Seizing a Second Chance to Graduate From High School
She skipped almost every class her sophomore year and still maintained perfect attendance. The trick was to drop in for the start of third period, wait for attendance to be recorded for the day and then leave with a bathroom pass. By the time her mother found out about the scheme, Skylynn Vazquez was failing every subject.
Most days, Saquan Bright did not bother to show up at Boys and Girls High School in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. He chose to roam the streets with his friends.
But then Ms. Vazquez and Mr. Bright found a school designed for students like them: Brooklyn High School for Leadership and Community Service in Clinton Hill, which is operated by Brooklyn Community Services, one of eight organizations supported by The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund.
Leadership, one of 57 transfer schools in New York City — established to help students struggling in traditional schools — has 202 students ages 16 to 21. By the time students reach Leadership, they have either dropped out of their regular schools or neared that point because of low grades or poor attendance.
Many come from unstable homes, living with single parents in shelters and temporary housing, and have spent time in the criminal justice system. And 82 percent of the students qualify for free lunch because of their family’s income.
The flexible school schedule — which allows for free periods — enables students to concentrate on courses required to graduate. And the school provides an optional paid internship program, which is appealing to students, some of whom help support their families or who are legally emancipated and support themselves.
Before Leadership, Mr. Bright could not keep up with the demands at Boys and Girls High School. He struggled to pay attention in class, and could not finish tests in time. Still, he was not tested for a learning disability until he was enrolled at Leadership. Now he receives services at Leadership and extended time for tests, and his grades have improved.
At her previous school, in Bushwick, Ms. Vazquez purposefully broke the rules. She wore hats at school every day, even though they were forbidden, and each one was taken away.
“There was a point where I didn’t have any of my hats,” she said. “All 30 of my hats were locked in the dean’s office.”
She enrolled at that school midway through her freshman year, after moving from Florida. She recalled skipping classes and darting off to play basketball and video games with a handful of friends, most of whom have since dropped out, she said.
“We were a bad influence on each other,” she said. “If one of us wasn’t in the mood to go to class, we’d all leave. We pushed each other to do the wrong thing.”
In March 2014, Ms. Vazquez’s mother — enraged by the discovery of what her daughter had been doing — spoke with administrators at the school, who suggested that her daughter enroll at Leadership. Ms. Vasquez, nervous about again switching schools, did not want to go, but when she arrived, she immediately found a support system there. Classes were small, with 20 to 25 students, allowing a nurturing, hands-on learning environment. Students are on a first-name basis with all the teachers, including the principal.
“Respect can be calling someone by their last name, but sometimes when you call someone by their first name, you feel like maybe you’re on a different level,” Stacey Fischler, the school’s program director, said.
Students have access to advocate counselors, who are similar to social workers and help them with issues beyond academics, sometimes referring them to mental health services or youth shelters. Each counselor, assigned to 40 to 50 students, is tasked — to the point of pestering — with making sure they all go to school.
“My priority is to make sure you get your education,” said Heather Hansen, a counselor. “Whether that is going to your house and knocking down your door or calling you like a lunatic all day or bothering your parents. That’s my goal.”
“I don’t think they sleep,” Ms. Vazquez said, laughing. “It’s a very supportive school.”
More than 14,000 students attended transfer schools in New York City as of the 2015-16 school year, the latest for which the Department of Education provided data. Four-year graduation rates for the schools are much lower than the overall rate for New York City public schools, which increased in recent years to 70.5 percent in 2015. Although the class of 2015 at Leadership had a 5.6 percent four-year graduation rate, that rate improves over additional years — typical of many transfer schools. About a quarter of students graduate within six years, according to Department of Education data.
Despite lower rates, the schools are serving students who may have otherwise dropped out, never receiving a diploma.
“You’re working with a population that can be changed, that does need help and doesn’t get targeted often,” Ms. Hansen said. “You’re working with a population that is getting a second chance. And it’s nice to be able to give that. At the end of the day, it can be frustrating and taxing, but you get to see them walk across the stage, and that’s the main goal.”
For Mr. Bright, graduation day seemed unlikely two years ago. In spring 2014, he fell behind again, started ditching classes and almost dropped out. That August, when he was standing on a street corner in Bedford-Stuyvesant, a car passed by. Shots rang out, hitting him in the abdomen.
Members of his family and of the Leadership staff surrounded his hospital bed. “There’s a lot of love there,” he said. He returned to school with renewed commitment.
More than one-third of Leadership students, including Mr. Bright and Ms. Vazquez, participate in an after-school work-training program. They have paid internships at places including Burlington Coat Factory, child care centers and the Brooklyn Veterinary Group.
Last semester, Ms. Vazquez, 20, received an internship at 3 Black Cats Café and Cakery in Brooklyn, where she worked in the kitchen. It was the first job, Ms. Vazquez said, that she took pride in.
“To bake something from scratch and perfect it,” she said. “Knowing that it represents your work, that is new for me.”
The internship ended in November, but she hopes to work at another restaurant. Her love for cooking started in her grandmother’s kitchen. They followed traditional Puerto Rican recipes, including pasteles, a dish of plantains, meat and olives.
Now she cooks to remember her grandmother, who died last spring. After graduation in March, she hopes to continue her passion and has applied to culinary schools in upstate New York.
When she talked to her grandmother about graduation, her grandmother would say, “Vamos a ver” — she would believe it when she saw it.
“And now she’ll see,” Ms. Vazquez said with a smile.
P.C: http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/07/nyregion/neediest-cases-fund-brooklyn-high-school-for-leadership-and-community-service.html?_r=0
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