New York City will open nine new public schools this fall in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx, including accelerated and technical high school programs, Schools Chancellor David Banks announced Thursday.
Bard High School in East New York will be the second of three accelerated schools Banks promised to open outside of Manhattan. Last year, he opened another location of Bard in the South Bronx. The third school for advanced students will open next year in southeast Queens, education officials said.
“Whatever you are looking for,” Banks said at a new school fair at Education Department headquarters, “we have it within the New York City public schools. We’re going to have even more now, as a result of this announcement here today.”
Students at Bard can earn an associate’s degree or 60 transferable credits toward a bachelor’s degree. The program is designed to serve families in East New York, with 80% of seats reserved for students in the area and the remainder split between Brooklyn and the rest of the city.
The model has proven popular among families at Bard’s three other local schools and within two weeks received 700 applications for 150 spots, a rep said. The school will eventually grow to 500 students.
To reach local kids, Bard officials said they mailed information to families, engaged churches and local organizations, and were holding their first open house Thursday night.
“There’s a lot of interest already,” said Dumaine Williams, who oversees academic programming across the Bard Early College campuses. “So we’re excited about that. But we’re also trying to make sure it’s as equitable as possible.”
Another high school, Motion Picture Technical High School in Woodside, Queens, will train students for careers in film and television, including union jobs such as camera people, production designers, and hair and makeup and costume designers. Students will complete 54 hours of internships.
“It’s important for us to really put a rigorous academic program at the forefront,” said Kevin Lopez, the interim principal, “because as much as our young filmmakers are excited and interested in potentially taking on jobs in the industry, we need to prepare them [to rise through the ranks of] what we call ‘the castle walls’ — which is Hollywood.”
The other new schools include: Six elementary and middle schools in downtown Brooklyn and Bay Ridge, including the first district public Montessori school. Another school, in the South Bronx, will serve grades 6 through 8.
Thursday’s announcement was the latest effort by the administration to make good on a promise to increase access to accelerated programs and attractive neighborhood schools to families, the chancellor said.
“We’ve had a lot of back-and-forth around specialized high schools, as though those are the only good schools in the city,” Banks told reporters after the event. “And I will tell you, nothing could be further from the truth.”
There are “phenomenal,” under-the-radar schools that “can compete with any of the best schools around the city,” Banks said. “These are some of the newer ones that are going to add to the portfolio.”
