Parents United to Save Manhattan Theatre Lab High School

***MEDIA ALERT***INTERVIEW OPP***PHOTO OPP***

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

  

Contact:

Ruth J. Morrison - 646.303.4770

 

The Stars Are Lining Up to Save Manhattan Theatre Lab High School

 

Broadway Actors, Directors, Choreographers, Dancers, and Writers are Joining

Parents to Testify at Public Hearing to Keep Manhattan Theatre Lab Open

 

WHAT:             Stars from the Broadway and Performing Arts communities are lining up to save Manhattan Theatre Lab High School.  Members from the Broadway and Performing Arts communities will give testimony at the New York City Department of Education (NYC-DOE) public hearing at Manhattan Theatre Lab High School in an effort to halt the phase-out of the school.   In November 2011, NYC-DOE proposed to phase-out Manhattan Theatre Lab High School, a celebrated Performing Arts high school located on the upper west side of Manhattan.  Students from Manhattan Theatre Lab High School do not have to audition to attend, as it is an open enrollment school, and they flourish in the program. Additionally, the students are often invited to  perform all over New York City (see video below and YouTubeChannel: OnyxProdNYC).

 

WHO:        Members from the Broadway and Performing Arts communities to testify at NYC-DOE public hearing to save Manhattan Theatre Lab: 

• Billie Allen; Actor and Director
• Micki Grant; Actor and Tony nominated playwright, Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope
• Lillias White; Singer/Actor from Tony award winning Fela! and The Life
• Daniel Soto; Dancer, Fela!
• Calvin Booker; Dancer, Fela!
• Omar Edwards; Dancer, Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk
• Stacy Leigh; Readers & Writers and Open Book Director, PEN AMERICAN CENTER
• Jesse Wooden, Jr., Director
• Obediah Wright; Choreographer, CEO, Balance Dance Theatre
• Joyce Sylvester, Playwright and Actor
• Teddy Williams; Performer and Arts Educator

 More names to follow

 

WHERE:           Manhattan Theatre Lab H.S., 122 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10023

 

DATE/TIME:     Tuesday, January 24, 2012

                        6:00 p.m. -  

 

"Rosa Sit Down"

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In November 2011, the New York City Department of Education placed Manhattan Theater Lab (MTL), a performing arts high school located on the upper west side of Manhattan, on a proposed school phase-out list. MTL is one of 47 schools with similar demographics and educational outcomes placed on the school phase-out list. However, 35 schools with similar characteristics to Manhattan Theatre Lab High School were removed from the list and now MTL is one of 12 still remaining on a proposed phase-out list.

 

MTL is one of six high schools located in the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. High School building at West 66th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, behind the Lincoln Center complex.  MTL's student body is comprised of predominantly low income minority students who come from all over the City.   There is no audition testing to get into MTL. Priority is given to New York City residents that attend an information session and then to New York City residents. The 406-student school had a graduation rate of 58.1 percent in 2010 compared to the city's 65.1 percent rate, but it is higher than the 42 percent rate of 2008.  With a graduation rate of 76.1 in 2009, MTL had one of the highest graduation rates in the city and higher than the city's average.

 

Despite the odds against them, students from MTL have graduated to attend colleges such as: Howard University; Shaw College; SUNY Purchase; SUNY Potsdam; John Jay College; Penn State; SUNY at Albany; SUNY Oswego, McNally Smith College of Music, University of the Arts, Mercy College, Berkeley College, City College of New York, and a host of others.

 

MTL received notice from the DOE that the school will be phased out in 2015.  The proposal calls for the school to be replaced by young students from the neighborhood who are now in The Special Music School consisting of grades K- high school.  The Special Music School is a partnership between the DOE and the Kaufman Center.  DOE supplies the academic curriculum and the Kaufman Center provides the music education. The Special Music School requires students to pass an audition when they enter during kindergarten. 

 

Parents and students are outraged over the school's closing. They are concerned that other talented students who could use and flourish in the intimate setting will not have the opportunity. There are few performing arts schools with an open enrollment. Many parents believe it is the City's way of moving out low-income students in favor of a wealthier population, the evidence being that there are not many low-income kids that would be able to audition for a performing arts school at the kindergarten level.

 

"We were blind-sided by the Department of Education's decision to phase-out Manhattan Theatre Lab High School," said Colleen Jones, President, MTL Parents Association.  "The school has made significant progress.  The students are eager to learn and to perform, they love it here." 

 

"The teachers and administrators are doing the best they can despite the fact that the Department of Education provides little to no resources to help us. How can the Department of Education expect exceptional results, if it does nothing to help? How did the other schools get off the list, while Manhattan Theatre Lab remains? I think the DOE just wants us out to move the rich students in, Ms. Jones added."

 

Colleen Jones, President, MTL Parents Associationis available for interviews.