Far Rockaway High School
Encyclopedia
Far Rockaway High School, a public high school in the public school system of New York City
, was located on Bay 25 Street in Far Rockaway
in the borough
of Queens
, as part of the New York City Department of Education
. The school was founded in 1897, with Sanford J. Ellsworth as principal for over 40 years. The last principal was Denise J. Hallett. The school, whose alumni included three Nobel Prize
laureates and Bernard Madoff
, stopped accepting students in 2008 as part of a planned closure because of declining grades. The doors closed on June 27, 2011.
Until the 1919-1920 school year, Far Rockaway High School had been housed within P.S. 39. As of September 1921, the school superintendents had determined that the school, and its 25 classes of students, would become an independent entity managed by its own principal.
A contract to construct a new building for the high school, planned to have enough room to accommodate 4,500 students, was awarded in August 1927 to the firm of Psaty & Fuhrman, which submitted the lowest bid of $1,459,971 to the New York City Board of Education
. The firm had won an earlier bid, but withdrew its offer after determining that it had underestimated its costs. The firm that had come in second in the original bidding, came in second in the rebid, and had unsuccessfully sued to have its original bid accepted after the Psaty & Furman bid was withdrawn. The school was nearing completion by January 1929, with costs having risen to $2.5 million, 67% over the original bid of $1.5 million. The school would be one of the largest in the nation, ready to serve 2,500 students on a campus covering a city block, with a three-story high auditorium, two gymnasiums, a swimming pool and ample classroom and athletic space.
By the 2006-07 school year, data from the National Center for Education Statistics
showed that the school had an enrollment of 945 students, with 72.8 teachers (on a full-time equivalent
basis), yielding a student-teacher ratio
of 13.0.
On December 7, 2007, the NY Daily News reported the school would be closed. The Department of Education's decision cited declining marks under its school-monitoring system as the justification behind the planned closure. The school would stop accepting students as of the 2008-09 school year and would be phased out in its entirety over a four-year period.
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, was located on Bay 25 Street in Far Rockaway
Far Rockaway, Queens
Far Rockaway is a neighborhood on the Rockaway Peninsula in the New York City borough of Queens in the United States. It is the easternmost section of the Rockaways. The neighborhood starts at the Nassau County line and extends west to Beach 32nd Street. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community...
in the borough
Borough (New York City)
New York City, one of the largest cities in the world, is composed of five boroughs. Each borough now has the same boundaries as the county it is in. County governments were dissolved when the city consolidated in 1898, along with all city, town, and village governments within each county...
of Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
, as part of the New York City Department of Education
New York City Department of Education
The New York City Department of Education is the branch of municipal government in New York City that manages the city's public school system. It is the largest school system in the United States, with over 1.1 million students taught in more than 1,700 separate schools...
. The school was founded in 1897, with Sanford J. Ellsworth as principal for over 40 years. The last principal was Denise J. Hallett. The school, whose alumni included three Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
laureates and Bernard Madoff
Bernard Madoff
Bernard Lawrence "Bernie" Madoff is a former American businessman, stockbroker, investment advisor, and financier. He is the former non-executive chairman of the NASDAQ stock market, and the admitted operator of a Ponzi scheme that is considered to be the largest financial fraud in U.S...
, stopped accepting students in 2008 as part of a planned closure because of declining grades. The doors closed on June 27, 2011.
History
The school opened in 1897 with a total enrollment of 19 students. The first graduating class of three students received their diplomas in ceremonies held on June 21, 1899.Until the 1919-1920 school year, Far Rockaway High School had been housed within P.S. 39. As of September 1921, the school superintendents had determined that the school, and its 25 classes of students, would become an independent entity managed by its own principal.
A contract to construct a new building for the high school, planned to have enough room to accommodate 4,500 students, was awarded in August 1927 to the firm of Psaty & Fuhrman, which submitted the lowest bid of $1,459,971 to the New York City Board of Education
New York City Board of Education
The New York City Board of Education is the governing body of the New York City Department of Education. The members of the board are appointed by the mayor and by the five borough presidents.-Rise, fall and return of Mayoral Control:...
. The firm had won an earlier bid, but withdrew its offer after determining that it had underestimated its costs. The firm that had come in second in the original bidding, came in second in the rebid, and had unsuccessfully sued to have its original bid accepted after the Psaty & Furman bid was withdrawn. The school was nearing completion by January 1929, with costs having risen to $2.5 million, 67% over the original bid of $1.5 million. The school would be one of the largest in the nation, ready to serve 2,500 students on a campus covering a city block, with a three-story high auditorium, two gymnasiums, a swimming pool and ample classroom and athletic space.
