Category Archives: Schools

Stuyvesant High School

40% of Stuyvesant Students Live at Poverty Levels

Stuyvesant High School
Stuyvesant High School in Battery Park City

They are the best, the brightest and poorest students in the city.

Contrary to the overwhelming belief that kids who make it to Stuyvesant High School are often thought of as coming from families with a leg up in class and ability to pay for preparation for The Specialized High Schools Admissions Test, the federal government believes otherwise.

This year, the high school will be receiving federal support after being designated as a “high poverty school.”

An overwhelming population of students are receiving free or reduced lunches at the school, qualifying Stuyvesant as a high poverty school, prompting Title I funding from the federal government.

In a recent campaign to properly identify the students at need, parents have counted the declining economy and students from new immigrant families at the school, are some of the reasons for the increase of impoverished students at Stuyvesant.

The numbers are staggering.

A count of students at the poverty level in 2006 accounted for only 17%, where as in 2009, nearly 40% of the entire school were considered at the poverty level.

The federal aid will provide nearly $1.6 million, which accounts for 10% of the high school’s total operating budget.

For alumni or those who would like to donate tax deductible donations for student groups and resources can visit the Stuyvesant High School Alumni Association website.

Stuyvesant HS Teacher Arrested for Selling Terrorist Weapons

Stuyvesant High School
Stuyvesant High School

Public school teachers just don’t make enough money.

A former Stuyvesant High School music teacher has been arrested after being caught selling weapons to what he thought was a terrorist network.

Theophilus Burroughs was arrested after a year long sting by the Bronx District Attornye’s office investigating a Bronx warehouse suspected to be a point where assault weapons were being sold.

Burroughs was caught negotiating firearms sales which included AK-47’s, .40-caliber guns and often praised terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

According to the New York Post, Burroughs, “showed up at the Westchester Square warehouse expecting to collect a cool $10,000 for a pair of night-vision goggles, two bulletproof vests and 200,000 counterfeit cigarette stamps.”

Burroughs was on unpaid medical leave and had been a former Marine from Newark. Apparently surprised by the arrest, he web his pants as he was being taken away by investigators.

The charges against Burroughs include weapons possession and forgery.

Burroughs had been teaching at Stuyvesant since 1992, starting as a substitute teacher and then as a music teacher from 2002-2003. Also according to the same article, Burroughs has been under investigation by the Board of Education in an alleged misconduct situation at the Cobble Hill School for American Studies.

New building for P.S./I.S. 276 Students at 55 Battery Place

Back to a New School For P.S./I.S. 276 Students

New building for P.S./I.S. 276 Students at 55 Battery Place
New building for P.S./I.S. 276 Students at 55 Battery Place (Credit: Flickr PS/IS276)

Summers over for millions of kids, but some students in our neighborhood can’t wait to go back to school tomorrow.

P.S./I.S. 276 officially opens their doors today for summer registration but will welcome the first class of students tomorrow into their new school at 55 Battery Place. The school hails as New York City’s greenest school in the five boroughs. Last year, the school housed it’s Kindergarten class in a temporary space at the Tweed Courthouse.

Today summer registration is open and tomorrow marks the first day of classes for all grades, with shorter days for the Kindergarten and Pre-K classes.

P.S./I.S. 276 is located behind the Millenium Tower residences and will have the same green technologies for the school that power the building, including the use of solar panels and filtered air ducts. The building was designed by Dattner Architects.

The school is zoned for students who live south of Albany Street, Liberty and Maiden Lane. The zone initially caused controversy for Gateway Plaza families who wanted to be included in the school zone because of it’s close proximity.

The school year academic calendar for parents is as follows:

September 8 – First day of school/Half day for Kindergarten/Shortened session for Pre-K.
September 9-10 – Rosh Hashanah (No School)
September 13- Half Day for Kindergarten/Shortened Session for Pre-K
September 14- First Fully day for Kindergarten/Shortened Session for Pre-K
September 15- First Full Session for Pre-K
October 1- Pre-K non attendance day
October 11- Columbus Day (No School)
November 2- Election Day (No School)
November 25-26- Thanksgiving Recess
December 24-31- Winter Recess
January 3, 2011- School Resumes
January 17- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
February 21-25- Midwinter Recess
March 7 – Pre-K Non Attendance Day
April 18-26- Spring Recess
April 27- School Resumes
May 30- Memorial Day Observed (No School)
June 9- Chancellor’s Conference Day (No School)
June 28- Last Day of School (Half Day)

Study says direct exposure to 9/11 plays a role in mental development

Children Exposed to 9/11 Found Developmentally Vulnerable

Study says direct exposure to 9/11 plays a role in mental development
Study says direct exposure to 9/11 plays a role in behavior development.

