I recently received an email about the plans to propose a new secondary school in the neighborhood. It will be called the Hurston School of Culture and Letters and it takes its inspiration from Hurston’s academic discipline and cultural courage. It’s described as a “dynamic and rigorous 7-12 academy offering a new vision of academic excellence combining core knowledge, literary rigor and creative expression.” The school will serve youngsters in Bed-Stuy and the surrounding communities. The goal is to provide a unique educational experience for the children of longtime residents as well as the children of families who are new the neighborhood.
The idea for the Hurston School has already been pitched to the folks at the Department of Education and it has been given a green light to go ahead and take part in the fall submission competition. The school is the brainchild of Mr. William Frackelton, and he is currently speaking with some intermediaries in the hopes of procuring additional financial support to supplement the DoE funds. He’ll also be reaching out to commercial developers and other people involved in real estate in order to finding some available space.
At this point, Mr. Frackelton has garnered a good amount of community support, but he is hoping to gain even more involvement from you. If you are parents of a future adolescent, educators with an eye for adolescent education, community advocates or anybody who has a stake in the success of our young people, then you’re invited to take part in the creation of this unique school.
To find out more email Mr. Frackelton at maestroguillo@yahoo.com and join the Google group:
http://groups.google.com/group/TheHurstonSchool
Supporters will be scheduling a planning meeting in the near future so be sure to join the group ASAP to find out the details.
Thanks for the educational plug, Changeling! The first planning team met today and the process is well underway for submission of the Executive Summary on the 13th of October. Anyone interested in taking a look at the proposal as it is developing is welcome to send requests to maestroguillo@yahoo.com.
oh…oh! I’m new to Bed-Stuy due to the fact of gentrification. so far, good education schools are badly needed here! But when I hear the word “long time residents”, those are like code words for trouble youngsters & with public schools the way there are now!?
I don’t see how this so-called school with a special sounding name will be any different from the nabe public schools.