UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS SECONDARY SCHOOL (PHOTO: SHARON OFORI)
Students at University Heights Secondary School are upset that their school is moving from its current location on the Bronx Community College campus to the South Bronx High School campus in Morrisania.
UHSS has been housed in a BCC building for more than 22 years, and for three straights years it’s been rated ‘A’ in its DOE progress report. Many students feel that their grades will drop when the move happens. “We are going to be rated an ‘F’,” said Kevin Abreu, a University Heights student. “I would rather stay here. I don’t want to move to the south Bronx.”
Most of the school’s students live in the neighborhood, and are able to walk to school, which is in University Heights. Moving to the south Bronx is going to change that. “We want to walk to school, not take the train,” said student Kelvin Fernandez.
Armani Kaba, another student at the school, says his mother did not want him to go to school in the south Bronx because she thinks it’s a bad neighborhood.
The school is moving because BCC says it needs the extra classroom space. But many students and parents believe the college and the DOE should have done more to keep what is a successful school together.
Senior Peter Bravato says BCC is looking out for its finances. “They see that this building has potential,” he said. “They realized that since we [the school] don’t have to pay, we should be kicked out so they can make more money.”
These past months, students have held multiple rallies to show that they are not going to give up that easily. After the decision was finalized on March 23, several students, along with a teacher and a social worker, decided to make their voices heard by creating a video called “University Heights is Calling Obama,” and posted it on YouTube.
Maria Ruiz, a senior who directed the video, said in an email interview that University Heights opened doors for her as a teenager mother. “They gave me a second chance that not many teen mothers get,” she said. University Heights offers programs such as the Living for the Young Family Through Education (LYFE) program, which helps teen mothers stay in school by taking care of their kids during the daytime. “They love and care for children as their own,” said Ruiz. “They welcomed me and my daughter with open arms.”
According to the video, the LYFE center does not only cater to students in University Heights, but to other teen mothers in several other schools in the Bronx.
Parents are also against the move. “A high school being on a college campus motivates them to finish school,” a parent of a senior said. “I feel bad for these kids; they might drop out of school now.”
Bryant Mason, a spokesman for BCC, said in an email that it is with deep regret that they are asking University Heights to move. “We intend to keep and nurture the partnerships that we have enjoyed with the University Heights High School over the years, no matter where they are located,” he said.
