The addition of a replica of Millenium High School, a selective Manhattan high school, into the John Jay High School complex in Park Slope is inspiring mixed reactions from students, teachers and administrators at the schools already in that building.
In an article in her school newspaper, Cheidy Perez, who is currently a student at the Secondary School for Research (one of the schools in the John Jay High School complex in Park Slope, Brooklyn ) reacts to news that Millenium 2 is going into that building in the Fall of 2011. Click on read more to read an excerpt from her remarkable article.
“There are many negatives to this so-called “proposal” but some positives. When M2 does arrive, the building will get the repairs it needs. However, the majority of the money will be given to M2 because they are a new school and need that money to start up. This also includes an extra $120,000. That extra money will be used for their purposes only. This also goes deeper than money. Think about the feed back that this school will be getting from this neighborhood. They are obviously going to prefer this “elite high school” (as said in the Daily News) than the schools that have been here for many years with a “checkered reputation”.
“The reason that is given as to why our building is chosen to be put into this situation is because our building is currently “under-utilized.” Currently, we have 1477 students enrolled in all 3 schools. The Department of Education lists a target building capacity, or “Footprint,” of 2,104 students. Because we are 627 students short, the DOE decided to put a new school in John Jay Campus. Even if by fall 2011 we get 627 students enrolled, M2 will still come in.
“There might be a better reason or a more accurate reason as to why this is happening in the John Jay building, but it seems to be happening. It’s not the incoming students fault, so let’s not blame them. Let’s show them that we’re not as bad as they make us seem.
“Instead of sugar coating it, lets call it what it is: An attack on under-privileged students. Let’s fight back, and prove the DOE wrong.”
I would like to suggest that everyone, on both sides of the issue, read the following blogpost:
http://morethoughtful.blogspot.com/2011/01/race-class-politics-what-is-going-on-at.html
This is from a woman who worked in one of the schools currently in the building. She seems to have given a lot of thought to the race and class issues involved and tries to be very fair to all sides. She provides a good bit of history and some insight into the differing positions that are held about this school.
It’s a good read.
Millennium in Manhattan gives preference to district 2 which contains some of the wealthiest, whitest neighborhoods (Grammercy Park, Soho, etc.) around. Despite this, it’s student population is 28% asian, 22% latino, and 12% black, and 45% of students are from lower income families qualifying for free lunch, so it definitely has some diversity. MS 447, where the new Millennium prinicpal is coming from, is a high performing middle school, and is very diverse (35% white, 30% black, 26% latino, 8% asian; 33% qualify for free lunch). So, high performing schools can indeed have significant numbers of black and latino and low income students. From what I understand, Brooklyn Millennium will not be giving preference to the Park Slope community but will equally open to all Brooklyn students, of which there are many of all ethnicities and income levels who can meet the applications criteria. I think it will be an ethnically and socioeconomcally diverse school. That the existing schools in John Jay have not had the repairs they need before now is a disgrace, but if you think schools that have mostly black and latino populations or serve under-privileged or struggling students are never given great facilities, check out the NYC Harbor School on Insideschools.org. The thing I read about all his that bothers me most is the idea some of the local community has that the current John Jay schools are rampant with violence and have nothing going for them. I bet there are plenty of excellent teachers and hard-working students there; perhaps a few troublemakers but most high schools have that. I think the local residents and businesses could probably be a little more welcoming to them. I read a comment elsewhere that some local stores lock their doors at dismissal time. If that’s true, it’s horrible and is counterproductive to improving relations between these schools and the local community. The existing John Jay schools are in the spotlight now so I hope they will keep pushing DOE until they get all the building upgrades they’ve been lobbying for. I’m sure all 4 schools can work together to achieve this.
For those that remain unmoved by Cheidy Perez’s article, please check out the articles both in the Huffington Post and the Park Slope Patch:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michele-somerville/separate-but-equal-in-the_b_796589.html
http://parkslope.patch.com/articles/millennium-brooklyn-proposal-hits-a-nerve-at-john-jay
How is it that a middle class neighborhood with many hard working families doesn’t have the right to send their own children to a local school. Why must ms 51 students have to sweat it out in a mini version of applying to colleges just so they have a viable HS option? This school was way over due!
If MG’s comments are accurate (and he/she sounds pretty confident, giving the statistics portal, which I haven’t time to check), then, wow–the school needs better PR. Most of Park Slope still seems to think of it as “John Jay” and as a sinkhole for failing kids from outside the neighborhood. If the school indeed has a 100% college acceptance rate, then the affluent liberal parents of Park Slope should be lining up to support public education and immerse their youngsters in the cultural diversity they purport to crave. I am serious.
