School for Excellence

School for Excellence, a small school in the Morris Educational Campus, offers lots of support to students. It has a social worker, three guidance counselors, and an on-site health clinic for students and their families, according to the comprehensive educational plan (CEP). 

The school is in one of the poorest congressional districts in the country. Roughly one-third of the students live in homeless shelters, many are still learning to speak English, and about a quarter has special needs. Many are the first in their families to earn a high school diploma.

An attendance team meets weekly and makes home visits. Parents are invited to open houses during the year, and encouraged to visit the school even without an appointment. Nonetheless, getting students to school is a struggle: about three-quarters miss a month of more of school each year.  

Literacy is a school-wide focus. Most children arrive in 9th grade reading below, or far below, grade level, and they struggle with writing. Ninth graders keep daily journals and struggling readers are plugged into highly structured reading programs to practice phonics and grammar. Teens learn how to annotate, take notes, on what they read in all subject areas. The CEP says all teachers work on reading and writing skills.

Although the graduation rate is below the citywide average, some graduates go on to attend two- or four-year colleges. College acceptances include Hunter, SUNY Albany, NYC Technical College, Lehman and Baruch, according to the CEP. 

Founded in 2005, School for Excellence is one of four small schools in the former Morris High School, now known as the Morris Educational Campus. The building, opened in 1896 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was the first high school in the Bronx. For a time in the late 1940s and early 1950s one of the most racially integrated high schools in the United States, according to the Bronx Music Heritage Center. Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell graduated from Morris High School in 1954. 

School for Excellence shares the building with Bronx International High School, the High School for Violin and Dance, and Morris Academy for Collaborative Studies. 

Admissions: There has been room for every child who applied in recent years. Most of the students come from the neighborhood. (Lydie Raschka, web reports, October 2018)