New York City’s 1.1 million students returned for their first day at 1,800 schools on a scorching Wednesday, one day after the city saw its hottest temperature of 97 degrees.
Over 65,500 children registered to attend the newly-implemented free, full-day, pre-K program, more than triple the 20,000 children who attended last year. The graduation rate for 2014, the most recent figure available, increased two percentage points to 68.4 percent from 2013, and the number of school dropouts fell to 9.7 percent, down from 10.6 percent.
The Midtown Gazette visited 16 schools across Midtown Manhattan on opening day:
Manhattan Nursery School
West 32nd Street
www.manhattannurseryschool.com
Pre-K
A photo board of the students at the Manhattan Nursery School, with strollers underneath. Photo: Laurence Bekk-Day.
By Sushma Udipi Nagendran and Laurence Bekk-Day
“Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles,” the children keep saying as they march into what the school calls the playground room with Ms. Christen to play with the “magic wand,” the school’s resident bubble gun, on the first day of Universal Prekindergarten for 32 children and two teachers. Kyeong Rim, the academic director at Manhattan Nursery School, refers to the children as “students” in a soothing voice. She says that the first day of school went well, except for the challenges caused by the implementation of new rules under the Universal Prekindergarten Program (UPK): Children now stay in school for 6 hours and 20 minutes instead of 2 hours and 30 minutes. They didn’t get as much time outdoors as they usually do because New York City temperatures reached an all-time high on Wednesday, and the class walk to the Madison Square Park had to be canceled.
NYC Lab Middle School for Collaborative Studies
333 West 17th Street
Grades 6-8
Parents linger after dropping off their children for the first day of class at Lab Middle School in Chelsea. Photo: Adam Kelsey.
By Adam Kelsey
It’s Julian Beban’s first day at Lab Middle School in Chelsea. On top of meeting teachers and classmates, back-to-school day can also present a challenge unique to city-raised students: a new commute.
Julian lives in the Financial District and only had to navigate a short walk to his previous school. Even though Lab Middle lies within the same sprawling second district, the journey this year requires a subway ride. His father, Paul, is tagging along for now to show him the ropes.
“He’s a big, confident boy,” says Paul, unconcerned that problems will arise once Julian is alone.
Despite Julian’s relative youth — a late birthday means he’s still 10 while many classmates are 11-going-on-12 — Paul says the independent trip will be a good “rehearsal for college,” albeit seven years early.
Though Julian will handle the daily commute on his own, once inside Lab Middle, school policy dictates that he will move between classes with the same group throughout the rest of the day.
Guardian Angel School
193 Tenth Avenue
http://www.guardianangelschool-nyc.org/
Pre-K
Kayla Rivas sends her 3 ½-year-old son Jaden to his first day of prekindergarten at Guardian Angel School in Chelsea. Photo: Kathryn Thomson.
By Kathryn Thomson
For the second year in a row, Guardian Angel School, a K-8 Catholic school in Chelsea, opened its doors on September 9 to pre-kindergarteners, for free. Thanks to a city initiative led by Mayor Bill de Blasio, New Yorkers have access to universal prekindergarten.
When the program began, local schools and community organizations created over 50,000 pre-K spots, 60 percent of which are run by religiously-affiliated groups.
Kayla Rivas was unaware of Guardian Angel’s existence and says her mother was the one who suggested looking into it for her toddler. “We both work in the area and there are a lot of families around here, so I thought it could be a good fit,” she said.
At morning drop-off, Rivas admitted she was perhaps more anxious than Jaden. “I’m so nervous for him, but every day he just shows me something different, so I’m excited to watch him grow,” Rivas said as she hugged her son goodbye.
Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts
100 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10023
Grades 9 – 12
Chantelle Edouard, center, picks up her older daughter Marianne, 14, left, at LaGuardia High School. Chantelle met Miriam Cho, right, on the way to the school’s orientation. Photo: Wendy Lu.
By Wendy Lu
This year, Fiorella H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts received 2,648 applicants for the fine arts program. Marianne Edouard, 14, is one of 60 students who were accepted after a seven-hour audition for music (vocal) and art (drawing) in the fall of 2014.
According to her mother, Chantelle, Marianne specializes in realistic drawing and hopes to study architecture in college. LaGuardia High School is known for teaching many noteworthy alumni, including singer-songwriter Nicki Minaj and architect Charles Gwathmey.
“You have to take your academics as seriously as your art subjects,” Chantelle said. “If you don’t do well on your academics, they take away the art. You can’t go to the classes. You have to really focus on what you’re doing.”
Stephen T. Mather Building Arts & Craftsmanship High School
439 West 49th Street, New York, NY 10019
Grades: 8-12
Catherine Diaz quizzes her 15-year-old son Robert Morales about his first day at Stephen T. Mather Building Arts & Craftsmanship High School in Hell’s Kitchen. Photo: Emma Kazaryan.
By Nokuthula Manyathi
As her son squeezed through a crowd of rushing students, Catherine Diaz smiled and pointed in his direction. When she gave him a hug and he mouthed, “It was not bad,” her smile broadened.
