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August 27, 2009
Sunset Park Finally Getting Its Own High School
When the school year begins on September 9th, Sunset Parkers will be cheering. Why? Because after more than three decades, they'll finally have a high school to call their own. As the Daily News pointed out in an article last February, discussions about the school began four decades ago but were derailed by fiscal problems of the 1970s. Construction on the 1,500-seat school, which will be focused on three tracks--performing and visual arts; health and human services, and business and entrepreneurship--finally began in 2006. GMAP
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Comments
quote:
Sunset Parkers will be cheering.
probably no one who lives within a 5 block radius of it. 3pm outside any school in nyc is liking being locked in a cage with a pack of wild animals. it's scary! well, not really scary, but i think it definitely scares some people hahah.
*rob*
Posted by: PitbullNYC at August 27, 2009 11:07 AM
I am super excited about this! The school looks great.
Posted by: guikazoid at August 27, 2009 11:07 AM
quote:
three tracks--performing and visual arts; health and human services, and business and entrepreneurship
also i have issues with how nyc schools are set up claiming to specialize in certain areas. sorry but a low-rent painting class where you use q-tips from home and tempera poster paint does not a visual arts school make. and "entrepreneurship" a tripe LOL on that one.
*rob*
Posted by: PitbullNYC at August 27, 2009 11:08 AM
That's a great looking building.
Posted by: tybur6 at August 27, 2009 11:20 AM
if by great looking you mean as crappy looking as the "paintings" that will be done by those "students" in the "visual arts track", then yeah
*rob*
Posted by: PitbullNYC at August 27, 2009 11:22 AM
It's great to see city dollars being spent to build new high schools like this. The three areas they are focusing on should make this a very popular school as health and human services is a booming sector of our economy as is entrepreneurship. If they do a good job with the visual and performing arts sector, this school will be sure to become a magnet like the schools in Manhattan which excel in this area.
Posted by: 11217 at August 27, 2009 11:24 AM
except that it won't 11217. the students will be forced to study for regants or whatever it's called, take remedial math classes, some will be put in "honors" classes that in all honestly are just 8th grade level to begin with, apathetic teachers who are nothing more than paid baby sitters, shady administration, and have a wonderful 4 year graduation rate of less than 30%.
*rob*
Posted by: PitbullNYC at August 27, 2009 11:28 AM
Jaysus Rob... did you get a splinter from your dildo this morning?!!
Posted by: tybur6 at August 27, 2009 11:29 AM
no. and i dont blame the kids really. it's just that too many stupid people breed. it's disgusting. it's absolutely disgusting that people in nyc get benefits out the a$$ and paid to breed even more stupid people who breed. barf.
*rob*
Posted by: PitbullNYC at August 27, 2009 11:31 AM
This is unabashed good news it seems. Now instead of Sunset Park kids having to foray into Bensonhurst or Sheepshead Bay and immediately feeling like fish out of water, they can go nearby their own home.
Someday a Hispanic immigrant will pen a memoir like Angela's Ashes, about the long struggle to assimilate in New york if you're Hispanic. Will we white people be described as sympathetic or as assholes? I bet the author will come from this new school.
The right to attend a local public school to me is one of the basic rights of free education.
Posted by: infinitejester at August 27, 2009 11:35 AM
Rob, your comments today on this thread are really uncalled for and uninformed.
I'd quit while you are behind.
Posted by: 11217 at August 27, 2009 11:38 AM
uninformed? i dont think so.
uncalled for? it's called an opinion.
*rob*
Posted by: PitbullNYC at August 27, 2009 11:43 AM
Wait a minute... What about that movie "Sunset Park"? What high school did those kids go to, if there wasn't one in Sunset Park?
Posted by: dirtyrotten at August 27, 2009 11:56 AM
Rob,
You seem to be so extreme! Are you saying the school is not good for the area?
Posted by: seahawk at August 27, 2009 11:58 AM
Looks like somebody woke up on the cranky side of the couch this morning.
Posted by: DitmasSnark at August 27, 2009 12:20 PM
The negative comments about NYC HS students are totally off the mark. After my kid graduated from a public NYC high school (and subsequently was accepted to arguably one of a the world's best colleges with the highest aceademic and competitive standards), I have continued volunteering with kids in NYC high schools, both public and private.
I have to say I am constantly amazed at the achievements of our public school high school kids. These kids are bright, motivated and creative. I haven't observed much of a performance gap between the public and private school kids either.
