The Cornerstone Academy for Social Action (CASA) will open its middle school in September 2009. The school is one of three new schools that will open in the fall to give District 11 students middle school options outside of their zoned schools. (The Baychester Academy and the Pelham Bay Academy of Academics and Community Involvement are the other two new schools.)

The middle school will be located on the fourth floor of CASA elementary, which is currently occupied by Peace and Diversity Academy.  Peace and Diversity will move to a brand new building in District 12 in September 2009.

Principal Jamaal Bowman looks forward to continuing the social justice mission of CASA elementary through the middle school grades, and he is working to establish new partnerships with community organizations to offer his students many opportunities for  experiential leadership. Bowman also hopes to have a strong arts program, as well.

Through New Leaders for New Schools, which trains aspiring school leaders, Bowman is completing his principal's residency as at Achievement First Endeavor Charter Middle School in Bedford Stuyvesant.  Bowman said he wants to lead a middle school because "Middle school was a crossroads for me that basically determined the rest of my life." 

Admissions: Priority will be given to current CASA elementary school 5th-graders.  The school will also accept roughly 30 additional students who live in District 11.