DeWitt Clinton High School
DeWitt Clinton High School is a public high school located since 1929 in The Bronx, New York, United States. Opened in 1897 in Lower Manhattan and initially operated as an all-boys school, it maintained that status for nearly 100 years. In 1983 it became co-ed. From its original building on West 13th Street in Manhattan, it moved in 1906 to its second home on 59th Street and Tenth Avenue. In 1929 the school moved to its present home on Mosholu Parkway in the Bronx.
After more than a century of operations, producing a raft of [|accomplished alumni], DeWitt Clinton High School in the early 21st century has faced serious problems involving student performance and security.
History
Clinton opened in 1897 at 60 West 13th Street at the northern end of Greenwich Village under the name of Boys High School, although this Boys High School was not related to the one in Brooklyn. This school was renamed for New York governor DeWitt Clinton in 1900.In 1906 it moved to a newly constructed building on Tenth Avenue between 58th Street and 59th Street in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood—the same year as the opening of the nearby DeWitt Clinton Park where students "farmed" plots in what was the first community garden in New York.
The school's H-shaped building, designed by Charles B. J. Snyder, was said to be the biggest high school building in the United States at the time. After the school moved to the Bronx, this building became Haaren High School. It is now Haaren Hall on the campus of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Until a high school education became compulsory in the early 1930s, Clinton, like all other public schools in the city, had a Classics Department, where Greek and Latin were taught. Perhaps its most famous teacher was history teacher Dr. Irwin Guernsey, known to generations of students as "Doc" Guernsey. He came to Clinton in the fall of 1914 and retired in the spring of 1959, due to illness. A cripple with two "Irish" canes, he taught from the chair and won twice in his lifetime the title of Master Teacher in New York City. He was also head of the Honors Association, Arista. The History wing is named "Guernsey Hall" in his memory, and one can still see the library cart named "Doc's Special" on which he sat while students wheeled him to class during the last years of his tenure when he was sick.
The school moved to a new building on a campus at 100 West Mosholu Parkway South and East 205th Street in the Bedford Park section of the Bronx in 1929, where it has remained. Paul Avenue, which runs to the side of the school from Mosholu Parkway to Lehman College, is named after a DeWitt Clinton High School principal, Dr. Paul. It was under this principal that the school moved to its current location in the Bronx.
In the 1930s its enrollment peaked at 12,000 and it was said to be the largest high school in the world. Enrollment by 1999 was about 4,000.
It remained the last gender-segregated public school in New York City until 1983.
In 1996, Clinton was selected by Redbook magazine as one of the five most improved schools in America. In 1999, US News and World Report designated Clinton as one of 96 outstanding schools in America.
In 1999, Geraldine Ambrosio became the first woman to hold the principal's post at the school.
The school receives government aid because of the low income status of its students. As of 2006, the school has a large Hispanic population, followed by African-Americans and Asians. Non-Hispanic Whites, primarily Albanians, comprise a tiny minority.
Recently, DeWitt Clinton High School has received poor evaluations from the New York City Department of Education. In the latest Progress Report the school received a grade of F with the worst marks in school environment and closing the achievement gap. The Quality Report for the academic year 2011-12 rated the school as "underdeveloped," its lowest rating. It particularly faulted the school for failing to design "engaging, rigorous and coherent curricula" and for failing to ensure that teaching was "aligned to the curriculum, engaging, and differentiated to enable all students to produce meaningful work products." In 2013, to address these issues, the city's Department of Education tapped Santiago Taveras, one of its former deputy chancellors, as the school's principal to replace the retiring Ambrosio. In November 2016, after Department of Education investigators found evidence of grade tampering, Taveras was removed as principal.
