Everything about Brooklyn Technical High School totally explained
Brooklyn Technical High School, commonly called
Brooklyn Tech or just
Tech, and also administratively sometimes as
High School 430, is a
New York City public high school that specializes in
engineering,
math and
science and is the largest specialized high school for science, technology, engineering and mathematics in the United States.
Together with
Stuyvesant High School and
Bronx High School of Science, it's one of three original
specialized science high schools, operated by the
New York City Department of Education, all three of which were cited by
The Washington Post in 2006 as among the best
magnet schools in the
United States. Admission is by
competitive examination though, as a public school, there's no
tuition fee and only residents of the City of New York are eligible to attend.
Brooklyn Tech is a founding member of the
National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science and Technology. Brooklyn Tech is noted for its famous alumni (including two
Nobel Laureates), its academics, and the large number of graduates attending prestigious universities. Routinely, more than 98% of its graduates are accepted to four-year colleges with the 2007 graduating class being offered more than $1,250,000 in scholarships and grants.
Building and facilities
The school, built on its present site from 1930-33 at a cost of $6 million, is 12 stories high, and covers over half a city block. Brooklyn Technical High School is directly across the street from Fort Greene Park, site of the "Martyrs Monument" containing the remains of 9,000 (exact number unknown) prisoners who died in the prison hulks (such as the HMS Jersey) moored nearby at Walabout Bay (later to become the Brooklyn Navy Yard). Facilities at BTHS include:
- Gymnasia on the first and eighth floors, with a mezzanine running track above the larger first floor gym. The eighth floor gym had a bowling alley lane and an adjacent wire-mesh enclosed rooftop sometimes used for handball and for tennis practice. There are also two yoga rooms, and two weight rooms, one which contains facilities for the wrestling team.
- 25-yard swimming pool
- During the 1960's BTHS had a basement rifle range (since closed) and a famous city rifle team.
- Wood, machine, sheet metal and other specialized shops. A specialized program in the 1960's involved a shop where an actual house was built and framed by students. Most have been converted into normal classrooms or computer labs, except for a robotics shop. There is also a two story studio room where Architecture students build a house every year.
- Foundry on the seventh floor, with a floor of molding sand used for creating sand casting molds and equipped with furnaces, kilns, ovens and ancillary equipment for metal smelting. Students made wooden patterns in pattern making which were used to make sand molds which were cast in the foundry and machined to specification in the machine shops. It was closed during the 1990s. The foundry complemented a mandatory course titled "Industrial Processes" which emphasized metallurgy and "how industry functions".
- Materials testing lab, used during the basic materials science (Strength of Materials) class. Included industrial capacity Universal Testing Machine and brinell hardness tester and polishing and microscopic examination rooms. During the 1960's students attended "inspection training shop" and were taught to use x-ray analysis to detect metal fatigue failures, use of vernier measuring instruments, micrometers, and go-no-go gauges.
- Aeronautical lab, featuring a large wind tunnel During the 1960's a T-6 USAAF surplus aircraft known as a "Texan" was in the building for student aeronautical mechanic instruction.
- Radio studio and 18,000 watt transmitter licensed by the Federal Communications Commission as WNYE (FM). The studio hasn't been used since the 1980s.
- 3,100-seat auditorium — Second-largest in New York City next to Radio City Music Hall, with two balconies
- Recital hall
- Drafting, both pencil and ink technical drawing and freehand drawing rooms
- Library with fireplaces
- Football field on Fulton and Clermont Streets. The Football Field, named in honor of Brooklyn Tech Alumnus Charles Wang, was opened in 2001, with the home opener played October 6, 2001, against DeWitt Clinton High School.
- Access to Fort Greene Park for outdoor track, tennis, etc.
A 456-foot-tall rooftop
broadcasting antenna, when added to the height of the building itself (145 feet), makes Brooklyn Tech the borough's tallest
structure, at 597 feet high. It is 85 feet taller than Brooklyn's tallest
building, the 512-foot
Williamsburg Savings Bank.
In 1934, the
Public Works of Art Project (PWAP), which later became the
Works Projects Administration (WPA), commissioned artist
Maxwell B. Starr to paint a mural in the foyer depicting the
evolution of man and science throughout history.
