Our Mission

We are an academic community committed to educating older students with adult responsibilities.  Our school is designed to support the educational needs of students ages 17-21 from 8:30 a.m. to 8:07 p.m. Monday through Friday.  Our unique hours provide students who work, are serving as caregivers for members of their family or raising their own children the opportunity to create an academic schedule that dovetails with their adult responsibilities.  We have an open admissions policy and enroll students throughout the year. Our program is designed to support older high school students returning to school, foreign-born students with limited English proficiency and transfer students from other high schools.  Our goal is to graduate students who are prepared for college and are prepared to begin their post-secondary careers. 

Our school has grown from 25 students at its founding in 1989 as a night high school to over 700 today. Many of our older transfer students have typically been disconnected from school for a semester or more for a wide variety of reasons.  Many of them have attended more than one high school prior to their admission to our school. Both ethnically and linguistically we serve a diverse community. Approximately 35% of our students self-identify as Black, 45% Latino, 10% Asian and 5% Caucasian. About 60% are recent immigrants representing over 50 countries from Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Owing to our central location near Union Square we draw students from all parts of the city.