Maspeth High School

Maspeth High School is a public high school in Maspeth, Queens; it is the only high school in Maspeth as of September 2011. Maspeth High School opened in September 2011 with 273 students at the Metropolitan Avenue Campus in Forest Hills, Queens and serves primarily students from NYC District 24 in Northern Queens. Maspeth High School is a traditional, open enrollment, district public school. Currently Maspeth High School serves grades 9-12 and has 1209 students. Maspeth High School has over 40 clubs and 27 varsity sports teams. Maspeth's teams are known as the Argonauts.

Maspeth High School
Address
54-40 74th St

Queens
,
New York
11373

United States
Information
TypePublic secondary
Established2011
FounderKhurshid Abdul-Mutakabbir
PrincipalKhurshid Abdul-Mutakabbir
Grades9-12
Enrollment1209 (2018-2019)
Color(s)Navy Blue, Kelly Green
Athletics conferencePublic School Athletic League
MascotArgonaut
YearbookAbstracta
Websitehttp://www.mhs.nyc

History

After one year at the Metropolitan Campus on Metropolitan Avenue, Maspeth High School moved to its own building located at 54-40 74th Street in Maspeth, Queens, adjacent to the Long Island Expressway and between 57th Avenue and Grand Avenue.

The founding principal of Maspeth High School is Khurshid Abdul-Mutakabbir who proposed a classical high school model to the New York City Department of Education in December 2010. His proposal was accepted on January 4, 2011 and matched to the newly constructed Maspeth High School campus building for opening the following September.

Scandals

Maspeth High School has found itself in a couple scandals since it had gained attention with its various achievements, such as earning the prestigious Blue Ribbon award.[1] One of the major scandals was in 2016, when the school was accused of not accepting applicants from private schools despite its lottery system, though the school claimed it was an "error."[2] This led to several protests from angry parents and teenagers alike, who hoped to get into a school with such a high reputation. This offense later did not catch as much attention anymore, as there weren't any reports about this "mix up" the following school year.

A more serious accusation broke out on September 14, 2019, when the New York Post journalist Susan Edelman wrote in depth about the accusations past teachers, as well as some students that graduated, made against the school. The anonymous speakers claimed the school falsified grades for students and forced teachers to pass failing students and had a "gangster culture," according to city councilman Robert Holden.[3] There were also claims by the journalist that the students at the school called the phenomenon the "Maspeth Minimum," many students claimed on various social media when the article came out that no one called it this, so it's likely this phrase was from a blog of a former student from Maspeth that was highly critical of the school in 2018.[4]

Edelman then wrote another article two days later on the 16th, explaining DA John M. Ryan was planning to hold Maspeth High School legally accountable after reading about the accusations. Also a noteworthy section of the article, one of the people working for the Post claimed to have interviewed a freshman named Charlie, who said the situation was, "BS." Some people at Maspeth argue whether or not the teen was using an alias. The most recent article written by the post was on the 21st of the same month, where an alum named Thomas "Mac" Creighton goes in detail about his drug and alcohol abuse, and how he believes the school did nothing to help and only focused on getting rid of him by letting him graduate six months early with minimal work after transferring to the school his senior year. He also claimed the school was aware of his problem and made no effort to care, from guidance counselors acting indifferent towards his ill behavior to claiming a teacher "gave him a pot pipe" after he graduated.[5] One much older and far less famed article surfaced from 2015 on a blog spot for teachers where several called out how the teachers were young and often not tenured so they were easy to control by superiors.[6]

References
  1. https://www.qchron.com/editions/central/maspeth-hs-earns-national-blue-ribbon-school-honor/article_4e750ac8-c8d4-11e8-8c45-9bd1f6609408.html
  2. https://www.ny1.com/nyc/queens/news/2017/03/29/parents-demand-transparency-and-overhaul-of-maspeth-high-school-enrollment-process-after-mix-up
  3. https://nypost.com/2019/09/14/maspeth-high-schools-secret-to-high-pass-rates-is-cheating-teachers/
  4. http://chaz11.blogspot.com/2018/07/maspeth-high-school-just-say-no-to-any.html
  5. https://nypost.com/2019/09/21/i-was-always-stoned-drunk-and-skipping-class-so-they-let-me-graduate-early-maspeth-alum/
  6. http://nyceducator.com/2015/08/the-maspeth-mystery.html

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