High school to get view of the world
International
Studies program at CSI to begin in the fall and will stress global
awareness
Staten Island Advance - May 9, 2005
Students won't hear high-pitched, military-style bells on the hour
or teachers beseeching classmates in the hallways to remove
headphones and do-rags. They won't exit their school onto busy
streets to stand elbow-to-elbow with their friends in packed public
bus shelters.
Instead, pupils at the College of Staten Island High School for
International Studies will occupy the first floor of a modern
building, with views of college students holding books in their
laps, sitting cross-legged on the grass.
The long-anticipated public school will become a reality in
September, when the 108 students making up the inaugural class
report.
The principal, Aimee Horowitz, has been shaping an academic
framework intended to inspire their awareness about global
interconnection.
"It's a little like being in a private school," said Ms. Horowitz.
"Every teacher knows not only your name but also your learning style
and hobbies."
The School of International Studies is the borough's only
boutique-style school among 157 citywide.
It will be funded primarily by the city Department of Education,
enriched by grants from the Asia Society and will receive $100,000
annually over the next four years from the Gates Foundation.
Ms. Horowitz left a career as an attorney in California 10 years ago
to become a New York City schoolteacher. In 1999, she received a
promotion to assistant principal of social studies at Edward Murrow
High School in Brooklyn. School administrators are honing the focus
of the CSI High School for International Studies with college
professors and the Asia Society -- pioneers in the field of small
schools, who teach how to negotiate the electronically borderless
world.
Next year's entire teaching staff of seven should be hired in the
upcoming month, said the principal.
Among the perks for students will be Wednesday brown-bag lunches
with experts in international policy, access to campus buildings and
the opportunity to meet with professors one-on-one or sit in on CSI
classes. The school design hinges on 120 hours of community service
required for graduation, where students will heighten their
cross-cultural awareness.
PARTICIPATION EXPECTED
But the linchpin of the school's success is participation by
parents, students and other "stake holders," Ms. Horowitz said.
"We have a vision statement and a mission statement, but obviously,
parents and teachers and students are going to have a big part in
the decisions we make," said the principal. She hopes to throw a
family-style barbecue over the summer for students and parents.
Although students' names have been made available, the exact
demographic breakdown of the student body has yet to be revealed,
according to the Education Department.
Still, Ms. Horowitz said, she expects diversity at the school
because students were selected by a random computer shuffle -- with
priority going to Staten Islanders who attended informational
sessions in February.
The Education Department has been criticized for what some called an
under-representation of special education students at the city's
small schools; enrollment figures were not available for the
breakdown at the CSI school.
According to preliminary information compiled by the Asia Society,
student achievement level of the incoming class follows the typical
bell curve, with a quarter performing above grade level, half in the
average range and the rest in need of an academic push.
Despite a requirement for interested eighth-graders to resubmit the
high school applications they had turned in months earlier --
causing some to risk forfeiting seats at elite schools -- 213
students vied for the spots at the School for International Studies.
"Our hope is to build the school as a Staten Island resource and it
will reflect the growing diversity on Staten Island; it will be a
way to get kids of all sorts of economic and linguistic and cultural
backgrounds to learn and grow together," said Michael Levine, the
director of education for the not-for-profit Asia Society.
OTHER MODELS
The Asia society launched the Henry Street School in Manhattan last
year, and another Manhattan school will open along with the CSI
school in September.
Henry Street School students this year sponsored a telecast that
connected 15 city schools with teens in Sri Lanka; raised money in
the wake of the tsunami to build schools in the sea-ravaged country,
and many volunteered for international AIDS organizations.
"The basic idea is that kids today are very interested in the world
around them but they don't typically get knowledge of other regions
and cultures through the traditional curriculum," Levine said.
The Staten Island school is the first Asia Society-sponsored project
to be nestled on a college campus.
"This is an idea that just snowballed," said Francisco Soto, the
dean of humanities and social sciences at the college, who will
serve as a liaison with the high school. "We have so much in place
in terms of infrastructure to offer the students."
Incoming CSI ninth-grader Justin Friedman gave up acceptance at the
elite Brooklyn Technical to apply. He said he expects the experience
will merit the chance he took.
"I wanted to try something that was brand-new," he said. "We get to
study about other cultures and stuff. I'll learn to have a little
more respect for the other cultures. It's probably going to be
really fun."
By
Deborah Young
Reprinted here with permission from the
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