Comprehensive High School Reform and Extended Learning in New York City

An American Youth Policy Forum Field Trip — November 18-19, 2002

This field trip was organized to learn about a range of interventions to improve education and experiences for youth during the in-school and out-of-school hours. Participants traveled to the Bronx and Harlem to learn about:

• the small schools initiative underway in Bronx high schools
• a Beacon after-school program in Harlem
• innovative in-school programs at a Bronx high school
• a neighborhood employment center in the Bronx
• a community school with an after-school program in Harlem

Participants also met with representatives of the Bronx School District and New Visions for Public Schools regarding the small schools initiative, representatives of the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development and other policymakers involved in early implementation and expansion of the Beacon model, the director of Pius XII Youth and Family Services community based organization regarding numerous community-based initiatives in and out of school, the director of The After-School Corporation (TASC) regarding numerous after-school programs, and the Children’s Aid Society regarding community school development.

November 18, 2002

Morris High School, The Bronx

The study mission began with a visit to Morris High School, one of two high schools on the trip cited as a leader of the new small schools movement in the Bronx.

Norman Wechsler, Superintendent, Bronx High Schools described the Bronx New Century High Schools Initiative. The Bronx school district is committed to creating 19 new small schools in the district within two years. The schools will be located in and eventually replace seven large low-performing high schools: Morris, South Bronx, Stevenson, Columbus, Childs, Kennedy and Walton. These schools were chosen because they were among the lowest performing high schools of the Bronx’s 30 high schools.

The small schools initiative is funded with a $7.5 million investment from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Open Society Institute and matching funds from the Board of Education. New Visions for Public Schools manages this initiative in collaboration with the Board of Education, the United Federation of Teachers, and the Council of Supervisors and Administrators. New Visions, founded in 1989, is a large educational reform organization dedicated to improving the quality of education children receive in New York City public schools. New Visions plays a role in reform as a trusted intermediary, facilitator, broker, advocate and a provider of resources and expertise. New Visions has opened 35 NYC schools since 1993.

Olivia Ifill-Lynch, Director, Bronx New Century High Schools Initiative, indicated that the small schools movement had just begun and that the schools on this visit were only in their sixth week of implementation. Ten started in September 2002 and nine are due to begin in September 2003. Four of the new schools are in Morris High School.

Some characteristics are common to each of these small schools. Each school:

• begins with about 75 ninth and tenth graders. Grades 11 and 12 will be added to each small school as the ninth graders enter those grades, for a total student body of 350-400 per school. Morris 10th, 11th and 12th graders are still in the general school program.
• involves small teams of teachers responsible for a manageable number of students who they know well.
• prepares students to pass the Regents exams and go to college.
• has a strong intellectual mission and creates connections to learning beyond school.
• is open to all Bronx residents, with some restrictions for the Bronx International High School. (While the majority of students come from the immediate neighborhood, some come from a distance)
• is partnered with a community-based organization to expand the conversation about what and how students need to learn and to increase resources available to the schools.

Site visit participants visited the following four small schools at Morris High School:

Bronx International High School, Shael Suransky, Principal. This program replicates the successful International High School at LaGuardia Community College [see AYPF trip report 5/15/97]. This school is for recent immigrants whose home language is not English, who scored less than the 21st percentile on the English version of the Language Assessment Battery and who were in the U.S. fewer than four years at the time they applied. The school provides students with an intensive language development curriculum throughout the school day. The Principal explained that the goal is to foster language acquisition and teach content. Students are allowed to use their native language as needed to help them understand content information. He said students are usually ready to move to full-time English instruction in five to six months. To date, student attendance has increased and math scores are increasing.

Two teachers are skilled in English language acquisition and the other teachers are subject matter experts. Teachers meet regularly in an interdisciplinary team to develop and refine curriculum, discuss student progress and make decisions to strengthen effectiveness of the school’s instructional program. Portfolios and performances are used to assess student progress. A social worker will develop student support groups around issues or concern to them and will work closely with parents to encourage their involvement.

Bronx Leadership Academy II (BLA II), Paulette Franklin, Principal. This school combines a challenging academic program with student-centered learning. The school focuses on science and is affiliated with the Bronx Zoo and the New York School of Medicine. Partners also include South Bronx churches which serve as liaisons to the local community. Church partners are helping the school launch a parent organization and a school leadership team of parents, staff and students.

BLA II block scheduling allows for longer class periods and a substantial block of time for reading at the end of the day. Students participate in a 42-minute advisory period each day, with two days of study hall and three days of “advisory activities.” The AYPF group visited an advisory class focused on managing stress and time.

BLA II is a new choice for students. One thousand students applied for the 75 available slots in 2002; 88 were accepted and attrition led to only 78 students enrolling at the start of the school year.

High School for Violin and Dance, Joseph Sherman, Director. This school stresses the highest academic standards, supported and extended through a foundation of violin and dance instruction. Students work closely with a team of highly qualified and dedicated teachers who get to know them as individuals and artists. The school emphasizes consistent practice and demonstrations of knowledge. Students perform both in the classroom and for outside audiences. Academic achievement is demonstrated by presentations of projects in math, science, social studies and English. Students advance or acquire Spanish proficiency through the integration of Spanish into the daily curriculum.

http://www.bxhs.org/newcenturyschools/hsvd/hsvd.html

Students take four 75-minute classes in each of five subjects every week: Violin (using the Suzuki method), Dance, Humanities (English, Art and Social Studies), Science and Mathematics. The long class periods allow for project-based work. Students demonstrate academic proficiency and mastery of violin and dance at the end of four years.

The School for Excellence, Wade Fuller, Principal. This program already existed at Morris before becoming a small school. It collaborates with the Institute for Student Achievement. The multicultural curriculum integrates instruction in the arts into interdisciplinary academic classes. Students do not have to become artists but must show some interest in the arts, as the arts are part of all subjects taught to students. Group work and passing Regents exams are emphasized. Portfolio presentations are also used for assessment of student progress. In this school, students typically enter in need of a basic foundation in literacy and math. The arts are used as the “hook” to get them motivated to learn. Independent leadership of each school allows the School for Excellence to begin classes later than the rest of the school, so students traveling from across the Bronx can arrive on time.

After the tours of the small schools, Ron Chalusian, Director, Small Schools, New Visions for New Schools, described the assistance New Visions to the Bronx Superintendency in implementing the new small schools as a public-private partnership. He cautioned visitors that they were seeing works in progress, as the schools were less than two months old.

Eric Nadelstern, Deputy Superintendent for New and Small Schools, Bronx High Schools discussed the impetus for the small schools movement. He indicated that the Bronx high schools faced huge problems: few children were succeeding in the large comprehensive high schools. As recently as 2000, Morris High School, situated in the poorest Congressional district in the U.S., had 1,700 students with 1,200 in the ninth grade. Very few ninth graders reached their senior year. Only one in seven students graduated. The costs to the district, not only for the few who graduated, but also for the many lost in the process were astronomical.

