George Washington Educational Campus

40.855819°N 73.926952°W / 40.855819; -73.926952

George Washington High School
George Washington Educational Campus
Address
549 Audubon Avenue

New York City
,
New York
10040
Information
Grades9-12
LanguageEnglish
Color(s)Orange and Black   
MascotTrojan
Team nameTrojans, Lady Trojans

The George Washington Educational Campus is a facility of the New York City Department of Education located at 549 Audubon Avenue at West 193rd Street in the Fort George neighborhood of Washington Heights, Manhattan, New York City, United States. Within the building are located four schools:

  • The first floor is the High School for Media and Communications (M463).
  • The second floor houses The College Academy, formerly the High School for International Business and Finance (M462).
  • The third floor houses the High School for Health Careers and Sciences (M468).
  • The fourth floor houses the High School for Law and Public Service (M467).

The building is located on the site of the former Fort George Amusement Park.[1]: 30  The school opened on February 2, 1917, as an annex of Morris High School. George Washington High School was founded in 1919, and moved into the building in 1925. It was known by that name until 1999, when the building was divided into the four small schools.

George Washington Education Campus has a Works Progress Administration (WPA) mural, The Evolution of Music, painted by Lucienne Bloch in 1938.[2] This mural was painted in a room originally used as a music room and later as a dance studio.

The campus also houses one of only two NJROTC units in New York City, in its basement, led by Commander Michael S Payne (Ret.) and Chief Petty Officer John Sikora (Ret.).[3] New York-Presbyterian Hospital maintains a clinic on the first floor.[4]

History

George Washington High School was relatively prestigious in the decades after its 1925 founding.[5]: 72  Notable alumni included Alan Greenspan, Henry Kissinger, and Murray Jarvik.[6]: 24 [7]: 37 [8]

During the 1960s and 1970s, Washington Heights' Black and Latino population increased as White flight began to occur in the neighborhood.[5]: 99  New York City public schools also faced serious overcrowding problems, while White students began withdrawing and many schools dealt with de facto racial segregation. Although George Washington remained racially mixed through the early 1970s, the school had a tracking system that prepared White students much more effectively for college, and violence frequently broke out among gangs identifying by race.[5]: 100  Today, the student bodies of the four George Washington schools are overwhelmingly Latino, with a minority Black presence, and less than 5% of students identify as White or Asian.[9]

During this period, discontent with academics and school policy lead to a wave of student demonstrations, supported by a group of parents who pushed to set up an information table in the school's lobby in order to answer questions and hear complaints regarding the school.[5]: 102  However, the United Federation of Teachers, which also clashed with students and parents over the 1964 school boycott[10] and the 1968 teachers' strike[11]: 156  – perceived this as an attempt to subvert teachers' authority, leading them to strike after the administration reached a compromise with parents over the table.[12] In 1970, George Washington saw the resignation of three principals and multiple serious incidents of violence amongst students as well as against teachers and security guards;[13] while many safety improvements were made throughout the 1970s, its academic performance continued to decline.[5]: 109 [14][15]

In 1999, the school took its present form as the George Washington Educational Campus composed of four smaller schools.[16] In 2018, High School for Health Careers and Sciences was threatened with closure in 2018 due to poor performance, although the proposal was later withdrawn.[17] As of 2019, this school is the only one of the four with a four-year graduation rate above the citywide average.[9] Part of the schools' academic difficulties is due to their high proportion of English Language Learners (as high as 50% for The College Academy and the High School for Media and Communications), who have lower graduation rates across the city.[18]

Sports
George Washington Educational Campus as seen from The Bronx

In 1988, the George Washington Trojans football team won the 1988 City "B" Division Championship. They defeated Tilden High School in the championship game. On November 23, 2008, the squad defeated Far Rockaway High School (Queens), 20–14, in an overtime finish at the Midwood Athletic Complex in Brooklyn. The victory earned GW the 2008 PSAL Cup Championship, their first football title since 1988. Far Rock beat GW 38–8 in the season opener. It was their only loss of the season. The Trojans won their next nine games, holding their last four opponents to a total of 21 points. That included defeating previously unbeaten South Bronx HS, 24–8, to earn the trip to the championship game.

