HELL’S KITCHEN — April McKoy looks back on 2010 as the hardest year of her life.
The Urban Assembly, a nonprofit that creates and supports a group of small public schools across the city, had asked McKoy, 42 — then working as an assistant principal at Bushwick Community High School — to write a proposal to open a new school.
“I was designing the school on nights and on the weekends,” she recalls. “I didn’t sleep at all that year.”
In the fall of 2011, she saw her designs become a reality when the Urban Assembly Gateway School for Technology opened its doors at 439 W. 49th St.
The tech-focused school offers classes in three different “pathways” — information technology, software engineering and digital design and animation.
“I wanted to open a school that reflected where kids in New York City were today — a school that would prepare them for life, college and careers,” she said. “Kids all over the city are often consumers of technology… but their faces aren’t often reflected behind the scenes.”
“The goal of the school is to really prepare our kids to be producers of technology and engage in a very real way, besides just buying the stuff,” she added.
For UA Gateway’s 475 high school students that means mastering everything from programming languages like Java to 3-D animation and modeling.
Students on the information technology pathway learn to take a computer apart and put it back together. Software engineering students, meanwhile, become certified in Illustrator and PhotoShop.
UA Gateway students design all fliers and advertisements for any dances or benefits the school holds, McKoy said.
“The awesome thing about being a principal of a tech school is I don’t have to hire any tech people,” she said with a laugh.
But McKoy works hard to ensure students get the social and emotional support they need, in addition to strong academics and tech skills.
“If the kid didn’t do the homework, what is the situation happening at home? If the kid is sad, are the parents going through a divorce? We really try to educate the whole child,” she said.
That philosophy extends beyond the school’s doors.
Before the start of every school year, McKoy and her staff members visit the homes of each incoming freshman.
“We go, we sit in their living room, and talk about the dreams that they have for the next four years,” she said. “Sometimes you have to sit in the quiet or the noise of someone’s living room to understand what a child’s life is like.”
Cooking and music classes, a gay/straight alliance, a Muslim faith alliance, mentorship programs and coding classes are among the myriad extracurricular activities the school offers.
Events like a Moth-style story slam and an Amazing Race-style competition, meanwhile, have helped the relatively new school build its community.
McKoy herself taught in New York City schools for eight years and worked as an assistant principal for five before she became principal of the school she helped open.
The school graduated its first class last June, with an 89 percent graduation rate.
“I love what I do — it’s so challenging,” she said. “When you think about the fact that every single day, you’re making a difference, and you’re impacting the lives of young people, it’s a huge driving force.”
The principal gave up her office for a desk in one of the school’s hallways, where she sets up each day with her laptop and greets students as they pass.
“Emails, a desktop, papers, office supplies can keep a principal away from the work of the school, which is quality teaching and learning,” she said.
McKoy, who moved to The Bronx from Jamaica when she was 8 years old, said her childhood experiences fueled her desire to close the achievement gap.
“It was a rough time to be in the city,” she recalled. “And I went to a not-so-good elementary school, but I had good teachers there that believed in me.”
She tested into Bronx Science for high school, where she saw the disparities between her life so far and the lives of her classmates — many of whom came from wealthier families who could afford test prep.
“It just started opening my eyes to the inequalities of education, and how demography often informs your destiny, and it really shouldn’t,” she said. “Where you’re born shouldn’t automatically dictate where you end up.”
“I am passionate about providing a fair, quality education to kids who come from all over the city,” she added.
She was quick to dismiss the notion held by some that working to eliminate disparities is “charity work.”
“This isn’t charity work," she said. "It's justice work."