“The sheer size and structure of these schools prevent educators from giving their students individualized attention and helping them meet high standards.” New Visions for Public Schools, 2001 Annual Report.

A few years before the current small schools reform initiative began, the Bronx Superintendency began to look at small schools as a possible alternative. Seven small schools that opened in New York in the mid-90s had shown better results than large schools. Results seemed to be linked to smaller, more personalized educational opportunities and greater amounts of attention. The seven small schools were invited to talk about reinventing larger schools. Four hundred teachers, parents and students formed school planning teams, which eventually led to a Request for Proposal (RFP) for teams of teachers to plan and implement small schools. Thirty school proposals were received, of which19 are being implemented or will be implemented by September 2003. The Bronx schools are committed to this important reform effort and plan to continually expand the concept, however they acknowledge that the 6,500 students who will eventually be served by these small schools (if there are 43 schools of 150 students) are still a very small portion of the over 40,000 students in the Bronx school system.

Nadelstern elaborated on the common principles of small schools. These include staying small (with no teacher ever having teaching responsibility for more than 75 students), innovative scheduling (such as block schedules, longer class periods), connecting learning to meaningful real-life contexts, incorporating student-centered and project-based learning, hands-on and interdisciplinary instruction, and involving parents as key collaborators. Personalization of learning and helping students to use their minds well are among the key goals. Schools are allowed increased autonomy in exchange for increased accountability. While assisting young people to do well on tests is important, these schools should not be just about preparing students to take tests. True reform, says Nadelstern, is about more than making the test harder. It is about creating the optimum conditions for teaching and learning. He suggests the small schools movement should help schools move from merely ensuring compliance to building capacity to ensure student success.

Jose Ruiz, Principal, Morris High School, explained that the five building principals meet on a weekly basis. He described the cooperation, levels of understanding and good communication needed to allow five independent schools to co-exist within one building. For example, class schedules and use of the gym, cafeteria, computer and science labs must be carefully coordinated. He indicated that good communication is one of the keys to success.

South Bronx High School

At South Bronx High School, the group was welcomed by Santiago Taveras, Principal. Before coming to South Bronx, he worked at two other small schools: Banana Kelly [see AYPF trip report 6/8-9/1995] and Central Park East [see AYPF trip report 5/6-5/7/1999].

Taveras discussed the importance of professional development to the creation of small schools. He explained that professional development is integrated into every part of small schools and is an ongoing, almost daily, process. Team meetings of principals and teaching staff are common for planning and sharing lessons. The principals of three small schools housed at South Bronx provided information about each of the schools.

Academy for Careers in Sports, Felice Lapore, Assistant Principal. This school has been in existence 12 years. The school is designed to appeal to students interested in sports or related fields including broadcasting, journalism, sports management, sports medicine, sports marketing and sports law. A sports theme is infused into the curriculum. This school also has a school-to-career internship program in the junior and senior years. Mentors are sought among sports agents, athletes, attorneys and doctors etc. The school’s sponsors are Take the Field (fiscal agent for the school’s development) and the Urban Assembly, a nonprofit organization led by Richard Kahan that strives to alleviate urban problems by connecting community members, public and private sector professionals and elected officials in support of community-based planning and urban development projects. Communication with parents is also very strong; for example, students’ advisors contact parents every other week.

The school is very popular. It received 1167 applicants for the 90 slots available last year. Classes are small (around 22 students) and are 80 minutes long. Each adult has a special advisory responsibility for 8 to12 students so that no young person is neglected.

Mott Haven Village Preparatory High School, Ann Maldonado, Principal. This school has a goal of reaching high-achieving students in the community who would usually attend selective public high schools outside of their neighborhoods. It focuses on how each student is doing academically, and how to assist them when problems arise. The school has 81 students and five teachers. There is substantial parent involvement with some parents becoming volunteers or aides in the school.

The curriculum integrates humanities and natural science with community service and environmental awareness. Students spend time in the community engaged in research projects and internships, such as assisting neighborhood residents to maintain and improve community gardens. East Side House is the lead community-based organization partner, supporting the school with wrap-around services for youth including the Youth Leadership College Preparatory Program (provides college awareness, writing and study skills instruction) and other student and family support services.

New Explorers High School, Despina Zaharakis, Director. This 86-student school is focused on helping youth actively explore the world around them to build excitement for learning. The school uses field trips, plays, concerts, exploratory treks and internships to help youth explore the Bronx and the wider community. Students also explore three basic life questions: (1) Who am I, how do I learn and what do I like? (2) How did I get here? and (3) How am I going to affect the future? A sample project would be studying the Bronx River through the lens of: science (testing for water pollution), math (estimating the number of fish in the river) and social studies (studying the impact of the river on the economy, migration patterns, and work-life).

The school’s community partner is the Bronx County Historical Society, founded in 1955 to promote knowledge, interest and research in the Bronx. The Society administers The Museum of the Bronx, Edgar Allan Poe cottage, a research library, and the Bronx County Archives. It also conducts archaeological digs, designs exhibits, and produces TV and radio programs.

Out-of-School-Time Programming Models and Policy Discussion
(Hosted by the Harlem Children’s Zone)

The next part of the study mission involved an overview of out-of-school time programming and youth development in NYC. Jean Thomases, a NYC-based consultant, facilitated the discussion.

Michael Ognibene, Assistant Commissioner for External Relations, and Christopher Darwin, Director of Beacon Programs, provided an overview of the work of their department: the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development (NYC DYCD) www.nyc.gov/html/dycd/home.html. Ognibene indicated that the department contracts with 1,800 community-based organizations that serve over one million youth, adults and their families. Examples of their programs include: (1) “Youth Development and Delinquency Prevention,” which emphasizes a strength-based, asset-building approach to youth development; and (2) NYC Youthline, the first program of its kind in the nation to be staffed by well-trained high school and college students, providing confidential, toll-free telephone (1-800-246-4646) information service for youth.

Darwin described how the Beacon model uses schools as anchors of communities. In this model, schools are open additional hours six days a week to serve the surrounding community with a wide variety of services. The city operates 80 Beacons programs. Over the last year, 172,000 people used Beacons services, with 40,000 spending an intensive amount of time at Beacons.

Jim Marley, Chairman, Neighborhood Family Services Coalition and Director, Pius XII provided additional information on Beacons. Pius XII is the community-based organization managing some of the Beacons (the Belmont Beacons) and “helps communities get into their own school building.” Beacons help school buildings become neighborhood centers for young people (5-21 years old), family members and other adults in the neighborhood.