Granted, I'm volunteering in a program which is kind of self selective, but I've been around a lot of NY teens. If you treat ANY kids with respect - like providing a cheerful new building like the Sunset Park school - they usually respond by being respectful themselves.
The new building in Sunset Park is beautiful and its a MUCH needed new service in this end of Brooklyn. But you could easily triple the number of seats and still not serve Brooklyn's current educational needs.
We should hold developer's feet to the fire, and demand MORE schools and more for older kids over all. Remember, those cute little stroller babies grow up fast.
Posted by: Stonergut at August 27, 2009 12:43 PM
I think Rob's bean bag sprung a leak.
Posted by: East New York at August 27, 2009 12:43 PM
> the achievements of our public school high school kids.
Amen. A friend of mine lives in Prospect Heights. His downstairs neighbors sent their kid to public schools, and she got accepted to Yale. Not bad for a "wild animal."
Posted by: DitmasSnark at August 27, 2009 12:50 PM
Couldn't agree more, Stonergut. I'm a product of NYC public schools, as are my brother and sister - all three well-employed, successful professionals. My son is also a NYC public school grad and last year received his degree from a well-known eastern university. My wife is a NYC public school teacher, as was my Mom. The fact is that majority of NYC teachers and students do an amazing job, regardless of the ignorant comments of a few poorly informed detractors.
Posted by: East New York at August 27, 2009 12:52 PM
Please excuse Rob, he had some bad HS experiences, colored folks (including folks on welfare) were always ahead of him in all aspects and he even got beat down by some boys due to uncontrollable winking aimed at girls...
If only segregation was still alive and kicking, Rob would have ended up both wealthy and happy...
Posted by: fobsdelhi at August 27, 2009 12:59 PM
building will also house the BKLYN Prospect charter school until they settle into their permanent home
Posted by: BK realestate veteran at August 27, 2009 1:01 PM
Very well said, Stonergut and ENY.
I'm sure the people who actually matter in this story (the kids, teachers and parents) are thrilled with this news.
They probably don't much care that a grown man who worships Hanna Montana doesn't approve.
Posted by: 11217 at August 27, 2009 1:02 PM
It's time to get live!
It's time to represent!
Sunset Park what time is it!
***Bid half off peak comps***
Posted by: Brownstones Half Off at August 27, 2009 1:02 PM
parents are a more important factor than schools in explaining student achievement. all of you who are proud and successful products of NYC public schools (I am too, by the way) most likely have your family to thank. although Rob is expressing his opinions in a rather unproductive way, he is correct about one thing, and none of us liberals wants to say it: most of our high schools are serving kids who are not prepared for high school work, and whose social skills are vastly underdeveloped. these schools are the ones you don't send your kids to, and if they are the schools you graduated from, the surrounding neighborhood has changed and so have the schools. think Lafayette HS - formerly a great school, now a violent mess. Or Sheepshead Bay or FDR. Or John Jay, on and on and on.
Sunset Park HS is good for families who formerly had to send their kids far away for school. Whether or not it will be a good school depends on the principal and teachers it employs, and more importantly, on the families who decide to send their kids there.
Posted by: brooklyn guy at August 27, 2009 1:03 PM
quote:
You seem to be so extreme! Are you saying the school is not good for the area?
no what im saying is the area is not good for the area. people will move in and buy a 3/4 of a million dollar house (because that is all they can afford) and claim to want to live in a diverse area, but then not send their kids to this school. it's just lame, the whole dynamic of housing prices and schools and parents and kids and everything. it's all LAME
*rob*
Posted by: PitbullNYC at August 27, 2009 1:04 PM
quote:
. These kids are bright, motivated and creative.
whatever. maybe one or two of them. but the majority are borderline retarded, violent, and dull.
*rob*
Posted by: PitbullNYC at August 27, 2009 1:06 PM
quote:
Please excuse Rob, he had some bad HS experiences, colored folks (including folks on welfare) were always ahead of him in all aspects and he even got beat down by some boys due to uncontrollable winking aimed at girls...
If only segregation was still alive and kicking, Rob would have ended up both wealthy and happy...
are you F'ing KIDDING me with that remark? what the HELL does race have to do with anything i said. jeez. the white kids in nyc, are in my mind, by far even dumber and dull than anyone else! so your remark is ignorant.
