An article by Aline Reynolds in last week’s Downtown Express reported that Millennium High School is looking into using space at 26 Broadway to relieve overcrowding.
The article, entitled “Millennium Shopping for Space,” reported that the high school’s principal, Richard Rhodes, envisions a campus model for Millennium: “there would be two small schools, and they would share resources,” Rhodes said.
An article from 2003, “Millennium school opens Downtown,” by Elizabeth O’Brien, documented the first day of school for the new institution.
“City and state officials hailed the opening of Millennium, the first public high school in Lower Manhattan to give admissions preference to local students, as a sign of Downtown’s rebirth after Sept. 11, 2001,” O’Brien wrote.
Community members had pushed for the school to give preference to students living south of Houston Street.
Millenium’s first students were impressed with their new school. Christopher Curmi, age 15, told O’Brien, “It’s very retro and open.” And Brandon Ramirez, also age 15, said, “It’s a lot better than being in someone else’s school.”
But school attendance has swelled downtown, and students may soon find themselves sharing yet another building. Millennium is currently holding classes in hallways due to high enrollment. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who has formed a School Overcrowding Task Force, wrote to NYC schools chancellor Joel Klein in support of securing the space at 26 Broadway.
— Andrea Riquier