The Beacon Model

Originated in New York City in 1991 by the New York City Youth Bureau, community-based organizations are awarded grants to create school-based community centers that offer a wide range of services including homework and tutorial assistance, literacy programs, preventive services, Adult GED, English as a Second Language and computer courses, recreational activities, cultural activities, arts and crafts, theatre and dance. Each program is different depending on the characteristics of the provider agencies and the particular cultural and socioeconomic needs of the community. Many have health clinics and employment programs, others encourage family participation, arts, and recreation. The New York City Department of Youth and Community Development funds each Beacon at $400,000 per year and provides $50,000 per year to the NY Board of Education to use space at each school site.

Lucy Friedman, President, The After School Corporation (TASC), provided an overview of the TASC model for after-school programs. These programs encompass an array of youth development activities she described as “very exciting in their variety.” TASC’s after-school programs evolved from the Beacon model. The Beacons broke ground for other after-school programs on issues, such as who has the rights to schools after school hours, how many hours programs should operate and other fundamental issues about after-school programming (www.tascorp.org).

The inspiration for TASC, started in 1998, came from an initial $25 million challenge grant from George Soros’ Open Society Institute. This investment was for five years, contingent on matching funds from the public sector and other private donors in a 3-1 ratio. The grant has now been extended for two additional years. TASC began its activities with grants to 25 after-school programs in all five boroughs in NYC. Currently TASC funds 205 programs across NYC and in 30 counties in NY State. TASC programs are run by more than 130 different community-based organizations. On average, 30 percent of children attending a particular school are enrolled in the after-school program—usually 200 to 400 children per program. TASC programs operate from 3 pm to 6 pm every day that schools are in session.

TASC’s overarching goals include: 1) creating universal access to after-school programming, and 2) making it impossible to imagine a school without an after-school program. Friedman believes that after-school programs should be in all communities, including middle class communities. Part of the policy issue is how much should a society pay for education, child care, and other services. Where will the funding come from: the Workforce Investment Act? Tax levies?

Following a brief explanation of Beacons and TASC, Marley and Friedman elaborated on NYC’s out-of-school time policies and responded to questions. Marley indicated that the Neighborhood Family Services Coalition has stood behind after-school programs in NYC over time and that this advocacy has enabled many programs to survive when they might not otherwise have done so. In addition, Beacons programs have had to build partnerships with TASC and other community-based organizations to survive policy and budget changes.

In addition to the external pressures on after-school programming, Marley indicated that some conflicts that threaten the survival of Beacons can be internal. For example, the teaching staff, administrators, after-school staff and custodial staff must be in good communication and cooperate with each other to make any Beacon program run smoothly. There are often conflicts over who controls the building and issues of building security. Beacons intentionally involve school principals in selecting Beacon directors to ensure that the principal supports the program and the person administering it.

Harlem Children’s Zone, Countee Cullen Community Center Beacon, www.hcz.org

At P.S. 194 in Central Harlem, the site of the Countee Cullen Community Center, a Beacon program opened by Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ) in 1991, George Khaldun, Chief Operating Officer, HCZ and Ron Carlos, Senior Manager, HCZ provided an overview of the Beacon and the HCZ organization as a whole.

The goal of the Countee Cullen Beacon is to provide young people between the ages of five and 21 with a safe, structured educational and recreational center, quality youth development programming, and services for families. Countee Cullen is a year-round, comprehensive program. HCZ opened another Beacon in 1998 at the Booker T. Washington Junior High School. As with the other Beacons, these Beacons tailor services to the surrounding community. Also, many of the Beacons staff members are hired from the schools in which they are housed. One of the goals is to more closely tie the school community and the wider neighborhood community. Many of the young participants eventually become staff as well. They may begin as participants when they are seven and become staff members around age 17.

The Harlem Children’s Zone, Inc. (HCZ), formerly Rheedlen, was established in 1970. It was the first non-profit organization in NYC to focus exclusive attention on the problem of truancy among young people and to work on issues related to foster care and the need for after-school activities. After 1977, HCZ started organizing block associations to go door-to-door in a specified geographic area. Using schools as a community resource, HCZ has developed a network of school-based prevention programs in Central Harlem, Manhattan’s Upper West Side and the Hell’s Kitchen area of Manhattan. These programs offer an array of services that keep young people in school while enhancing their intellectual, social and emotional development.

In 1997, HCZ launched a multi-year comprehensive community building initiative designed to revitalize a 24-block neighborhood in Central Harlem. The approach encompasses housing, community organizing, employment, technology, early childhood, public safety, public schools, community parks and playgrounds, after-school and summer programs for young people, feeding programs for the young and elderly, and emergency food and clothing for their clients.

After this overview of HCZ, Robin Hannibal, Beacon Director and Regina Garrett, Director of Education, HCZ provided additional information on specific Harlem Children’s Zone programs. For example, “Baby College” brings parents into HCZ programs early on and introduces them to Head Start. They then continue to participate in HCZ programs when their children are in pre-K and K-3 schooling.

There are close ties between the Beacons operated by HCZ and the other programs, although they are operated separately. For example, a foster care prevention program run by HCZ involves 120 families, 90 of which have children who attend one of the Beacons. Each of the Beacons serves over 2,000 youth a year.

Shaping minds around reading and technology is another HCZ project. The organization operates a technology center with the latest computer equipment that is open six days a week for children and adults. It offers Internet access and a walk-in computer lab.

HCZ has a community advisory board and actively seeks community input in program design and delivery.

AYPF participants toured the Beacon facility and interacted with some of the participants and staff.

November 19, 2002

Adlai Stevenson High School, The Bronx

On the second day, we visited Stevenson to learn about the innovative programs operating at the school, Gateway to Higher Education and programs operated by Pius XII (each described below). We were welcomed at Adlai Stevenson High School by Principal Michael Kessler who provided an overview of the variety of interesting and innovative programs, including law, performing arts, a marine science and scuba diving, a virtual enterprise room (sponsored by Michael Bloomberg) and an Academy of Finance.

This large, comprehensive, urban high school houses 3,200 students. It is a zoned school (students who attend are from the local community), not a magnet or specialized school. It is one of the first schools in the Bronx that will house small schools, the first of which opened in September 2002. Both the Gateway and Pius XII programs (described below) intend to implement small schools in 2003. Stevenson is already incorporating some of the principles of small schools, including division of the large school into “houses” with counselors (18 counselors and 13 academies) and house coordinators assigned to each house.

When Kessler came to Stevenson five years before, daily attendance was 68%. By 2001-2002, attendance rose to 80%. Students also had a low passing rate on tests, with over 90% performing at low levels. Since Kessler arrived, students have increased pass rates by 15% each on the Regents math and reading assessments. Gateway was one of the first programs Kessler introduced for the purpose of raising student achievement levels. Kessler’s approach to school management has focused on collecting, examining and acting on data to drive school improvements.

