According to founding Principal Michelle Ashkin, students at ACE will conduct scientific research, working with professors from local universities, and complete environment-oriented community projects, perhaps at a nearby salt marsh biome. Two partner organizations, Trees New York and the Council on the Environment, will help coordinate "community-based action projects," Ashkin said. But the school is not just for budding ecologists, she said -- it will also have an arts and creative writing program.

Ashkin, formerly an acting assistant principal at Millennium High School in Manhattan, included Millennium students on the school's planning committee. (Ashkin was also a founding teacher at the High School for Environmental Studies in 1992.) She plans to have a "strong student government" at ACE. Student interest will determine what clubs -- and even what electives -- the school offers. After school programs will include photography, dance, journalism, and environmental leadership.

Special education: Beginning in its first year, the school will accept students who require Special Education Teacher Support Services (SETSS) and collaborative team teaching.

Admission: Citywide. Priority is given to students who attend an information session. (Philissa Cramer, February 2008)