Brand New Uncommon High School Building to Open in 2010

From an abandoned lot in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, across the street from a run-down park and behind the tracks of the Long Island Railroad, will soon rise a state-of-the-art high school building, complete with four floors of brand new classrooms, science labs, art studios, a library, a technology center, a thousand-seat "cafetorium," several full-size gymnasiums, and a rooftop playfield. When students from Williamsburg Collegiate, Kings Collegiate, Excellence Charter School, and Leadership Prep graduate from eighth grade, they will take the subway an extra stop or two, or walk a few more blocks, to go to school at Uncommon Schools’ first New York City high school, slated to open in 2010.

Earlier this fall, the Robin Hood Foundation (RHF) acquired the 48,000 square foot site in Crown Heights, located at 1485 Pacific Street (between Brooklyn and Kingston), for Uncommon Schools and Achievement First (AF). With the help of The Georgetown Company, Robert A.M. Stern Architects, and Gensler, the space will be transformed in the next two years. Uncommon Schools and AF will each be allotted two separate floors for classrooms and two full-size gyms, while other common areas – the cafetorium, the field, and the library – are set to be shared by both schools. At full capacity, the building will seat 800 students from each of the two organizations, or 1,600 students in total.

Susan Sack, the director of real estate at Robin Hood, who is overseeing the project, says of the location, “We couldn’t have asked for a better bull’s-eye. The minute I got the phone call from the broker, I pulled up an aerial photo of the site and it was right there, in the middle of all of the lower and middle schools. It was perfect."

Recognizing the strengths of Uncommon Schools, KIPP, and Achievement First, the Robin Hood Foundation raised money for the site and secured a matching funding committment from the New York City Department of Education. (The foundation is working on developing another site in the Bronx to house the rising middle schoolers from KIPP.)

Shortly after the benefit, the Georgetown Group, headed by Marshall Rose, signed onto the project as pro bono developer to assist RHF with the undertaking. Rose is joined on this project by partners Adam Flatto and son-in-law Joe Rose. Marshall Rose has been an important and consistent civic leader in New York City, previously helping to manage the restoration of Bryant Park and the New York Public Library. This past November, RHF honored the Georgetown Group at its annual "Heroes breakfast," which acknowledges individuals or corporations committed to eradicating poverty in the city.

Robert A.M. Stern, the design architect, previously worked with Uncommon Schools and RHF to design the Excellence Charter School in Brooklyn, which opened in its current location in 2006. For that project, Stern restored and remodeled what he called a “long abandoned and fire-challenged” building from 1872, and for his work, won the prestigious Excellence in Historic Preservation Award from the Preservation League of New York State. Reached at his office at Yale University where he is Dean of the School of Architecture, he recalled that it was “a very interesting challenge to give new life to an old building and to add onto it in a sympathetic way.” The high school project is quite different, and though it is relatively early on in the design and construction process, he and his staff are drafting “plan after plan” to find a balance “between appetites and budgets.”

The biggest challenge Stern sees facing the project is the issue of two schools sharing the same physical space. “The site is big enough to hold them both, but we are tussling with how to maintain the identity and individual morale of each of the two schools and working out how facilities will be shared.” Though nothing has been finalized, the schools will most likely share a

cafeteria, a gym, and music rooms.  

Sack points out that the project involves like-minded schools finding a way to share premises while retaining some autonomy and individuality.

Graham Wyatt, a partner at Stern’s firm, and Augusta Barone, an associate partner, will be working on the project. Wyatt echoes Stern’s sentiment: “The trick is to find a way that the two schools can benefit from being together in the same building, but still have their own personality. I find that particularly exciting about the project.”

— By Sophie Brickman

“Ok everyone, now go straight from table position into ‘downward facing dog.’ Push away from your hands towards your feet. It’s a little difficult, but you’re going to feel a stronger stretch.”

Jessica Goldberg, a fifth-grade Reading teacher at the newly opened Kings Collegiate Charter School (Kings), untwists herself from the yoga position she’s modeling (technically adho mukha svanasana, a pose meant to energize the body, calm the brain, and improve digestion, among other things) to reposition the sock-clad feet of one fifth grader. Goldberg has done her best to transform the public school classroom into a yoga studio for this Enrichment period: all nine students have mats, many wear breathable yoga pants, and Goldberg has slipped a CD into the boombox which now emits the plunks and “aahs” of meditation music, a style to be found somewhere along the spectrum from elevator music to Enya. The students breathe deeply as they switch poses, centering their energy and focus down, through their bones, to the linoleum floor beneath them.

