City Wants Frank McCourt Writing School on West Side

Schools Chancellor Joel Klein has thrown his support behind opening a specialized writing high school on the Upper West Side named after Pulitzer-Prize-winning author and teacher Frank McCourt. The selective public school would open in the fall of 2010 to ninth graders and be located at the Louis D. Brandeis High School campus on 84th Street, between Amsterdam and Columbus.

“Frank McCourt was a remarkable writer, but I believe he achieved his greatest impact as a New York City public school teacher for 29 years,” Klein said. “As we gather tonight to celebrate his memory, I’m pleased to announce our intention to honor his legacy through creation of a new public school that will nurture the academic and creative talents of New York City students for generations to come.”

McCourt taught English for 15 years at Stuyvesant High School and some of the people who wanted his name on a school were former students. Friends and allies, including many Upper West Siders, began lobbying to name a school in his honor even before he died in July, and McCourt learned a school might bear his name before he passed away.

In a recent New York magazine piece, his former student Ted Allon recalled talking to McCourt about the school when the author was near his deathbed: “I said, ‘It’s looking very good, Frank, and there’s a lot of good will about it.’ He said, ‘What an honor. What a great thing that would be.’”

The Brandeis school has struggled in recent years, and graduates less than one-third of its students, according to  New York magazine. The city has already opened three specialized high schools there, Global Learning Collaborative; the Urban Assembly School for Green Careers; and Innovation Diploma Plus – a “transfer school” to help older students graduate from high school.

“Today’s announcement is great news for the Upper West Side and for all of the students at the Brandeis campus,” Congressman Jerry Nadler said in a statement.

The city is planning to hold a public forum and produce an impact statement about it before the Panel for Educational Policy votes on the idea. The school would be open to students from all over the city. (photo by David Shankbone).