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Our Insights

What’s Special

Bright and clean building

The Downside

School closed for poor performance

MARCH 2018 UPDATE: The Panel for Education Policy voted to close The Felisa Rincon de Gautier Institute for Law and Public Policy at the end of June 2018 because of poor performance. A final decision by the Panel for Educational Policy is Pending.

AUGEST 2012 REVIEW: The Felisa Rincon de Gautier Institute for Law and Public Policy shares the Soundview Educational Campus with Bronx Arena, a transfer school. The building has no gymnasium or auditorium, but hallways feel spacious, and rooms are bright and clean. Most students come in with very weak academic skills, and the school does a pretty good job getting them to graduate on time.

UnfortunateIy, nearly half of the students responding to the Learning Environment Survey said they dont feel safe outside the building and one-third said they dont feel safe in the corridors and bathrooms. Half the teachers say they mistrust the principal and two-thirds say there are problems with order and discipline.

Principal Grismaldy Laboy, who founded the school in 2003, graduated from Adlai Stevenson High School and returned as as teacher there. She modeled her new school after the Law Institute at Stevenson. The ties to Stevenson are still present; Laboy's students are eligible to join that school's athletic teams.

The school has a standard Regents-prep curriculum. Students also take a class in forensics and an introduction to law and public policy.

The school, named for the first female mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, attracts Spanish-speaking new immigrant students, some of whom have had little formal education in their native countries.

Special education: The state education department found that the school violated students' rights by putting unqualified teachers in charge of special education classes. "Administrators brough in a cong line of substittue teachers on 'rotating' one-week stints to teacher special education classes," The New York Times reported.

Admissions: limited unscreened. (Clara Hemphill, news reports and statistics, August 2012)

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For more information about our data sources, see About Our Data · More DOE statistics for this school

Programs & Admissions

From the 2024 High School Directory

W.E.B. Du Bois Writing Institute

Admissions Method: Ed. Opt.

Program Description:

This is an interdisciplinary program that applies the skills and content areas of the humanities. Instruction includes activities that require all students to think, problem solve, and defend their opinions. Students will be required to participate and lead school wide activities such as community service, peer tutoring and internships. They will complete college courses, pursue an Advanced Regents Diploma and complete three years of a foreign language.

The Felisa Rincón de Gautier Institute for Law and Public Policy

Admissions Method: Ed. Opt.

Program Description:

This program helps students explore careers in the legal and political fields while strengthening their reading, writing and public speaking skills. Our Law Academy program creates a learning environment committed to community and character development.

Offerings

From the 2024 High School Directory

Language Courses

Spanish

Boys PSAL teams

Baseball, Basketball, Football, Outdoor Track, Soccer

Girls PSAL teams

Badminton, Basketball, Indoor Track, Soccer, Softball, Tennis, Volleyball

Contact & Location

Location

1440 Story Avenue
Bronx NY 10473

Trains: 6 Line to Whitlock Ave

Buses: Bx5, Bx6, Bx6-SBS


Contact

Principal: Lisa Luft

Website

Other Details

Shared campus? Yes

This school shares the Soundview Educational Campus with one other school

Uniforms required? No
Metal detectors? No

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