The Dr. Emmett W. Bassett School (P.S. 119)

PS 119 is a neighborhood school with solid academics for all students, including those with special needs and English language learners. The school offers lots of field trips and ballroom dance. It hopes to build a more positive culture and tone under fresh leadership. 

Students get a chance to explore the city beyond classroom walls. Each child takes at least five major trips to the city’s historical and cultural institutions, including but not limited to The New York Botanical Garden, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York Historical Society, Museum Of Modern Art, Wave Hill, The Bronx Zoo and The Museum of the City of New York, according to the Comprehensive Educational Plan (CEP).

PS 119 offersballroom dance in the upper grades. It has one music teacher and one theater arts teacher on staff. The arts also get a boost from resident artists in dance, music, and visual arts. Students attend field trips both onstage and off through partnerships with the New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theater, according to the Arts in Schools Report.

The school is home to a wide range of learners from diverse backgrounds, including many Latinx students and immigrants from Bangladesh, China, Korea, Yemen, India and Guyana. The number of English language learners and special needs students is gently on the rise.

PS 119 has long had active parents. They are invited to observe classrooms and attend publishing parties of their children’s written work. They may participate in English as a New Language classes and take part in family fun and learning nights, as well as multicultural events, according to the CEP. 

Enrollment, while declining, is still too high for the main building. Many children learn outside in portables, while others occupy the first floor and part of the second floor of a building across the street shared with IS 125 and Blue Sky middle school. 

While teachers are experienced and get effective support and supervision, according to the Quality Review, the school culture eroded dramatically under the previous leader, NYC School Surveys show, to the point where only three percent of teachers felt she was a good manager.

Kimberly Nohavicka became principal in 2020. She was formerly principal of PS 50 Clara Barton, which closed in 2016, and led Satellite Academy, a high school for older students. 

ADMISSIONS: Neighborhood school. (Lydie Raschka, web reports, May 2020)