El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice

El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice is an alternative public high school in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York City.[1][2] In 1998 it had a mostly Hispanic student body.[2] As of 2012 Wanda Vazquez is the principal.[3]

History

El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice was established as a partnership between the El Puente, a Latino youth development group, and the New York City Board of Education (now the New York City Department of Education) in 1993 with money provided by New Visions for Public Schools, a nonprofit sponsor of alternative schools. It was created to teach social justice and human rights to high school students, training them to become community activists in Williamsburg's predominantly Hispanic South Side. Director of the school Frances Lucerna and leader of El Puente and member of the Young Lords Party Luis Garden-Acosta founded the school in hopes it transforms the community as well.[4][5][6] The staff is multicultural with no strict hierarchy and work to connect the classroom with real-life experiences.[7]

The school was originally housed at the South Fourth Street community center until City Department of Education officials ordered it to leave in 2006. The El Puente organization was the first organization authorized by the NYC board of education to own its own public school building and in 2008 moved to the vacant Transfiguration grammar school after the death of the church's long-time pastor.[8][4][5]

Criticism

At its founding, critics worried that the school's focus on social justice and human rights might lead to an indoctrination of politics. They feared that students in the Williamsburg area, known for being the city's teen-age gang capital at that time, needed more traditional academic skills for them to succeed.[6]

In 1998, Heather Mac Donald of the City Journal, a publication of the Manhattan Institute think tank, criticized the school's culture and specifically its hip-hop class.[2]

In the 2010 movie It's Kind of a Funny Story, the El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice is lauded as a magnet school for Do-Gooders.

References
  1. "Location & Hours Archived 2012-03-01 at the Wayback Machine." El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice, El Puente Leaders for Peace & Justice. Retrieved on March 17, 2012. "El Puente for Peace & Justice Academy 250 Hooper Street Brooklyn, NY 11211"
  2. Mac Donald, Heather. "An F for Hip-Hop 101." City Journal. (Northern Hemisphere) Summer 1998. Retrieved on March 17, 2012.
  3. "Welcome." El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice, New York City Department of Education. Retrieved on March 17, 2012.
  4. Gonzalez, David. "High School for Social Justice Finds New Home". City Room. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  5. Hartocollis, Anemona. "Crew Plans Charter Schools, His Way". Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  6. Gonzalez, David. "ALTERNATIVE SCHOOLS; A Bridge From Hope to Social Action". Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  7. Dryfoos, Joy G. (1998). Safe passage: Making it through adolescence in a risky society. North Central Regional Educational Lab., Oak Brook, IL. Retrieved from: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED425225.pdf
  8. "EL PUENTE ACADEMY FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE Archived 2012-04-02 at the Wayback Machine." El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice, El Puente Leaders for Peace & Justice. Retrieved on March 17, 2012.

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