Stevenson has actively sought partnerships with community-based organizations and employers. Partners include Pius XII, Gateway to Higher Education, Pathways for Youth, Aspira, Project Leap, and New York University, which provides tutors to work with students. Stevenson received a grant from TASC which has contributed to young people staying after school and participating in school clubs. Some partnerships also provide specialized professional development for teachers. Schools in NYC have mandated school leadership teams consisting of the principal, a parent association representative and a teachers’ union representative.

Gateway to Higher Education

Morton Slater, Director, Gateway to Higher Education, and Michelle Kanner, Gateway Coordinator at Stevenson described the Gateway program (see www.gateway.cuny.edu). Stevenson teachers and counselors affiliated with Gateway also attended and responded to questions.

Gateway is a 17-year-old program aimed at higher achieving students in zoned comprehensive high schools. Goals are to encourage these students to achieve at high levels, take rigorous courses and exams, attend college and pursue careers in math, science, medicine and other advanced fields. Slater shared general statistics on student achievement in the Bronx indicating the desperate for programs like Gateway. According to Slater, “Last year, of 12,000 high school freshmen, only 200 students tested at or above the 75th percentile for reading. Most of these 200 students attend the premiere NYC high schools such as the Bronx High School of Science or Westinghouse High School in Brooklyn. This leaves a dearth of high level achievement in enormous 3,000-4,000 student comprehensive neighborhood high schools, from which only about 200 students graduate within a four-year period.”

A summary of research on Gateway showing positive results up to and beyond college graduation, including enrollment in medical school and continuing in math, science and medical careers is included in three AYPF compendia, Some Things DO Make a Difference for Youth (p. 22), Raising Academic Achievement (p. 37) and Raising Minority Academic Achievement (p. 112). Of Gateway students, almost all (90%) who enter in the 9th grade graduate in four years. Of the Gateway students who graduate, 100% enter four-year colleges and 80% graduate from college four years later.

When Gateway began, the fundamental question asked was, “If students need certain skills to advance to higher education, what do they need early on to be prepared?” Gateway operates in 12 comprehensive high schools and has developed a comprehensive program of early interventions in the students’ high school experience that include counseling and an augmented curriculum. Gateway counselors are concerned about every student and how they spend their time during the day, after-school, on weekends and in the summer. Gateway students are enrolled in higher level courses and stay with their cohort in 75% of their classes over the four years of high school.

Twenty-five students per year enter Gateway at Stevenson, with 83 students currently enrolled. To participate, students are expected to be at grade level or above, but some students who are not at grade level also participate. Parental support is another deciding factor for selection into Gateway.

The program costs an additional $1,700-1,800 per student over the regular school district per pupil expenditure. The largest single cost is for the salaries of two teachers (increasing the overall teaching staff at Stevenson from 160 to 162) to reduce class size for Gateway students to 25 from 34 students per teacher. Costs also include an extra instructional period for Gateway students, extra guidance time, a school-based coordinator and summer programs.

Next year, when Gateway launches its new small school, it will enroll 75-100 students at all performance levels.

Edwing Medina, Team Developer, Gateway to Higher Education, is an alumnus of Gateway who graduated from college, worked for a recording company and decided to come back to Gateway as a staff person. Medina entered Gateway in 1986 in Queens. He heard about the program through word-of-mouth, which he indicated is the primary way students learn about Gateway.

Medina indicated that for him, the enhanced curriculum is part of why Gateway graduates do so well, but it is also counseling, guidance, peer support and placing the students in a culture of success. “Students are energized by high expectations,” Medina said, “The adults knew where we needed to be before we did.” Medina adds that, “Gateway students really are energized and they need to be. They come to school one hour before other students (arriving at 7:15 am), and they have double periods for core academic subjects. Yet at the same time, everyone is telling you it is a great program, you are great, the teachers are great. There is considerable peer pressure and support because you are with the same group of 25 students for four years. No one lets each other act up, perform poorly or fail. There is also a camaraderie that continues well after the program.” Medina still keeps in touch with members of his cohort. There are seven medical doctors among the graduates in his cohort, including his college roommate who went to Yale Medical School.

Medina pointed out that only about 36% of Gateway students are male. He would like to see a 50/50 distribution of males and females in the program.

Medina also said that the school system has assumed some of the costs of Gateway, e.g., to cover the extra period and extra teachers. This has reduced some of the per-pupil costs.

AYPF trip participants visited three Gateway classrooms: 11th grade English, 10th Grade Chemistry, and 12th Grade AP Environmental Science. The AP science class had 15 students in it, inadequate lab equipment and no computers (noted by several participants). The work appeared to be high level and equal numbers of boys and girls were participating. The English and chemistry classes observed were delivered in a standard lecture format.

Pius XII

While still at Stevenson, the AYPF group met again with Jim Marley, Director, Pius XII Youth and Family Services and some of the Pius XII staff and counselors housed there.

Pius XII is a non-profit, family and community service agency which is part of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York. It has houses programs at 15 sites in low-income and working class neighborhoods in the central Bronx. In addition to high poverty rates, these communities have high percentages of immigrants, and overcrowded schools with students evidencing low school performance on standardized tests. The community service programs began in 1976 and are a division of Pius XII Youth and Family Services that has been operating child-care programs since 1959. Pius XII started as a foster care agency in the 1950s.

In the 1970s, when Marley first began working with Pius XII, the agency adapted its focus to family- and neighborhood-based services in an effort to stem the tide of children being placed in foster care. Pius XII became less like a foster care agency and more like a settlement house focused on working closely with families to help keep them intact. Through this work, staff realized that many of the problems faced by children and families were connected to the schools. For example, the neighborhood elementary school was ranked 628 out of 650 schools for student achievement. Pius XII set up after-school programs in community centers where children learned a great deal despite their academic failures in school. The Pius XII staff asked, “If they [students] can learn here [the community center], why can’t they learn there [the school]?” As part of the response to this question, Pius XII’s programs slowly expanded from out-of-school tutoring and after-school programs to a presence within the school. Pius XII now has programs in six zoned high schools. In each school, agency staff has arranged to have a space they can use to deliver their programs.

Pius XII offers services to youth and families in seven major categories. The AYPF group observed and learned about four of these categories. The three categories of services at Stevenson are described below (the fourth is the Now What program described in the discussion the Neighborhood Employment Center). The high school, services begin at the 9th grade level in an effort to keep them from dropping out, since typically, large numbers of students do not persist through to graduation.

