EBC’s
Work in Public Education – Creating Successful Local Institutions
From
the earliest days of EBC, our leaders identified the poor quality of
public schools in their communities as a major concern. Through EBC
efforts to work within the old Board of Education and the local
Community School Boards, we learned that failure in the system was
deeply rooted. Those in power believed that most children from
East Brooklyn and other low-income neighborhoods could not learn. In
addition, the system itself was driven by the interests of those who
fed off it, not by the needs of children. We proceeded on two fronts:
Advocacy and Action.
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Our
Advocacy agenda, which we have advanced since 1990, rests on the
belief that the old school system, especially the local corrupt and
ineffective school boards and districts, had failed and should be
abolished. By 2002, many of the reforms we had advocated for were
enacted. Tenure for principals had been reformed, and local school
boards and the Board of Education itself had been abolished.
Recently EBC has fought with our sister Metro IAF Organizations and
other allies to maintain real Mayoral Control and Accountability, which
has been critical to many of the improvements in the school system over
the last seven years. The most prominent of these improvements
has been the creation of over 350 new small schools, largely in
previously undeserved areas. These changes have given parents and
students in our areas school choice for the first time.
Because
advocacy is rarely enough, we took bold Action to back up our words and
to demonstrate that our children deserved high quality schools.
In 1992, EBC became the first community organization in the city’s
history to sponsor and create public schools.
- EBC
High School for Public Service - Bushwick:
now serves 600 students and is the oldest public high school in
Bushwick. It is highly successful, with a four-year graduation rate of
82 percent, and was ranked 7th out of 200 NYC public schools by
Insideschools.org in helping struggling 9th graders graduate in 4
years. This accomplishment was later corroborated by an NYU study). The
success of the school has demonstrated that young people from
Bushwick are quite capable of success and placed the abject failure of
the larger and longer established Bushwick High School in stark
contrast. Our success paved the way for the school system to dismantle
Bushwick High School and replace it with small high schools.
- Bushwick
Leaders' High School for Academic Excellence:
Proposed and designed by leaders of East Brooklyn Congregations and
teachers from EBC High School – Bushwick, Bushwick Leaders High School
opened in 2003. It serves over 400 students and is housed in the former
headquarters of Community School District 32, a historic building
delivered to the school through the effective advocacy of EBC leaders.
Bushwick Leaders' students have competed in national academic
competitions and upon graduation have been admitted to four-year
colleges and universities.
- In
2008, two new Schools, Frederick Douglas Academy VII and Teachers
Preparatory School, both in Brownsville, decided to join EBC as member
institutions. Before these two excellent small public schools opened,
Brownsville had no public high schools.
- At EBC’s new Spring Creek Nehemiah housing development,
the City has agreed to construct a building that will host two 6-12
schools. EBC leaders participated in the design of the building and
will participate in determining the educational program of these two
new schools.
- The
Bushwick Avenue Campus:
Bushwick Leaders HS for Academic Excellence is located across Bushwick
Avenue from EBC HS for Public Service – Bushwick. East Brooklyn
Congregations has is working to develop shared athletic and auditorium
facilities for these two schools.
Our
work is not complete. We continue to successfully press the school
system and city to deliver high quality schools to our neighborhoods.
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