Metropolitan Avenue New
Construction
Dear District 28
Community Member,
A new school building will be opening in
September 2010 at 91-30
Metropolitan Avenue.
The building is being built to address the seat need for
grades 6-12 in the community. The new building will
contain a 998 seat high school (grades 9-12) and a
913 seat secondary school (grades 6-12). There will also
be a 216 seat District 75 program on the campus. The
schools will be separate, although there will be shared
spaces, such as the auditorium.
UPDATES
Click here to download the map for the proposed zoning for the Metropolitan Campus High School.
Also, please find a FAQ that was handed out at the November 30th zoning meeting.
The FAQ can also be found online:
http://schools.nyc.gov/community/planning/changes/queens/District28.htm
http://schools.nyc.gov/community/planning/changes/queens/District24.htm <http://schools.nyc.gov/community/planning/changes/queens/District24.htm>
The DOE will accept comments on the zoning proposal at Portfolio@schools.nyc.gov for the next two weeks.
Thanks,
Kathryn Thome and Emily Ades
Kethome@nyc.rr.com
Ilovewilandzoe@aol.com
THE OFFICE OF PORTFOLIO PLANNING
WELCOMES PARENTS AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS TO HEAR APPLICANT TEAMS SHARE THEIR PROPOSED EDUCATIONAL VISIONS FOR THE 6-12 & 9-12 NEW SCHOOLS LOCATED ON THE METROPOLITAN AVENUE CAMPUS
Monday, October 19th, 7:00 P.M. – 9:00 P.M.
DISTRICT 28 OFFICE 90-27 SUTPHIN BLVD, QUEENS, NY 11435
Subway Directions: Take E- J - Z the to Sutphin Boulevard/ Archer Avenue/JFK Airport Please contact:
NewSchoolsTeam@schools.nyc.gov if you have any questions.
Wednesday, June 17th
7:30 PM
90-27 Sutphin Blvd
Metro Campus Task Force Meeting
SUMMARY:
In September 2010, the Metro Campus will be completed. The
campus is made up of 2 schools. A locally zoned HS (9th –
12th grade) that will house approximately 1,000 students and
will open with 9th grade only. In addition, there will be a
District 28 choice ISHS (grades 6th – 12th) that will have
approximately 700 seats. The ISHS will open with 6th and 7th
grades. Also, there will be approximately 216 District 75
students.
Gary Hecht, Deputy Superintendent District 75
District 75 was created 35 years ago. District 75 services
students throughout the city of NY. District 75 is currently
serving 23,000 students who have the most significant
challenges and receive education within the Department of
Education. District 75 services children that are multiply
handicapped, have severe cognitive delays and a secondary
condition that is many times life threatening. They also
serve students that are autistic, the largest population of
students, and it is growing every year. D75 services
students that are mentally retarded, learning disabled,
emotionally challenged, hearing and visually impaired and
students that are on home or hospital instruction and cannot
go to school because of disabilities.
District 75 currently has 10 programs within District 28 at
various schools. Mr. Hecht spoke about a new program at East
Elmhurst High school in D28. East Elmhurst HS opened as a
campus school with 2 other principals. The 2 principals were
new to the school System. D75 has staff and administrators
that stay for a long period time. They have expert knowledge
and expertise in the area of disability. The Principal for
East Elmhurst Campus has been an administrator for 25 years.
The D75 principal had the opportunity to work with the
principals with shared resources, practices and procedures.
In district 75, although they serve the most challenging
students in the city of NY, they also have 1800 students in
inclusion. The goal of district 75 is to work with the
students and help them become as independent as possible and
to return back into the general education population and
have total integration. There are self contained buildings
in every borough for severe students that act out or have
real behavior problems until they improve their social,
emotional and academic skills. Students in the co-located
buildings have shown great progress.
Mr. Hecht discussed that District 75 is having difficulty
providing service for students turning 5 in the DOE. They
currently have 225 referrals for District 75 for turning 5,
out of the 225, 125 are autistic. D75 has to find spaces for
those turning 5. Many of the programs in District 28 are
K-6. Next year, District 75 is thinking of changing from K
to 5 and starting the 6th graders in a new program which
will give them the opportunity to start with other students
that are starting a program. Tthere will be integration from
the beginning and allow them to possibly go to the school
through 12th grade.
District 28 is currently providing services for 575
students. There are 5,200 students receiving services in
Queens.
Caps in classes for District 75
Autistic 6:1:1
MR (mentally retarded), learning disabled and emotionally
challenged 12:1:1
Multiply handicapped 12:1:4
SURVEY RESULTS
Survey results are posted on the DOE website and were
distributed at the meeting
http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/2F7FF731-19D9-4B5E-A474-CFAB3056F1ED/63855/TheMetropolitanTaskForceSurveyResults1.pdf
This information will be used by the planning teams to
incorporate what the community wants in their school
proposals.
Suggestions for improving the survey:
· Separate surveys for multiple schools
· Ranking versus checking various themes for priority
· Include what school their child attends to see district
wide reflection
· Simplify the summary, and list themes first versus
questions
· Option for parents to fill out form twice for students in
different grades
POTENTIAL PROPOSALS
The timeline for the Metro Campus was distributed at the
meeting. The Applicant teams will use the feedback from the
surveys in their proposals. The applicant teams will submit
an abstract for both the ISHS and HS. OPP will give the
applicant teams feedback. The Applicant teams will share
their ideas with the community. Th e teams will then submit
their final proposal.
The deadline for the HS (9th – 12th grade) is October 13th.
Students will be able to apply for the 9th grade during the
main high school admissions round.
And the deadline for the ISHS (6th – 12th grade) November is
3rd.
The interview process is made up of a panel of experts in
the education field including but not limited to DOE
experts, New Schools, community partners, CEC, and District
Superintendents. Recommendations will then be made to
the Chancellor. Once the proposal has been chosen, In the
spring, there will be implementation where the DOE will help
the leaders grow their proposals into action.
Visit to Marsh
Avenue School in Staten Island
June 2009
The Marsh Avenue School is a new facility that opened this
year in Staten Island.
The building is beautiful, bright, airy and spacious. It is
what one would expect a school to look like. The building is
a shared space and is utilized by a 6-12, a 9-12 and a D75
school.
The Principal and 6th grade students, who explained the
philosophy and mission for their school, gave the members of
the Task Force that visited, a tour. Marsh Ave is an
“Expeditionary learning” school in partnership with Outward
Bound, through funds provided by the DOE and the Gates
Foundation.
Expeditionary learning is a “project- based approach to
education, in which the students take ownership for their
learning and the teacher acts as facilitator. The children
sit at “pie-shaped desks and work cooperatively learning
through themes. There are 3-month long “investigations”
using interdisciplinary education. This type of learning
includes reading and writing across the curriculum, a great
deal of professional development, promotes high levels of
student engagement, and promotes parent involvement.
This year the students studied simple and complex machines
and designed a functioning roller coaster. Additionally,
they studied Ancient Egypt and created everything from a
life-size sarcophagus to postcards home from Egypt.
The children also use NYC as part of their classroom, taking
trips to museums, etc.
They are also invited to attend an Outward Bound adventure
with a crew leader.
The Principal and parent leaders have made themselves
available for questions.
Please contact Emily or Kathryn for their contact
information.