*rob*
Posted by: PitbullNYC at August 27, 2009 1:08 PM
I think it's a parent's duty to send their kids to the public school nearest where they live. How the fuck can you grow up in a 'hood and not go to school with any of the kids you meet in the street playing?
Posted by: infinitejester at August 27, 2009 1:57 PM
Rob, one can safely assume that over 80% of NYC HS students on welfare are not white. If someone had made a comment such as the one below about HS's in Salt Lake City with an 80+% Mormon population, who the f*** do you think they are talking about.
"and i dont blame the kids really. it's just that too many stupid people breed. it's disgusting. it's absolutely disgusting that people in nyc get benefits out the a$$ and paid to breed even more stupid people who breed. barf."
Maybe you should take a batter look at yourself Rob...
Posted by: fobsdelhi at August 27, 2009 1:58 PM
"...but the majority are borderline retarded, violent, and dull."
ANd as a retarded violent dullard, rob should know...
Posted by: bkre at August 27, 2009 2:01 PM
"Rob, one can safely assume that over 80% of NYC HS students on welfare are not white."
Whoaaaa! Can you break out some numbers to back that up? I'm not going to agree or disagree with your statement, but I have a serious problem with "one can safely assume".
Posted by: InsertSnappyNameHere at August 27, 2009 2:12 PM
Well Rob, according to the comments here you wink at girls, you're violent and you're racist. They've got you down to a tee right? ;-)
Posted by: dittoburg at August 27, 2009 2:14 PM
And how the hell did race get dragged into this anyway?
Posted by: InsertSnappyNameHere at August 27, 2009 2:20 PM
Just some facts on the NYC Public School System:
About 1.1 million students attend New York City public schools. About 40 percent of students in the city's public school system live in households where a language other than English is spoken, and one-third of all New Yorkers were born in another country. The city's Department of Education translates report cards, registration forms, system-wide alerts, and documents on health and policy initiatives for parents into Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Japanese, Urdu, Persian, Hindi, Russian, Bengali, Haitian Creole, Korean, and Arabic.
The racial makeup of public school students is 36.7 percent Hispanic, 34.7 percent black, 14.3 percent Asian, and 14.2 percent white.
The specialized high schools tend to be disproportionately white and Asian. New York's Specialized High School Institute is an after-school program for students in late middle school.[7] It was designed to enlarge the pool of black and Hispanic candidates eligible for admission to the selective schools by giving them extra lessons and teaching test-taking skills.[8] Unlike other urban school districts (such as San Francisco Unified School District), New York does not use racial preferences (affirmative action) in public school admissions.
Posted by: 11217 at August 27, 2009 2:23 PM
Wait, Rob haven't you written on this site that you owe back taxes and haven't paid off your student loans at all? It's galling that you always say things like "it's disgusting that people in nyc get benefits out the a$$". Have you taken a look at yourself?
Since you are so opinionated, seem to rail against everyone and everything in every thread on this site, please enlighten us on your thoughts about gov't sponsored deadbeats.
Posted by: squaredrive at August 27, 2009 2:29 PM
Snappy, any contentious discussion on here has a super-gravitational pull for race.
seeing as were here though, one thing I'm interested in is the annual discussion in the media of the black-white achievement gap in schools. Seeing as asians perform and score better than whites in HS tests, and seeing as (if 11217's figs are correct) asians make up about the same portion of NYC HS students as whites, why isn't it a discussion about the black-asian gap? In other words, how does it make sense to compare one's performance to the "second best" group instead of the highest?
Posted by: dittoburg at August 27, 2009 2:32 PM
yeah but my students loans that im not paying back educated me and kept from a life of crime. welfare benefits keep people in a vicious cycle of poverty, crime, and over breeding. perhaps i am just as much of a deadbeat, but such isnt the case really.
and before you bring up race again 1.) im white and 2.) i grew up in the projects (in nj tho where at least public school education is top notch, even in the ghetto)
*rob*
Posted by: PitbullNYC at August 27, 2009 2:41 PM
"yeah but my students loans that im not paying back educated me"
That's debatable.
Posted by: 11217 at August 27, 2009 2:44 PM
Sometimes I just wish we would stop using comparisons as the filter through which we see everything in life and just look at the best ways to support those who need it the most. Without being judgmental. But comparisons seems to create rankings and biases and we do it with everything in this country. That said, rob, fdi you fall on a tack or something? You never went to a NYC public school and you know nothing about them really.
This new school will be a plus for Sunset Park. Good for them!
