Millennium Brooklyn High School is on the DOE’s list of 22 new small high schools. It’s not too late to reorder your child’s high school application if you want to apply there for next fall.

If you or your child is interested in Millenium Brooklyn, you can also attend an open house at founding principal Lisa Gioe’s current school, M.S. 447 on Dean Street between Third Avenue and Nevins Street on Wednesday, Feb. 16th at 6PM.

Here’s my story from this week’s Park Slope Patch. I attended last weekend’s New High School Fair and came back with this report. The High School confidential Illustration is by Kevin Kocses: www.kevinkocses.carbonmade.com

Much has been written about the announcement — and subsequent controversy — over the Department of Education’s decision to place Millennium Brooklyn in the John Jay High School Complex in Park Slope.

Far less is actually known about the new school itself, a replicate of the highly successful Millennium High School in Manhattan. That’s why I rode on the subway up to the New High School Fair on Sunday at the Martin Luther King, Jr. High School building on the Upper West Side in a heightened state of curiosity and anticipation. Full disclosure: my daughter is an eighth grader, who is in the midst of the arduous and sometimes tortuous NYC high school admissions process.

I wanted to see for myself what the planners of the new school have in mind.

Lisa Gioe, the principal of Millennium Brooklyn, stood in front of a folding table covered in brochures and sign-up sheets, talking to parents and students. A petite woman with wispy blonde hair, she looks very young for someone who has been a mover and shaker in the New York City school system for 18 years.

Clearly she is not as young as she looks. The mother of three who is well on her way to a doctorate in education from Columbia University, Gioe is currently the principal of the Math and Science Exploratory School, a school she founded in 2003. It goes without saying that Gioe knows a thing or two about starting—and leading—a new school.

“The most important thing is to have structures and systems in place. That way the new school can function and everyone knows what to do. We know who’s in charge of what if there’s structure and transparency,” she told me.

Gioe and her planning team, which includes the principal and other consultants from Millennium Manhattan, are hard at work putting these structures in place so that the 108 incoming freshman will enter a functioning school next fall.

While Gioe has yet to actually select teachers, administration and students, she has a very clear vision of the school she plans to create.

“Millennium Brooklyn will have a rigorous, college prep program with an inquiry based curriculum, an advisory system and a strong emphasis on writing and research,” she told one parent.

Gioe spoke clearly and calmly as parents pelted her with questions.

“Students are required to take four years of English, Social Studies, Math and Science as well as three years of a foreign language,” she told one mom.

“What languages will be taught?” asked another parent.

“There will be a Spanish teacher at the school but students will be able to take computer courses in German, French, Mandarin and other languages with a facilitator in the classroom,” she said.

“What about art and other electives?”

As the school expands, Gioe explained, there will be after school programs in architecture, engineering, Lego Robotics, art, photography, PSAL sports, student government and student newspaper will be offered. She later told me that the school might collaborate with Fort Greene’s Irondale Theater on a drama after-school program.

No doubt about it: it’s tricky to assess a brand new school that has no track record. Typically parents want to know graduation rates, SAT scores, AP courses and college admissions. They want stats and they want ‘em bad. Enrolling in a brand new NYC public school can feel like a leap of faith.

That said, there is sure to be comfort in the fact that Millennium Brooklyn is partially a replication of a high school with a 97 percent graduation rate led by the principal of a very successful middle school that is considered one of the most popular schools in District 15. My first impression is that the hard-working Ms. Gioe is the one for the job. I found myself getting excited about a student-centered educational community with a rigorous curriculum that aims to foster life-long learners.

But don’t expect Millennium Brooklyn to be a clone of its Manhattan forebear. The school will reflect Ms. Gioe’s passion for writing and collaborative projects. It will also be NYC’s first public high school with an ASD NEST program for high functioning students with Aspergers.

So what can parents expect next fall?

Ninth grade students will be assigned an advisory class of 15-18 students who will remain together throughout their four high school years. The advisor is the student’s advocate and functions as the primary contact with the parent.

Students will also participate in an exploratory learning program, where they will be assigned two long term project-based investigations per year for the development of writing skills in collaboration with science institutions, museums, or community based organizations.

Internships will also be a major component of the Millennium Brooklyn learning experience.

And what about college admissions? That was my question and I wanted to know whether she was hiring a college advisor right away.

“We’ll be hiring a college advisor the second year. The first year I’m hiring a social worker,” Ms. Gioe told me.

Millennium Brooklyn will occupy part of a floor in the John Jay building, which houses three other high schools and has metal detectors at the entrance. Those detectors will soon be phased out, something the existing schools have been advocating for ages. Millennium will share the lunchroom, auditorium, gymnasium and possibly some science labs with the other schools. The school day will go from 8 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. with an after-school program offered to all. The students will be allowed to leave the school for lunch.

Millennium Brooklyn is a screened program, which you can learn more about on their website.