Brooklyn Tech's founder and first principal, Dr. Albert L. Colston, had an apartment built for himself in the tower of the building, and was the only person to live at Brooklyn Tech.
In December 2006, developer and
New Jersey Nets owner
Bruce Ratner proposed a new building for Tech as part of the
basketball arena he's constructing at the
Atlantic Yards. The building will reportedly be able to fit about 6000 students.
History
Original plan
In 1918, Dr. Albert L. Colston, chair of the Math Department at Manual Training High School, recommended establishing a technical high school for Brooklyn boys. His plan envisioned a heavy concentration of
math, science, and
drafting courses with parallel paths leading either to college or to a technical career in industry. By 1922, Dr. Colston's concept was approved by the Board of Education, and Brooklyn Technical High School opened in a converted warehouse at 49 Flatbush Avenue Extension, with 2,400 students. This location, in the shadow of the
Manhattan Bridge, is the reason the school seal bears that bridge's image, rather than the more obvious symbol for the borough, the
Brooklyn Bridge. Brooklyn Tech would occupy one more location before settling into its current (as of 2008) site, for which the groundbreaking was held in 1930.
Early academics
Atypically for American high schools, Brooklyn Tech uses a system of college-style majors. The curriculum consists of two years of general studies with a technical and engineering emphasis, followed by two years of a student-chosen major.
The curriculum remained largely unchanged until the end of Dr. Colston's 20-year term as principal in 1942. Upon his retirement, Tech was led briefly by acting principal Ralph Breiling, who was succeeded by Principal Harold Taylor in 1944. Tech's modernization would come under Principal William Pabst, who assumed stewardship in 1946 after serving as chair of the Electrical Department. Pabst created new majors and refined older ones, allowing students to select science and engineering preparatory majors including
Aeronautical,
Architecture,
Chemistry,
Civil,
Electrical (later including Electronics and Broadcast),
Industrial Design,
Mechanical,
Structural, and Arts and Sciences. A general
College Preparatory curriculum, would be added later.
1960s
Principal Pabst retired in 1964. A railroad club was established by the late Vincent Gorman, a social studies teacher, and students attended fan trips, tours of rail repair facilities and participated in the restoration of steam engine #103 and a historic rail passenger car at the former Empire State Railroad Museum. In August 1965, a ten-year-old boy named Carl Johnson drowned in the swimming pool at Brooklyn Tech while swimming with his day-camp group. The next year, more than 30 graduating Seniors in the school (including many student leaders) complained that Tech's curriculum was old and outdated. Their primary complaint was that the curriculum was geared towards the small minority of students that were not planning on attending college. In 1967 the schools of New York City got to view television in the classrooms for the first time, thanks to the station
WNYE-TV, then located in the transmitter center on top of Brooklyn Tech.
New York City specialized high schools
In 1972, Brooklyn Tech,
Bronx Science,
Stuyvesant High School, and
High School for Performing Arts become incorporated by the New York State Legislature as specialized high schools of
New York City. The act called for a uniform exam to be administered for admission to Brooklyn Tech, Bronx Science, and Stuyvesant. The exam would become known as the
Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) and tested students in math and English. With its statewide recognition, the school had to become
co-educational.
In 1973, Tech celebrated its 50th anniversary with a dinner-dance at the
Waldorf Astoria. To further commemorate the anniversary, a
monument was erected, with a
time capsule beneath it, in the north courtyard. The monument has eight panels, each with a unique design representing each of Tech's eight majors at that point.
Technological advances again changed Tech's character in 1976, with the school adding the Graphic Communications major, now commonly known as the "Media" major.
In 1983, Matt Mandery's appointment as principal made him the first Tech alumnus to hold that position. The following year, Tech received the Excellence in Education award from the U.S.
Department of Education. The Alumni Association was formally created during this time, and coalitions were formed with the New York City Department of Transportation.
John Tobin followed as principal in 1987. He oversaw the addition of a Bio-Medical major to the curriculum, while abolishing the
Materials Science department and closing the 7th floor foundry.