Posted by: bxgrl at August 27, 2009 2:45 PM
rob- sorry but if the education was so top notch in Jersey, how come you didn't know enough about current events or American history to know who Ted Kennedy was?
Welfare keeps most people together body and soul- and yes. Not paying your loans back does make you a deadbeat.If your loans kept you from a life of crime (although i would have thought good morals would do that), then pay back your loans- otherwise you are committing a crime.
Posted by: bxgrl at August 27, 2009 2:48 PM
so fine im a criminal. maybe ill apply to this school. id fit right in!
*rob*
Posted by: PitbullNYC at August 27, 2009 2:53 PM
"perhaps i am just as much of a deadbeat, but such isnt the case really."
No perhaps about it. You've bragged previously about how you haven't paid off your student loans. You're definitely a deadbeat.
Posted by: East New York at August 27, 2009 2:59 PM
"and he even got beat down by some boys due to uncontrollable winking aimed at girls.."
No, Rob got beat down by the same boys he was winking at.
That's right ENY. Rob is a classic example of white privilege in action.
Posted by: denton at August 27, 2009 3:10 PM
"That's right ENY. Rob is a classic example of white privilege in action."
White, black, green, any color you want. It's not about race (in my opinion). He's just an irresponsible, bitter, complainer.
Posted by: East New York at August 27, 2009 3:13 PM
I don't think so, rob- the kids who are going to this school are trying to makes something out of their lives and better themselves.
Posted by: bxgrl at August 27, 2009 3:14 PM
Hmmm - could we talk about the building for a minute? Maybe it's the picture (I haven't seen the actual building) - but it doesn't look so great to me - more like another boring box and more street wall. Was it an SCA building or did somebody else do it?
Posted by: Brooklyn Red at August 27, 2009 3:25 PM
"White, black, green, any color you want. It's not about race (in my opinion). He's just an irresponsible, bitter, complainer."
As usual ENY, you are spot on.
Posted by: 11217 at August 27, 2009 3:32 PM
The specialized high schools, especially the big 3--Stuyvesant, Brooklyn Tech, Bronx Science--are majority Asian.
Posted by: rf at August 27, 2009 3:34 PM
Building looks nice to me. Classic black brick. Nice punch of yellow around the large windows. Beats the crap out of most of new construction I see.
Posted by: DitmasSnark at August 27, 2009 3:36 PM
"and more street wall."
What exactly were you expecting on the ground floor of a school...a head shop and babeland...?
Posted by: 11217 at August 27, 2009 3:40 PM
rf - the asian privilege?
Posted by: dittoburg at August 27, 2009 3:44 PM
My sister-in-law just finished tutoring summer school for math Regents & got really, seriously depressed. She said the highest marks were in the mid-40s but they put the grades on a curve so the kids could be thought to have passed their Regents. That kind of lowered expectation on the part of the educational system is what's destroying all schooling in this country.
Posted by: Arkady at August 27, 2009 3:44 PM
Don't forget the methadone clinic.
Posted by: DitmasSnark at August 27, 2009 3:45 PM
What? No Chuck E. Cheeze?
Posted by: bxgrl at August 27, 2009 4:09 PM
anybody who thinks NYC public schools are no good should try to get an education from rural Va schools. NYC is practically Exeter as far as I'm concerned.
I think its ridiculous to oppose spending and funding for public schools. better educated kids = good for everyone.
Posted by: young archi at August 27, 2009 4:10 PM
The specialized high schools use only one factor for admissions--the test. It's not an easy test by any means. There's a sample in this booklet:
http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/D6C3C010-DD6B-4B04-BFFB-3A9C240F27C9/0/SHSAT_Hndbk_0809_toDOE.pdf
The first sample test starts on page 26.
Posted by: rf at August 27, 2009 4:20 PM
Rob is not happy that the taxes he's not paying are going to others and on schools.
Posted by: dittoburg at August 27, 2009 4:25 PM
Love that, Ditto.
But I think you could end the sentence after the 4th word actually.
Posted by: 11217 at August 27, 2009 4:36 PM
to excel in public school is not some big race privilege, it's about desire to success. public school in this country aint that hard so one doesn't have to be a genius to do well. It's all about desire / effort. There's a sizeable immigrant population in this area and I'm pretty sure the immigrant kids want to succeed in school. To build a nice school in a hood with a huge demand for the school, I say that's $$$ well spent.
