Brightly-lit, cheery and welcoming, Millennium High School has some of the most striking architecture of any public school in the city. Housed on several floors of a 1929 office building near Wall Street, the school boasts a river views from its cafeteria, wide corridors, and interior staircases to connect one floor to another. Cork walls serve as bulletin boards and help muffle sound. Classrooms with bright blue floors and high-tech chrome and gray tables and chairs encircle the exterior of the floors. Pleasant lounge areas in the center of the floors have upholstered sofas and hardwood tables and chairs where students may study, talk to a teacher, or just hang out between classes and after school.

The architecture helps create a respectful and collegial atmosphere. Throughout the building, grown-ups and students speak in kind, pleasant tones. Irregular shaped nooks and crannies provide spots for students to curl up and read a book. Teachers and students may talk informally with one another in the common areas. The cafeteria, with high café-style chairs as well as lower, small round tables, is quiet enough that students can carry on peaceful conversation. Students may go outside the building for lunch if they prefer. Bathroooms are clean and unlocked.

The school draws its philosophy from two other small, successful Manhattan schools: The School of the Future and Baruch College Campus High School. Millennium Principal Robert Rhodes, former assistant principal at the School of the Future, strives to combine the "portfolio work" and an emphasis on independent research that have made Future popular with the strong writing program and use of small group "advisories" that have made Baruch successful. His staff is made up "young, overachieving liberal arts graduates," Rhodes said. And while many staff members could benefit from more teaching experience nearly half were first-year teachers at the time of our visit they are energetic and seem to have full command of their subject matter. Most of the classes are offered in seminar-style, with teachers encouraging plenty of class discussion. In several of the 9th grade classes we visited, teachers seemed to have trouble drawing shy students out. But in the upper level classes we heard articulate kids talk about the themes of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby; the relative merits of primary and secondary sources in the study of slavery; and writing techniques used by Sophocles in Antigone. Students are proud of both the quantity and their quality of their writing: one student told us he wrote a 13-page paper about The New Deal.

A two-year biochemistry sequence is taught in 9th and 10th grade. Upper level students take advanced biology, chemistry and physics. Math follows the traditional sequence of algebra, geometry, algebra II, and precalculus.

Rhodes says about one-quarter of the students come from private or parochial schools, but Millennium also serves a significant number of poor and working class children. It has a higher free lunch rate than many District 2 schools, with 55% of the pupils qualifying for either free or reduced lunch. "We have kids who live in projects and kids who live in million-dollar lofts," he said.

Teachers expect students to do about two hours of homework a night. "I don't think kids see it as a competitive school," Rhodes said. Millennium was scheduled to graduate its first class in 2006. The school has an unusual collaboration with the YMCA of Greater New York which offers after-school programs and free health club memberships to all students. There is no gym, and students complain that sports are limited. There is a fitness center, and students may take part in several competitive sports including basketball, fencing, handball, and touch football.

Special education: A few disabled children from District 75 are integrated into regular classes. In addition, the school offers "SETSS" special education teacher support services for children who need extra academic help.

Admissions: Priority is given to students who live below Houston Street in Manhattan. In recent years, students have been admitted from all five boroughs. Priority is given to students with at least an 85 average and with fewer than 10 lateness and absences. Tours are offered in the fall. (Clara Hemphill, October 2005. See also NYC's Best Public High Schools: A Parent's Guide.)

"It's clear that it's about the process of what you're learning. My kid comes home 'oh my God, we had the greatest argument today. It's not about the grades."