The Academy for Software Engineering has one of the most interesting themes of the city’s new schools: a program dedicated to computer science and built with the help of the tech industry, including companies like Google, eBay, Facebook and FourSquare.

Housed in the Washington Irving Educational Complex just off Union Square, the Academy for Software Engineering is scheduled to open with 108 9^th-graders in fall 2012 and will add a grade each year until it serves grades 9-12. It aims to teach students not just programming languages like Java or PHP, but also the principles underlying those languages—an education designed to help students adapt quickly as technology changes and new languages are developed.

The school is the brainchild of Mike Zamansky, a computer science teacher at Stuyvesant High School, and Fred Wilson, a managing partner of Union Square Ventures who has invested in companies like Twitter, Foursquare and Disqus. Wilson says the school is designed to meet the need for computer programmers—software engineers – as the tech industry expands in New York City.

Principal Seung Yu, a former English teacher at the High School of Telecommunications who worked as a principal-in-training at Pathways in Technology Early College High School in Brooklyn, says there are no admissions requirements and he accepts students with a wide range of skills. The Academy for Software Engineering offers a standard Regents-prep curriculum, including history, English, math and sciences and will offer a career and technical education (CTE) certificate. The hope is that students will be prepared to go to college, and will also be able to enter the workforce if they decide not to go to college.

An advisory board is chaired by Evan Korth, a professor of computer science at New York University, and includes representatives of various tech companies. Wilson says the advisory board members will serve as mentors to the students and may offer internships to advanced students in their junior or senior years. (Photo at left shows Korth, Yu and Wilson). 

Washington Irving High School is being phased out for poor performance and replaced with a number of small schools. Students must pass through metal detectors to enter the building. Students say they feel safer than they did a few years ago-- 76 percent of Washington Irving students reported in 2011 that they feel safe compared to 54 percent in 2007—but there are still some complaints of fights. The challenge for Yu and other principals in the building is to create a new culture as the old Washington Irving closes.

The small schools in the Washington Irving building share sports teams.

Special education: Plans to serve special education students are still being developed.

Admissions: Limited unscreened. Students should attend an open house or the high school fair to express an interest. See the school website http://afsenyc.org or contact info@AFSEnyc.org for more information. (Clara Hemphill, February 2012)