Arts & Letters Expansion Approved for P.S. 20
At last night’s meeting of the Community Education Council, the expansion of the Urban Academy of Arts & Letters, which already serves students in sixth through eighth grades in an existing space within P.S. 20, was approved. Kindergarten and First Grade classes will begin next Fall, with a grade to be added every year after…
At last night’s meeting of the Community Education Council, the expansion of the Urban Academy of Arts & Letters, which already serves students in sixth through eighth grades in an existing space within P.S. 20, was approved. Kindergarten and First Grade classes will begin next Fall, with a grade to be added every year after that; the gifted charter school would serve K through 8 by the 2015-2016 school year. We don’t have a lot details at this point, but we gather there was some drama at the meeting. According to a tipster, in response to all the pushback from P.S. 20 parents, a rep from District 15 showed up to offer space for the new Arts & Letters school in their new building at 4th Avenue and Butler Street. Evidently this helped turn the tide back towards locating the new Arts & Letters elementary school at P.S. 20, and the petition to expand ended up being approved. If anyone has more details, please email or just add them to the comments section and we will update the post.
@Rob – ‘Arts and Letters’ is an old phrase, shorthand for an academic education. It draws a distinction between pure academics and more practical instruction, like metal shop.
No exact references come to mind, but it’s prior to formal academic credentials. Someone might ask, ‘And with whom is your son taking his arts and letters?’
My general understanding is that ‘letters’ refers to literature (and history/politics), and ‘arts’ refers to rhetoric (and maybe philosophy).
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Wait, isn’t the CEC (Community Education Council) a district-specific body? There’s one for each district, and the CEC doesn’t make the expansion call.
http://schools.nyc.gov/Offices/CEC/default.htm
I thought last night’s vote meeting was the PEP (Panel for Education Policy). They’re the city-wide body padded with Bloomberg appointees.
http://schools.nyc.gov/AboutUs/leadership/PEP/publicnotice/2010-2011/Dec2010PEP.htm
Arts and Letters will be District 13 only, and it’s a straightforward lottery, assuming more people want in than they have seats. (Which is a pretty good assumption.) It’s not a charter school, or a G&T school.
Here’s how it worked for my kid. In order for you to be considered you need to rank the school as your first or second choice (how many times have heard that), then your kid does is called in for a group interview where the group and A&L teachers work on a project and talk about it. I also had to submit a graded writing sample and a teacher recommendation is sealed envelopes.
Here’s how it worked for my kid. In order for you to be considered you need to rank the school as your first or second choice (how many times have heard that), then your kid does is called in for a group interview where the group and A&L teachers work on a project and talk about it. I also had to submit a graded writing sample and a teacher recommendation is sealed envelopes.
my understanding is that BNS admissions is explicitly stated to be a lottery + diversity. i don’t know how that works in practice (weighted lottery? lottery for some spots, with the rest “hand picked”?) but of course it does create wiggle room.
District 13 and 15 middle school choice both work as follows: parents receive an application with schools on it. You rank them and return it to elementary school guidance counselor. A&L and some of the other selective schools interview students and/or may ask to see report cards and test scores. The schools rank the students they like, and the DOE combines that with the family preferences and comes up with the school placement. It’s not really a lottery. Aside from A&L, the District 13 choices are pretty weak, whereas Dist. 15 has several high-performing–if overcrowded–middle schools, i.e. 51, 447, New Voices, Brooklyn Prospect Charter.
I think that for the A&L elementary school, it will be a stright lottery. Though BNS runs a lottery but the principal also seems to be able to bring in those children she wants after the lottery: I know a few kids who’ve gotten in that way.
Yet another correction (way to go on the fact-checking, Brownstoner): it is the Urban Assembly Academy of Arts and Letters. I don’t have a child in the school, but if you check their website (http://www.uaaal.org), it says that students apply for the middle school through the regular DOE lottery, by ranking it as one of their choices. Charter schools have their own separate application processes. Can’t say I know how the funding works, but maybe someone else can fill us in….
somewhat OT, but i think the closure of the PH middle school will be a good thing. it lends more force to the argument for new and/or better d13 middle schools, and i think it will make ps 9 (with which it currently shares a building) a more attractive option to local parents.