DOE Proposes McCourt

Just came across this press release from a few weeks ago.

McCourt Admissions Mystery

I have asked so many people about how the McCourt application process will work and no one can tell me for sure. I just spoke to someone in enrollment who said, "when it comes to the DOE, we live in the present." Meaning because the school does not yet exist, they can't say anything about it. I'm giving up for now. If anyone hears anything from a credible source, let me know.

Frank McCourt Planning Meeting

I attended yesterday’s community planning meeting for the Frank McCourt School hosted by Gale Brewer. It was an energized and positive meeting including members of the original proposing and planning group, the founding principal for McCourt, Danielle Salzberg, the principals from the other schools in the complex, one of the founders of Beacon, a representative of Symphony Space, some familiar faces from District 3 CEC, and various other members of the community and parents.

While I did not walk away with much in terms definititive information, I was impressed with the positive intention to build a school that is exceptional not only its own right but also as part of a collaborative campus with the other schools in the complex. Danielle has a lot of experience at creating new schools and spoke eloquently about her vision for the school that includes literature, journalism, and other types of written communication with a focus on story telling in all its forms from fiction, to drama, to lyrics, to digital media and film, etc. This is in addition to rigorous academics in all of the core college-prep subjects and foreign language. Danielle definitely said it better and in more detail.

Here are some of the other things I learned:

Even though it has been “announced” by the DOE, the school isn’t official until an approving vote sometime in December, after our applications are due.

The group is aware of the timing issues with the specialized round of matches and even the main round depending on how things go. So far there is no workaround for that. It’s just the way DOE does it.

There won’t be any formal promotion until the new school fair in February. However, the planning group is going to start their own “off the record” promotions and Danielle will answer questions at fmhsnyc@gmail.com.

The group had hoped for a larger school but the DOE set it at 108, the typical size of a small high school, which someone explained is 27 kids per classroom x 4. Larger schools are allowed to go up to 34 per class but small schools are capped at 27. When I was on the Stuyvesant tour, the principal said pretty much every class there is at 34. There is hope that once McCourt gets started it might grow as Beacon did to a mid-sized school. Beacon started out much smaller than it is now.

The school is set right now at citywide and screened. There was discussion about what the screening criteria should be and the planning group is going to develop a recommendations document. The ideas that were discussed are very similar to Beacon: in addition to test scores, grades, and attendance, there might be additional criteria like writing sample, group activity, on-site writing assignment, etc.

There was discussion as to how true diversity can be achieved given the system of computer matching. The intent is for the school to reflect the rich diversity of our city. There will be a big push for outreach citywide to find those students who are particularly talented at or passionate about story telling no matter what middle school they attend.

The school will share the auditorium, cafeteria, library, courtyard (and I think science labs) as well as complex-wide sports teams. Some clubs are already shared between Green Careers and Global Learning and they see that happening with McCourt as well. Assemblies will be shared when appropriate. For example, if McCourt is hosting a writer or journalist guest lecturer, then GC and GL will be invited and vice versa. The auditorum is huge.

There will apparently be some way by which we can apply to McCourt when it is announced and switch from our initial matches if accepted. However, no one explained how this would work exactly.

There are some DOE meetings and public comment sessions coming up that I will need to confirm as well as a next planning meeting in early December.

Founding Principal of the McCourt School

West Side Spirit article "Founding Principal"—the first Frank McCourt HS leader, Danielle Salzman, preps for a school launch marathon.

E-mail if you are interested in FM: fmhsnyc@gmail.com

Provided by Patty Dann

http://westsidespirit.com/?p=3661#more-3661

Additional Information Session at Green Careers

UA High School for Green Careers will be having another information session on Thursday, November 12th from 5-7pm. After attending this session, if you are still interested in our school there will be an opportunity for your child to come for a visit during the school day on Monday, November 16th to see some classes in session. Please let me know if you have any further questions. I look forward to seeing you.

Provided by Amy Greco

agreco@uagreencareers.org

Economic Theory of NYC HS Choice

For those of you who are interested in the theory behind the NYC HS choice process, check out this paper by Harvard University economist who was retained as a consultant to help create the system.

Co-author is Alvin Roth, George Gund Professor of Economics (FAS) and George Gund Professor of Economics and Business Administration (Business School) Primary Fields of Interest: Game theory as a part of empirical economics, and experimental economic theory. Research Topics: Organization of labor (and other) markets, bargaining, learning in strategic environments.

http://kuznets.harvard.edu/~aroth/papers/nycAEAPP.pdf

Global Learning Collaborative School Day Tour

Friday, November 13th. Rachel is offering a tour for CS Families* DURING school hours, so that you can see the students and classes in action. Please send her an email or call her if you would like to attend on Friday afternoon, time TBA. Rachel is a former CS parent and parent leader, and would like to accommodate our community as best as possible!

Rachel Dahill-Fuchel
Academic Dean
The Global Learning Collaborative
145 West 84th street
212-918-1983

Rachel@theglcnyc.org

* I imagine students from other schools would also be welcome. E-mail Rachel if you are interested.

McCourt School Application Timing

After looking into the issue of HS app timing, here is what happens (verified by Erin Hill, our CS counselor) with new schools like Frank McCourt.

The new schools are announced by the DOE in early Feb., too late to include on our HS apps, which are due Dec. 4. The Specialized and Non-Specialized matches come out in the Specialized Round, also in early Feb. If we get a match at that point, we have to accept before McCourt is activated. Thus, unless something changes, kids who get a Spealized match (and therefore also Non-Specialized) in Feb. won’t be able to consider McCourt unless they very riskily turn down both offers which no one in their right mind would do.

