All City Leadership Secondary School is a tiny 6-12 school in Bushwick where courtesy and respect are prized and civility is a way of life. All students become cadets. Attendance is high and nearly every student graduates on time.

Every Friday night, all students attend Leadership Cadet meetings where they participate in ceremonial drills, march, and learn courteous behavior, from addressing adults politely to treating one another with respect. During the school day they wear neat uniforms of white collared shirts and ties and gray pants and address their teachers as "sir" and "ma'am."

The school, which began as a middle school program and opened as a secondary school in 2003, has beefed up its high school course offerings. There are Advanced Placement classes in Calculus, Chemistry, English, Statistics, U.S. and World History. The school launched a pre-med, pre-teaching and pre-engineering program in which participation in AP courses is required. Spanish is the only language taught.

Col. Elvis Estevez, a trim, friendly neighborhood resident and a graduate of local schools, spent a few years in the Navy and was the school's founding principal. He gets consistently high marks from parents, students and teachers on the annual Learning Environment Surveys.

ACLA shares a modern building with a community organization, the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council. The community center is light and airy and has a great, full sized gym. A new building, connected to the community center, has its own cafeteria, classrooms and science labs.

After school: Many students stay for activities such as theater or cadet band. There are several varsity sports teams, including basketball, baseball, handball and volleyball.

College: Most graduates go onto college and a few have even been admitted to Ivy League schools like Yale and Cornell. 

Admissions: The school admits students from districts 32, 24 and 30. Interested middle school students must attend an orientation, take an exam and undergo an interview with the principal. Continuing 8th graders get preference in high school. (Pamela Wheaton, updated November 2012 from March 2006 review)