Exclusive private school sues affordable school over name

BOSTON (AP) — In Massachusetts, an exclusive private school has filed a $2 million lawsuit, asking a judge to force a more affordable school that serves a large number of minority and low-income students to change its name.

The Commonwealth School in Boston says Commonwealth Academy in Springfield deceptively uses the word “commonwealth,” causing the Boston school “great harm.”

The academy has offered to include “Springfield” in its name but refuses to drop “commonwealth.” It accuses the Boston school of engaging in a “knowingly false and malicious campaign.”

Annual tuition and fees at the Commonwealth School in Boston’s Back Bay are $40,000. At Springfield’s Commonwealth Academy, about 90 miles away, annual average tuition is less than $1,200.