ROCKAWAY PARK — Eleven years ago Brian O’Connell, the principal of Scholars’ Academy, was instructed by the district to create a middle school on the Rockaway peninsula for kids to “aspire to.”
In the years since, the school — which includes a middle and high school — has become one of the best in the city.
It’s also one of the most diverse, which was a focus for O’Connell, who was aware of the segregation at schools throughout the city.
“There’s so much attention paid to other schools on how to make them more diverse. How do you do it?” he said.
The city has pushed various initiatives to boost diversity in its schools, which many say are currently segregated in neighborhoods throughout the city.
A DNAinfo New York analysis of 2013-2014 data showed that half of the city's 1,600 public schools have a predominantly black and Latino population. Half of the city’s white students are concentrated in less than 10 percent of schools, according to data.
At Scholars’ Academy, of the more than 1,300 students, 35 percent are white, 23 percent are African American, 20 percent are Asian and 18 percent are Hispanic.
“We’re very proud of the synergy,” O’Connell said.
“There are solutions out there and I think the solutions [to diversity] can be a win-win for everyone. I think this school proves that diversity is a win-win for everyone.”
O’Connell, who grew up in Rockaway Park, has seen how segregation has persisted in schools throughout the peninsula. His school is a haven for kids from different neighborhoods to develop friendships in the same "sandbar community."
“This school is one way of counterbalancing the perception that street address and zip code is a defining factor of who you are as a person, and what your potential is,” he said.
“I think this school rails against that concept.”
High school students at a science class at Scholars' Academy in Rockaway Park. (DNAinfo/Katie Honan)
It has also provided a haven for students throughout the far-away peninsula to go to a great school without a long commute, he said.
Jocelyn Dicent, the school’s valedictorian, selected Scholars’ based of its size, and because it was closer to home. She’s attending Yale University in the fall.
“I knew that going to Scholars’ I’d be in an environment where teachers can help me out. The accessibility, too,” she said.
“What’s the point of going so far away in Manhattan or The Bronx when I can get an even better education in Rockaway?”
Historically, students used to leave the peninsula to attend middle and high school, O'Connell said. He's maintained the goal of Scholars', which was to create a school that local students "can aspire to."
Now students from all over the city apply for the small percentage of seats open to students outside the peninsula and district.
"If you can create a product that people cross a bridge to get to, you're going to keep the best and the brightest here," he shared.
O'Connell is also training his teachers to understand various learning styles as the school admits more students with various education styles and challenges — something that also creates more diversity.
"Everyone has to find their own potential and I think this is a great place to do it," he said.