By the 2006-07 school year, data from the National Center for Education Statistics
National Center for Education Statistics
The National Center for Education Statistics is the part of the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district finance information in the United States...
showed that the school had an enrollment of 945 students, with 72.8 teachers (on a full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent , is a unit to measure employed persons or students in a way that makes them comparable although they may work or study a different number of hours per week. FTE is often used to measure a worker's involvement in a project, or to track cost reductions in an organization...
basis), yielding a student-teacher ratio
Student-teacher ratio
Student-teacher ratio refers to the number of teachers in a school or university with respect to the number of students who attend the institution. For example, a student-teacher ratio of 10:1 indicates that there are 10 students for every one teacher...
of 13.0.
On December 7, 2007, the NY Daily News reported the school would be closed. The Department of Education's decision cited declining marks under its school-monitoring system as the justification behind the planned closure. The school would stop accepting students as of the 2008-09 school year and would be phased out in its entirety over a four-year period.
Notable alumni
- Baruch Samuel BlumbergBaruch Samuel BlumbergBaruch Samuel "Barry" Blumberg was an American doctor and co-recipient of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine , and the President of the American Philosophical Society from 2005 until his death.Blumberg received the Nobel Prize for "discoveries concerning new mechanisms for the origin...
(born 1925), winner of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Medicine. - Joyce BrothersJoyce BrothersJoyce Brothers is an American psychologist, television personality and advice columnist, publishing a daily syndicated newspaper column since 1960.-Personal life:...
(born 1928), psychologist and advice columnist; graduated in 1943. - William F. BrunnerWilliam F. BrunnerWilliam Frank Brunner was a United States Representative from New York. Born in Woodhaven, Queens, he attended the public schools, Far Rockaway High School at Far Rockaway and Packard Commercial School at New York City...
(1887-1965), Congressman' - Richard Cohen, columnist for The Washington PostThe Washington PostThe Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, class of 1958' - Richard FeynmanRichard FeynmanRichard Phillips Feynman was an American physicist known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics and the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, as well as in particle physics...
(1918-88), winner of the Nobel Prize in PhysicsNobel Prize in PhysicsThe Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...
in 1965 for his work on quantum electrodynamicsQuantum electrodynamicsQuantum electrodynamics is the relativistic quantum field theory of electrodynamics. In essence, it describes how light and matter interact and is the first theory where full agreement between quantum mechanics and special relativity is achieved...
. - Carl IcahnCarl IcahnCarl Celian Icahn is an American business magnate and investor.-Biography:Icahn was raised in Far Rockaway, Queens, New York City, where he attended Far Rockaway High School. His father was a cantor, his mother was a schoolteacher...
(born 1936), financier and billionaire. - Jeffrey LaitmanJeffrey LaitmanJeffrey Todd Laitman, Ph.D. is an American anatomist and physical anthropologist whose science has combined experimental, comparative, and paleontological studies to understand the development and evolution of the human upper respiratory and vocal tract regions...
(born 1951), Anatomist and physical anthropologist, Distinguished Professor of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, President-Elect of the American Association of Anatomists.; class of 1969 - Nancy LiebermanNancy LiebermanNancy Elizabeth Lieberman , nicknamed "Lady Magic", is a former professional basketball player who played and coached in the WNBA.Lieberman is regarded as one of the greatest figures in women's basketball....
(born 1958), basketball pioneer. - Bernard MadoffBernard MadoffBernard Lawrence "Bernie" Madoff is a former American businessman, stockbroker, investment advisor, and financier. He is the former non-executive chairman of the NASDAQ stock market, and the admitted operator of a Ponzi scheme that is considered to be the largest financial fraud in U.S...
(born 1938), convicted of large-scale fraud, founder of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. - Kenneth Alan RibetKenneth Alan RibetKenneth Alan "Ken" Ribet is an American mathematician, currently a professor of mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley. His mathematical interests include algebraic number theory and algebraic geometry....
(born 1948), mathematician. - Burton RichterBurton RichterBurton Richter is a Nobel Prize-winning American physicist. He led the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center team which co-discovered the J/ψ meson in 1974, alongside the Brookhaven National Laboratory team led by Samuel Ting. This discovery was part of the so-called November Revolution of particle...
(born 1931), winner of the 1976 Nobel Prize in PhysicsNobel Prize in PhysicsThe Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...
. - MC SerchMC SerchMC Serch is a Jewish-American hip hop MC and former member of 3rd Bass.-Biography:Serch grew up in Far Rockaway, Queens, attending Far Rockaway High School, and graduated from Music & Art High School...
(born 1967 as Michael Berrin), hip hop MC and former member of 3rd Bass3rd Bass3rd Bass was an American hip-hop group that rose to fame in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and was notable for being one of the first successful interracial hip-hop groups.-Career:...
. - John WarrenJohn Warren (basketball)John Warren II is a retired American professional basketball player. He was a 6'3" guard–forward.Warren attended Far Rockaway High School in Queens, New York, and played college basketball at St. John's University from 1966 to 1969. He scored 1,306 points in 84 games and was considered his team's...
(born 1947), former member of the New York KnicksNew York KnicksThe New York Knickerbockers, prominently known as the Knicks, are a professional basketball team based in New York City. They are part of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
.