DECEMBER 2007 UPDATE: Joseph Martucci, principal at the time of Insideschools' visit, has retired. His replacement, Christina Tettonis, was formerly principal of PS 170.

MAY 2006 REVIEW: In a city filled with new public schools testing an array of ways to educate and teach students, the Hellenic Classical Charter School is surely one of the most novel. The school, which emphasizes Greek language and culture, grew out of the Soterios Ellenas school, a longstanding Greek-Orthodox parochial school that now houses Hellenic Classical, too.

On our visit, the school struck us as a hybrid of parochial and public schoolsa place that lacks religious instruction, but that has adopted the traditional, disciplined atmosphere ordinarily associated with a faith-based school. "We don't take any nonsense," says principal Joseph Martucci, who worked in New York City public schools for 34 years. At the same time, the school is intimate and nurturing. Often during our visit, we saw kids run up to Martucci, greeting him, sharing their work, even decorating his lapel with stickers.

The school, launched in September 2005 with brand-new books, computers, furniture, and school supplies, opened with two kindergarten classes and one class each in 1st to 4th grade. Eventually, it is expected to grow into a full K-8 program, adding a new grade every year and leasing space from its parochial counterpart.

Soterios Ellenos has educated Brooklynites of Greek heritage for decades, but recent demographic changes meant that fewer and fewer local families wanted a Greek education for their children. The school began to "dwindle," according to Martucci, and closing was a distinct possibility. Then, lawyer and former community school board president Charles Capetanakis, who was long affiliated with the parochial school, proposed developing within the building a not-for-profit charter school, based on Hellenic culture and drawing in a broader range of students. The result, Hellenic Classical, benefits, like all New York State charter schools, from public education funding and supports like food services and student transportation. Eventually, Martucci says, Soterios Ellenas will close, and Hellenic will take its place in the building. Capatenakis is chairman of Hellenic Classical's board.

While most classroom teachers are "brand new," according to the principal, the teachers of Greek are native speakers and seasoned professionals whose salaries are covered by the Greek government. Professional staff developers from the Center for Educational Innovation-Public Education Association, a New York-based not-for-profit organization that provides support to charter and other public schools, are on hand to train new teachers and assist with testing, evaluation, and other necessities. Classroom teachers are not unionized but are state-certified; their compensation is "working up" to teachers' union standards, according to Martucci. The teachers' relative youth allows Martucci "to train and mold them into what we want," he says.

The school's population is diverse; students come from all over Brooklyn and as far away as the Bronx and Staten Island, with fewer than half of Greek extraction. Still, two hours daily of the long school day 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.are devoted to the study of Greek, and the kindergartners we saw moved easily between Greek and English, although their reading and writing skills seemed somewhat less developed their spoken language facility. Lively classrooms and bulletin boards lining the hallways were filled with creative student work that illustrated Greek culture, from detailed images of Greek amphorae to maps with captions written in Greek, and images of the Greek gods.

Teaching is traditional, and the students, who wear uniforms, work more with formatted worksheets than original, teacher-made materials. The progressive workshop method for teaching reading and writing, mandated in most city schools, has largely been adopted, however, and in classrooms we visited, children were enthusiastic and relaxed. The school has a music teacher one day a week; classroom teachers are responsible for science and art, subjects that typically fall to a specialized teacher in a larger school.

Discipline is active and unemotional. In the 2nd grade class we visited, the principal firmly directed a girl, who was sulking in a coat closet because she didn't like the seat she had been assigned, back to her desk. When another child tried to explain the situation, the teach said very gently, in Greek and then in English, "we don't need another lawyer." The girl returned to her seat, put her head on the desk, cried, quieted, and then settled in as her classmates and her teacher continued with the lesson. Martucci says that "conforming to our rules and regulations" was an initial challenge for some students, but that high expectations develop young people able to deal with the world.

The lunchroom, accessible through the gym by a crumbling set of stairs, offers city Department of Education meals to students of both schools, with special, non-meat menus prepared on Fridays for Greek Orthodox students. There is no outdoor play space and no recess; instead, Martucci conducts lunchtime read-alouds, where students share books, and the school's dynamic director of operations, Joy Petrakos, reads and sings with the kindergartners.

Special education: A state-certified special education teacher works with a few children individually and does small-group work with struggling students. But students with special needs, once identified, may not remain at the school. "We may not be able to service those kids," says Martucci, and "parents have the option" to find a new setting for their children

After school: A fee-based program serves fewer than 20 children. The school also holds Project Boost, an enrichment and study-skills program, for 4th graders.

Admissions: A lottery is held in April. Priority is given to residents of District 15. Students apply for admission. Families who endorse both the longer school day and traditional, rigorous academics are encouraged to apply. Parents seem impressed by the school's approach; enrollment for 2006-07 grew by 50 percent over the previous year. (Helen Zelon, May 2006)