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The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island and the School Con­struc­tion Author­i­ty Announce Expan­sion of Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School

Apr 5, 2021 11:57 am

NEW YORK (April 5, 2021) — Trust for Gov­er­nors Island Pres­i­dent & CEO Clare New­man and Nina Kub­o­ta, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the New York City School Con­struc­tion Author­i­ty, announced plans to expand the Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School on Gov­er­nors Island into Build­ing 515, locat­ed adja­cent to the school’s exist­ing facil­i­ty with­in the Gov­er­nors Island His­toric District. 

Locat­ed on Gov­er­nors Island since 2010, the Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School offers a unique career tech­ni­cal edu­ca­tion cur­ricu­lum built upon New York City’s mar­itime expe­ri­ence, envi­ron­men­tal stew­ard­ship, and careers on the water for over 500 high school stu­dents. The 60,000-square foot expan­sion into Build­ing 515 will add 18 class­rooms in addi­tion to the exist­ing school build­ing, adding approx­i­mate­ly 400 seats to the Har­bor School. The planned expan­sion will also include a pool and a gym­na­si­um, sup­port­ing the school’s water-depen­dent mar­itime pro­grams. Coun­cil Mem­ber Chin and Man­hat­tan Bor­ough Pres­i­dent Gale Brew­er, long-time advo­cates of the school and its unique cur­ricu­lum, have com­mit­ted cap­i­tal fund­ing to sup­port the expan­sion and the con­struc­tion of a new pool. 

The expan­sion comes at a trans­for­ma­tion­al moment as the Trust moves for­ward with plans to attract a lead­ing cen­ter for cli­mate solu­tions, which will expand part­ner­ship, learn­ing and train­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties for stu­dents on Gov­er­nors Island. 

“The Har­bor School has been a key part­ner of Gov­er­nors Island for over a decade, and I’m thrilled that it will be able to near­ly dou­ble in size to sup­port their inno­v­a­tive cur­ricu­lum focused on marine and envi­ron­men­tal work,” said Deputy May­or Vic­ki Been. ​“This expan­sion dove­tails per­fect­ly with the City’s ongo­ing work towards cre­at­ing a cli­mate hub on Gov­er­nors Island — we look for­ward to Har­bor School stu­dents’ involve­ment in this crit­i­cal field for years to come!” 

“The Har­bor School holds a spe­cial place in our school sys­tem, giv­ing stu­dents unpar­al­leled expo­sure to our local bod­ies of water and hands-on expe­ri­ence with envi­ron­men­tal stew­ard­ship. With this expan­sion, even more New York City chil­dren will have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to expe­ri­ence on-water edu­ca­tion­al pro­gram­ming and access state-of-the-art facil­i­ties for gen­er­a­tions to come,” said Schools Chan­cel­lor Meisha Porter .

“The Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School exem­pli­fies the unique promise of Gov­er­nors Island – a place of his­toric sig­nif­i­cance at the cen­ter of New York Har­bor, with unprece­dent­ed oppor­tu­ni­ty for learn­ing and engage­ment with our water­front,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island . ​“This new facil­i­ty will expand access to this unique cur­ricu­lum to even more New York City high school­ers, and we thank May­or de Bla­sio, Coun­cil Mem­ber Mar­garet Chin, Man­hat­tan Bor­ough Pres­i­dent Gale Brew­er and our elect­ed offi­cials for their ongo­ing sup­port of the school’s com­mu­ni­ty. We look for­ward to expand­ing part­ner­ships and edu­ca­tion­al pipelines with the Har­bor School as Gov­er­nors Island con­tin­ues to grow as a hub for learn­ing, research and pub­lic engage­ment in response to the cli­mate crisis.” 

“At the SCA, we are thrilled at the oppor­tu­ni­ty to add more seats to the Har­bor School and expand access to this won­der­ful­ly unique mar­itime learn­ing insti­tu­tion to more New York City stu­dents,” Nina Kub­o­ta, SCA Pres­i­dent and CEO, said. ​“This project embod­ies our core mis­sion at the SCA to design and con­struct safe, attrac­tive and envi­ron­men­tal­ly sound pub­lic schools for chil­dren through­out the many com­mu­ni­ties of New York City.”

“This expan­sion is excit­ing news for future of the Har­bor School,” said Man­hat­tan Bor­ough pres­i­dent Gale A. Brew­er . ​“I’m pleased to sup­port The Har­bor School and to help pro­vide more oppor­tu­ni­ties to stu­dents with the addi­tion of 18 class­rooms and 400 seats, as well as the con­struc­tion of a new pool, which will be appro­pri­ate for cer­ti­fi­ca­tion for marine div­ing and life­guard training.” 

