<br /> Lawrence High School (abbreviated as LHS) is a public secondary school located in Lawrence, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Lawrence Public Schools. Its campus consists of several buildings that were completed in 2005.
In 1901, the Lawrence High School was established at the corner of Lawrence and Haverhill street. This is where Lawrence High School served its many students for 106 years.
In 2007, a new Lawrence High School campus opened in south Lawrence. The original building houses an alternative high school program and a public middle school. The campus is organized into academies by grade level, with 9th and 10th graders being placed in separate "housed" academies, and an Upper School Academy which serves 11th and 12th graders. The campus used to house Abbott Lawrence Academy, which serves the highest-performing students, but no longer houses them since August 2025. The campus houses the LIFE program, which serves students with a disability. The new Lawrence High School campus is one of the largest in the state, with a field house that can seat 3,400 and a Performing Arts Center that seats an extra 1,200 individuals.
In 2010, the dropout rate at Lawrence High was over 25%. Due to poor academic performance, the school district was taken over by the state in 2011.
A program for recent immigrant students called Engaging Newcomers in Language and Content Education (ENLACE) Academy was established. The target demographic is students in the United States proper for two or fewer years each. Several students originated from Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, with Dominicans making up the largest demographic. Some students originated from Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory. , the program is now known as UNIDOS.
As of the 2024-2025 school year, the school requires a total of 113 credits to graduate. This includes four years of English, four years of mathematics, three lab-based years of science, one semester of health, and two semesters of physical education.
In 2010, more than one out of every four students at LHS had dropped out and only 35 percent of 10th graders were assessed as being proficient in mathematics, according to Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education standardized testing results. As a result, the school district was put under receivership by the state Board of Education in January 2012. The receiver named was Jeffrey Riley. In 2012, the dropout rate at the high school was more than 50%.
On 12 October 2021, multiple fights were reported in one day. Several fights were caught on film and a teacher was injured due to an altercation.
On 20 October 2021, a fight occurred following the school dismissal, which resulted in the arrest of four minors and an adult. Some of the altercation was caught on video.