Hempstead High becomes 3 smaller schools in 1

Welcome to Hempstead High School. Welcome to Hempstead High School. And, welcome to Hempstead High School.

To try to turn around a system that Hempstead educators say is not working, the troubled district has divided the ninth grade into three separate college preparatory academies on the high school campus. The restructuring is believed to be the first of its kind on Long Island.

Each academy of about 120 students has its own focus - music and art, math and science, and business and law - and its own principal and staff. Each succeeding ninth grade class will be divided until the entire high school is split into three schools of about 450 students each.

"We want our students to be successful and, to be successful, we knew we had to transform our high school," said Hempstead Superintendent Patricia Garcia, who joined the district in 2009. "Our graduation rate is low, our student performance was very low, and as you look at those statistics - you cannot continue to do the same thing."

Program welcomed

The new principals, teachers and students welcomed the program, saying it could bring meaningful change. About 50 percent of Hempstead students graduated last year with 55 percent of them receiving a Regents diploma. The school has had its share of difficulties, including ethnic tensions and fights last year that led to the ouster of students and to staggered dismissal times.

The new system already has had an impact on freshman Daniel Narcisse, who said he has noticed a new maturity among his peers.

"We are seeing changes that are happening," said Narcisse, 14. "Wow - it's just amazing."

The district modeled its approach on public schools, including some in New York City and Atlanta that successfully implemented similar strategies. Atlanta's Carver High School, for example, reported a 61 percent graduation rate in 2006, one year after its overhaul, compared with 36 percent in 2005.

Hempstead's approach will make it "easier for teachers to coordinate and plan and interact with students," said Alan Singer, a professor of secondary education at Hofstra University. "When you have these smaller schools - the subdivisions - it makes it easier to address needs of students and that is a positive thing."

But, he added, the approach is not a panacea in the mostly minority school district where about 71 percent of students were eligible for free or reduced lunch, according to the 2008-2009 state report card.

"They keep looking for solutions within the schools because no one wants to address the underlying problem of racial isolation and segregation of Long Island," Singer said. He added that economic conditions also play a role in a school's performance. "There are no miracle solutions . . . Kids will do better in schools when their lives are better."

Garcia said smaller schools will create a more welcoming and humane environment. Each academy has its own core teachers, administrators and guidance counselor. The ninth-graders will stay in the same subset as they continue through school, and have an advisement school period every other day in which they meet with teachers to map out their plans.

The ninth-graders eat lunch together and are concentrated in one section of the building, but do interact with the upper grades for classes such as art, music, physical education and foreign languages. As these students progress into upper grades, the prep academies may have their own sections within the high school's three buildings.

Core classes remain

The students take core classes, as mandated by the state. But electives and other extracurricular activities are tailored to the focus of each of the academies. For example, the district will soon launch a Mandarin Chinese language program for students in the math and science academy.

A survey was sent to incoming middle school students to help them and their parents pick an academy. District officials also said the program is flexible enough to accommodate students who want to switch academies as they continue through high school.

Karen Lopez, 14, is in math and science. She wants to be a doctor. A week into the program, she said, "It's different. It is a smaller environment. The teachers are starting to know you. It is not like every teacher is going to be a stranger."

English teacher Zephaniah Powell, who is assigned to the school of arts and music, said some in the district are skeptical of the switch, but she welcomes it.

"Change scares people and everyone is not willing to change," she said. "It is my belief there are enough of us who are forward-thinking and thinking about what children need versus what we need, and committed to make this work."

Monique Davis, a Hempstead High alum herself whose daughter is in ninth grade, said it's about time a change was made. "You can't do the same things you have been doing for years and years," she said.