P.S. 8 Joins Hunter, Packer,
Other Top-Notch Schools
By Mary Frost
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
BROOKLYN HEIGHTS – In spite of receiving a “failing” grade in the city’s controversial School Progress Reports (better known as school report cards), Brooklyn Heights’ P.S. 8 was honored with a Blackboard Award at an award ceremony on Oct. 16 at Hunter College.
P.S. 8 joined 31 outstanding public, private, charter and religious city schools in receiving the award.
P.S. 8 was named “Brooklyn’s Rising Star Public Elementary School.” Other Blackboard awardees included Packer Collegiate Institute (Brooklyn Heights), Hannah Senesh (Carroll Gardens), M.S. 447 (Boerum Hill), P.S. 321 (Park Slope), the United Nations International School and Hunter College High School. The Blackboard Awards, sponsored by Manhattan Media, are given to schools judged to be places where “a vibrant, caring and challenging learning community thrives.”
Pulitzer Prize-winning author and former Stuyvesant English teacher Frank McCourt, who served as master of ceremonies, presented the award to P.S. 8’s Principal Seth Phillips. McCourt recounted P.S. 8’s “Cinderella Story” turnaround from 2003 when it was a low-performing school spurned by its neighborhood, to a hugely popular school with above-average test results.
The turnaround was made possible with the sweat equity of parents and community groups like the Brooklyn Heights Association, the commitment of then-Superintendent Carmen Fariña, who appointed Principal Phillips and others in a sweeping overhaul, and the dedication of teachers, staff and volunteers.
The award was particularly poignant to Principal Phillips, in light of the firestorm of controversy that erupted earlier this year when P.S. 8 was one of several well-regarded schools receiving the “F” designation.
“It’s nice that people are recognizing the changes we’ve made,” Principal Phillips told the Eagle Tuesday. “But in a lot of ways, it’s a responsibility. Being named a ‘Rising Star’ means we’re not there yet. We’ve come a long way, and we’re still working on being in that place. Given all the turmoil we’ve been through, it’s really a nice award.
“Look at the schools we’ve been included with – it’s overwhelming. We’re working hard to be everything everyone thinks we are,” he said. “It’s been a rough beginning of a year. But being nominated for an award by the New York Post, then this award – it does say we’re doing the right thing.”
Principal Phillips was nominated for a Post Liberty Medal in September by PTA Co-president Joanne Singleton, who called him “the calm, steady and humble force leading P.S. 8’s renaissance.”
Distinction Between P.S. 8
Achievement, School Report Card
This recognition of how far P.S. 8 has come over the last five years bolsters the notion that the city’s Progress Reports do not always correspond with a school’s actual level of accomplishment.
Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum called the DOE’s methodology “so flawed it leads the mayor and chancellor to tout a school as a model one year, only to call it failing the next.”
In August, as the DOE announced that the city would build an annex to the overcrowded main building at 37 Hicks St., Schools Chancellor Klein told a crowd gathered there, “You’ve built a very successful school here.”
In September, however, DOE said in a statement, “P.S. 8’s results … show that the school performed near the bottom of all schools citywide, particularly in the amount of progress made by its students over the course of the year.”
On award night in October, Fatima Shama, senior education policy advisor for Mayor Michael Bloomberg, delivered a proclamation that stated in part “Our Administration’s public school reform efforts have yielded impressive progress we’re grateful that Manhattan Media is shining a spotlight on the schools that are leading the way.”
For full profiles on all the Blackboard Award winning schools, visit http://ourtownny.com/ or http://ourtownny.com/
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© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2008
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