“When I first vis­it­ed the Har­bor School for its ground­break­ing in 2010, I could see that this edu­ca­tion­al insti­tu­tion is tru­ly spe­cial. I am so hap­py to see the long-await­ed expan­sion real­ized after so many years of hard work and col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island and the School Con­struc­tion Author­i­ty,” said City Coun­cil Mem­ber Mar­garet Chin. ​“The school’s devel­op­ment includes a gym­na­si­um and inground pool, and will allow the Har­bor School to wel­come hun­dreds of new stu­dents who are cur­rent­ly on a wait-list. Two years ago I com­mit­ted $1.2 mil­lion of my own cap­i­tal fund­ing for this project and I can­not wait to see its con­struc­tion com­plet­ed. Mar­itime stu­dents will now be able to scubadive in their own facil­i­ties; this place is tru­ly the only school of its kind in New York City. I am so proud to have secured this next chap­ter in the Har­bor School’s envi­ron­men­tal stew­ard­ship of Gov­er­nors Island.” 

“I am pleased that the Har­bor School will final­ly get their long-await­ed pool and gym­na­si­um,” said Sen­a­tor Bri­an Kavanagh, who rep­re­sents Sen­ate Dis­trict 26, which includes Gov­er­nors Island, Low­er Man­hat­tan, and parts of Brook­lyn. ​“For near­ly 20 years the Har­bor School has offered unique edu­ca­tion­al oppor­tu­ni­ties to a diverse stu­dent body. Learn­ing marine biol­o­gy, sail­ing and oth­er water­craft skills, and par­tic­i­pat­ing in the Bil­lion Oys­ter Project all pre­pare stu­dents for careers engag­ing with and being good stew­ards of our nat­ur­al envi­ron­ment. The aquat­ic cen­ter will allow stu­dents to take full advan­tage of the school’s mar­itime-themed aca­d­e­mics. I am glad that the school will be expand­ing, giv­ing more stu­dents the chance to expe­ri­ence this excep­tion­al edu­ca­tion on Gov­er­nors Island. Thank you to the Trust, the School Con­struc­tion Author­i­ty, Prin­ci­pal Jeff Che­tirko, the Har­bor School PTA, and the oth­er ded­i­cat­ed advo­cates who helped make this possible.” 

“I am thrilled this long over­due expan­sion to the Har­bor School is final­ly tak­ing place,” said Assem­bly­mem­ber Yuh-Line Niou. ​“When the con­ver­sion of Build­ing 515 is com­plete, the Har­bor School will have 18 brand new class­rooms and addi­tion­al mul­ti-use space. That’s enough capac­i­ty for more than 400 new stu­dents, and makes the Har­bor School an even more flex­i­ble space to meet the grow­ing edu­ca­tion­al needs of our com­mu­ni­ty. In its past life, Build­ing 515 served New York­ers as a hos­pi­tal. It’s reas­sur­ing to know 515 will con­tin­ue bet­ter­ing our lives and our com­mu­ni­ty as a place of learning.” 

“Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School is grate­ful to the Gov­er­nors Island Trust, Coun­cilmem­ber Chin, Man­hat­tan BP Brew­er and the School Con­struc­tion Author­i­ty for their sup­port of the school’s unique career and tech­ni­cal edu­ca­tion pro­grams in marine sci­ence and tech­nol­o­gy,” said Jef­frey Che­tirko, Prin­ci­pal of the Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School. ​“By pro­vid­ing equi­table space and resources to our New York City pub­lic school, it will enable high school stu­dents from all five bor­oughs to acquire the skills and expe­ri­ence to suc­cess­ful­ly nav­i­gate through post- sec­ondary oppor­tu­ni­ties and swim to the top of the mar­itime indus­try can­di­date pool after graduation.” 

“The Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School inte­grates aca­d­e­mics and career readi­ness in a way that exem­pli­fies the kind of inno­va­tion in pub­lic edu­ca­tion that the Urban Assem­bly has built its rep­u­ta­tion on,” says David Adams, CEO of the Urban Assem­bly. ​“We could­n’t be more excit­ed about this expan­sion. The fact that more stu­dents in New York City have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to learn hands-on about the City’s marine sys­tems and envi­ron­men­tal tech­nol­o­gy at the Har­bor School is tru­ly mon­u­men­tal. Con­grat­u­la­tions to Jeff Che­tirko and the entire team at Harbor.” 

“We were thrilled and deeply grate­ful to hear that the long-promised pool, includ­ing a gym and addi­tion­al class­rooms, for the Har­bor School has at last become a real­i­ty at site 515 on Gov­er­nors Island,” said Tam­my Meltzer, Man­hat­tan CB1 Chair­per­son and Tri­cia Joyce, Chair of Man­hat­tan CB1’s Youth and Edu­ca­tion Com­mit­tee . ​“We under­stand the chal­lenges sus­tained in pri­or­i­tiz­ing this impor­tant infra­struc­ture. We want to thank all of those who made this hap­pen, espe­cial­ly CM Mar­garet Chin, Gigi Li, Clare New­man, Sarah Krautheim, Lor­raine Gril­lo and the NYC School Con­struc­tion Author­i­ty, Dept. of Edu­ca­tion, as well as MBP Gale Brew­er, Sen­a­tor Bri­an Kavanaugh, AM Yuh-Line Niou and all of our oth­er elect­ed offi­cials and the fam­i­lies from the Har­bor School led by Nan Richard­son, who wrote, called, tweet­ed, and attend­ed all of our CB1 meet­ings. We look for­ward not only to open­ing day, but to all of the rich oppor­tu­ni­ties this pool will cre­ate for the stu­dents of this cher­ished and unique pro­gram at the Har­bor School. The world will be watching.” 