Organization-houses/small learning communities
Clinton is split into several small learning communities. They include the Macy Honors Gifted Program, Health Professions, Veterinary Professions, Public Service, Business Enterprise, Future Educators, Academy House, and Varsity House.The Macy Program, begun in 1985 with funding from the Macy Foundation, attracts intelligent, hard-working children and preparing them for exceptionally selective colleges. The Macy program has been expanded to serve 1,200 students. The current Macy coordinator is Ernesta Consolazio. The Macy Honors Gifted Program in the Sciences and Humanities has its own teachers, and a nine-period day compared to the regular New York City eight-period day. The program offers Specialized and Advanced Technology courses, Science, Math, English, Law, Government, Philosophy and Great Books. All students in the program are required to have a minimum average of 80 and not to fail any courses. When Macy students are removed from the program, they are placed in Excel, a special Macy-run program just for its kick-outs and drop-outs, before being fully demoted to the lower programs. From at least 1998 to 2002 some students went directly into the Excel program.
Advanced Macy students are invited to join the even more selective Einstein Program, which has about 50 students in each grade. This program has even more rigorous academic performance requirements. Einstein students in their junior year are required to take a College Now course for philosophy and government science, in their first and second semester, respectively. These courses allow students to earn college credits. Einstein students are automatically assigned to honors and AP classes as early as freshman year, followed by the mandatory AP United States History and AP English Language for Einstein students who make it to their junior year.
Many Macy students are invited to MASTERS, a month-long summer program that offers many hands-on college courses emphasizing mathematics and science. These include Forensic Science, Robotics, Anatomy, Business, Consumer Chemistry and Electricity.
Student organizations
The school has over 40 academic and interest clubs.The Clinton News, the school's newspaper, is written and managed by its students. However, like many other outstanding Clinton possessions, The Clinton News publishes several multi-page full color papers a year by a grant from the Christian A. Johnson Endeavour Foundation.
Another Clinton High School publication is The Magpie. Published yearly, the historic color edition of this magazine came out May 2007. This literary collection received the most attention for its association with the Harlem Renaissance.
Sports
DeWitt Clinton teams are known as the Governors; there are approximately 35 teams. Some teams which no longer exist, such as fencing and rifle. Teams for the 2007–2008 school year included:- Baseball: boys' varsity, boys' JV
- Basketball: boys' varsity, boys' JV, girls' varsity, girls' JV
- Bowling: boys' varsity, girls' varsity
- Cricket: co-ed
- Cross country: boys' varsity, girls' varsity
- Football: boys' varsity, boys' JV
- Golf: girls' varsity
- Gymnastics: boys' varsity, girls' varsity
- Handball: girls' varsity
- Indoor track: boys' varsity, girls' varsity
- Outdoor track: boys' varsity, girls' varsity
- Soccer: boys' varsity, girls' varsity
- Softball: girls' varsity, girls' JV
- Step: girls'
- Swimming: boys' varsity, girls' varsity
- Tennis: boys' varsity, girls' varsity
- Volleyball: boys' varsity, girls' varsity
- Wrestling: boys' varsity
School facilities
DeWitt Clinton High School is located at 100 West Mosholu Parkway South. It dominates the entire block, excluding the ground at the south where the Bronx High School of Science is situated. Facing the main entrance of the building, Paul Avenue runs to the east and Goulden Avenue to the west. The school faces Mosholu Parkway, and has its turf field and track behind it, followed by the softball field, and then the school's baseball and grass football field, Alumni Field. It is after this point that DeWitt Clinton's territory ends, meeting that of Bronx Science.Clinton has a small branch of Montefiore Medical Clinic within it, capable of supplying essential services to the students of the campus.
The school is located at Latitude: 40.88111 : Longitude: -73.8875
The ceiling of a hallway had a 1930s mural by Alfred Floegel called "Constellations", a part of the Federal Art Project. In 2018 the mural was painted over accidentally as part of a roof repair.
In the media
The institution was featured in A Walk Through The Bronx with David Hartman and historian Barry Lewis. In it, Hartman and Lewis take a peek at the library.The DeWitt Clinton Chorus performed songs in the 2000 production, Finding Forrester.
A book has been written about the school:
Clintonites made headlines and New York City School history in September 2005, when they walked out. The 1,500 strong walk out was a result of the installation of metal detectors.