1. Mentoring services are offered in two large Bronx high schools (Adlai Stevenson
   and Theodore Roosevelt). In each school the service is built around a full-time coordinator who develops, organizes, and guides all aspects of the program. The program finds and trains mentors by making a connection with a company that agrees to take on the program and recruit mentors from their workforce. At Stevenson, the business partner is Ernst and Young. Students come from the general population of a low-performing high school and are recruited into the program by a program coordinator. The coordinator then supervises the mentoring process and organizes the group activities that are designed to support it. Each program has about 75 mentoring pairs. The purpose of the mentoring program is to provide high school students the friendship and interest of a caring and responsible adult who encourages them to do their best. Students also learn about the larger world where they have little personal experience. There is also mutual support for accomplishments from the other youth in the program, the program coordinator and a social worker.
2. Life-Link provides services through community centers in six public high schools
   in the Bronx, which serve as the “home base” for support and activities for the most high-risk students of these high-risk schools (students in the fourth quartile of achievement who are almost certain to drop out of school). Students are recruited into the program by the staff upon referral by the school. Each Life-Link program serves approximately 150 youth. Services include individual and group counseling, assistance with problems preventing students from doing well in school, and help solving serious family issues. Also available are peer counseling and peer leadership, mentoring and group activities.
3. Community education and after-school services, such as tutoring and instruction, are offered to pre-school (100 students in an all-day early learning center and 35 infants in a home care program) and elementary, middle and high school children (in five major after-school programs involving 1,200 children and young people) and adults. Services are developmentally appropriate to the age group served and aimed at helping discouraged and failing young people reconnect to their own sense of learning and accomplishment. Programs emphasize hands-on, project-based educational, service, recreation and cultural experiences. Participation is voluntary. Students of all interests and abilities participate, including those in the Gateway program.
   Initially the after-school programs included a stronger focus on “fun” activities, outings and camping trips, and less focus on academic support. However, the students requested more tutoring and academic assistance. As academic support has increased, so has critical teacher acceptance and support of the programs.

Marley made several other observations regarding students and their needs. He argues that the students are not “dumb kids” but have tremendous potential. They have attended schools with no educational standards. To encourage their participation in voluntary programs, Pius XII works very carefully on a process of “affiliation” that helps students feel at home and feel a sense of family. Pius XII does not try to supplant families, but tries to work in conjunction with them as “parafamilies.” Youth become affiliated with the program, and, Marley says, “affiliated with their own often unrecognized talents.”
He adds that it is very important for young people to know that important adults in their lives care whether they do well in school. Having good grades on report cards is not as meaningful to the young people if they cannot show them to someone.

Pius XII’s Neighborhood Employment Center

The AYPF group visited a Neighborhood Employment Center run by Pius XII, also in the Bronx. Here participants continued to meet with Jim Marley and interacted with the employment center staff. Marley outlined the needs this neighborhood center is attempting to fill. He described a defeated group of young adults who had not been successful in school and who had dropped out or never graduated. Some of the population had stayed in middle or high school so long they had simply “aged-out” without progressing and had to leave the system. Marley indicated that even students a few credits short of graduating were discharged from school at age 21. At that point their options became very limited without at least a GED. In designing Pius XII programs to address these needs, Marley asked, “Is there a way to redesign schools that addresses all the needs of youth in urban settings? Is it appropriate for schools to have GED programs in the school? Does the school system offer opportunities that address the thousands who have dropped out? What are we supposed to do with all these dropouts?”

Marley was appalled at the low skill levels of young people who had attended and graduated from Bronx schools. He found this to be a tremendous waste of resources and time. He said part of the problem was the immense size of the high schools and overcrowding within these large schools. He also indicated that the needs of students were so numerous that schools could not handle the extent of the challenges student brought with them. Among the challenges youth typically face are lack of jobs and opportunities to be gainfully employed, immigrant status, language barriers, and no health insurance. According to Marley, “It’s as if their lives and their schools weren’t connecting.”

While staff of the Neighborhood Employment Center spend time recruiting participants, there is a ready and willing population of youth, because the community has such significant needs, and the Center tailors services to what participants tell them they need. The approach used is not to pressure young people, or to make too many initial demands on them, but to meet them where they are and help them go where they want to go. Staff ask young people, “What do you need?” and begin to fulfill those needs, assisting students in the process and building a foundation of trust that leads youth to participate in additional services. Initial needs may include a driver’s license, valid identification, or a birth certificate required to get into an educational program or to apply for a job. Later, participants may participate in a GED program. There are other services offered in the neighborhood, but Marley focuses on building “affiliation” and trust with participants. He indicated that night or summer school programs work for some youth, but many youth do not affiliate with these formal systems that lack a personal connection.

Marley described the Now What program and how it helps to meet some needs of young people using Pius XII services. Now What is a youth employment program for high school dropouts that energizes them to improve their own futures. Now What identifies minority young people who are without education or employment skills but who are willing and ready to take immediate action to improve their situation. Now What offers GED classes, job readiness, resumes and employment contacts in a flexible format that stresses accomplishments, responsibility and mutual support. The program includes group support activities. Students participate between five and 15 hours per week depending on their schedules. About 35 young people enroll at any one time, with an 80% attendance rate, and 40-45 participants per year receive their GED. Some of these participants then enrolled in college, so the out-of-school program became a path back to education.

In addition to Now What, Pius XII offers a variety of services at the Center including: (1) a training course in basic office skills followed by a two-week paid internship in a business setting, and (2) “crisis teams” to help young people using wrap-around services (combining a range of services and supports to holistically serve a variety of needs tailored to each individual person).

The Neighborhood Employment Center was initially funded with private money. The center’s facility has a professional, office appearance, which Marley indicates is due to the use of this private funding. The appearance appeals to participants who are not ready for another school-like experience. They are motivated to come to this office-like setting and get to work on their futures. While there is no dress code at the Center, almost all participants voluntarily wear business attire, including ties for the young men.

Marley indicated that Pius XII needs to do a lot of fundraising, since Pius XII services have operated with flat funding (never increasing) since 1993. Private funding has allowed Pius XII to set up an approach to youth services that is uniquely suited to the local population. Private funds allow for more freedom than federal sources, which can be quite restrictive, to create a personalized, comprehensive, wrap-around approach, so participants can proceed at their own pace, not contingent on externally mandated outcomes.

The organization has begun to diversify its sources of funding, including competing for Workforce Investment Act (WIA) dollars. Whereas completing the required proposal for this funding has helped Pius XII take stock of all its offerings, making the funds match their style of services is an ongoing and difficult process. Still Marley feels that WIA is an improvement over the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) because it allows for education outcomes (such as attaining the GED), not just employment outcomes. Some funding is also received from TASC for after-school programming. One advantage of Pius XII for funders is that the organization has access to schools and youth at risk of dropping out of school. Pius XII also has the trust of neighborhood residents.

