Sorry

Two of the cardinal rules I learned as a beginning teacher: First, Don't ever do anything that may require you to make a public apology to one or more students; and, second, if you do something worthy of an apology, don't hesitate to own up to your mistake.

Now, with that said - I apologize for the last inane assignment. You remember, the one where you were to name ten Brooklyn high schools that were in existence in 1960. Who knew that other Brooklyn bloggers would latch on to this?

And I thought it was so brilliant! Let's see if I can make it up to you.

Here's the list - semi-geographically. .

Sheepshead Bay, Thomas Dewey, Lincoln, Lafayette, Ft. Hamilton, New Utrecht, Madison, Midwood, Prospect Heights, Erasmus Hall, Wingate, Tilden, South Shore,Canarsie, Jefferson, Bushwick, Boys, Girls, Clara Barton, Brooklyn Tech, Roosevelt. OK, we'll throw in Brooklyn Tech, Wm. H. Maxwell Automotive and Grady VHS. And, I'll allow half of Franklin K. Lane - the half in Brooklyn.

Let's fast-forward 46 years but first, raise your hand if you remember when high schools were named after famous people - mostly presidents or local politicians - or the neighborhoods in which they were located.

In addition to the old standbys: James Madison, Midwood, Sheepshead Bay, South Shore, Clara Barton, Lafayette, New Utrecht, Ft. Hamilton, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, Brooklyn Tech, George Westinghouse, FK Lane - a number of the larger high schools have been divided into smaller specialty, boutique, schools:
Erasmus has now been divided into separate schools and is referred to as Erasmus Campus: Hospitality and Tourism, Business/Tec, Humanities, HS for Service and Learning, HS for Youth and Community Development.


Several of the older schools have reinvented themselves:
Canarsie International High School, William Grady Career and Tech Educ HS, Bushwick HS for Social Justice, Thomas Jefferson HS of Civil Rights, Wingate International Arts and Business High School/High School for Public Service Heroes of Tomorrow (Wow, I'd like to see what this looks like on a sweat shirt!) , Dewey High School for Service and Learning, International HS at Prospect Heights

And several new schools have joined the roster:
W.E.B.DuBois, Paul Robeson, Edward R. Morrow, Medger Evers, Rachel Carson HS for Coastal Studies, Leon M Goldstein HS for the Sciences, Harry Van Arsdale.

Boys High School and Girls High School have been combined into one (What happened to the possessive apostrophe?)

What school is now High School for Youth and Community Development? or Brooklyn High School for Science and Environment?


If you've been out of Brooklyn for a while these will throw you:
International Arts Business School, Brooklyn Academy of Science and the Environment, HS for Global Citizenship, HS of Telecommunication Arts and Technology, Brooklyn HS of the Arts, South Brooklyn Community HS, FDNY HS for Fire and Life Safety, HS for Enterprise and Technology, HS of Telecommunications, Pacific HS, Brooklyn HS for Music & Theatre.


Tilden? Sorry, still just plain ole Samuel J. Tilden. (update: Oops!  Spoke too soon.. See more recent posts!)

Again, these are just Brooklyn public high schools. Let me know if I omitted your school.

Remember when elementary schools were known by just their numbers? Most now also have names:
135 - Sheldon A. Brookner
208 - Elsa Ebeling
219 - Kennedy-King
233 - Langston Hughes
235 - The Lenox School (my elementary school)
244 - Richard R. Green

Junior high schools are now intermediate schools, grades 6, 7, 8. Does the 2- or 3- year SP still exist? I taught at Meyer Levin for three years. No one could get that name straight.

Some current sample student demographics*:
Tilden: 2095 Black, 143 Hispanic, 13 Asian, 13 White
IS 285 (Meyer Levin): 975 Black, 37 Hispanic, 6 Asian, 6 White
IS 232 (Winthrop): 811 Black, 37 Hispanic, 6 Asian, 5 White
135: 747 Black, 30 Hispanic, 1 Asian, 11 White
233: 755 Black, 39 Hispanic, 1 Asian, 6 White
244: 1027 Black, 28 Hispanic, 4 Asian, 8 White

Do you remember your school having so many students?

*courtesy NYC Department of Education 2006

Next session: We're going to talk about 'school fixtures.' I don't mean the desks or those great chandeliers in the auditoriums. I mean...

Well, you'll see. And then, we'll move on to some other topics. But first...

Capitalization hint: high school is capitalized if it is part of the school's name: Erasmus Hall High School or if 'high' is the first word in a sentence (High school was fun. I went to Tilden High School, but: 'I went to high school.')


Also: You graduated FROM high school; not 'graduated high school.'
(Sorry; I couldn't resist. I feel better already!)

Boundaries

Welcome.

For starters, let's set some boundaries. Not an easy task. Defining boundaries for East Flatbush is not unlike trying to nail Jello to a wall.

I always thought East Flatbush was a clearly defined, commonly agreed upon geographic area. It obviously isn't.

To most Brooklynites, East Flatbush was a convenient area that kept Flatbush, Canarsie, East New York, Brownsville, Crown Heights and Pig Town from bumping into each other.

But, for this Blog I've set some arbitrary boundaries; albeit we'll take some liberties from time to time and journey outside this center of the universe as well as allow 'outsiders' in.

So, conjure up this mental map of our universe: Starting at the intersection of New York and Clarkson Avenues, go South to Cortelyou Rd, then East to Schenectady Avenue, make a right (South) to the railroad right-of-way (the old New Haven or South Brooklyn Railway or Long Island, Conrail freight line. You know, the tracks on the embankment with the overhead power lines), then East to Rockaway Parkway. Make a left (North) up to Clarkson; make a left (West) to New York Avenue.

Now, that's our world.

If you lived on a Parkway (other than Rockaway) forgedaboudit! If you lived north of Kings County Hospital, you lived in 'PigTown' (When did it get to be called Wingate?) If you lived south of Holy Cross Cemetery, it technically may have been East Flatbush, but that is uncharted territory and we ain't goin' dere. South of the tracks mentioned in the preceding paragraph and you were in Canarsie and further south: Mill Basin - neither of which is EAST FLATBUSH.

Don't argue with me; it's my Blog.

OK; so on occasion we'll stretch the boundaries. In subsequent blogs we'll talk about hallowed ground that belonged to Brooklyn - not to a neighborhood of the borough: Kings Highway, the Junction, Flatbush Avenue, Coney Island/Brighton Beach, Downtown, Ebbets Field, the beaches.

Our target audience:

• If you remember where you were the day John Kennedy was assassinated, you are in our target audience. Give yourself 50 points.
• Add 5 points if you remember riding a trolley car on Church Avenue;
• Add five points if you know the east bound destination (last stop) of the Church Avenue trolley; Add ten points if you remember trolley tracks on Utica Avenue south of Snyder Avenue.
• Add five points if you know what SP means. 
• Five points each if you remember the name of the bank on East 51st and Church and the one on Nostrand and Church, the name of the drugstore on Church and Utica.
• And ten points for remembering plaid and green stamps.
• Passing grade:65.

Homework:
Name from memory ten Brooklyn high schools, excluding vocational schools, that were in existence in 1960. In our next session, we'll be discussing some interesting facts regarding East Flatbush schools - both elementary and high schools.

Now remember, no cheating and 'no fair' if you ask your parents.