Endowment
In March 1998, an alumni group led by
Leonard Riggio, class of 1958 announced plans for a fundraising campaign to raise $10 million to support their alma mater financially through facilities upgrades, establishment of curriculum enhancements, faculty training, and a university-type
endowment. The endowment fundraiser, the first of its kind for an American public school, received front-page attention at
The New York Times and sparked a friendly competition amongst the specialized high schools, with both Bronx Science and Stuyvesant announcing their own $10 million campaigns within weeks of the Brooklyn Tech announcement. In November 2005, the Brooklyn Tech Alumni Association announced the completion of the fundraising phase of what they'd termed the Campaign for Brooklyn Tech.
In April 2008, the Brooklyn Tech Alumni Foundation launched a second endowment campaign. Called "21/21: The Sustaining Excellence Campaign at Brooklyn Tech," the campaign hopes to raise $21 million by 2013 to pay for future teacher training, curriculum development and classroom improvements. Alumnus Leonard Riggio has already donated $5 million, and the fundraising drive expects to reach its goal in five years.
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Lee McCaskill controversy
Dr. Lee D. McCaskill, appointed principal in 1992, served for 14 years, during which Tech saw the installation of more computer classrooms and the switch from traditional mechanical drawing by hand to teaching the use of
computer-aided design programs. McCaskill also presided over the elimination of long-standing hallmark academic concentrations at Tech such as
aerospace engineering.
In 2003,
The New York Times published an investigative article that noted "longstanding tensions" between the faculty and Principal McCaskill, "spilled into the open in October, with news reports that several teachers accused him of repeatedly sending sexually explicit
e-mail messages from his school
computer to staff members". The article described the principal as
autocratic, controlling the school "largely through fear and intimidation", and documented acts of personal vindictiveness toward teachers; severe censorship of the student newspaper and of assigned English texts, including the refusal to let the
Pulitzer Prize-finalist
novel Continental Drift by
Russell Banks be used for a class; and of
bureaucratic mismanagement. The article also quoted praise from McCaskill's supervising superintendent, Reyes Irizarry, who cited the principal's expansion of
music and
sports programs.
A follow-up column in 2004 found the situation had worsened due to increased teacher exodus, and documented Principal McCaskill's campaign against Alice Alcala, described as one of the city's leading
Shakespeare teachers. Alcala had won Brooklyn Tech a $10,000
grant and brought in the
Royal National Theatre of Great Britain for student workshops. "When [McCaskill] tried killing her Shakespeare program", the
Times wrote, "she went over his head to the central administration and got it reinstated. The day after she was quoted in news articles criticizing McCaskill, she received an unsatisfactory
classroom observation rating for the first time in 28 years of teaching. She was repeatedly denied access to the
auditorium and in June, got an unsatisfactory for the year." Alcala left for
Manhattan's
Murry Bergtraum High School, where she shortly thereafter brought in $1,800 in grants for Shakespeare education, while at Brooklyn Tech, the article reported, there was no longer any course solely devoted to Shakespeare.
2005 articles in the
New York Daily News and
New York Teacher note that a $10,000 grant obtained by Dr. Sylvia Weinberger in 2001 to refurbish the obsolete radio room remained unused. New classroom computers were covered in plastic rather than installed because the classrooms had yet to be wired for them.
The Office of Special Investigations of the
New York City Department of Education launched an investigation of McCaskill on February 2, 2006, concerning unpaid enrollment of
New Jersey resident McCaskill's daughter in New York City public school, which is illegal for non-residents of the city. On February 6, McCaskill announced his resignation from Brooklyn Tech and agreed to pay $19,441 in restitution.
On February 7, 2006, the Department of Education named Randy Asher, founding principal of the
High School for Math, Science and Engineering (HSMSE), as interim acting principal. Mr. Asher had previously served as Tech's assistant principal in mathematics from 2000-2002 before leaving to become founding principal of HSMSE.