Children’s Aid Society (CAS) Community High School
Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics (MCSM)

The next site on the study mission was the Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics (MCSM) in Harlem, the site of a community school receiving assistance from the Children’s Aid Society (CAS) and an after-school program operated through a partnership including CAS and TASC.

At the beginning of the MCSM visit, Philip Coltoff, CEO, Children's Aid Society (CAS) provided a history and overview of his organization and community schools. He explained that CAS is one the oldest youth-serving family service organizations in the country. CAS was in fact one of three organizations that petitioned U.S. Congress and Supreme Court for compulsory education and child labor laws in the mid- to late-1800s. Additionally, in NYC, kindergarten was never considered part of school system’s obligation until after World War II. So, early on, CAS ran kindergarten programs in schools. CAS had the first kindergarten in NYC and possibly in the country. CAS also established the first dental and mental health programs in schools and formed the first Parent Teacher Association. CAS is therefore well positioned to help with educational reform issues.

Currently CAS operates in 38 different facilities in NYC. Their services cover many areas including adoption, foster care, health clinics, mental health, dental clinics, and services in family (juvenile) courts. CAS’ annual budget is $70 million and they employ 800 full-time and 3,000 part-time seasonal employees.

Twelve years ago, CAS was approached by the NYC Board of Education to assist in school reform by looking at the current reality: public schools in NYC had serious problems and failures despite the success of some schools like Stuyvesant and Bronx Science. Sixty percent of students were not reading at grade level, 38% were dropping out or taking additional years to finish high school and, in addition, GED recipients were not being counted as school drop-outs. One reason for problems in the schools, according to Coltoff, was a failure to realize that two million of the over eight million people in NYC were new immigrants (nearly 400,000 students of the 1.1 million students in school). Many of the immigrants were from rural environments quite different from NYC and were experiencing poverty, poor housing conditions and other factors external to the schools were impinging upon their success. CAS made recommendations for reform that included providing needed services, such as healthcare, within the school and implementing after-school programs to help these families and their children. Now, CAS runs 10 community schools with expanded services, transforming these schools into full-service community schools. Schools are major centers for children and adults especially in neighborhoods where there are few public institutions.

The Community School

The Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics (MCSM) was originally the Benjamin Franklin High School, a failing school with a dismal six percent graduation rate. In 1982, members of the surrounding community agreed to close the school down entirely. It reopened as MCSM. Initially the school district had plans to make it a bi-lingual high school, but the neighbors objected and requested a focus on math and science instead. The community also pressed for a school where every student would complete a college preparatory curriculum.

The school building actually houses three small schools—an elementary school, junior high school and high school—rather than the large, ungainly comprehensive high school of the past. Each school is on a separate floor and has its own principal.

MCSM enrolls 1,740 students from all five NYC boroughs. Three thousand students applied for the 450 children 9th grade openings this school year. Selection is made by examining students’ records of attendance (better attenders are preferred) and their first, second and third choices of school. The school provides academic, cultural and leadership opportunities to students. Classes are not remedial. Students are held to high expectations and are expected to apply to and attend college. The school has graduates who have gone to prestigious four-year colleges and universities, including Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, Brown and Howard.

MCSM actively encourages parent involvement. There is also outreach to parents in English and Spanish. Outreach is important to provide information to parents who live so far away that it is not feasible for them to come to the school. There is also a website, www.awareparent.com, which provides parents access to information about their child’s absences, cuts and grades.

The After-School Program

Kim Hensley, Community School Director, The Children’s Aid Society, MCSM High School, welcomed the group to the school and described the after-school program developed by CAS in partnership with TASC, MCSM and the Mt. Sinai Health Center primarily for MCSM students. She also introduced the other staff who replied to questions, provided answers and accompanied the AYPF group on a tour of the after-school activities. Staff included: Richard Negron, Director of Community Schools, CAS; Hersilia Mendez, Assistant Director, National Technical Assistance Center for Community Schools, CAS; Ellen Scheinbach, former Assistant Principal MCSM and Educational Coordinator, CAS; and Devorah Zamansky, Assistant Principal, MCSM.

CAS manages the community school at MCSM that includes several after-school and summer offerings for young people. Among the programs offered are:

• An after-school program for students from MCSM. This was the main focus of our site visit. This program is funded through TASC and a matching grant from CAS. It is staffed by CAS. The after-school program is funded to operate from 3 pm to 6 pm on days when school is in session, September through June. The program includes a large variety of activities and clubs. Some designed, implemented and staffed by MCSM teachers and some entirely by students. The following types of activities are offered at MCSM:
  • Credit Recovery: A number of courses are offered for academic credit to students who have failed those courses during the school year. These courses include Global History and English. As students come to MCSM from all over NYC, they would usually have to take make-up classes in a night school at a distant location. Although regular night school is not offered at MCSM, the after-school program allows students to make up these credits at MCSM rather than undertake long travel schedules that disrupt homework time and often result in students doing poorly in their regular school day classes. Certified teachers teach these make-up courses. These courses are usually funded with the regular after-school funds from TASC and CAS, but in the Spring of 2003 are funded through post-September 11 funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
  • Enrichment: Several additional courses are offered in the after-school hours for academic credit. These courses help students round out their education with advanced and specialized classes not offered during the regular school day. Courses include AP Spanish, Spanish Literature, Art, Weights (gym credit), Photography (art credit), and Dance (gym credit) – these courses are taught by certified teachers working after-school.
  • Student Designed Activities: Students are key partners in the development and implementation of the after-school program. In 1998, students assisted in coming up with ideas for the program including Brazilian martial arts, computer access, cheerleading, family math and a step dance program. Students also designed a study hall conducive to their work habits, with loud music and talking. The students are able to study in this environment and they “don’t feel like dorks” attending study hall. Students began the Umoja Club which promotes awareness of different cultures and includes poetry appreciation. AYPF trip participants sat in on a poetry “slam” performed by members of this club where the audience snapped for applause. The photography class, offered for an art credit, was designed and implemented by a former MCSM student. He helped arrange for the donation of cameras and other equipment. A defunct photography lab was discovered at the school and reclaimed from use as a storage area to a fully operating lab again.
  • Additional Activities: Additional offerings include a math and science club, a tutoring program, a knitting class, and other activities.
  • School Resources Available After Hours: The library, computer lab and college office also stay open late to provide access to the high school students after school hours.
    The after-school program is so popular with the high school youth that the school remains packed from 3 until 6 pm. Classes are full and students have to be asked to leave the school at 6 pm when the program closes. Ninety-seven young people attend the knitting class offered by the former assistant principal, including four boys. A math research class has 30 participants. AYPF participants visited most of the after-school activities and felt the energy and enthusiasm of the students. The martial arts, step dance, poetry reading and other activities were full of high school age students thoroughly engrossed in the activity.
• After-school activities and services open to students from MCSM, the JHS and the elementary school housed in the same building and to members of the surrounding community, such as dance classes and the snack program. This aspect of the community school is less formal than the MCSM after-school program funded through TASC. Officially, only the high school-age students participating in the after-school program are counted for reporting purposes so these other participants are not always documented.
• A summer GE College Bound program funded through the General Electric Fund provides extra help and preparation for high achieving 8th graders from the Isaac Newton Junior High housed in the same building as MCSM. These students are hand-picked for guaranteed admission to the high school. Past experience has shown that the JHS students need intensive preparation and support to make it in the large more selective high school environment of MCSM. (The JHS is not as selective as the senior high school and does not feed directly into the high school.) Through this program, participants in the GE Scholars program (high-achieving juniors and seniors at MCSM) mentor and tutor 25 eighth grade students. The program continues for five summer weeks from 9 am until 2 pm. Even with the special program, students from the Isaac Newton JHS often struggle once in MCSM and benefit from older students serving as mentors and tutors to them throughout high school.

