Veritas Academy

Veritas Academy is a small school that stresses projects and group work geared to students' interests.

The school is said to be the first high school in the United States to use the Schoolwide Enrichment Model (SEM), developed by Joseph Renzulli and Sally Reis at the University of Connecticut. It focuses on identifying students’ talents, adjusting assignments to meet the needs of various students and providing enrichment activities based on a child’s strengths and interests. Veritas teachers attend professional training in the approach at the University of Connecticut.

The school was started by Cheryl Quatrano and Melinda Spataro, who previously founded the Bell Academy, which uses a similar approach. Quatrano, who remains principal of Veritas, has said the goal is to "provide a gifted education for every child regardless of ability." It is a good fit for students who  "commit to working hard and being self-driven," Quatrano also said.

An educator who conducted the school’s most recent Quality Review found many projects based on “real world” issues, such the pros and cons of marijuana, and social and political issues facing Arab women. The school also makes extensive use of technology, including video conferencing.

Veritas offers several Advanced Placement classes, music, visual arts, and Latin dance. It fields a number of sports teams and, for a school of its size, provides a wide choice of extracurricular activities.

Students come in at varying levels, with some struggling with reading. Veritas staff has highlighted low reading levels as a reason that large number of students do not pass their math Regents exams, according to the school’s Comprehensive Educational Plan. To address that it has instituted a reading lab period for students who failed those exams.

Teachers give the school high marks with nearly all saying they would recommend it to parents, based on their responses to the NYC School Survey. Students see the school environment as safe and supportive but in response to the survey, about half said they were not challenged in their classes and that their teaches did not ask tough questions,

Veritas shares the landmarked Flushing High School building, constructed around 1915, with Queens High School for Language Studies and Flushing High School.

SPECIAL EDUCATION: Veritas offers both team teaching classes with a mix of general and special education students and self-contained classes for students with disabilities.

ADMISSIONS: Veritas does not consider grades or test scores and accepts student from throughout the city, but gives Queens residents priority. It accepts a substantial number of incoming 10th graders. (Gail Robinson, web reports, September 2018)