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New Area Schools Announced

By HEATHER HADDON

The city unveiled another major push to create small schools last week that includes four highly-anticipated local projects: a high school focusing on community activism, a bilingual high school, a new middle school at MS 143, and permanent status for the Jonas Bronck Academy. The new initiatives, which will be housed in preexisting facilities, joined 49 other projects citywide that will debut in September. The Bronx gains the lion’s share of the new schools.
 
“[We] are focused on developing high-quality educational options for students and communities that have been traditionally underserved,” said Alicia Maxey, a Department of Education (DOE) spokesperson.
 
Perhaps the most anticipated development is that Jonas Bronck, a small middle school located on a leased site on Manhattan College’s campus in Riverdale, will finally become its own school. Parents and staff have struggled for years to have Jonas gain formal status as a middle school since it opened in 1997. The school of choice automatically admits Bronx New School students after graduating fifth grade, and is open to local students by lottery.
 
Parents will be disappointed to learn, however, that Jonas will not expand into a high school or gain a new facility, at least not immediately. It will remain on the college’s campus for the foreseeable future, with a proposed enrollment of 400, and continue to house grades six through eight. The city’s 2005 capital plan for schools lists construction of a new building for Jonas starting in 2007, but that still needs final approval.
 
Still, parents were thrilled to learn that Jonas will finally become its own school, gaining more autonomy over its operations. “People were clapping at the [parent association] meeting,” said Marcela Torres, the school’s parent coordinator. “This whole thing has been a struggle.”
 
Sistas and Brothas United, a youth group associated with the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, was successful in its pursuit of a small, themed-based high school centered on community activism. The Leadership Institute will have a social justice emphasis, and students will conduct annual community activism projects. Fordham University is partnering with the Coalition in the endeavor. 
 
The Institute’s first class will be housed in an annex off Our Lady of Mercy School, located at 2510 Marion Ave. just south of Fordham Road. The Catholic school hasn’t used the three-floor, seven-room building in years, according to the Coalition. The Archdiocese of New York and the School Construction Authority are finalizing negotiations with regards to the site. 
 
In a unique arrangement, the Institute’s subsequent classes will be housed up the street in the Fordham Library building, located at 2556 Bainbridge Ave. (The New York Public Library is constructing a new building for the borough’s main branch on Kingsbridge Road.) The-two floor building holds roughly 20,000-square-feet of space, which is smaller than a typical high school.
 
The creation of a bilingual small school in the already cramped Walton High School will constitute the fourth small school started on Walton’s campus. The Kingsbridge International High School will serve recent immigrants who speak little English. Faced with rising criticism about overcrowding, officials said that Walton will not accept a new ninth grade next fall to make room for the small schools.
 
Walton’s newest addition is sponsored by International Partnership Schools, an organization that has opened six similar schools since 1985. One of these, the International High School at LaGuardia Community College, is highly regarded for getting new residents up to speed. Using an interdisciplinary approach, students are taught in teams and assessed through portfolios. Internships will be required.
 
In another region-led shift, a new middle school will take root at MS 143. The Region moved to close the Kingsbridge Heights school this year for poor performance, and it will be phased out by 2006. The School for Leadership and Journalism will open in the fall, beginning with an estimated 100 sixth graders, 284 seventh graders, and 73 special education students.
 
Delores Paterson, principal of PS 306 on West Tremont Avenue, was recruited to lead the new school. PS 306 is undergoing reorganization, and its performance has significantly improved recently.
 
The Marie Curie High School for Nursing, Medicine and the Allied Health Professions, now housed at MS 143, will also expand to serve grades seven through 12. The small high school, formed in partnership with the Mosholu Montefiore Community Center, now teaches ninth through 12th grades.
 
Ed. note: While the deadline for high school applications passed, eighth graders have until March 1 to apply to the new schools. Those that are interested must attend a new school fair. The Bronx’ will be held on Saturday, Feb. 12 and Sunday, Feb. 13 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at a location to be announced. For more information, call 311 or see your school’s guidance counselor.

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