Schools That Work

Teamwork, respect has Murrow HS soaring

by Jim Callaghan

Jan 31, 2008 11:33 AM

When educators at Edward R. Murrow HS in Brooklyn tell students to reach for the sky, they don’t have far to go.

In fact, the students can arrange to visit the school’s planetarium and be treated to a first-rate show on how the stars, the moon, the sun and the planets are imperfectly but spectacularly aligned.

The stars at Murrow — the students and their educators — are about as perfectly aligned as any Tweed consultant could ever hope them to be.

According to Chapter Leader Frieda Jones, the school works because teachers and administrators work in tandem “with respect for each other.” She said whatever problems arise are dealt with fairly, with only one goal: to make life more rewarding for students.

“We are a team,” she says of her UFT colleagues as well as the principal and his assistants.

Jones is serving her 10th year as chapter leader. She started teaching in 1963, walked the UFT picket lines during the 1967 and 1968 strikes, and has been at Murrow 22 years.

Principal Anthony Lodico said the first thing he noticed when he came to the school four years ago was “how everyone — students, teachers, parents — liked being here. They take pride in the school community.”

And he said he is still learning, particularly from teachers. “I learn so much from them,” he said. “I need them to tell me what works. They’re on the front lines.”

Among the things Murrow has made headlines for is its prowess in chess, where teacher Eliot Weis has established a championship program.

One of his most recent stars is Alex Lenderman, a 2007 Murrow graduate, who last year won the National Scholastic Chess Championship. “It’s not about me; I only care about the team,” said Lenderman, who noted he was referring not merely to the chess team but the “Murrow” team.

Salvijus Bercys shared first and second place with Lenderman in the U.S. in the under-18-year-old category as judged by the U.S. Chess Federation. Now studying finance at the University of Texas, he explained how, as a 6-year-old, he found a chess board in his aunt’s house in Lithuania and immediately became interested in the game. He credits Weis with his success: “Without him, I would not have succeeded.”

The chess team, last year’s national high school chess co-champion, even has a best-selling book about it called “A Game of Kings.”

The school day is unique as classes are given in four cycles that are spread out over nine weeks. There are no traditional semesters. Classes range from 50 minutes to an hour and meet four times a week.

A popular course at the school, MILES (Murrow Independent Learning Experience), consists of independent study. There is one 15-minute meeting a week.

The school is nationally known for its award-winning Virtual Enterprise program and was also a semifinalist in last year’s Intel Science Talent Search.

Susan Mark, one of the school’s librarians, said, “This school is representative of New York City’s diversity.” As she surveys the student researchers in the room, she tells a visitor that “all these students are here to work.”

Indeed, there is nary a cell phone in sight; students are allowed to bring them into the school because they are trusted not to abuse the privilege and, for the most part, they don’t. “This place is crowded all day,” Mark adds.

One of the keys to the school’s success, according to teacher Stephen Radice, “is the freedom we give the kids.” The students are motivated and “extraordinarily well-behaved,” he added.

A walk through the school’s corridors with teachers gives a hint of the tranquility (not to be confused with indolence) and spirit of the school. Students are sitting in the hallways between classes, studying. Well, most are studying. When a teacher notices a male and female student getting a bit too cozy, he says, “OK, break it up. That’s a little too close together.” The students smile and go back to the books.

When students aren’t getting their intellectual nourishment from books, they marvel at the infectious enthusiasm of Cheryl Johnson, the director of Murrow’s gospel chorus, a group that is worthy of any professional theater production. Johnson holds the rapt attention of her altos, sopranos, baritones and basses, accompanied by music teacher Alan Shapiro on the piano.

In other parts of the building, Bruce Singer, the physical education teacher, is lobbying for air conditioning in the summer months, while Paul Eisenberg is conducting a class in stage design. He is supervising his class in set construction as they get ready for a three-day run of “Pirates of Penzance.”

“I know I am making a difference, especially with kids who might have academic issues,” Eisenberg said. “They stay in school because they are able to use their creativity either on stage or behind the scenes.” One of his students agrees. “I might be dead on the streets if I dropped out,” he said. Instead, his goal is to become a professional and “light a Broadway show.”

The Bill of Rights and voting rights are other heady topics discussed in a We the People class, which last year won top national honors in a competition called “How did the Founders frame the Constitution?” Students have visited the Supreme Court and met with Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, who graduated from the school. Teacher Susanna Giberga said the class “keeps me interested. Our society and government are constantly changing and it’s fun to see my kids turn on to that and know they can play a role. That is huge.”

She also gets plenty of satisfaction when former students return to tell her “I voted!”

Giberga said she gets lots of help from teacher Stacie Berman, whose specialty is social studies but who volunteers to “keep me grounded.”

Art teacher Joan Salisbury was telling a visitor how accomplished and dedicated her colleagues are when she got an unsolicited accolade from Lodico, who was her student at Susan Wagner HS. “She really inspired us,” Lodico said. “She was nurturing and a lot of fun. She got me interested in art.”

Budding artists at Murrow are also treated to the excitement of Philip DeSantis as he teaches “The Still Life in Pencil.”

Jones points out that her special education students also have “a strong sense of community.” She tells of their visits to nursing homes to help heal the sick.

In one special ed class, students are making jewelry as their teacher looks on approvingly. One student, who fashioned a set of wedding rings for two teachers, dreams of opening her own business one day.

Meanwhile, teacher Howard Halpern is showing his class how to use computer networking to design an air pollution control system. And Bob Marx, who is in charge of the Intel competition, is happy to report that two brothers — both Murrow graduates — were recipients of Rhodes Scholarships. They keep in touch with their former teachers with progress reports on their lives.

Another former student who has kept in touch is rap star Lil Mama, whose hit single “My Lip Gloss is Poppin’” climbed the charts last year. She was shooting a music video outside the school and popped in to the building for a visit, whereupon she was immediately swamped by adoring teen fans. A few teachers recognized her but couldn’t place the name. (It was Niatia Kirkland when she was a student). “I wasn’t the best student in the world,” she said immodestly. “But even when I was struggling, I knew the teachers loved me. They taught me never to give up on myself.”

In the school’s planetarium, Sam Storch exudes unbridled joy as he shows off the room, which he says has “the second-highest planetarium attendance in New York.” It has 38 seats; the ceiling was painted white by students, who also built the projectors. “We do the same thing as the Hayden (Planetarium) machines,” Storch said proudly. One of the most popular programs is “Brooklyn Skies Tonight,” an introduction to the night sky as seen from the city. The emphasis of course, is on student success.

Jones said the school has an active School Leadership Team, which she chairs. She said: “There are lots of problems to be solved, and we work closely with the parents.” Jones gave praise to the school’s paraprofessionals as well as nurses, guidance counselors, secretaries, school aides, and occupational and physical therapists. “What a job they do each and every day,” she said.

Murrow is the first high school in the country to be given the rights (for which it paid) to the “The Producers,” which will be performed in May. Melvin Kaminsky — aka Mel Brooks, a Brooklyn boy out of PS 19 and Lincoln HS — has been invited to the opening as a guest, not to sing “Springtime for Hitler.” But, given the Brooks reputation for mayhem, you never know.

Murrow is named after a legendary journalist and war correspondent who once said: “Just once in awhile, let us exalt the importance of ideas and information.”

The students and staff at Murrow are living up to that challenge every day.