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George Washington Educational Campus

{{Short description|Public school campus in New York City}}

{{Use American English|date=October 2024}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}}

{{Coord|40.855819|-73.926952|region:US_type:edu|display=title}}

{{Infobox school

|name= George Washington High School

|image= File:George Washington Educational Campus from north.jpg

|imagesize= 300px

|caption = George Washington Educational Campus

|motto=

|motto_translation=

|streetaddress= 549 Audubon Avenue

|city= New York City

|state= New York

|zipcode= 10040

|viceprincipal=

|administrator=

|schooltype=

|grades= 9-12

|language= English

|area=

|mascot= Trojan

|teamname= Trojans, Lady Trojans

|colors= Orange and Black {{color box|orange}}{{color box|black}}

|enrollment_as_of=

}}

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.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gdl2CQAAQBAJ|title=Lost Amusement Parks of New York City: Beyond Coney Island|last1=Gottlock|first1=B.|last2=Gottlock|first2=W.|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|year=2013|isbn=978-1-62584-556-6}}{{rp|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.{{cite news|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1991/11/18/music-and-art|first=Mindy|last=Aloff|date=November 10, 1991|title=Music and Art|access-date=April 1, 2021|magazine=The New Yorker}} 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.).{{cite web|url=https://www.nynavyleague.org/youth-programs|title=Youth Programs|publisher=New York Council Navy League|access-date=April 21, 2021}} New York-Presbyterian Hospital maintains a clinic on the first floor.{{cite web|url=https://www.nyp.org/acn/community-programs/school-based-health-centers/locations|title=Locations for NYP School-Based Health Centers|publisher=New York-Presbyterian Hospital|access-date=April 21, 2021}}

History

George Washington High School was relatively prestigious in the decades after its 1925 founding.{{cite book|first=Robert W.|last=Snyder|title=Crossing Broadway: Washington Heights and the Promise of New York City|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=quqMBQAAQBAJ|isbn=9780801449611|publisher=Cornell University Press|year=2015}}{{Rp|72}} Notable alumni included Alan Greenspan, Henry Kissinger, and Murray Jarvik.{{Cite book|title=The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World|last=Greenspan|first=Alan|author-link=Alan Greenspan|publisher=Penguin Press|year=2007|isbn=978-1-59420-131-8|oclc=122973403|title-link=The Age of Turbulence}}{{Rp|24}}{{cite book|last=Isaacson|first=Walter|author-link=Walter Isaacson|title=Kissinger: A Biography|publisher=Simon & Schuster|date=1992|isbn=978-0-671-66323-0|url=https://archive.org/details/kissinger00walt}}{{Rp|37}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/13/health/13jarvik.html|first=Bruce|last=Weber|date=May 13, 2008|work=The New York Times|title=Murray Jarvik, 84, Whose Research Helped Lead to Nicotine Patch, Dies}}

During the 1960s and 1970s, Washington Heights' Black and Latino population increased. New York City public schools also faced serious overcrowding problems. 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.

  • {{cite web|url=https://tools.nycenet.edu/snapshot/2019/06M462/HS/|title=06M462/HS - 2018-19 School Quality Snapshot|publisher=New York City Department of Education|access-date=April 21, 2021}}
  • {{cite web|url=https://tools.nycenet.edu/snapshot/2019/06M463/HS/|title=06M463/HS - 2018-19 School Quality Snapshot|publisher=New York City Department of Education|access-date=April 21, 2021}}
  • {{cite web|url=https://tools.nycenet.edu/snapshot/2019/06M467/HS/|title=06M467/HS - 2018-19 School Quality Snapshot|publisher=New York City Department of Education|access-date=April 21, 2021}}
  • {{cite web|url=https://tools.nycenet.edu/snapshot/2019/06M468/HS/|title=06M468/HS - 2018-19 School Quality Snapshot|publisher=New York City Department of Education|access-date=April 21, 2021}}

