JHS 162 offers some nice extras like a step team, a robotics team, model United Nations, and a Saturday music program at the Juilliard School. Long-time Principal Maryann Manzolillo offers stable leadership. But the school also has poor attendance, low test scores and some discipline problems.

The building is shared with the Green Dot New York Charter School and Hostos-Lincoln Academy of Sciences.

Students complain of fights and bullying; more than one-third said they don’t feel safe in the bathrooms hallways and locker rooms, according to the Learning Environment Survey.

Special education: The school has a high proportion of special needs children, as well as a large number of English Language Learners.

Admissions: District 7 choice. (Clara Hemphill, DOE statistics, middle school directory, October 2012)