Emerging Themes

Several themes emerged from this site visit experience as outlined below:

Small School Models Are Viewed as a Positive Strategy

The Bronx School District and New Visions felt strongly that many of the problems in the district—low achievement, high drop out rates—were the inevitable consequence of large, impersonal schools. Jim Marley of Pius XII began outside of schools and has worked to get his special programming into schools. He now works within large schools to build an affiliation between young people and caring adults as a way to increase a student’s sense of belonging in large, impersonal schools. Next year, he will experiment with the first small school managed by Pius XII.

• Going to Scale?: With 40,000 students in the Bronx alone, only 6,500 will be served under full implementation of the small schools model as it is currently planned. Already, demand for small schools is larger than the slots available. Several of the small schools, especially Bronx Leadership Academy II (BLA II) at Morris High School and the Academy for Careers in Sports at South Bronx High School, are very popular and have received more applicants than they could possibly accept (1,000 applicants for 75 slots at BLA II and 1,167 applicants for 90 slots at the Academy for Careers in Sports). Coltoff of the Children’s Aid Society maintains that the schools were never “recalibrated” to appropriately address the needs of a changing school population and suggests that large schools can be made to be more effective with implementation of the community-school model. He feels that this is an alternative since large schools will continue to exist for the majority of students.
• Variety and Flexibility: Each of the small schools has a unique design. Some emphasize art and music, others emphasize science. Autonomy also allows small schools to vary school hours. Some require uniforms, others do not. Each after-school program also provides a “broad array of services” usually tailored to the expressed needs of youth, families and the larger community.
• Experienced Leadership: Eric Nadelstern, now at New Visions for Public Schools, was the administrator of the International High School (a collaborative project of the New York City Board of Education and LaGuardia Community College). Santiago Taveras worked previously at both Central Park East and at Bread and Roses alternative high schools. Many of the policy leaders encountered on this trip have worked together before in a variety of organizations and settings.
• Not Necessarily New: Some of the comprehensive high schools making the transformation to small schools already had “houses” or other small learning communities in place. In addition, some of the small schools were previously small programs within the larger school. In many ways, this makes for an easier transformation to a building filled with autonomous small schools.

New Approaches to Bringing Adult Talent to School Programs

Schools and after-school programs, both under intense pressure to increase youth academic achievement, have placed greater emphasis on teacher qualifications than ever before. However, both the in-school and after-school programs involved staffs who were not certified teachers as well. The small school programs each had community-based organizations and/or business sponsors. Many classes were co-taught with professional artists, musicians, scientists or historians. Employees of major firms acted as mentors to youth. After-school programs, in addition to hiring certified teachers as instructors, employed a variety of specialists who led after-school activities (e.g., a martial artist, a freelance photographer, and several young people themselves).

Sharing resources

Small schools and after-school programs have both dealt with issues of sharing resources within the school building including, cafeterias, gyms and libraries. Open and frequent communication between small school principals and between school day and after-school managers is essential to smooth and coordinated operations.

Control of Resources

Many of the changes in educational programming in and out of school observed on this study mission were initiated by community members trying to gain or regain control over schools. As community members, they exerted their will and authority over systems they felt they had a right to help oversee. This was evident in several instances:

• The Mott Haven small school intentionally re-connected the surrounding community with the school, keeping high-achieving youth in the neighborhood school and having them work on community activities with their neighbors.
• Jim Marley worked to make the resources of schools available to communities, by slowly and cautiously moving out-of-school time services into school buildings, asking for space in schools, and beginning to work with potential drop-outs rather than waiting to serve youth who had already dropped out. He asks, “Who owns the schools?” and encourages community residents to request access to what is, after all, really theirs.
• Community members in Harlem forced closure of their neighborhood high school, rejected school district goals that it become a bi-lingual high school and created MCSM instead.

Holistic Programming

Young people need caring, consistent relationships with knowledgeable adults and a variety of services most suited to their needs. Sometimes youth with multiple risk factors—high poverty, low skills, lack of attachment to others—need a comprehensive array of “wrap-around” services and supports to holistically serve a variety of individual needs. The special programs observed at Stevenson High School provide examples layering on services to holistically serve a young person with above average needs.

Here, a young person who shows academic potential but has a difficult home life might enroll in Gateway, the Pius XII mentoring program and Life-Link.

Perspective

The perspective of community advocates is often by necessity broader than that of school-focused policymakers and practitioners. For example, Pius XII and the Harlem Children’s Zone both began by focusing in part on foster care youth. This led to an interest in improving family connectedness, which led to efforts to strengthen communities, including schools. From this perspective, community groups may form an interest in school issues with the hope of strengthening supports to communities and families, thereby limiting the number of foster care placements. On the other hand, truancy, naturally a problem for schools, also places communities at greater risk of petty vandalism, delinquency and crime. A community perspective on stemming truancy may have less to do with academic achievement than with quality of life.

Youth Development

Several of the programs visited emphasized youth development principles of building connectedness, peer support and youth leadership. Marley emphasized the concept of “affiliation” or connectedness between young people and programs. When youth become affiliated through building trust and relationships with caring adults, they stay involved and work harder to achieve goals. Program staff also discussed peer support. Medina said that the pressure from peers in the Gateway program is part of the secret of student persistence and high achievement. The after-school program at MCSM provided a rich opportunity for young people to imagine, design, implement and lead their own activities. When young people were offered the opportunity to express their needs and desires at both the Pius XII and MCSM after-school programs, they told staff they wanted more academic assistance and increased rigor in the curriculum.

