Queens High School for Information, Research, and Technology

The Queens High School for Information, Research and Technology, or QIRT, offers classes in computer science and a supportive environment for its students, including many undocumented immigrants and refugees from central America. Some are unaccompanied minors, and some work full-time outside of school hours.

Principal Carlos Manalo, an imigrant himself, gets high marks from teachers and is deeply involved in the school. He serves as faculty adviser to the LGBT clubs; he invites students into his office to talk and makes them tea; he even finds them work on the campus. The school also seeks to serve the surrounding community, offering GED courses and other classes to neighborhood residents.

Students at QIRT feel safer than those at many other schools across the city and believe that discipline at the school is fair. The school is housed in the Far Rockaway Educational Campus.

For years after opening in 2008, the school struggled with poor performance, violence and frequent changes in leadership. But since Manalo became principal in 2014, the school has turned a corner. Although QIRT students face many challenges, the school’s graduation and college readiness rates are about average for the city and many students graduate with some college credits.

One downside: attendance is poor, with nearly one-half of the students missing more than a month of school.

Special education: The school has a good record of graduating students with disabilities or those who are learning English. It offers transitional bilingual classes for Spanish speakers as well as classes designed to promote literacy in Spanish. 

Admission: The school has two programs: computer science and CISCO networking. Both select applicants using the Educational Option method designed to insure students at all educational levels. (Gail Robinson, DOE materials and press accounts, December 2018)