Diaz was uneasy about Robert’s first day, after a bullying incident that happened during freshman orientation in August.
When she brought the matter up with the teachers the following day “they were on top of it” – another reason she thinks the school may be a great fit for her son.
“The teachers have made me feel comfortable,” said Robert. Now that first day can be ticked off as a success, Diaz looks forward to the next 10 months. “If the teachers have good communication, then everything should be fine. But when there is no communication then that’s when things fall apart,” she said.
Business of Sports School
H.S. of Graphic Communication Arts
Urban Assembly Gateway School for Technology
439 West 49th Street New York, NY 10019
Grades 9 – 12
Bus driver Jean Azor waits to take students home. Photo: Emma Kazaryan.
By Emma Kazaryan
The first day of school is hectic not only for kids, but also for bus drivers. Jean Azor, 54, has been working as a bus driver for over 13 years, but this is his first time in Manhattan. After working in Brooklyn and Queens, he was assigned to work in Manhattan and the drive through the city, Azor says, is very stressful.
“Kids are from all over the city – Brooklyn, Manhattan, from West to East – and crossing the town is very hard because of the traffic,” said Azor.
But Azor loves his job and “his” kids, as he calls them.
“You meet different people with different backgrounds. You experience something new every day,” he said.
Ballet Tech NYC Public School for Dance
890 Broadway Manhattan, NY 10003
Grades 4 – 8
Mother Lamia Dkhili (right) is all smiles as she talks with parent coordinator, Elsie Aponte, and picks up her son, Heythem, after his first day of school. Photo: Ariana Pyles.
By Ariana Pyles and Jingnan Peng
First position, plie, coup-de-pied, glissade—most children wouldn’t expect to hear these terms on their first day of school, but at the Ballet Tech NYC Public School for Dance, it’s standard. With approximately 154 students, this competitive school auditions about 30,000 students a year. An anxious fifth grader, Heythem Dkhili, 10, was eager to start his second year. “I was excited to see my friends and a little nervous to meet my new teacher, but we got to do ballet today so I was really happy about that,” he said. When Heythem auditioned as a third grader, his mother, Lamia Dkhili, knew this was home. “This school is worth it,” says Lamia. “ Even if it was a two-hour commute I would do it.”
Baruch College Campus High School
55 E 25 St, 10010
http://www.bcchsnyc.net/
Grades 9 – 12
The bodega between E. 24th and E. 25th streets, a popular destination for students at Baruch College Campus High School. Photo: Jingnan Peng.
By Jingnan Peng and Ariana Pyles
“For me, there are customers, and there are sons and daughters,” said Rashidi, who works at a bodega near Baruch College Campus High School and has two children. “When I see a boy, I think ‘he is like my son.’ And I charge him $1 for a $1.25 candy bar, for example.”
Students often buy sweets and soda from the Bangladeshi man who, despite mounting prices, offers things for free when he thinks they are fretting over money.
Since he dislikes publicity, Rashidi refused to give The Midtown Gazette his last name, though he did give both reporters a Blow Pop after the conversation.
“Money is nothing. Money is everything. I need money, but I also need love,” he said.
Manhattan Bridges High School
525 West 50th Street
http://schools.nyc.gov/SchoolPortals/02/M542/default.htm
Grades 9-12
Teachers said classrooms in the Park West Educational Campus — home to five high schools — reached 93 degrees as air conditioners failed to work. Photo: Shannon Najmabadi.
By Divya Kumar
As temperatures rose into the 90s on the first day back at school, teachers at the Park West Educational Campus found themselves competing with the heat to keep their students’ attention, after air conditioning units failed to work and classrooms were equipped only with fans for cooling.
Katrina Soti, a ninth and tenth-grade English Teacher at Manhattan Bridges High School, said her students were “withering at the vines.”
“We’re lethargic,” she said. “Our building is really hot.”
Another teacher, who requested to be identified only as “Miss V,” and teaches at the Hospitality and Management High School in the same building, said teachers were told to call 311, a citywide non-emergency hotline, because school repairs must go through a lengthy approval process first.
Park West Educational Campus: The Urban Assembly School of Design and Construction
525 West 50th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10019
Grades 9-12
Park West Educational Campus houses five small high schools, including The Urban Assembly School of Design and Construction. Photo: Shannon Najmabadi.
By Shannon Najmabadi
The Urban Assembly School of Design and Construction has about 400 students, whose back-to-school pilgrimage Wednesday morning included a step that’s become familiar to many of the city’s public school students: a security screening.
James Coleman is a school safety agent at the Park West Educational Campus, and sits in front of a security camera live feed a few yards from a metal detector. Students pass through the detector “exactly like in an airport,” Coleman said, adding that in his 30-year tenure in school safety, this campus “is the best I’ve been in.”
“Whatever the tone of the building is for the rest of the year,” he said, “we start today.”
Expectations were also set in the classroom, said Chad Frade, an 11th grade English teacher at The Urban Assembly School of Design and Construction. Now in their junior year, his students are “closer to the end that they are to the beginning,” he said.