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.{{Rp|102}} However, the United Federation of Teachers, which also clashed with students and parents over the 1964 school boycott{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/02/04/archives/boycott-cripples-city-schools-absences-360000-above-normal-negroes.html|date=February 4, 1964|access-date=April 1, 2021|title=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|work=The New York Times}} and the 1968 teachers' strike{{cite book|title=City Trenches: Urban Politics and the Patterning of Class in the United states|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-U3XAAAAQBAJ&q=city+trenches+ira+katznelson+%22the+making+of+northern+manhattan%22&pg=PT107|year=1981|publisher=University of Chicago Press|first=Ira|last=Katznelson|isbn=9780307833402}}{{Rp|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.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/03/07/archives/head-of-george-washington-high-school-resigns.html|first=Martin|last=Arnold|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 1, 2021|date=March 7, 1970|title=Head of George Washington High School Resigns}} 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;{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/12/03/archives/washington-high-gets-fourth-principal-this-year.html|first=C. Gerald|last=Frase|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 1, 2021|date=December 3, 1970|title=Washington High Gets Fourth Principal This Year}} while many safety improvements were made throughout the 1970s, its academic performance continued to decline.{{Rp|109}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/06/01/archives/washington-high-from-riot-to-hope-washington-high-from-riot-to-hope.html|first=William K.|last=Stevens|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 1, 2021|date=June 1, 1971|title=Washington High: From riot to Hope}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/19/nyregion/albany-issues-list-of-schools-in-trouble.html|first=Sam Howe|last=Verhovek|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 1, 2021|date=December 19, 1989|title=Albany Issues List of Schools In Trouble}}

In 1999, the school took its present form as the George Washington Educational Campus composed of four smaller schools.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/26/nyregion/coach-steve-mandls-suspension-erased-by-city-school-officials.html|first=Eric P.|last=Newcomer|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 1, 2021|date=June 25, 2012|title=Education Dept. Retracts School Coach's Suspension}} 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.{{cite news|url=https://patch.com/new-york/washington-heights-inwood/vote-close-washington-heights-high-school-postponed-report|work=Patch|access-date=April 2, 2021|title=City Withdraws Proposal To Close Washington Heights High School|date=March 1, 2018|first=Brendan|last=Krisel}} As of 2019, this school is the only one of the four with a four-year graduation rate above the citywide average. 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.{{cite news|url=https://ny.chalkbeat.org/2021/1/14/22230843/nyc-graduation-rates-up-2020|first=Christina|last=Veiga|access-date=April 21, 2021|work=Chalkbeat|date=January 14, 2021|title=NYC graduation rates tick upwards in 2020}}

Sports

{{More citations needed section|date=April 2021}}

File:George Washington Educational Campus from University Heights train station.jpg]]

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."[https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/01/nyregion/baseball-coach-steve-mandl-suspended-before-a-hearing-is-held.html?_r=0 "Baseball coach Steve Mandl suspended before a hearing is held"], New York Times, February 1, 2012

Alumni

{{alumni|date=July 2022}}

{{Category see also|George Washington Educational Campus alumni}}

Alumni include:

