FEBRUARY 2009 UPDATE: The Department of Education announced that Brandeis High School will not accept an incoming 9th-grade class in September 2009 and will graduate its last class in 2012. The Urban Assembly for Green Careers, the Global Learning Collaborative, and a transfer school, Innovation Diploma Plus, will open in the building in September 2009.

FEBRUARY 2007 REVIEW: Louis D. Brandeis High School has suffered from a history of poor performance and disorder, but in the last few years has made real strides toward improvement. In 2003 New York State took it off its list of failing schools, and the graduation rate has begun to climb. Counting students who graduated after attending summer school, in 2006 the graduation rate was 53 percent, according to the principal. In addition, the school has received a facelift and benefited from a number of new resources. That's not to say that all is perfect: the attendance rate is a worrisome 73 percent and while scores are rising, they are still below par. Still, Principal Eloise Messineo, who has spent six years revamping Brandeis, says the school has undergone a "culture shift," so that there is a new emphasis on academics and respect among the students and faculty. The demeanor of the kids and classrooms the day we visited seemed to confirm this.

The school has three new state-of-the-art science labs with extensive prep rooms for the teachers and lab assistants, and nine new science instruction rooms. The school also benefits from laptop computers, wireless Internet access, three gyms, a dance space, two weight rooms, and wider gym lockers for storing backpacks. Two fulltime librarians oversee the newly expanded library, while a music room contains a huge collection of instruments, and the large auditorium is equipped with stage lighting and sound. All the walls have been brightened, and the courtyard is being readied for planting by students in the horticultural program. The building is restored with new windows and a graffiti-proof light-colored facade. The principal hopes the brightness will be a beacon, sending a signal to its Upper West Side neighborhood that Brandeis is a good choice.

One feature of Brandeis contributes to the negative rap that persists: the high level of security at the door. Students and visiting adults alike must go through airport-like checks, including electronic "wanding," in order to enter the building, which has 13 police officers and several security cameras. Messineo says that however unpleasant these security measures are, they serve a useful purpose in giving students and their parents confidence that the school is safe. She stressed that Brandeis should, and does, provide a secure, comfortable atmosphere, and that in return she expects students to take responsibility for their work and deportment. Indeed, we saw none of the fighting or out-of-control behavior that was reported in the past. We did notice a few lingering students, but Messineo ordered them to their classrooms in a friendly but firm manner.

Brandeis has 2,600 kids and to accommodate them operates on three schedules. Classes start at 8 a.m., with some students arriving at 7:15 for breakfast.

About one third of the students are immigrants who are learning English, and receive extra instruction, so their class day might go from 8 a.m. to 4:20 p.m. Many are enrolled in English as a Second Language or bilingual Spanish programs. Some of the new immigrants come from difficult situationswars, poverty, and interruptions in their formal education. Other students have difficulties of their own; some live in shelters and most of the students enter high school with low reading skills. They get double periods of reading and math to catch up.

Most of the teachers are young, and many come from the city's Teaching Fellows program for second-career professionals or Teach for America, which gets recent graduates from elite colleges and universities to teach in public schools that need extra help. The school's staff includes 10 guidance counselors, among them a college counselor, and five bilingual counselors. Social workers from the Grand Street Settlement, a community services agency, work with at-risk kids, while a cheerful nursery provides care for students' babies.

In classrooms we sat in on, we saw engaged kids doing serious academics. Some teachers were working with electronic blackboards that allow them to write and display information or to gather information online. Because cooperative learning is stressed, particularly in science, students in many rooms sit at round tables, not desks in rows. The school offers evening classes for kids who need to make up credits or otherwise need help, and, for those who are especially motivated, the school offers Advanced Placement courses and internships.

Students at the school are placed into one of five "academies" stressing different subjects: business, fine and performing arts, law, technology, and health. The school works with a number of cultural organizationsincluding the Juilliard School, Carnegie Hall, and the New York Philharmonic to expose the students to art, and to enable them to attend performances or work with visiting artists. All students who take music learn an instrument or sing, and some play in the orchestra or band, or sing in the school chorus.

Special education: The school offers a mix of resources, including SETSS (Special Education Teacher Support Services), self-contained classes (for students with special needs only), and "collaborative team teaching" (CTT) classes, which mix students with special needs and general education students, and are taught by two faculty members.

After school: The school fields 14 sports teams and sponsors activities including debate and chess. (Judy Baum and Eve Heyn, February 2007)

Principal Dr. Eloise Messineo received a 2008 Cahn Fellowship, a 15-month program at Teachers College designed to recognize outstanding principals. Cahn fellows attend workshops at Teachers College and continue serving as principal at the school. (February 2008)

A student who entered the school in September 2003 writes, "Yes I have see dozens of fights, but this school a wonderful place, not only to learn but to absorb what goes on around the building. Basically if you mind your own business and come to class and do what you are told to do, you'll be just fine. I am in all honors classes, that just goes to show, its all based on the person, if you want to learn you will, if you want to be a person that starts those fights, then you will...that's just the way it is in life. And every school has a bad rep. but that should never ever discourage a student from applying, because then they will never experience a school like Brandeis!" (January 2004)