QUEENS’ HIGH SCHOOLS A GUIDE FOR PARENTS ON THE BEST AND WORST IN THE BOROUGH, Choosing The Right School

Going to high schools is no longer a matter of students attending the schools closest to their homes, declared the City Board of Education, in announcing its annual high school fair, next weekend (Oct. 3 and 4) in the Martin Luther King Jr. and Fiorello LaGuardia high schools.
Both schools, which are on Amsterdam Ave. and W. 65 St., in Manhattan, will provide students and parents with a direct link to representatives from most City high schools.
to help junior high students and their parents make the best choices, the Public Education Association has also prepared informational charts, which outline the safety and educational standards of the entire City high school system (see chart).
The City’s public high schools — there are now 194 of them, with 37 in Queens — have changed their rules, and are now actively promoting a host of schools with carefully defined areas of specialization. The students’ guidance counselors will provide them with a high school directory and high school applications, which have to be filed with the counselors no later than Nov. 6.
The parameters of educational specialization in these schools are now extremely wide — ranging from theater to law, and from the sciences to vocational training — each vocation specifically earmarked to a set of schools. For example, for those students who need educational help, there are academically-oriented schools that provide more intense personal support.
Educators say that key to the choice of a student’s best school, is joint student/parental involvement: speaking to a student’s current guidance counselor, visiting prospective high schools, using mass transit (if necessary) to visit prospective schools, and prepping for the special January/December tests for the City’s specialized schools (Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, Performing Arts, etc.).
As an added aid for choosing the best high school, the Public Education Association has rated most City high schools on the basis of school safety, attendance ratio, Regents diplomas, as well as verbal and math SAT scores. For a detailed report call (212) 868-1640.
Of the large schools, Franklin K. Lane H.S. had the poorest record, rating below City average in school safety incidents, poor attendance, and low graduating class. Rating the highest was Townsend Harris.
Critics of Queens’ overcrowded high schools point out that Queens has a 25 percent greater population, but has over 40 percent fewer schools (37 vs. 52).
More on Queens’ High Schools