If your child was directly exposed to the traumas of 9/11, he/she may have been vulnerable to behavioral problems — according to a newly published report in the July/August issue of ‘Child Development.’

Researchers conducted two studies based on children living in Lower Manhattan who were directly exposed to 9/11. The exposure included being a direct witness to the attacks a well as living in homes where their mothers were suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. In this first clinical study, preschool children exposed to 9/11 were found to be directly vulnerable to behavioral problems.

Mount Sinai School of Medicine, the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services and the Bronx Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center were part of the overall research team conducting the first study including the analysis of 100 moms and their children — directly exposed to the 9/11 attacks.

In a second study involved the analysis of adolescents and their mothers in our area. That study found that even a year after 9/11 both mothers and children reported elevated reports of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

The following research team included the University of Michigan, New York University and the Austin Independent School District, as well as the Sesame Workshop.

According to an article on Sify.com, “Direct exposure to the events of 9/11 played a small, but significant role in explaining the severity of mental health symptoms.”

The Lower Manhattan families were part of a recruitment outreach program of those affected by the attacks from March 2003 through December 2005.

The findings indicate the need to further understand the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder and the parent child relationship.

Claremont Prep

School’s Out Forever for Claremont Prep Headmaster

Claremont Prep
Elite school excels at replacing its own leaders.

Claremont Preparatory School is in search of a new headmaster.

Administrators from the exclusive and very expensive for-profit school e-mailed parents on Wednesday, June 9, to let them know that headmaster Irwin Shlachter “is no longer with us.” In addition, the message, which was also posted on the school’s official website, announced that Kenneth Wrye, formerly of the United Nations International School, will step in as interim headmaster while Claremont hunts for a permanent new leader.

Continue reading School’s Out Forever for Claremont Prep Headmaster

I.S. 89 students protest after-school cuts

IS 89 Students Protest After-School Cuts

I.S. 89 students protest after-school cuts
BPC students make their voices heard.

“Save my after-school! Save our future!” No, this is not the tag line of some new Heroes-esque show on NBC; it’s what I.S. 89 students, counselors and faculty shouted as executive director of Manhattan Youth Bob Townley led them up Warren Street and across the West Side Highway last Thursday.

The reason for their stroll: They’re protesting cuts to after-school and summer youth programs, the elimination of which is part of Mayor Bloomberg’s proposed plan to help offset New York City’s ballooning $3.5 billion deficit.

Continue reading IS 89 Students Protest After-School Cuts

Action Center to End World Hunger

NYC Students Get an Education in World Hunger

Action Center to End World Hunger
Kids are hungry for knowledge about hunger epidemics.

In the battle against global hunger, it never hurts to have some young blood on your side… and the Action Center to End World Hunger, the educational and global engagement arm of Mercy Corps, is well aware of this fact.

Downtown Express reports that since opening offices in Lower Manhattan in 2008, the Center has forged strong partnerships with P.S. 89, the Little Red School House and Elisabeth Erwin High School, and Stuyvesant High School, holding educational workshops for the students and encouraging them to take a more active role in the ongoing quest to end crippling food shortages.

Continue reading NYC Students Get an Education in World Hunger

Pedestrian and traffic changes during week of 9/11 anniversary.

$1.2 Million is Not Enough for Optimal Crossing Safety

Crossing guards at major intersections will cost a cool $1.2 Million
Will crossing guards help ensure resident safety?

With all the bridge construction confusion, comes an expensive solution — which might not be enough for the safety of our neighborhood.

The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LDMC) has issued a plan to spend $1.2 Million on a safety initiative to help increase the number of crossing guards in the area.

According to the Downtown Express, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was the proponent behind the initiative which would hope to alleviate the hazards of school children crossing West Street to get to neighborhood schools including P.S./I.S. 276.

Although it seems like a large expense for the safety of our residents, the expenditure is below the estimated $2 Million it would take to have an “optimal solution” of 6 crossing guards manning Chambers, Warren, Murray and Albany Streets.

According to Silver in the article, “We’ll manage the $1.2 Million judiciously to see how long we can stretch it, obviously it’s going to have to supplemented — we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”