{{Use American English|date=August 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox school | name = Shea High School | image = Charles_Shea_High_School,_Pawtucket,_Rhode_Island.jpg | image_size = | address = 485 East Ave. | city = Pawtucket | state = Rhode Island | zipcode = 02860 | school_board = | district = Pawtucket School District | superintendent = | principal = Matthew Bergeron | staff = 62.00 (FTE)<ref name=NCES/> | ratio = 13.27<ref name=NCES/> | type = Public | schooltype = high school | grades = 9&ndash;12 | language = | communities = | feeder_schools = | campus = | mascot = Raider | colors = {{color box|blue}} {{color box|white}} | founded = | enrollment = 823 (2023-2024)<ref name=NCES>{{cite web|url=https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/school_detail.asp?Search=1&DistrictID=4400840&ID=440084000201|title=Charles E. Shea High School|publisher=National Center for Education Statistics|accessdate=May 28, 2025}}</ref> | free_label1 = | free_text1 = | free_label2 = | free_text2 = | free_label3 = | free_text3 = | website = https://www.psdri.net/shea/ {{Infobox NRHP | embed = yes | name = Pawtucket West High School | nrhp_type = | image = | caption = | location = Pawtucket, Rhode Island | coordinates = {{coord|41|51|55|N|71|23|19|W|display=inline,title}} | locmapin = Rhode Island#USA | area = | built = 1938 | architect = O'Malley, John F. | architecture = Art Deco | added = November 18, 1983 | mpsub = Pawtucket MRA | refnum = 83003845<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2007a}}</ref> }} }} thumb|The Pawtucket Marching Band is open to all Pawtucket middle and high schools<ref name="Martinez">{{cite news |last1=Martinez |first1=LuzJennifer |title=Pawtucket district marching band said to be ready for greatness |url=https://www.valleybreeze.com/news/pawtucket/pawtucket-district-marching-band-said-to-be-ready-for-greatness/article_6db27de6-bbbf-11ef-a009-6b2a25a36524.html |access-date=2 March 2025 |publisher=The Valley Breeze |date=18 December 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241218151938/https://www.valleybreeze.com/news/pawtucket/pawtucket-district-marching-band-said-to-be-ready-for-greatness/article_6db27de6-bbbf-11ef-a009-6b2a25a36524.html |archive-date=18 December 2024 |location=Pawtucket, Rhode Island}}</ref> '''Charles E. Shea High School''', commonly known as '''Shea High School''' and previously known as '''Pawtucket West High School''', is an American public secondary school at 485 East Avenue in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. <!-- Meaning? The high school grades consist of 9 through 12. -->Shea is part of the Pawtucket School Department. The mascot is the "Shea High Raider". The school was named after a well-known Pawtucket resident and former Superintendent of Pawtucket Schools, Charles E. Shea.

==About the school==

In the 1950s through the late 1960s, what was then '''Pawtucket West High School''' shared a building with the East Avenue Elementary School, a local neighborhood all Caucasian school. After the Supreme Court ruling on Brown vs. the Board of Education, students were bussed to Samuel Slater Junior High School for their middle school years, which were seventh, eighth and ninth grade in that era. Students were tracked into a college preparation strand or a vocational education strand, as was common in those days.

LL Cool J and U.S. Representative Patrick Kennedy made a surprise visit to Shea High School in 2005 to talk about the future and school academics. LL Cool J then met with students and signed autographs.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.eastbayri.com/story/283505997073002.php |title=Top Stories |accessdate=2007-03-04 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20070927195656/http://www.eastbayri.com/story/283505997073002.php |archivedate=2007-09-27 }}</ref>

After a low test-score history for some years, the State authorities were going to take control of the school, but good scores in 2006 averted this.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.eride.ri.gov/reportCard/06/ReportCard.aspx?schCode=26118&schType=3|title = 2006 School Report Card}}</ref>

After 2010 changes to the No Child Left Behind Act granted federal waivers for schools with low graduation rates upon implementing leadership change, then-principal Dr Christopher Lord stepped down to ensure funding, despite widespread acclaim and public support.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.andovertownsman.com/news/local_news/pawtuckets-loss-is-now-towns-gain-new-ahs-principal-must-move-under-nclb/article_5e0bf9d3-02aa-5156-9dcd-fa3af7c42e70.html|title = Pawtucket's loss is now town's gain: New AHS principal must move under NCLB}}</ref> The school was targeted by the state in 2011 for turnaround because of low test scores and a graduation rate of 67 percent.<ref name=Borg /> A new principal introduced changes, and by 2014 the graduation rate had risen to 88 percent, higher than the state average.<ref name=Borg /> Graduation rates fell to 78% by 2020 upon the school's exit from turnaround <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://reportcard.ride.ri.gov/202021/SchoolGraduation?SchCode=26118&DistCode=26|title = RIDE Report Card}}</ref>

School enrollment is about 1,188 students: 1% Asian, 29% Hispanic, 39% Black, and 31% White.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.publicschoolreview.com/school_ov/school_id/71648|title = Charles e. Shea High School (2021 Ranking) &#124; Pawtucket, RI}}</ref>

Pawtucket Mayor Don Grebien attends Shea's graduation every year. Each year the school has a celebrity guest speaker for the graduating class.

==Architecture== {{Panorama |image = File:Charles Shea High School, Pawtucket, Rhode Island-panorama.jpg |height = 200 |width = 650 |alt = |caption = Front of the building |dir = |align = left/right/none }} The main school building is an imposing three-story Art Deco structure, set back on a terraced lot on the west side of East Avenue. It is an E-shaped building, with a central portion flanked by end bays which project slightly to the front, and more to the rear. Behind the central portion a third leg extends to the rear. The building was designed by Providence architect John F. O'Malley and built in 1938–39 with funding from the Public Works Administration.<ref name=NRHP>{{cite web|url=http://www.preservation.ri.gov/pdfs_zips_downloads/national_pdfs/pawtucket/pawt_historic-resources-of-pawtucket-text.pdf|title=Historic Resources of Pawtucket (PDF pages 82-84)|publisher=Rhode Island Preservation|accessdate=2014-11-19}}</ref> The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.<ref name="nris"/>

==Notable alumni== *John M. Nielson, 1961, third president of Asia-Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary (1989-2001) * Ronni Kern, Hollywood screenwriter * Chet Simmons, President NBC Sports, President ESPN, Commissioner USFL

==See also== *National Register of Historic Places listings in Pawtucket, Rhode Island

==References== <references>

<ref name=Borg>{{cite news|last1=Borg|first1=Linda|title=Pawtucket's Shea High School — and its students — on road to success|url=http://www.providencejournal.com/article/20150607/NEWS/150609442|accessdate=8 June 2015|publisher=The Providence Journal|date=7 June 2015}}</ref>

</references> {{commons category|Shea High School}}

==External links== * [https://www.psdri.net/shea/ Shea High home page] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110201231040/http://shea30yearreunion.com/default.aspx Shea High Classes of 1979 and 1980 Home Page]

{{NRHP in Pawtucket, Rhode Island}}

{{authority control}}

Category:Art Deco architecture in Rhode Island Category:Buildings and structures in Pawtucket, Rhode Island Category:Schools in Providence County, Rhode Island Category:Public high schools in Rhode Island Category:School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Rhode Island Category:National Register of Historic Places in Pawtucket, Rhode Island