William Cullen Bryant High School
| William Cullen Bryant High School | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Address | |
|
4810 31st Avenue Long Island City, New York United States | |
| Coordinates | 40°45′28″N 73°54′38″W / 40.75778°N 73.91056°WCoordinates: 40°45′28″N 73°54′38″W / 40.75778°N 73.91056°W |
| Information | |
| Type | Public |
| Established | 1889 |
| School district | NYC Geographic District 30 |
| Principal | Namita Dwarka |
| Grades | 9–12 |
| Enrollment | 2,652 |
| Website | www.wcbryanths.org |
|
William Cullen Bryant High School | |
William Cullen Bryant High School, or William C. Bryant High School, and Bryant High School for short, is a secondary school located in Queens, New York City, United States serving grades 9 through 12.
Name
It is named in honor of William Cullen Bryant, an American romantic poet, journalist, and long-time editor of the New York Evening Post. He is most known for his work as one of the creators of Central Park in Manhattan, New York.
Statistics
The school has 2,652 students enrolled; the ethnic make-up of the school is 48.3% Hispanic, 27.7% Asian, 2.5% White, and 19.7% African American. The school has a four-year graduation rate of 27% and an attendance rate of 89%[1] The school has a low progress report grade in comparison with its peer school, but it is also true that is serving a population of students with higher needs and a lot of freshman that entered the school are below proficient. In 2010, New York City Department of Education gave the school a letter grade of C.[2] On April 26, PEP voted to close this school down, and a lot of good experienced veteran teachers are being rated unsatisfactory and others are being chased out with the purpose of hiring out of college teachers who may not be proven effective. Mayor Bloomberg on his speech on January 2012 decided to close down this school together with other 23 schools under the turnaround model, although it was granted the transformation model at the beginning of 2011 without doing any negotiating. The turnaround model has not be proven effective in any district in the country, and research suggests that it may even be counterproductive. On June 29, 2012 William Cullen Bryant High School was selected not to be closed down, by an arbitrator who deemed it unfit to close down the school. The school will retain its name, as well as its teachers if they chose to come back.
In popular culture
- William Cullen Bryant was the school in the popular film A Bronx Tale. Robert De Niro visited the school.
- Two episodes of the hit TV show Ugly Betty were shot in the School. One was shot in the lunch room. The episode featured Lindsay Lohan who also visited the school. The episode was called "Granny Pants".
- In episode thirteen of season one of Archie Bunker's Place entitled "Man of the Year" Archie Bunker says he graduated from the school in 1940.
Notable alumni
- Ollie Mack, Retired NBA player
- Mike Maloy, Basketball player
- Winifred Lenihan (1898–1964), stage actress and director who played Joan of Arc in George Bernard Shaw's play Saint Joan on its debut in 1923.
- Ethel Merman (1908–1984), star of musical comedies on Broadway and in Hollywood, was born in Astoria and graduated from Bryant. The school's auditorium was named the Ethel Merman Theater in 1989 during its centennial celebration.
- Moe Spahn (1912–1991), basketball player
- Veronica Gedeon (1917–1937), Long Island City native, commercial model, 1937 New York City murder victim.
- Sam Mele, (1922– ), Major League baseball player and manager.
- Billy Loes, (1929–2010), former Major League Baseball pitcher who played in the World Series, winning for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1955, was born in the area and attended Bryant High School. He also played for the Baltimore Orioles and the San Francisco Giants.
- Susan Anspach, (1942- ), noted American stage (Hair) and film actress (Five Easy Pieces, Play it Again Sam, Montenegro).
- Suze Rotolo (1943–2011), an American artist, book artist, author, but best known as Bob Dylan's girlfriend between 1961 and 1964. She is the woman walking with him on the cover of his album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.
- Richard Kline (1944– ), played "Larry Dallas" on classic ABC-TV sitcom "Three's Company". He also performed on Broadway in "City of Angels" and is a member of the Lincoln Center Repertory Company.
- Joel Klein (1946– ), New York City Department of Education Chancellor from 2002–2011
- Panayiota Bertzikis (Class of 1999), Executive Director and Founder of the Military Rape Crisis Center.
References
- ↑ "Attendance". The New York City Department of Education. October 10, 2013. Retrieved October 10, 2013.
- ↑ http://schools.nyc.gov/OA/SchoolReports/2009-10/Progress_Report_Overview_2010_HS_Q445.pdf