M.S. 113 Richard R. Green School

MS 113, which suffered from extreme overcrowding, violence, and lack of resources for many years, was closed in June 2007 because of poor performance. It was replaced by several small schools: Young Scholars Academy, MS 370 School of Diplomacy, the Globe School for Environmental Research and FORWARD School of Creative Writing. In 2016, the School of Diplomacy and the Globe School for Environmental Research merged to form the Leaders of Tomorrow School.

MS 113 had been ranked among the most dangerous middle schools in the city. To combat the problem, video surveillance cameras were installed in fall 2005 but actions taken failed to stem the violence or low performance of the school. [photo on this page taken in 2011 by E. Gaston, New York Post].

The school's last principal, Angela Green, considered herself more than a caretaker. "These kids are mine," she said. One student told us that Green had helped steer her away from a bad crowd and bring a stop to her class-cutting, when the principal did things like take her out for a birthday dinner.(Jacquie Wayans, June 2007, updated June 2016)