New York Harbor School

So I went on an interview last Friday at the Harbor school. The school itself is located in Bushwick, which is in central Brooklyn. I have to admit that I don’t know jackshite about Brooklyn and can count the number of times I have been there on two hands and one foot. For real.

Anyway. The school reminds me a lot of the one I am at, with a few critical differences. I’m not going to give a play by play, or any kind of checklist comparison, but I will let you know how it went.

Next year they are adding the last of the “new kids.” Right now they have 9th, 10th, and 11th graders and as these classes move up they’ll add another and be a full school. I was there on a day when the 10th graders were on a field trip, so it seemed pretty empty.

The school is designed around the idea that each NYC kids has a right to have access to the waterfront, that because they live on an island, they should have some appreciation of the water, the Harbor, and the natural resources involved, etc. And a second idea is that all kids can go to college. I’m down with both of them.

They have a campus down at the South Street Seaport where kids do boatbuilding (they have been building a whaleboat) and they've already built three sea kayaks, all of wood. They actually go overnight sailing on the Lettie G Howard, which is very cool.

You can browse in all of the websites I left for you if you want a better taste, but it’s pretty exciting that this school exists, and even more exciting that I could possibly work there.

Next up is demo lessons and a second interview in May.