Julia Richman Education Complex

The Julia Richman Education Complex (JREC) is an educational multiplex located in the Upper East Side neighborhood in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. It houses six autonomous small schools for approximately 1,800 Pre-K through 12th grade students in the former Julia Richman High School building. The schools are operated by the New York City Department of Education.

History

The facility was built in 1923 as an all-girls commercial high school, Julia Richman High School (JRHS). By 1990 the NYC Board of Education identified JRHS as having the worst statistics of student achievement in Manhattan. The local police precinct referred to the crime-infested school as “Julia Rikers,” known for its violence and vandalism. Metal detectors were installed and metal cages were used to isolate students with disciplinary problems. Only thirty-seven percent of its enrollees graduated.

The school closed to entering freshmen in 1993 who were given the opportunity to attend one of six new small schools located outside the school building. With money provided in part by the entities such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the building was redesigned from a single school into a multi-age, multi-service learning community with six autonomous, public, Small Schools. The new schools that formed the new Julia Richman Education Complex were "hothoused" in temporary buildings elsewhere. The $30 million renovation in 1993â€"95 restored the exterior of the building, provided separate spaces for each of the small schools, yet maintained many of the traditional features of the building. It opened its doors to four new schools in 1995. In 1996 the last class of the former JRHS, which had stayed in the building throughout the restructuring, graduated.

Performance

Prior to its closing, Julia Richman High School had developed a reputation for academic failure with a graduation rate of 35%. Within a decade the new smaller schools claimed a low staff turnover and an average high school graduation rate in excess of 85%, more than 5% greater than the city-wide graduation rate. The school has been visited by educators and school designers from around the world to see what the then education director of the Gates Foundation has called the JREC "the best example in the United States of a multiplex of a group of very effective schools that share a common facility. And it’s a group of schools that are showing really outstanding results.”

Proposed relocation

In 2007 City University of New York's Hunter College proposed to take over the Complex and relocate the schools to a new, modern facility on the college's Brookdale campus approximately 20 blocks south in the Gramercy Park and Murray Hill neighborhood. Public opposition was widespread and included city and state political leaders, including Governor David Paterson.

The schools

The six schools are autonomous, each with its own budget, teachers, schedules, curriculum, and separate spaces within the facility. Each maintains its own identity.

Urban Academy High School M565

Urban Academy is an inquiry-based, college oriented high school with a rigorous academic focus. The school serves approximately 169 students (as of 2012) in grades 9â€"12. Many students also take college courses at Hunter College or at Eugene Lang College at New School University where they receive course credit. Urban Academy is a member of the Coalition of Essential Schools and requires students to successfully complete six core proficiencies to graduate (Creative Arts, Criticism, Literature, Math, Science, and Social Studies). The school uses non-traditional approaches to education: teachers and students call one another by their first names, food and drink are brought into class, and teachers have opposed government-mandated testing claiming it is "a distraction from more creative pursuits".

Vanguard High School M449

Vanguard is a high school with a focus for students with learning disabilities. The school serves approximately 422 students (as of 2012) in grades 9â€"12. Curricula are planned using the Habits of Mind.

The school's curriculum encourages empathy and respect for others through investigation of different viewpoints and making connections with their own lives. Performance is judged by student portfolios designed to meet specific goals and not by issuing grades or holding exams.

Talent Unlimited High School M519

Talent Unlimited is a small school for the performing arts. The school serves approximately 484 students (as of 2012) in grades 9â€"12. It offers highly specialized courses in vocal and instrumental music, musical theatre, drama, and dance.

P226M Junior High Annex

P226M is school for children with autism. The school is a cluster school with in seven facilities, including the JREC, and (as of 2012) serves a total of approximately 300 middle school and high school inclusion students in grades 9â€"12.

The Ella Baker School M255

Ella Baker School is a pre-K through 8th grade school serving approximately 317 students (as of 2012). It is named after civil rights leader Ella Baker

Manhattan International High School M459

Manhattan International is a high school for recent immigrants with a focus on students whose first language is not English. It serves approximately 309 students (as of 2009) in grades 9â€"12. The school is a member of the New York Performance Standards Consortium, which opposes high-stakes "one size does not fit all" tests.

The complex

In addition to the six separate schools, the JREC includes facilities offering services to them all:

• First Steps, an toddler center serving children of teen parents
• the Mount Sinai Student Health Clinic
• the Inquiry Center for Teaching and Learning
• the Maxine Greene Center for the Arts

The schools also share an art gallery, auditorium, cafeteria, ceramics studio, culinary arts room, dance studio, gymnasiums, library, swimming pool, and a mini-theater. The complex is governed by the Building Council composed of directors and principals from each school and program within the building. The Council, chaired by the Building Manager who is a principal from one of the six schools, meets regularly and determines policy for the entire complex within six fundamental goals: multiage communities, autonomous schools, dedicated school space, shared services, and common spaces and governance.

References

External links

• Official website
• Urban Academy
• Vanguard High School
• Talent High School
• P226M Junior High Annex
• Ella Baker School
• Manhattan International High School
• Architects of Achievement â€" graphic model of the JREC