Baseball coach Steve Mandl won three championships in 27 years. He was suspended by the PSAL for 16 months for "recruiting violations" and was reinstated to his job thereafter; the case prompted questions about how the PSAL handles charges brought without witnesses or evidence. According to The New York Times, "The Mandl case offers another perspective: the possibility that petty, meritless charges can get traction and turn the disciplinary process itself into a form of punishment long before a verdict has been reached."[19]

Alumni

Alumni include:

References
  1. Gottlock, B.; Gottlock, W. (2013). Lost Amusement Parks of New York City: Beyond Coney Island. Lost. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-1-62584-556-6.
  2. Aloff, Mindy (November 10, 1991). "Music and Art". The New Yorker. Retrieved April 1, 2021.
  3. "Youth Programs". New York Council Navy League. Retrieved April 21, 2021.
  4. "Locations for NYP School-Based Health Centers". New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Retrieved April 21, 2021.
  5. Snyder, Robert W. (2015). Crossing Broadway: Washington Heights and the Promise of New York City. Cornell University Press. ISBN 9780801449611.
  6. Greenspan, Alan (2007). The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World. Penguin Press. ISBN 978-1-59420-131-8. OCLC 122973403.
  7. Isaacson, Walter (1992). Kissinger: A Biography. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-671-66323-0.
  8. Weber, Bruce (May 13, 2008). "Murray Jarvik, 84, Whose Research Helped Lead to Nicotine Patch, Dies". The New York Times.
  10. "Boycott Cripples City Schools; Absences 360,000 Above Normal; Negroes and Puerto Ricans Unite; School Boycott Keeps Hundreds of Thousands of City Pupils Away; Picketing is Calm in Racial Protest; 2,600 Marchers Show Up at Buildings - Donovan Is Critical of Leaders". The New York Times. February 4, 1964. Retrieved April 1, 2021.
  11. Katznelson, Ira (1981). City Trenches: Urban Politics and the Patterning of Class in the United states. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780307833402.
  12. Arnold, Martin (March 7, 1970). "Head of George Washington High School Resigns". The New York Times. Retrieved April 1, 2021.
  13. Frase, C. Gerald (December 3, 1970). "Washington High Gets Fourth Principal This Year". The New York Times. Retrieved April 1, 2021.
  14. Stevens, William K. (June 1, 1971). "Washington High: From riot to Hope". The New York Times. Retrieved April 1, 2021.
  15. Verhovek, Sam Howe (December 19, 1989). "Albany Issues List of Schools In Trouble". The New York Times. Retrieved April 1, 2021.
  16. Newcomer, Eric P. (June 25, 2012). "Education Dept. Retracts School Coach's Suspension". The New York Times. Retrieved April 1, 2021.
  17. Krisel, Brendan (March 1, 2018). "City Withdraws Proposal To Close Washington Heights High School". Patch. Retrieved April 2, 2021.
  18. Veiga, Christina (January 14, 2021). "NYC graduation rates tick upwards in 2020". Chalkbeat. Retrieved April 21, 2021.
  19. "Baseball coach Steve Mandl suspended before a hearing is held", New York Times, February 1, 2012
  20. Arenson, Karen W. "Commencements; Belafonte Lauds Diversity Of Baruch College Class", The New York Times, June 2, 2000. Accessed April 16, 2008. "(He said that he had not gotten past the first year at George Washington High School, and that the only college degrees he had were honorary ones.)"
  21. David Leonhardt. "Economist’s Life, Scored With Jazz Theme", The New York Times, September 18, 2007. Accessed April 16, 2008. "He attended George Washington High School a few years behind Henry Kissinger (and a few decades before the baseball stars Rod Carew and Manny Ramirez, a historical oddity that Mr. Greenspan, who still remembers Joe DiMaggio’s 1936 batting average, probably appreciates)."
  22. Amason, Cassidy. "Deterministic And Probabilistic Approaches To Card Shuffling", Georgia College & State University, November 30, 2016. Accessed February 14, 2023. "Diaconis attended George Washington High School in NYC and found himself at home as a member of the magic club.... Regardless of not being in high school, Diaconis’ teachers decided to give him grades for exams he had not taken - and he ended up graduating high school."
  23. Sydney Morning Herald obituaries of 16 May 2008
  24. Faison, Seth. " John Kemeny, 66, Computer Pioneer and Educator", The New York Times, December 27, 1992. Accessed April 16, 2008. ""When he arrived with his family in New York City in 1940, Dr. Kemeny attended George Washington High School. Three years later he graduated at the top of his class."
  25. "GW star drafted by Manny's Tribe". New York Daily News. 5 June 2012. Retrieved February 1, 2017.
  26. "Georgetown Basketball History Project - William Shea"
  27. Fletcher, Tony (2009-10-26). All Hopped Up and Ready to Go: Music from the Streets of New York 1927-77. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 199. ISBN 978-0-393-33483-8.
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