“Brook­lyn Com­mu­ni­ty Board 2 is pleased that the Trust is able to extend their sup­port for the good work of the Har­bor School,” said Lenue H. Sin­gle­tary, III, Brook­lyn CB2 Chair­per­son. ​“Although the School is not geo­graph­i­cal­ly locat­ed with­in our bound­aries, a large per­cent­age of their stu­dents live in our Dis­trict and ben­e­fit from the unique mar­itime and eco­log­i­cal stud­ies that their cur­ricu­lum affords.” 

“The PTA is thrilled and grate­ful that after par­ent advo­ca­cy for a decade, and help from many well- wish­ers, espe­cial­ly Mar­garet Chin and her chief of staff Gigi Li, the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island Pres­i­dent Clare New­man and VP Sarah Krautheim, the School Con­struc­tion Author­i­ty and Lor­raine Gril­lo, the Depart­ment of Edu­ca­tion, Man­hat­tan Bor­ough Pres­i­dent Gale Brew­er, Sen­a­tor Bri­an Kavanagh, Assem­bly­woman Yuh-Line Niou, Speak­er Corey John­son, CB1, espe­cial­ly Tri­cia Joyce, and all of our oth­er elect­ed offi­cials,” said Nan Richard­son, Pres­i­dent of the Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School PTA. ​“The Har­bor School will final­ly get the space and facil­i­ties need­ed to ful­fill this unique school’s mis­sion. As our city faces many chal­lenges with cli­mate change, our stu­dents trained in marine and mar­itime sci­ence hope to help meet that future with imag­i­na­tion and now will have the skills and tools to do so. We look for­ward to the real­iza­tion of this dream.”

“The Har­bor School expan­sion is a huge step in Gov­er­nors Island’s growth as a year-round resource for our city,” said Mer­ritt Birn­baum, Exec­u­tive Direc­tor of the Friends of Gov­er­nors Island. ​“From its very first days, the school has breathed new life into the his­toric dis­trict and helped rein­vent the entire Island as a place for learn­ing and dis­cov­ery. In addi­tion to using their sur­round­ings as a real-world class­room, Har­bor School stu­dents are valu­able con­trib­u­tors to our orga­ni­za­tion, with many serv­ing as sum­mer interns in our vis­i­tor ser­vices depart­ment where they share their pas­sion for Gov­er­nors Island with the pub­lic each sum­mer. We are so excit­ed to con­tin­ue work­ing with the grow­ing stu­dent body and fac­ul­ty for years to come.”

The first year-round ten­ant on Gov­er­nors Island since its trans­fer from fed­er­al to local con­trol, the Har­bor School’s mis­sion is to pro­vide a col­lege-prepara­to­ry edu­ca­tion built upon New York City’s mar­itime expe­ri­ence with a focus on envi­ron­men­tal stew­ard­ship. With its part­ners, includ­ing the Bil­lion Oys­ter Project, the school devel­ops authen­tic activ­i­ties for its stu­dents on, around, and relat­ed to the water that cre­ate a sense of respon­si­bil­i­ty to New York Har­bor and devel­op a new gen­er­a­tion of mar­itime advo­cates, enthu­si­asts, work­ers, and deci­sion-mak­ers. The Har­bor School cur­rent­ly occu­pies near­ly 80,000 square feet across two build­ings locat­ed with­in the Gov­er­nors Island His­toric Dis­trict, includ­ing Build­ing 550 and the Marine and Sci­ence Tech­nol­o­gy Cen­ter (“MAST Cen­ter”), which sup­ports the school’s water depen­dent activity. 

In Fall, 2020, May­or Bill de Bla­sio and the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island announced plans to expand Gov­er­nors Island into a year-round pub­licly acces­si­ble des­ti­na­tion, includ­ing a pro­posed cen­ter for cli­mate solu­tions. The pro­posed cen­ter will expand edu­ca­tion­al, research and pub­lic engage­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties sur­round­ing the cli­mate cri­sis while expand­ing the Island’s open space, and com­ple­ment­ing its use as a cul­tur­al, edu­ca­tion­al, and recre­ation­al des­ti­na­tion, as well as the work of the Har­bor School in edu­cat­ing New York City high school­ers in sci­ence, pol­i­cy and mar­itime relat­ed fields. The Mayor’s Office and the Trust expect to release a solic­i­ta­tion to attract an aca­d­e­m­ic or non-prof­it research insti­tu­tion in 2021, which will expand part­ner­ships with the Har­bor School and oth­er edu­ca­tion­al and cul­tur­al ten­ants work­ing on cli­mate and envi­ron­men­tal issues on the Island.