Main-round students, however, will be able to include McCourt. They can attend the New School Fair or otherwise research the new schools announced in Feb. and will have the option to revise their application to add one or more new schools into their order. Therefore, those students wil be able to consider McCourt equally with all the other existing schools. According to Erin, NYCiSchool started off the same way (accepting applications in February) and ended up with a great group of kids.

The downside for McCourt is that the school won't get any students like my son who are taking the SHSAT not so much because they really want a Specialized HS but because they want the opportunity for early notification, there is no downside, and it’s good experience. This pool of kids like Ben, it seems to me, are ideal McCourt candidates and the school won’t get any of them (or as many) in Year One because of this timing glitch.

I ran into Gale Brewer at Saturday’s Global Learning Collaborative tour and she said she was aware of the issue and thought that in the case of McCourt, there might be some kind of "waiver.” She was too busy to pin down beyond that so I don’t know what she meant. I e-mailed her and Shula Warren for more info, which I will pass along once I get it.

Global Learning Collaborative and Brandeis Complex

I toured Global Learning Collaborative on Saturday (all 5 rooms of it since it is in it's "pioneer" year) and was was impressed with academic dean, Rachel Dahill-Fuchel, the philosophy of the school, and the overall feeling of what they are working to create. (I also met principal Jennifer Zinn at the HS Fair on Sunday, who confirmed my impression.)

The building itself, The Brandeis Complex, is a "real high school" kind of building with lots of light, wide hallways, a beautiful auditorium (that PS 87 alums will remember from our graduation ceremony), three gyms, a library, science labs and large, well-lit classrooms. There is a large open courtyard in the middle (not visible from the street) with new plantings. The school "owns" or is otherwise connected to the garden at the corner of 84 and Amsterdam and the kids at GLC and Green Careers (another new school in the complex) have the opportunity to work there.

Right now, there is a metal detector at the main entrance, but Gale Brewer, also at the tour, said that it is almost certain that it will be going away soon.

If you want more information about GLC, it's not too late. Rachel is available via telephone at 212 918 1983 or e-mail at rachel@theglcnyc.org. She said interested families are welcome to drop by for a visit if you contact her prior. You can also check out GLC's website at www.theglcnyc.org.

Global Learning Collaborative

Rachel Dahill-Fuchel, Academic Dean at Global Learning Collaborative and a GLC student (CS ’09) will be at CS Cosi's Coffee Talk this Friday, Oct 23, to speak with 8th-grade parents regarding the school. Coffee Talk is a bi-weekly gathering coordinated by Sara Sloves, Computer School parent coordinator.

Where: Cosi's on Broadway (in the back), betw. 77 and 78

When: 8 am to 9:30 am

The second and last Global Learning Collaborative open house will be held at GLC, 145 W 84th, this Saturday Oct. 24, 10am-12pm. For more information: www.ttheglcnyc.org.

GLC will also be at the Manhattan HS fair Oct. 24 and 25.

The second and last Global Learning Collaborative open house will be held at GLC, 145 W 84th, this Saturday Oct. 24, 10am-12pm. For more information: www.ttheglcnyc.org.

GLC will also be at the Manhattan HS fair Oct. 24 and 25.

Response from BP Stringer's Office re D3 High Schools and Input Link

I wanted to introduce myself as the Borough President’s community liaison to the Upper West Side and Community Board 7 and thank you for writing to Borough President Stringer with your concerns on the availability of quality high schools for District 3 students.

As you know, a proposal has been made for the Frank McCourt High School to be placed at the former Brandeis High School Campus. Input on this high school can be directed to the Panel for Educational policy who will be reviewing this proposal. The best address to send input would be portfolio@schools.nyc.gov or (718) 935-4415.

Please feel free to contact me with any further questions or concerns.

Sincerely,
Corey Peterson

Corey Samantha Peterson
Community Liaison for Community Boards 5 & 7
Office of Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer
Municipal Building, 1 Centre Street, 19th Floor
New York, NY 10007
212.669.4546
cpeterson@manhattanbp.org

Ratio of Boys to Girls in NYC High Schools

Very interesting information, analysis, and comment dialogue at Inside Schools about the ratio of girls to boys in NYC high schools.

http://insideschools.org/blog/?url=http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/10/05/high-school-hustle-where-the-boys-are-or-arent-and-does-it-matter/

Provided by Nancy Brandwein

McCourt School: Three Articles and a Blog Post

http://westsidespirit.com/?p=3391#more-3391

http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/59703/

http://westsideindependent.com/2009/10/14/city-wants-frank-mccourt-writing-school-on-west-side/

http://insideschools.org/blog/?url=http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/10/07/frank-mccourt-school-gets-go-ahead-from-klein/

Borough High School Fairs

For those brave souls who want to go to a HS fair (I heard the citywide was absolutely crazed)—

Saturday, October 24 and Sunday, October 25
11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Manhattan: Martin Luther King, Jr., Educational Campus 
122 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10023

For information about other boroughs, see the Borough Fair Flyer

http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/C0790F37-10D5-4A10-A590-1E2715309BA5/68825/BoroughFairFlyer_100609.pdf

Sign Up for Beacon Interview Online

You can sign up for a Beacon interview online on their site. It's hard to find The Computer School on the list of Middle Schools. Just type in 245 in the search field and it'll come up. (Sorry, I don't know about other schools.)

http://www.beaconschool.org/admissions/interview/

Even More D2 Context

The news from the Delta HS info session last night is that the potential for D3 students to be accepted by D2 preferred schools is not good, in fact "highly discouraging."

Provided by Richard Kaplan

More D2 Context

I asked Erin Hill specifically how many CS kids were accepted to D2 preferred schools in the past. While CS does not release HS acceptance data, she did say the following:

Acceptance has varied from year to year from no more than four CS students accepted to none at all. We have good reason to think that this year will be only more difficult to get into a D2 school.

—SM