Satellite Academy High School
120 W 30th St, New York, NY 10001
satelliteacademy.org
Grades 9 – 12
Travis Kelly, 19, outside the Satellite Academy on West 30th Street. Photo: Assil Faryha.
By: Assil Faryha and James K. Williamson
For the first day back to school at Satellite Academy, located near Koreatown, students went on a bowling trip. Despite their excitement, nearby businesses owners were not as enthusiastic. Satellite is a special, public transfer high school that accommodates around 177 students between the ages of 16 and 20 who had difficulties in regular NYC public schools. “I was struggling to learn and work,” said Travis Kelly, a 19-year-old Satellite student, when referring to his previous school on the Lower Eastside. The student body population is 31 percent black and 64 percent Latino. In the past four years, of the 35 percent of the students who graduated, 32 percent attended college.
High School of Fashion Industries
fashionhighschool.net
225 W. 24th Street, New York, NY 10011
Grades 9 – 12
Ayza Wickehem waits for her daughter outside of the High School of Fashion Industries after the first day of school ends. Photo: Assil Faryha.
By Assil Faryha and James K. Williamson
Windows at the entrance of the High School of Fashion Industries, located next to the Fashion Institute of Technology in Chelsea, displayed mannequins in dreamy gowns. The school specializes in fashion for aspiring artists who want careers in fashion and design. Rosie Hernandez and her 14-year-old daughter, Xitlalli, who is a freshman, already have their own clothing line. “I wanted to send her to a high school in Queens, but she picked here because it’s fashion,” she said. Ayza Wickehem also has a daughter who is a freshman at the school. “Her elementary teacher noticed she could draw and likes fashion,” she said. “Before, she was at IS 381, a junior high school in Brooklyn.” The school, which is 93 percent girls, has a graduation rate of 85 percent, and out of those, 93 percent go on to college.
High School for Law, Advocacy and Community Justice
122 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10023
Grades 9 – 12
Kelly Giotti teaches at the High School for Law, Advocacy and Community Justice, which offers law classes and workshops. Although specialized, the school does not have specific application requirements, allowing any NYC student to apply.
By Cecile Borkhataria
Kelly Giotti has been teaching junior and Advanced Placement English at the High School for Law, Advocacy and Community Justice for the past 12 years. The school, on the Martin Luther King Jr. Educational Campus, has 491 students and shares a building with five other public schools. It offers classes in Constitutional and Criminal law, and holds monthly college prep workshops led by lawyers. “The students I teach are more serious about school because the end is in sight for them, they’re thinking about college,” said Kelly. Kelly never planned to become a teacher but stumbled into the career after seeing a subway advertisement for a teaching fellowship at the school in 2003. This year, Kelly looks forward to reading the “The Great Gatsby” with her 11th graders and challenging her 12th graders with Shakespeare’s “Othello.”
P.S. 191 Amsterdam
210 W 61st St, New York, NY 10023
http://schools.nyc.gov/SchoolPortals/03/M191/default.htm
Grades PK-5
When the dismissal bell rang at P.S. 191 Amsterdam in the Lincoln Square neighborhood, Eli’s grandma, Fina Feliciano, and mother, Stephanie Candeoario, were there to greet him after his first day of third grade. Photo: Stassy Olmos.
By Stassy Olmos and Christine Trudeau
Stephanie Candeoario got a letter last week from the Board of Education informing her that her son Eli’s elementary school, Public School 191 Amsterdam, with 555 students, is ranked one of the 32 most dangerous schools in New York State.
Although the letter offered her the option to move Eli, she did not find it necessary.
“You’re always gonna have problems with any kids, so it’s not really the school structure, it’s the kids themselves,” Candeoario said.
His mother says that Eli, a 3rd grader, gets good grades and stays out of trouble.
The school’s principal, Lauren Keville, said that they “have a lot of new, positive initiatives this year,” although she did not elaborate. The school, she said, is “off to a positive start.”
As Eli met his family outside, he said he had a good first day and was happy he didn’t have any homework yet.
High School for Law, Advocacy and Community Justice
122 Amsterdam Ave., Manhattan, NY 10023
http://lacjhs.org/
Grades 9-12
Freshmen Samantha Morrobel, Brenda Bravo and Brandon Bravo and Julissa Cano look at their cell phones for the first time since 8:30 a.m. at the Public High School for Law, Advocacy and Community Justice in Lincoln Square. PHOTO: Stassy Olmos
By Stassy Olmos and Christine Trudeau
After their first day of high school, four freshmen stood outside of the High School for Law, Advocacy and Community Justice of 491 students, catching up on missed texts and snapchats.
Without their phones all day, they couldn’t wait for the bell to ring.
“They take your phone,” said one. “They have medical detectors.”
And getting their phones back isn’t a fun process either.
“Everyone’s pushing and you can’t get out,” another of the students said.
But the freshmen picked up some tips on how to avoid the school policy: fellow students told them how to slip their phones into their shoes and slide their feet through the detectors, without shattering their phone screens.
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