Special commissioner Richard J. Condon rebuked the Department of Education a week later for allowing McCaskill to retire, still collecting $125,282 in accrued vacation time, just days before the OSI completed its investigation. Condon also recommended that Cathy Furman McCaskill, the principal's wife, be dismissed from her position as a teacher at Boys and Girls High School in Brooklyn for her part in submitting fake leases and other fraudulent documents to indicate the family lived in the
Cobble Hill section of Brooklyn. The next day, the Department of Education announced it would move to fire her.
Tech in the 21st century
Since 2001, Brooklyn Tech has undergone such refurbishing as the renovation of the school's
William L. Mack Library entrance, located on the fifth-floor center section. As well, two computer labs were added. The school also reinstated a class devoted to the study of Shakespeare, which students can elect to take in their senior year.
Classes were held during the
2005 New York City transit strike, though attendance was sparse.
Tech uses a college-style system of majors, unusual for an American high school. As of April 2007, majors include:
Applied Physics: Formerly Electrical/Mechanical Engineering. Students take AP Physics B and Project Lead the Way Principles of Engineering Junior year (11th) grade., Project Lead the Way Digital Electronics, and Robotics during Senior year (12) grade.
Architectural Engineering: Students take Project Lead the Way Civil Engineering & Architecture and Construction Documents junior year. Structural design, Senior Design Studio, and Building Construction during senior year.
Biochemistry (Gateway to Medicine Program/PULSE)(Exclusive to students who apply before freshman year) Students take Biology and Chemistry with Humanities in Freshman year. In Sophomore year, AP World, and AP Chemistry are taken. Advanced Health is also given. AP Biology is Taken In Junior Year with Physics. Organic Chemistry, Genetics, and Forensics with Economics is taken in Senior Year.
Biomedical Sciences (Bio-Med): Students take AP Biology junior year. Genetics, Anatomy, and Organic chemistry senior year.
Chemistry (Chem): Students take Advanced Placement Chemistry junior Year. Quantitative analysis and Organic chemistry senior year. Students take Quantitative analysis Fall term, then Organic chemistry during the Spring Term. Both classes are triple periods.
Civil Engineering (Civil): Students take Project Lead the Way Civil Engineering & Architecture and Surveying junior year. Structural design and Senior Design Studio senior year. Civil Engineering Senior Design Studio is different from Architecture Senior Design Studio.
Computer Science Technology (Comp-Sci): Students take one semester of A+ Certification, one semester of Web design (HTML, CSS, and Javascript), and two semesters of AP Computer Science (Java) junior year. Database Design, Project Lead the Way Digital Electronics, and Video game design senior year.
Environmental Science: Students take AP Environmental Science junior year. Urban Planning and Environmental health or Energy and Engineering senior year. In addition students must choose another Advanced Placement Science class to take senior year. Their options are AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Physics B and AP Physics C.
Industrial Design (ID): Students take two-dimensional and three-dimensional Design and Drawing and Product Design junior year, and AP Art History senior year.
Law and Society: Formerly Technology and Liberal Arts. Students take AP United States History, AP United States Government and Politics, and Constitutional Law junior year. Criminal law, Forensic Criminology, Ethics, Logic, and a Mock Trial competition course senior year.
Mathematics: Students take Math Analysis and Math Research junior year. Math Analysis, AP Calculus BC, Discrete mathematics, and Linear algebra senior year. Math Analysis is a class for participation in the school Math team. AP Calculus BC is a double period. It is formerly known as the Math Science Institute (MSI).
Media Communications (Media): Students take Computer Graphics I and II, Graphic Design, and Digital Photography junior year. Web Design, Adobe Flash, AP Studio Art 2D, and Animation senior year.
Social Science Research (SSR): Students take Social Science Research junior year. AP Psychology, Anthropology, and Sociology senior year. Students also have a choice of continuing Social Science Research or mentoring junior students in junior year Social Science Research.
Students apply for majors in sophomore year, and take ten semesters of major classes throughout junior and senior year. Tech also has a Bio-Chemistry major as part of its "Gateway to Medicine" program, to which, unlike the other majors, students apply to as incoming freshmen. All Advanced Placement science courses are taught as double periods to accommodate the large lab requirement.