The school Lauren Harris and Laura Lee co-founded this past August shares a floor with the Middle School for Art and Philosophy, a New York City public school serving grades 6-8 (where some of the teachers refer to Kings students as “the gifted and talented group”). The two schools are separated by a single set of swinging doors. Kings exists as a self-sufficient entity, students and teachers alike conforming to standards honed for the past decade: high expectations, a structured academic environment that encourages creativity, and a committed and professional staff.

The Collegiate network’s flagship school, Boston Collegiate Charter School (BCCS) in Dorchester, Massachusetts, laid the

foundation in 1998 and Williamsburg Collegiate Charter School (WCCS), in Brooklyn, New York, built upon it in 2005. Its newest member joins BCCS and WCCS in their mission to prepare each student for college; yet, as seen in the yoga class, unique charm shines through – the most charming thing, perhaps, being its cheery Southern principal in a school that serves low-income children in this part of Brooklyn less than twenty minutes from Kennedy Airport.

Harris hails from Greensboro, North Carolina, yet a day spent shadowing Harris wipes away any New York-centric preconceptions of southerners: she’s tough, quick, dedicated, and barely stops moving in a day that starts, for her, at 6:15 a.m., an hour before the first children file in for their silent breakfast.  

Before arriving in New York via Boston, Harris taught a low track, low-income class in an urban district school in Greensboro. “The high track class was on a different team, and 95% white,” she recalls. “You read all about this in college, but the reality of the situation was so depressing.” After receiving her Master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, she became a math teacher at Roxbury Preparatory Charter School in Boston, a school where she was “completely blown away, because here were kids who looked just like my kids in Greensboro, but they were getting a totally different quality of education.”

Brett Peiser, Managing Director of the Collegiate network of Uncommon Schools, gave her an opportunity to lead another such school. When Kings was just getting off the ground, Peiser knew whom to call: “Her philosophy was aligned with ours. It was one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever made. A no brainer. We have the same educational instinct and gut on everything.” 

Harris met her Co-Director, Laura Lee, in October of 2006. Lee had spent summers working in adult education, and focused on education as an undergraduate at Harvard. After working in management consulting for four years, Lee realized that she wanted to start a charter school. She took the position of Co-Director of Operations, and Harris, based on her teaching experience, took on the role of Co-Director of Curriculum and Instruction.  

The team modeled the school largely after the two established Collegiate schools and Roxbury Prep: “If you walk into Roxbury Prep or Williamsburg or Kings now as an outsider, you’d say they’re almost identical,” says Harris. (There are small differences. For example, at Roxbury Prep, there are “creed deeds;”at WCCS, “MAPP Merits;” at Kings, “THINK values.”) If it turns out anything like its sister schools, Kings will no doubt outperform its district counterparts in a matter of months and will be making headlines shortly thereafter.

Harris’ heels click in the hallway as she strides from room to room, taking notes, nudging a student to sit up here, talking to a student who was acting up there. Her presence is visible all over the school, down to a small slip of paper that has been stapled into each teacher’s lesson plan folder, listing 10 daily lesson reminders:

• Circulate
• How’s my ratio
• Engage and expect 100%
• SSLANT (Smile, Sit up, Listen, Ask and Answer Questions, Nod for Understanding, Track the speaker)
• Complete sentences
• Check for understanding
• Cold call
• Rigor and joy
• Keep pace urgent
• End class purposefully

In a Writing class, Kelly Johnson shows her charges a binder of their essays. It’s three inches thick. “I’m going to grade these, but it’ll take me some time, ok?” The students seem impressed with themselves (“We wrote all that?!”). They nod in understanding, realizing they must collaborate with teachers to make classes work smoothly, eager to take on the responsibility at their brand new school.  

Harris spends a large part of her day observing classes, giving her teachers feedback, and establishing the school’s culture, all of which her staff cannot praise enough. In the staff room, over a plate of nachos, Jessica Goldberg, the Reading (and yoga) teacher, notes that “The staff is respected here, and we have resources. I haven’t spent a dime. Last year, when I worked in a public school, I spent $800 on copies, supplies, and books.” She says that Harris “observes me almost every day, to discuss what was great about my lesson, what was ok, what needs work.” She pauses, picking melted cheese off of her plate contemplatively. “In a public school, you get observed three times… a year.” She crunches down loudly on her chip.

Harris engages parents with the same dedication and honesty. At a family night in October centered on homework, Harris gives a PowerPoint presentation in which she stresses the importance of wrenching students away from the television and dedicating more time to quiet study and reading. At the conclusion of the formal portion of the evening, a long line of parents forms, waiting to ask her questions.

