| Number of Schools Managed |
10 |
4 |
| Number of Students Managed |
6,253 students |
2,265 students |
| District Total Revenue |
$150,002,000 |
$31,819,000 |
| District Expenditure |
$146,706,000 |
$31,869,000 |
| District Revenue / Student |
$23,989 |
$14,048 |
| District Expenditure / Student |
$23,462 |
$14,070 |
| District Graduation Rates |
98% |
97% |
|
- Village School is a high school, comprising grades 9 through 12. It is located in Great Neck, New York, as part of the Great Neck School District. A wide variety of students attend the Village School. The Village School's catalogue describes the students saying,
All have at least average ability, some have exceptional learning abilities and artistic talents, while others have special educational needs. Students who may have felt lost and isolated in a large school often thrive in the smaller and more personalized setting of the Village School. - The school describes itself as a "college preparatory public high school dedicated to encouraging academic success through a non-traditional, innovative curriculum".
- Co-founder Arnie Langberg has been called "one of the most important pioneers in the field of public alternative education."
- Admissions
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The admissions process at Village School is comprehensive. Each student takes part in an on-campus interview and is accompanied by a parent. The children are hand picked and visit the school twice before being considered a candidate for this program.
- Recognition
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The Village School, established in 1970, is one of the America's oldest and most successful alternative high schools. The School enjoys a national reputation and has been positively evaluated by the Center for the Study of Educational Alternatives at Hofstra University. The American School Board Journal granted its Magna Award to the School for its exemplary, nontraditional, high school program.
[ "Magna Awards presented today", American School Board Journal, April 16, 2007. Accessed October 18, 2007. "Great Neck (N.Y.) Public Schools -- Village School."] As a member of the Coalition of Essential Schools, the Village School and its staff work closely with other member schools and with the education faculty of Brown University.[[4] Great Neck Public Schools Web site, PDF document titled "Great Neck Public Schools: The Village School", accessed October 18, 2007.] - Student Assessment
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The Village School does not employ a traditional grading system; rather, it uses an individualized contract system in which students earn credits as they meet curriculum goals they have established with their teachers. Authentic, performance, and portfolio assessments of these student/teacher goals have long been a hallmark of a Village School transcript. Approximately 90 percent of Village School graduates are accepted at either four-year or two-year colleges.
- Curriculum
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The Village School offers focused studies in the traditional academic areas: English, social studies, science, math, foreign language, art, and music. Some students elect to take additional courses at off-campus institutions, such as local colleges, the Great Neck Adult Program, or at one of Great Neck's two traditional high schools. Students often explore special areas of interest through guided independent study and the School's internship program.
- History
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In Great Neck, the Village School occupies an A-frame cottage and annex that once served as a community recreation center. The first students, chosen by lottery, were creative types — artists, dancers, musicians — stifled by the discipline and structure of other schools. In later years, though, the Village School lost much of its cachet after attracting some students with drug and behavior problems. Parents refused to send their children, and enrollment dropped to as low as 28 during the mid-1990s.
- Demographics
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The student body in the 2007-2008 school year consisted of:
[ School Comprehensive Information Report (PDF); URL accessed May 1, 2009.]
- 0 American Indian or Alaska Native students or 0% of the student body
- 1 Black or African American student or 2% of the student body
- 1 Hispanic or Latino students or 2% of the student body
- 2 Asian or Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander students or 4% of the student body
- 42 White students or 91% of the student body
- 0 Multiracial students or 0% of the student body
- The school’s maximum capacity is 50 students and only 25% of them come from the Great Neck school district. About 50% of the students come from the needs area of Special Education while the other half of the students are in regular education. There is a maximum of 15 students per classroom with a minimum of four students, but there are no teaching assistants in any of the classes. The staff is hired from within the school and the Principal says that he hires good teachers who have personality based on character/logic issues. He says that he bases his decisions to hire on answers to questions like this: “What can you give to students once the door is closed?”
[ Village School, The Village School: An Alternative Means to Education. Accessed November 12, 2007.] - Extracurricular activities
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Approximately 50 students who are considered at risk academically for an array of reasons are enrolled in the Village School each academic year.
[[5] Outdoor Education Program, accessed July 16, 2009] - In the 1970s students obtained credit for such activities as hitchhiking across North Africa, in the 1980s student work included designing software for a computer company, and being a sports magazine intern.
["Alternative Schools Adapt," by Fannie Weinstein. The New York Times, June 8, 1986, section A page 14.] - Additional Information
- Alternative school: Yes
- Magnet school: No
- Coeducational: Yes
- Notable alumni
- Nikki Blonsky, actress who starred as Tracy Turnblad in the 2007 film version of Hairspray transferred to the school in her sophomore year.
[Fischler, Marcelle S. "For ‘Hairspray’ Star, ‘My Darn Dream Come True’", The New York Times, July 8, 2007. Accessed July 11, 2007. "In her sophomore year, unable to find her niche, she switched from the John L. Miller-Great Neck North High School to the Village School, the district’s alternative high school, with 50 students. After class, she joined the theater program at the William A. Shine Great Neck South High School..."]
- Jesse Friedman, who with his father Arnold was the subject of the child-molestation case documented in Capturing the Friedmans.
[Kilgannon, Corey. "THE ISLAND; An Uphill Fight to Shed a Lifelong Label", The New York Times, September 10, 2006. Accessed October 29, 2008. "Ms. Walsh, 27, is also from Great Neck. She never knew Mr. Friedman growing up, but she knew of him, especially because she attended his alma mater, a small charter high school called the Village School."]
- Ilan Hall (born 1982), chef and restaurateur, winner of season two of Bravo TV's Top Chef competition.
- Richard L Weissman, Trader/Educator, author, "Mechanical Trading Systems" (John Wiley & Sons, 2004) ISBN #0471654353
- Adam Yellin (class of 1980), record producer and engineer, chief engineer at Electric Lady Studios. Producer of The Ramones, Debbie Harry etc...
- External links
- Great Neck Public School official site
- Source: Wikipedia; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.
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