The Secondary School for Research DOES NOT under serve its students and there is no evidence to show that it does, NONE.
John Jay HS ceased to admit new students in the fall of 2001 and no longer exists. The secondary schools which replaced it serve a population which is approximately 10% English language learners (ELL), 17% special education, 78% – 80% reduced price or free lunch and an estimated 81% – 90% from families receiving financial assistance. Many of the parents of the English speaking students do not speak English and of those many are not literate in their native language. Despite this remarkable set of difficulties the Secondary School for Research, has steadily increased in quality since the current administration took over in the fall of 2004. For the past three years 100% of the graduates were accepted to college and 84% of those reported plans to attend. Remember these are students who came to HS with no expectations that they could or would go on to higher education. Many are the first in their families. The DOE’s quality reviews have consistently gone up and if you read them you will see that instruction is outstanding. The teachers at the Secondary school for Research have made such progress that they have become models for other schools who now send their teachers to observe and learn from them.
All of this has happened despite being deprived of start up capitol and undergoing severe budget cuts. The Secondary School for Research DOES NOT under serve its students and there is no evidence to show that it does, NONE.
Neighbors should also know that the district in which the Secondary Schools Campus is located is district 15 which is comprised of Sunset Park, Red Hook, Gowanus, Kensington, Windsor terrace and part of Park Slope. The south Asian and middle eastern populations in Kensington and the Black and Latino populations in Sun Set, Red Hook and Gowanus belong in this building. It belongs to them as much as to any one else in the district.
(All statistics can be found through the NYC DOE school portal.)
In fact, if the DOE was “fixing it up,” that would be a different story.
They are not though. They are simply adding a popular, well-funded school to a disintegrating building. How does that help the existing schools (created by the DOE just 10 years ago without any extra money) serve the community?
I’m appalled at Jack’s unbelievably racist comment. I hope that sentiment doesn’t represent Park Slope.
How can the DOE expect schools to “compete” if there is such inequity among their budgets???
Jack’s politically incorrect tirade contains a germ of honest truth about the whole creepy “magnet school” model. Yes, the John Jay of ill repute sorely underserves its own community. But importantly, it also (obviously) underserves its own students. The lauded “breakup” into different “schools” appears to have been window-dressing for business as usual. Jack’s post also reminds us that Catholic schools like Bishop Ford serve poor and minority students with rigor and high expectations, lest we blame the “demographic.”
The gap will close when John Jay PARENTS share the same expectations as affluent white parents, and demand quality education from their schools and commitment and self-discipline from their children. No chancellor, no budget, no teacher can replace those values in the home, and the political will that flows from them. The ‘Millenium School,’ whatever that is, exists only to meet the demands of middle- and upper-class PARENTS. If we must play the obvious race card here, let us play it for the greater good, and raise the consciousness of parents in these second- and third-rate schools that their kids deserve better (and that “better” is a covenant between family and school).
Bravo to Ms. Perez for writing a great article attempting to illuminate the very non-transparent workings of the DOE. If reputation alone decides school’s futures, then ‘once a bad school, always a bad school’ would seem to doom many a school. Especially, when the DOE seems to have so much control over how much money the schools get. Having checked out the website for this student’s school, the secondary school for research, it certainly seems that they have a lot of great things going on.
I disagree with Jack. I hope the new school doesn’t take over the whole building.
Right on, Jack.
I think we need to stop playing the race card with this school. John Jay is surrounded by some of the most Caucasian neighborhoods in the city but it has barely any Caucasian students in it. For decades students in the neighborhoods of Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Kensington, and Prospect Heights couldn’t attend this school because it was so dangerous. Now they’re trying to fix it up and people are complaining? Saying it’s a slap in the face to the black and brown population? John Jay as it stands is a slap in the face to the white population that surrounds the school. Do you know how many THOUSANDS of LOCAL students John Jay has under served over the past few decades? I didn’t get into any of the high schools I applied for so it was either John Jay or pay to go to Catholic HS. Being that I don’t like getting mugged in school or threatened with violence i chose to go to Catholic school and I loved it but that still doesn’t take away from the fact that I couldn’t even attend my ZONED HS that my parents pay taxes for. We were paying taxes to keep a school running that wasn’t even serving our own community. So yes I am glad that this new school is coming and Hopefully it ends up taking over the whole building.