Afterwards, she heads upstairs to pack things up in her office before taking work home for the night. At the end of twelve-hour days like these, there seems no better place to go than a yoga class. Lucky for her, in this close-knit school she’s helping build, she only has to wait until the following afternoon.

1% Solution: Daily Handshakes

Every morning, Max Koltuv, Principal of Leadership Preparatory Charter School, gets to shake the hand of Elizabeth Taylor.

Squirming, she adjusts her pants on her walk up the street. When she reaches him, she sticks out her hand, head down, and squeaks, “Good morning, Principal Koltuv.”

“Miss Taylor, look me in the eye,” Koltuv gently admonishes, and Elizabeth raises her face, eyes flashing much like her namesake, and tries again, “Good morning, Principal Koltuv!”

“Good morning, Elizabeth!” Koltuv beams down at this bite-sized star. As Elizabeth Taylor goes into the building to start her day, Koltuv turns to greet the next three-footer in a line that stretches down the street.

At Uncommon Schools, students shake hands with their teachers every day. This is not simply a matter of manners, but a core ritual with many purposes. It is pragmatic: with a simple handshake, teachers and leaders can check-in with students each day. It also enforces a high level of behavioral expectation. Finally, the daily handshake helps inculcate the values of respect and caring in every student.

Doug Lemov, Managing Director of the True North Public Schools Network, focuses on daily hand-shakes in his “Taxonomy of Effective Teaching Practices,” coining this actionable technique “the Threshold:” the process of making a clear physical and intellectual distinction between that which goes on outside of school, and that which goes on inside. Lemov has spent years as a teacher, leader, and consultant in America’s urban schools, and three years ago, frustrated by the “vague and high flying” advice given to teachers (“Have high expectations!”), he set about writing the beginnings of what is now a 50-page instructional manual (“Great, so what do I do to have high expectations, other than believe?”).

His taxonomy distills the best practices of high-performing schools across the nation into 61 discrete instructional and cultural techniques to be used by educators in classrooms and schools at large. Lemov writes that a student’s entrance into the school or classroom is “the critical time to establish rapport, set the tone, and reinforce the first steps in a routine that makes excellence habitual… Weak handshakes are corrected, eye contact is required.”

Where Lemov names 61 techniques, Brett Peiser, Managing Director of the Collegiate Network, is known to mention the “one hundred 1% solutions that make our schools work,” language that has become the calling card of Uncommon Schools.

At the start of the day at Excellence Charter School, Principal Jabali Sawicki and Director of Operations Tim Saintsing shake each boy’s hand. (“Jabali does walkers, I do busers,” notes Saintsing.) The boys are young and energetic, and their greetings are often accompanied by a reminder to tuck in a shirt or tie a shoelace. By the time the boys enter the cafeteria for breakfast and pre-class work, all uniforms are in order.

At the Collegiate schools in Brooklyn (Williamsburg and Kings), North Star Academy North Campus, and True North Rochester Prep, students also begin their day with a handshake. True North Principal Stacey Shells says that not only does the practice prepare her students for a high level of success (“Everybody knows that you have to have a firm handshake and look people in the eye when you mean business”), but it also strengthens the personal rapport between the students and the school. During summer professional development with her staff, her teachers “practice the threshold” with role-playing. A teacher stands at the door and practices making each greeting personal in preparation for the day when students arrive. “There are a lot of things you can’t control in a child’s life,” says Shells, “but with a firm handshake and a comment telling them you know they’re working hard, it just starts their day off right.”

At the first school in the Uncommon network, North Star Academy, shaking hands has become second nature to students. Norman Atkins, co-founder of North Star and now CEO of Uncommon Schools, recalls that, “I started off at North Star and shook every hand of every kid just about every day for the first two to three years of school. I really believe in it.” Visitors to the school are often pleasantly surprised to have a ten-year-old walk up to them, stick out his or her hand, and say “Good morning! Welcome to North Star!” – sometimes so surprised that they lose their own manners and stand there, speechless for a beat, before they offer their a hand.

Back at Leadership Prep, the time has come for students to go home. Elizabeth Taylor, after a rigorous day of reading and math, trots down the stairs to say her goodbyes to teachers. Unlike her namesake, who is currently on marriage number nine, it appears that this Elizabeth Taylor is starting off her life on the right foot. She’s learned from her morning gaffe. She walks up to Koltuv, looks him in the eye, puts on a smile, and says “Goodbye, Principal Koltuv!”

— By Sophie Brickman