Great Oaks Charter School
Grades: 6-12Our Insights
What’s Special
Daily tutoring for all students
The Downside
Small school has limited electives
Great Oaks Charter is a small 6-12 school that offers a longer school day, daily small group advisories, and up to two hours a day of tutoring in reading, writing and math. Advisors connect with families once a week, and each student has a coach who checks in daily. There is a social worker for each grade level.
The school is a good fit for teens who seek a small, close-knit school, an organized structure with clear rules and uniforms, and high expectations, according to executive director Timberly Wilson. Parents are strongly encouraged to participate by volunteering at the school or designing and coordinating events.
Many adults are on hand to assist students. The school works with roughly 40 AmeriCorps volunteers, recent college graduates who tutor students throughout the day and lead after school activities. The tutors work to help boost math, reading and writing skills in particular.
Great Oaks brings current events into lessons, for example, students did lab experiments to determine the effectiveness of COVID masks. They studied the Black Lives Matter movement and what people mean when they call for defunding the police. Teachers choose a range of books for lessons, for example, students read 145th Street, a collection of stories about the residents on one block in Harlem, and William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
The school day runs longer than usual. The third Wednesday of the month is half a day. Students enjoy fun activities that morning, such as cooking, karate, gaming or a visit to Brooklyn Bridge Park. Those who remain at school eat together and everyone leaves at noon, teachers included. On a typical school day 8th and 9th graders have permission to eat lunch in the neighborhood.
The school offers music, visual arts, physical activity and dance. Clubs and activities may change depending on interest and are listed on the school website. Offerings are limited, for example, there is currently no foreign language but Wilson said the school is "growing and changing."
Great Oaks has evolved since its early days of strict demerits and detention. Staff uses a restorative justice approach bringing students together to discuss a conflict, and mediating between children and their families if needed.
The school welcomes students with disabilities. In addition to the volunteers, each classroom has two teachers, one of whom is trained to teach special education. Often a classroom has an extra adult: the co-teaching team plus one AmeriCorps fellow called a teacher-resident, typically enrolled in New York University, who receives free housing and a weekly stipend.
The current building lacks an auditorium or gymnasium. Physical education is held in a local park on nice weather days. The school will move to Greenwich Village in 2024 to a standalone building with a gymnasium.
Great Oaks is part of a Newark, New Jersey-based charter school organization that began in 2011. Great Oaks NYC opened its middle school in 2013. The high school began in 2022 with 9th grade, and will expand by one grade per year.
ADMISSIONS: Citywide lottery. The school enrolls students mid-year if there is space. (Lydie Raschka, phone interview, March 2022)
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School Stats
Is this school safe and well-run?
From the 2020-21 NYC School Survey
From the 2019-20 NY State Report Card
From the 2021-22 School Quality Guide
How do students perform academically?
From the 2021-22 School Quality Guide
Who does this school serve?
From the 2022-23 Demographic Snapshot
From the 2021-22 School Quality Guide
Contact & Location
Location
240 Bleecker Street
Manhattan
NY
10014
Trains: to Spring St; , to Grand St; , to Delancey St-Essex St; , to Bowery
Buses: M9, M14A, M15, M15-SBS, M103, B39
Contact
Other Details
This school is in its own building.
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