The school, whose name means "to make better through effort" in Latin, will be housed at CES 134, an elementary school that draws fewer students than it can hold. With the addition of the two schools, District 12 will have middle school choice for the first time, Spaulding said, adding that he hopes to add high school grades in 2011, when the first class of 8th graders will graduate.

Spaulding was a founding teacher at the Urban Assembly School for Math and Science, a secondary school in District 10. He plans to offer Regents-level math and science courses to 8th graders at Emolior, but, in addition, the school will have advanced courses across the curriculum, he said. In the 7th and 8th grades, all students will take Latin. Students will also have "early college awareness" classes each year, and they will have to complete a mock college application to be promoted to the next grade.

The school's lead partner is New Leaders for New Schools, a non-profit organization dedicated to training principals. Emolior will be the first school to establish a partnership with New Leaders, and a Harvard education professor contracted by New Leaders will lead regular professional development sessions for Emolior teachers, Spaulding said.

There will be mandatory karate classes in addition to optional robotics and interscholastic sports programs, Spaulding told Insideschools. The school will also have a student council, although Spaulding said not all of the planned programs will become active in the school's first year. (Philissa Cramer, June 2008)