Contact Information

Ron Carlos
Senior Manager
Harlem Children’s Zone, Inc.
2770 Broadway
New York, NY 10025
(212) 866-0700; Fax: (212) 932-2965

Ronald Chaluisan
Director, Small Schools
New Visions for Public Schools
96 Morton Street | New York, NY 10014
(212) 645-5110; Fax: (212) 645-7409
rchaluisan@newvisions.org
www.newvisions.org

Philip Coltoff
Chief Executive Officer
The Children's Aid Society
105 East 22nd Street
New York, NY 10010
(212) 949-4800
pcoltoff@childrensaidsociety.org
www.childrensaidsociety.org

Christoper Darwin
Director of Beacon School Programs
The City of New York
Department of Youth &
Community Development
156 William Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10038
(212) 676-8239; Fax: 212-227-5629
Cdarwin@dycd.nyc.gov
www.nyc.gov/html/dycd/home.html

Charissa L. Fernandez
Deputy Director of Operations, Special Projects
The After-School Corporation (TASC)
925 Ninth Avenue
New York, NY 10019
(212) 547-6920; F: (212) 547-6983
cfernandez@tascorp.org
www.tascorp.org

Paulette Franklin
Principal, Bronx Leadership Academy II
Morris High School
1110 Boston Road
Bronx, NY 10456
(718) 542-3700; Fax. (718) 991-0117

Lucy Friedman
President
The After School Corporation (TASC)
925 9th Avenue
New York, NY 10019
(212) 547-6950; Fax: (212) 547-6983
lfriedman@tascorp.org
www.tascorp.org

Wade Fuller
Principal, The School for Excellence
Morris High School
1110 Boston Road
Bronx, NY 10456
(718) 542-3700; Fax. (718) 991-0117

Regina Garrett
Program Director
Harlem Children’s Zone, Inc.
2770 Broadway
New York, NY 10025
(212) 866-0700; Fax: (212) 932-2965
rgarrett@hcz.org

Robin Hannibal
Director
Countee Cullen Community Center Beacon
P.S. 194
242 West 144th Street (between 7th /8th Aves)
New York, NY 10036
(212) 234-4500

Kim Hensley, Director, Community School,
Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics
280 Pleasant Ave. (115th Street and Pleasant Avenue)
New York, NY 10029
(212) 876-4639; Fax: (212) 348-1167
kimh@childrensaidsociety.org

Olivia Ifill-Lynch
Director
Bronx New Century High School
3000 East Tremont Avenue
Bronx, NY 10461
(718) 430-6300; Fax: (718) 430-6317
clynch5702@aol.com

Elizabeth Iler
Director
Gateway to Higher Education
The City College of the City University of New York
138th Street & Convent Avenue
Y Building Suite 306 New York NY 10031

Michelle Kanner
Coordinator
Gateway to Higher Education
Adlai E. Stevenson High School
1980 Lafayette Avenue, Room 118F
Bronx, NY 10473
(718) 918-2700, x 576
kannerm@aol.com

Michael Kessler
Principal
Adlai Stevenson High School
1980 Lafayette Avenue
Bronx, NY 10473
(718) 892-2637
moshek@aol.com
www.nycenet.edu/OurSchools/Region2/X450/default.htm

George Khaldun
COO
Harlem Children’s Zone, Inc.
2770 Broadway
New York, NY 10025
(212) 866-0700; Fax: (212) 932-2965

Felice Lapore
Assistant Principal, The Academy for Careers in Sports
South Bronx High School
701 Saint Anns Avenue
Bronx, NY 10455
(718) 993-6353
www.academyforcareersinsports.org

Ann Maldonado
Principal, Mott Haven Village Prep High School
South Bronx High School
701 Saint Anns Avenue
Bronx, NY 10455
(718) 993-6353

Jim Marley
Chairman, Neighborhood Family
Services Coalition and Director, Pius XII
Bronx Community Services
1967 Turnbull Ave.
Bronx, NY
(718) 931-2611
p12bronx@hotmail.com

Edwin Medina
Gateway to Higher Education
The City College of the City University of New York
138th Street & Convent Avenue
Y Building Suite 306 New York NY 10031
(212) 650-6088

Hersilia Mendez
Assistant Director
National Technical Assistance Center
for Community Schools
The Children's Aid Society
105 East 22nd Street
New York, NY 10010
(212) 949-4800
hersiliam@childrensaidsociety.org
www.childrensaidsociety.org

Eric Nadelstern
Deputy Superintendent—New and Small Schools
Bronx High Schools
3000 East Tremont Avenue
Bronx, NY 10461
(718) 430-6300; Fax: (718) 430-6317
nadelstern@aol.com
www.bxhs.org

Richard Negron
Director of Community Schools
The Children's Aid Society
105 East 22nd Street
New York, NY 10010
(212) 949-4800
richardn@childrensaidsociety.org
www.childrensaidsociety.org

Michael Ognibene
Assistant Commissioner for External Relations
The City of New York
Department of Youth &
Community Development
156 William Street
New York, NY 10038
(212) 442-6009; Fax:(212)442-5894
mogniben@dycd.nyc.gov
www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/dycd

Jose Ruiz
Principal
Morris High School
1110 Boston Road
Bronx, NY 10456
(718) 542-3700; Fax. (718) 991-0117
www.morris-high-school.org

Joseph Sherman
Director, High School Program for
Violin and Dance
Morris High School
1110 Boston Road
Bronx, NY 10456
(718) 542-3700; Fax. (718) 991-0117

Morton Slater
Director
Gateway to Higher Education,
The City College of the City University of New York
138th Street & Convent Avenue
Y Building Suite 306 New York NY 10031
(212) 650-6088
morton.slater@mssm.edu
www.gateway.cuny.edu

Peter Steinberg
Lead Professional Developer
Bronx New Century High School
3000 East Tremont Avenue
Bronx, NY 10461
(718) 430-6300; Fax: (718) 430-6317

Shael Suransky
Principal, Bronx International High School
Morris High School
1110 Boston Road
Bronx, NY 10456
(718) 542-3700; Fax. (718) 991-0117

Santiago Taveras
Principal
South Bronx High School
701 Saint Anns Avenue
Bronx, NY 10455
(718) 993-6353
www.bxhs.org

Jean Thomases
Independent Consultant
106 Garfield Place
Brooklyn, NY 11215
(212) 673-1800
JThom60452@aol.com

Dr. Norman M. Wechsler
Superintendent
Bronx High Schools
3000 East Tremont Avenue
Bronx, NY 10461
(718) 430-6300; Fax: (718) 430-6317
www.bxhs.org

Despina Zaharakis
Director, New Explorer’s High School
South Bronx High School
701 Saint Anns Avenue
Bronx, NY 10455
(718) 993-6353

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