Posted by: more4less at August 27, 2009 4:37 PM
"Building looks nice to me. Classic black brick. Nice punch of yellow around the large windows. Beats the crap out of most of new construction I see." Thanks, DitmasSnark - although that doesn't take much on 4th Ave.
"What exactly were you expecting on the ground floor of a school...a head shop and babeland...?"
Huh??? so those are the options to streetwall?
Posted by: Brooklyn Red at August 27, 2009 4:39 PM
"most of our high schools are serving kids who are not prepared for high school work, and whose social skills are vastly underdeveloped. these schools are the ones you don't send your kids to, and if they are the schools you graduated from, the surrounding neighborhood has changed and so have the schools. think Lafayette HS - formerly a great school, now a violent mess. Or Sheepshead Bay or FDR. Or John Jay, on and on and on.
Sunset Park HS is good for families who formerly had to send their kids far away for school. Whether or not it will be a good school depends on the principal and teachers it employs, and more importantly, on the families who decide to send their kids there. "
After nine years of teaching at one of Brooklyn's best high schools (one which is now in decline), I couldn't have said it better than Brooklynguy.
Rob is correct in one thing: no matter what specialized track they're on, ALL students must take the Regents exam, and Regents-related classes take up about 80% of the school day if not more.
"If you treat ANY kids with respect - like providing a cheerful new building like the Sunset Park school - they usually respond by being respectful themselves."
Key word - USUALLY.
Posted by: sixyearsandcounting at August 27, 2009 4:40 PM
i live very close to a high school that doesn't appear to serve any neighborhood kids. all the kids come off the subway it seems and all are black. to date, have seen nothing but orderly and happy kids and there's certainly been no crime, or actually, anything bad that has occurred.
i believe that we should have more faith in NYC kids.
Posted by: wine lover at August 27, 2009 6:25 PM
This new school in Sunset Park has the possibility of providing a vibrant and diverse NYC neighborhood with its first public high school of any sort. For decades all their children had to travel - leading to incredible overcrowding of John Jay to the North, Fort Hamilton to the South and probably New Utrecht to the Southeast.
The building itself is kind of drab. (I pass it nearly every day)and the bright yellow windows are bizarre and contribute nothing. It is an SCA building - don't know who the architect is. From personal experience - if the community works with the SCA you can get them to listen and create a building with some character. (Take a look at the addition they just completed at High School of Telecommunications at 4th Avenue and 67th/Senator St) My fear is that Sunset Park does not have enough of an organized community to fight for anything better than the drab gray box with bright yellow windows that they got.
That being said, we're delighted that they got it done and it will be ready to open in September.
Posted by: rickintheridge at August 27, 2009 6:29 PM
Oh and to comment on the first posting about the disaster of 3pm release time, this is located in an area where there are very very few residents. Across the street is Greenwood Cemetery (their residents are not disturbed by kids)Its on 4th Avenue a very busy corridor with zooming trucks and some local deliveries to the stores. Down the block are some industrial buildings and at the end of the block is a cute little park. Then you're at 3rd Avenue - Bush Terminal all industrial and no residents. So - to Rob - don't worry!
Posted by: rickintheridge at August 27, 2009 6:33 PM
If the children of the above posters attended such elite schools, why not name them? Because they are not so elite after all! No one hesitates to brag that they went to Harvard, Yale, or any other truly elite school.
Posted by: Big Jugs at August 27, 2009 6:53 PM
"i live very close to a high school that doesn't appear to serve any neighborhood kids. all the kids come off the subway it seems and all are black. to date, have seen nothing but orderly and happy kids and there's certainly been no crime, or actually, anything bad that has occurred.
i believe that we should have more faith in NYC kids."
Yes, in W'burg there's nothing wrong. EVER. Wine lover, name one thing bad in your area and you'll actually have some credibility on here.
Posted by: sixyearsandcounting at August 27, 2009 7:09 PM
Bite Jugs, my kid is at MIT.
Posted by: Stonergut at August 27, 2009 7:20 PM
Oops. Big Jugs. Sheeish.
Posted by: Stonergut at August 27, 2009 7:21 PM
To bad that your kids wont be safe in that school as it is being operated non union workers.CALL 311 AND ASK THE MAYOR TO MANDATE THAT LOCAL 94 OPERATE THAT BUILDING IT IS THE ONLY SCHOOL IN THE CITY WITH OUT LOCAL 94 MEMBERS
Posted by: geodir1968 at September 9, 2009 11:22 PM
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