More Schools Than Ever for New York City's 1.1M Students
Posted on: Thursday, 8 September 2005, 15:00 CDT
Sep. 8--School opens today -- and there'll be more of them than ever.
Some 74 new schools are making their debut, swelling the ranks of public schools to a record 1,408 to house more than 1.1 million students.
A third of the new schools are small, themed public high schools carved out of Costco-sized failing ones. The Education Department is pairing the boutique schools with community groups and capping enrollment at 500 each.
"Let a thousand flowers bloom and we'll see what flourishes," said Clara Hemphill, who publishes school reviews for Insideschools.org.
The mayor has come under fire for setting up untested small schools at a lightning pace, but educrats insist they can't let teens wallow in big schools that have been dying for decades. "There is certainly a sense of urgency to fix everything now, but the planning has not been thorough for some of these schools," Hemphill said.
The flurry of openings -- including 18 middle schools, 15 charter schools and five elementary schools -- means more choices for families and more competition for educators, said Thomas Toch of Education Sector, a Washington-based think tank. "It increases the chance that kids will find a school right for them," he said.
Here are some of the 2005 entries, including one notable new private school:
Wall Streeters are the target of Claremont Preparatory School, a $25,800-a-year K-8 school at 41 Broad St. So far, 55 students are signed up for classes in the 12-story building, which has a basement pool and a roof playground.
A group of outspoken tweens at the Academy for Public Relations may learn how to brag about the benefits of the South Bronx. Principal Amy Andino wants her 100 sixth-graders to study local streets and find solutions to problems -- even lobbying local lawmakers for things like more garbage cans or gardens.
Socrates would smile at the Hellenic Classical Charter School in Park Slope where 114 youngsters in grades K-4 will study Greek language and literature. The Greek government is providing four teachers.
Some 80 kindergartners and first-graders will discover the value of community service at Thurgood Marshall Academy Lower School in Harlem. Classes will participate in local cleanup projects, and family members are required to volunteer at the school.
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Source: Daily News
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