs spoke to the crowd at halftime, giving thanks to many, and the Booster Club's Frank Pearlmutter and Bill Schatard spoke as well. It was a great evening for all, with the only downside being the Raider football team lost to Hopkington, 37-18. Check back here on Dover-Sherborn Patch on Monday morning for more on last …

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PHOTO GALLERY: Boys & Girls Cross Country Meet VS. Norton

Girls win, boys fall against Lancers.

The Dover-Sherborn boys lost 25-30 in a tight match against a determined Norton team, while the DS girls outnumbered and overpowered the Lancers, 49-15.  On the boys side, Billy Sullivan, Max Marcotte and Mike Tierney took the first three spots for Norton. Fourth and fifth runners Cam Eisnor and Mason Rouillard sealed the deal. Norton placed second, third, fifth, seventh and eight while Dover-Sherborn took first, fourth, sixth, ninth and 10th. On the girls side, Corrina Jurczyk was Norton's first runner and prevented Dover-Sherborn, last year's state champions, from a perfect score. Freshman Caroline Weber placed third for the Lancers, right behind senior captain Alison Alioto. Rounding out fourth and fifth for the Lady Lancers was senior …

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Basketball Junkie Speaks to Dover-Sherborn Students

Former basketball star Chris Herren, whose troubles with drug abuse have been well-documented, spoke to students about the perils of trying drugs for the first time and how doing them "just once" can ruin your life.

"I had no idea I was walking back into that locker room a fully strung out junkie," Chris Herren, the former McDonald's All-American basketball player from Fall River, told the Dover-Sherborn High School juniors and seniors who filled the Mudge Auditorium at one point yesterday morning. Herren, whose rise and fall in the basketball universe has been chronicled from the time he was a high school senior in the bestselling book Fall River Dreams by Bill Reynolds to his own recent book (written with Bill Reynolds) Basketball Junkie: A Memoir and an ESPN documentary Unguarded, came to DSHS to tell the story of how he had everything before he started to use drugs, and how he threw it all away because his addiction got to the point where he didn'…

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