DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — Brooklyn Laboratory Charter School is on track to open a new high school for the upcoming year that will be named after an advocate for school desgregation and programs for low-income students.
The Edmund W. Gordon High School for the Applied Sciences will open next fall in Downtown Brooklyn, the charter announced at a Tuesday naming ceremony.
While school administrators have not yet finalized an address, the school will be within the Brooklyn Tech Triangle and near the institution’s current middle school locations at 240 Jay St. and 40 Flatbush Ave., a Brooklyn LAB spokeswoman said.
The school will be named for Dr. Edmund W. Gordon, a psychology professor known for championing compensatory education, school desegregation, supplementary education and the Head Start program, which provides early education for low-income children.
Brooklyn LAB, which opened its first middle school location in 2014 and its second in 2016, was one of 10 schools to receive a $10 million grant earlier this month from the XQ Institute’s Super School Project.
The project called on schools across the country to rethink the American high school model and create new learning opportunities for students.
Middle school students at Brooklyn LAB have been working with administrators and teachers to formulate the new high school’s curriculum since the public charter network opened.
The students — 60 percent of whom live in public housing and 20 percent of whome are transient or homeless — have weighed in at public meetings and small sessions about what kind of programs should be available for students with different learning needs and backgrounds.
Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña attended Tuesday’s naming ceremony and praised the school for its speedy expansion.
“One of the basic reasons for charter schools to exist is to be innovative, creative and share what they learn… so we can create more schools like this, so we can even have a Dr. Gordon School 2, a Dr. Gordon 3, somewhere along the way,” the chancellor said in a statement.
“If it’s good enough to transfer and grow and move, then it’s really good.”
Currently, there are 618 students enrolled at Brooklyn LAB’s two middle schools. The charter network hopes to eventually serve 1,800 students with the opening of the high school.
