FEBRUARY 2007 UPDATE: Dr Richard A. Forman was named principal of Clara Barton High School in February 2007, replacing long-time principal Jacqueline Foster who retired, according to Region 6 officials. Forman comes to Barton after serving as principal of the Erasmus Hall Campus High School of Humanities, which will be officially closed by the Department of Education in June 2007.

NOVEMBER 2006 REVIEW: Distinguished by six health profession "majors," Clara Barton High School offers students both a solid academic foundation and a career springboard. The combination is especially prized by graduates who expect to work while they attend college. One senior we met says she'll earn enough as a dental assistant, working one day a week, to support her studies at Long Island University.

On the day we visited, uniform-clad student nurses explored end-of-life ethics, including the basics of making a shroud, in a classroom furnished with hospital beds and practice mannequins. Another class debated the relative economy of street drugs in an astonishingly open and candid conversation. Groups of vision technology students planned power-point presentations on various diseases of the eye in a working optometry lab decorated with a colorful student-made mural. Most notably, in the dental technology lab, mainstream and special-needs students worked side by side with tremendous focus and intensity, learning market-ready, real skills that permit students to become self-supporting on graduation.

With more than 2,300 students, 80% of whom are girls, Barton offers a range of academic choices, too, from Advanced Placement classes (only one of which is a science, biology) to the first-year "basics" class, Science and Sustainability, designed to prepare students for the Regents-level Living Environment course (ordinarily part of the 9th grade curriculum). A dozen assistant principals oversee the various departments and programs, giving Barton the feel of a bustling, self-contained village.

The student body has changed some, with the influx of students who would once have attended large, now-shuttered area high schools, like Prospect Heights, Sarah J. Hale, John Jay and Wingate. "Those kids have to go somewhere," says Principal Jacqueline Foster. "We get the overflow," and "attendance is a struggle for us now," because some students aren't motivated to come to school.

Even so, Foster says, finding that motivation is her goal. She said the percentage of Barton graduates who pass Regents exams, more than tripled from 2002 to 2005, from 16% to 55%. Another change: "It's OK now to be a jock and be smart," she adds, citing the basketball-playing 2006 valedictorian as a prime example. But playing on a team means meeting academic standards: "If they want to stay on that team, they've got to keep their grades up and pass their classes," she said.

In a 10th grade global studies room, students had little beyond textbooks to work with. Some participated eagerly in a discussion of what made Alexander "Great"; a few dozed or stayed buttoned into their coats, passive. Of the 166 teachers on staff, many work hard to build relationships with students over time, but significant faculty turnover poses logistical and academic challenges.

Arts education at Barton includes music: chorus, band (three levels of expertise); and visual arts, including a large, inviting ceramics studio with its own kiln. The school plans to develop an arts sequence that will become an eventual major or area of concentration.

Academically ambitious students may take advantage of the "Gateway" program, an honors-level college prep curriculum meant to attract "children who want to be nurses and doctors," says Foster. However, interest in Barton's honors program has lessened, says Foster, because many academically motivated, ambitious students "apply to the smaller schools" over Clara Barton.

Metal detectors screen all incoming students and guests.

College Admission: College advising is informal, shared between a guidance counselor and secretary. At the time of our visit there was no dedicated college advisor on staff. Nor did the school have a record of where - and how many - of their graduates attend college.

Special education: Most of the 220 students with special needs are placed in dedicated classrooms; there are nine 'inclusion' collaborative-team-teaching classrooms, as well as in the dental technology program.

English Language Learners: Saturday programs offer extra help to language learners; the school also has a dual-language Haitian Creole class and numerous English as a Second Language classes.

After-school: Saturday programs attract both high-achieving students eager to improve and struggling learners. Barton has a Virtual Enterprise program, strong athletic teams, especially in women's track, and prize-winning boys and girls step teams. A travel club and a large cheerleader squad are two of many clubs and activities. (Helen Zelon, November 2006)

"clara barton is the worst school in history.  I went there for my my first day of high school and i cried . i hate it there. People making out in the halls, the food is crappy, most teachers arent that great and it was so crowded with all theses rude people running and screaming through the hall. i hated it so much that i told my mom and she got me out of the school. i hate the building there, and especailly the people!"