Extracurricular activities
Brooklyn Tech fields 30 junior-varsity and varsity teams in the Public School Athletic League (PSAL). The school's more than 100 clubs and organizations include hockey club, math, debate, forensics (speech), robotics, fashion club, chess and mock trial teams, which compete in inter-school tournaments. The Model U.N. Club provides students with a venue for discussing foreign affairs. Other clubs cater to a wide range of topics such as anime, Dance Dance Revolution, ultimate Frisbee, politics, quilting, fashion and animal rights. The cheerleading squad is named the Enginettes.
S.I.N.G. is an annual tradition that pits seniors against juniors against freshmen and sophomores in a competition to create the best student-produced play. Additionally, Tech students put on a musical each spring.
There are two step teams, Lady Dragons and Organized C.H.A.O.S.
The school Coordinator of Student Activities (COSA), Mr Marc Williams works with students to help organize events and gain administration approval for student activities.
Beginning with the class of 2010, each student must meet the following requirements by the end of their senior year to receive a Brooklyn Technical High School diploma:
I. A minimum of 50 hours of community service outside of the school or through specified club activities.
II. A minimum of 32 points earned through participation in Tech clubs, teams,
and/or participation in designated school related events.
A. Points are earned as follows:
1. 8 points per term to all students in BETA, NHS, Student Government, student productions, stageworks, cheerleading, and PSAL teams.
2. 6 points per term to all students participating student leadership, who work on office squads, or compete in non-PSAL teams.
3. 4 points per term to all students who participate in all other clubs not referred to above.
4. 2 points per term for participation in specified school events
Notable alumni
Hall of Fame inductees1998 Hall of Fame inductees
Inaugural year
Frank A. Cipriani, Ph.D. 1951 - President, SUNY at Farmingdale
Adam J. Cirillo, 1929 - Educator, championship high-school football coach
Albert L. Colston, Ph.D. – Creator and founding principal, Brooklyn Tech
Gen. James E. Dalton, 1949 - Four-star general, United States Air Force
Bernard Friedland, Ph.D., 1948 - Engineer, author
Meredith Gourdine, Ph.D., 1948 - Electrogasdynamics pioneer, 1952 Olympic silver medalist
Stuart Kessler, C.P.A. 1947 - Chairman, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
Marvin Kitman, 1947 - Author, Newsday television critic
Sal Restivo, Ph.D. 1958 - Author, researcher
George Wald, Ph.D. 1923 - Biologist, 1967 Nobel Laureate
1999 Hall of Fame inductees
Col. Karol J. Bobko, 1955 - NASA astronaut
Donald L. Klein, Ph.D., 1949 - Inventor, silicon gate transistor
Sgt. Meyer S. Levin, 1934 - Decorated Air Force hero, World War II
Harvey Lichtenstein, 1946 - President, Brooklyn Academy of Music
Leonard Riggio, 1958 - Founder, Barnes & Noble
2000 Hall of Fame inductees
Harry Chapin, 1960 - Entertainer, humanitarian
Joseph J. Kohn, Ph.D. 1950 - Mathematician
Arno A. Penzias, Ph.D. 1951 - Physicist, 1978 Nobel Laureate
Charles B. Wang, 1962 - Co-founder, Computer Associates International; principal owner, New York Islanders hockey team
Josh S. Weston, 1946 - Chairman, Automatic Data Processing, philanthropist
2003 Hall of Fame inductees
Joseph J. Jacobs, Ph.D., 1934 - Author, engineer, humanitarian
William L. Mack, 1957 - Chairman, Mack-Cali Realty; philanthropist
Saverio "Sonny" Morea, 1950 - NASA engineer
Steven P. Shearing, M.D. 1952 - Ophthalmologic surgeon, inventor of shearing lens
2005 Hall of Fame inductees
Joseph M. Colucci, 1954 - Executive director, General Motors, Research & Design Center
Bernard Gifford, Ph.D., 1961 - Scientist, Apple Computer vice president of education
Joseph "Tucker" Madawick, 1937 - President, Industrial Designers Society of America
George W. Sutton, 1945 - Author, editor, mechanical engineer who designed ablation head shield material for space re-entry
Paul C. Szasz, 1947 (posthumous) - International law scholarFurther Information
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