Unity High School Update
Greetings Unity Families,
I hope that you are enjoying a delightful break! I am writing to you with some very exciting news regarding our high school. Given that we are on break this week and there is no communication folder being disseminated until Monday, I thought that it would be best to share the information with you via email in order that you may be fully aware with recent developments regarding our high school plans.
This past Friday, the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) released information regarding its proposal to temporarily co-locate grades nine and ten of Unity in building K907, located in Brownsville at 1150 East New York Avenue, beginning in the 2016-2017 school year. Under the plan, our high school will be temporarily located in building K907 for two years. The building is approximately 2.4 miles from our permanent, middle-school home at 432 Monroe Street. Building K907 currently houses one other small high school of approximately 200 students along with a community-based organization and the office of the Executive Superintendent of Equity and Access. At the end of the two years, Unity will move to its permanent site at 32 Lexington Avenue in the neighborhood of Clinton Hill (Brooklyn), which is approximately one mile from our middle school. The building at 32 Lexington Avenue is now being designed – it will be a new, state-of-the-art, private building to ourselves and permanently serve our high school grades in perpetuity!
Unity’s proposed, temporary co-location will be voted on by the NYCDOE’s Panel for Education Policy on April 20th. Prior to the vote, there is also a Joint Public Hearing on the evening of April 4th. Details on both events are included in the attached letter from the NYCDOE.
Obviously, we are thrilled to forge ahead with our high school plans and continue in our journey together. And we are also excited to have a temporary home for our high school as we develop our permanent home in the coming two years. It is worth noting that the proposed high school plan will have no impact on our middle school – we are proud to call 432 Monroe Street our permanent, middle-school home!
We look forward to working with you in the coming months to plan and create a temporary home and permanent home that empowers our students as scholars and citizens so they may lead fulfilling academic, personal and professional lives.
We also look forward to seeing all families on Wednesday afternoon or Thursday evening of next week for conferences!
In unity,
JB