School for Human Rights, The

The School for Human Rights is a safe school that does an impressive job helping students with special needs graduate on time. Test scores have a ways to go but the school boasts good attendance and steady leadership. Almost all teachers would recommend the school to other families.

Founded in 2004, The School for Human Rights serves grades 6-12 and shares the Wingate Educational Complex with three other schools.

It partners with The Advocacy Lab to raise awareness of human rights issues through lessons and school assemblies, studying figures like W.E.B. Du Bois, the civil rights activist and first African American to receive a Ph. D. from Harvard.

Incoming students face challenges. Most enter middle school reading below grade level. Staff members work hard to help them improve. They hold one-on-one meetings with students who consistently fail more than two classes and with students who skip classes. They meet with parents of students at risk of failing. They offer lunch-time tutorials, after school help three times a week and Saturday school.

The principal has an excellent working relationship with the principal of High School for Public Service according to the yearly CEP (comprehensive educational plan). The students share a lunch period, spaces and resources; for example, teens learning to speak English at High School for Public Service attend classes at The School for Human Rights.

Parent are welcome. The school reaches out through programs like Urban Advantage, in which families are given free passes to places like the zoo or the New York Hall of Science. Parents are invited to an annual cultural festival and they may take computer classes at the school.

Students may take advantage of a variety of clubs and activities after school, such as crochet, dance and campus-wide PSAL sports.

Special education: Nearly one-quarter of the children have special needs. Classes that incorporate children with special needs are team-taught by two teachers, one with a special education certification. The school has many extra adults, according to the budget summary, including more than half a dozen personal assistants (paraprofessionals) who work one-on-one with children. A guidance counselor, a social worker, two psychologists and a mediation team help prevent conflicts and provide support.

Admissions: Open enrollment. Priority to continuing 8th graders, then Brooklyn residents. (Lydie Raschka, web reports, September 2018)