  • Moshe Arens (1925-2019), aeronautical engineer; Israeli MK and defense minister
  • Shaun Abreu (born 1991), member of the New York City Council
  • Harry Belafonte (1927-2023), actor and singerArenson, Karen W. [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E07EFDA103CF931A35755C0A9669C8B63 "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.)"
  • David A. Boehm (1914–2000), American publisher, founder of Sterling Publishing and publisher of the American version of the Guinness World Records
  • Maria Callas (1923-1977), opera singer.
  • Joseph Campanella (1924-2018), actor, younger brother of Frank Campanella
  • Frank Campanella (1919-2006), actor, older brother of Joseph Campanella
  • Rod Carew (born 1945), Major League Baseball Hall of Famer
  • Kenneth Clark (1914—2005), psychologist and expert witness for the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision{{Rp|72}}
  • Gene Colan (1926–2011), Marvel and DC Comics artist, Comic Book Hall of Fame
  • Persi Diaconis (born 1945), mathematician and former professional magicianAmason, Cassidy. [https://www.gcsu.edu/sites/files/page-assets/node-808/attachments/amason.pdf#page=2 "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."
  • Carl Gans (1923–2009), mechanical engineer, zoologist, herpetologist
  • Alan Greenspan (born 1926), economist, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal ReserveDavid Leonhardt. [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/18/books/18leonhardt.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=carew+%22george+washington+high+school%22&st=nyt&oref=slogin "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)."
  • Morris Halle (1923-2018), linguist
  • Carlos Handy, physicist
  • Murray Jarvik (1923–2008), UCLA pharmacologist; showed that nicotine was the addictive factor in tobacco; invented the nicotine patch for smokers trying to quitSydney Morning Herald obituaries of 16 May 2008
  • John George Kemeny (1926–1992), atomic scientist and computer science pioneerFaison, Seth. [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE3D8103EF934A15751C1A964958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2 " 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."
  • Don Kirshner (1934-2011) was an American music publisher, music consultant, rock music producer, talent manager, and songwriter. Dubbed "the Man with the Golden Ear"
  • Henry Kissinger (1923-2023), former United States Secretary of State, 1973 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize
  • Cyril Kornbluth (1923-1958), Science Fiction author, member of the Futurians.
  • Ron Perlman (born 1950), actor
  • Manny Ramírez (born 1972), baseball player (did not graduate)
  • Nellie Rodríguez (born 1994), baseball player{{cite web|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/high-school/george-washington-catcher-nelson-rodriguez-chosen-cleveland-indians-15th-major-league-baseball-first-year-player-draft-article-1.1090545|title=GW star drafted by Manny's Tribe|work=New York Daily News|date=5 June 2012 |access-date=February 1, 2017}}
  • Delmore Schwartz (1913–1966), poet, author, and critic
  • William "Bill" Shea (1907–1991), lawyer, instrumental in the founding of the New York Mets and New York Islanders, namesake of Shea Stadium[https://www.hoyabasketball.com/players/w_shea.htm "Georgetown Basketball History Project - William Shea"]
  • Frank Skartados (1956–2018), New York state assemblyman
  • Ronnie Spector (1943-2022), lead singer of The Ronettes{{Cite book|last=Fletcher|first=Tony|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VfUffvx9DfYC&dq=george+washington+high+school+ronnie+spector&pg=PA199|title=All Hopped Up and Ready to Go: Music from the Streets of New York 1927-77|date=2009-10-26|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=978-0-393-33483-8|pages=199|language=en}}
  • Tiny Tim (1932–1996), musician
  • Jerry Wexler (1917-2008), music journalist and producer
  • Lester L. Wolff (1919–2021), member of Congress
  • Anthony "Tone Lope" Osbourne, screenwriter, songwriter
  • Wesley Rodriguez, baseball player

References

{{Reflist}}

  • [http://maxweber.hunter.cuny.edu/histo/salzman/projects/w_h/gwhs.html George Washington High School profile]

External links

{{commons category|George Washington Educational Campus}}

  • NYC Dept of Education official websites for the four academies:
  • [http://schools.nyc.gov/schoolportals/06/M462 High School for International Business and Finance (M462)]
  • [http://schools.nyc.gov/schoolportals/06/M463 High School for Media and Communications (M463)]
  • [http://schools.nyc.gov/schoolportals/06/M467 High School for Law and Public Service (M467)]
  • [http://schools.nyc.gov/schoolportals/06/M468 High School for Health Careers and Sciences (M468)]
  • [http://new-york.schooltree.org/public/George-Washington-High-060029.html George Washington High School profile] provided by schooltree.org

{{Washington Heights, Manhattan}}

{{Education in Manhattan}}

{{New York City Department of Education}}

{{authority control}}

Category:Universities and colleges established in 1919

Category:Public high schools in Manhattan

Category:Washington Heights, Manhattan

Category:1919 establishments in New York City