Notable alumni
- Don Adams, actor, best known for his work in the TV series Get Smart
- Lincoln Alexander, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario and first black Canadian Member of Parliament. William Roth Medal Recipient
- Charles Alston, artist, muralist
- Robert Altman
- Allan Arbus, actor
- Nate Archibald, Hall of Fame basketball player
- Ben Auerbach, professional basketball player
- Richard Avedon, photographer
- William Axt, film composer, The Thin Man
- Sanjay Ayre, runner
- Harold Baer, Justice, New York State Supreme Court
- James Baldwin, writer
- Martin Balsam, actor
- Samuel Bea, New York State Assemblyman and community activist
- Romare Bearden, artist
- David Begelman, President of Columbia Pictures
- Lou Bender, pioneer player with the Columbia Lions and in early pro basketball; later a successful trial attorney
- Ira Berlin, historian, author
- Pandro S. Berman, film producer
- Edward Bernays, "father of public relations"
- Edward Bernstein, First Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund
- Robert Blackburn, artist
- A Boogie wit da Hoodie, artist, rapper
- Pedro Borbón, Jr., professional baseball pitcher
- Robert Butler, M.D., winner of the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1976
- B. Gerald Cantor, founder of Cantor Fitzgerald
- Richard Carmona, former Surgeon General of the United States, dropped out at age 16
- Al Casey, jazz guitarist
- Gilbert Cates, producer of Academy Award telecasts
- Paddy Chayefsky, screenwriter
- Richard Condon, author, The Manchurian Candidate, Prizzi's Honor
- Avery Corman, author, Kramer vs. Kramer, Oh, God!
- Frank Corsaro, stage and opera director
- Salvatore A. Cotillo, Italian born New York lawyer and politician; first Italian-American to serve in both houses of the New York State Legislature and the first to serve as Justice of the New York State Supreme Court
- Ellis Cousens, Executive VP and CFO of John Wiley & Sons
- Milton Cross, Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts announcer
- George Cukor, film director
- Countee Cullen, poet
- Lloyd Cutler, attorney, counsel to US presidents
- Pedro de Cordoba, actor
- Charles DeLisi, scientist, "father of the human genome project"
- Peter De Rose, composer
- Don Devlin, actor and writer-producer
- Dean Dixon, first black conductor of the New York Philharmonic
- DJ Red Alert, impresario
- George Duvivier, bass player
- Fred Ebb, lyricist
- Will Eisner, "father of the modern graphic novel"
- Eliot Elisofon, photographer
- Eugene Emond, World War II B-17 pilot and Officer of the New York Federal Reserve
- Edward S. Feldman, film producer, Witness, The Truman Show
- Herbert Fields, playwright and screenwriter
- Joseph Fields, playwright and screenwriter
- Bill Finger, author, co-creator of Batman
- Avery Fisher, electronics pioneer
- Bernie Fliegel, early professional basketball player
- Bruce Jay Friedman, novelist, playwright and screenwriter
- Ace Frehley, KISS guitarist
- Budd Friedman, IMPROV founder
- Frank D. Gilroy, Pulitzer Prize playwright
- Leo Gottlieb, New York Knicks basketball player
- George Graff, songwriter, "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling"
- Bill Graham, rock promoter
- Luther Green, NBA basketball player
- Adolph Green, lyricist, screenwriter
- Stanley Greenstein, mortgage broker, president and owner of The Seldin Organization, Inc.
- George Gregory, Jr., first black All-American college basketball player; New York City official
- George Gresham, president, 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East
- Ernest A. Gross, diplomat
- Sam Gross, cartoonist, New Yorker magazine
- Gary Gubner, shotputter and weightlifter, Olympic athlete and world record holder
- Jerry Harkness, professional basketball player and civil rights activist
- Michael Hafftka, artist
- Arnold Hano, writer and editor
- Hubert Harrison, writer, orator, editor, activist, and "father of Harlem Radicalism"
- Richard Heffner, creator and host of The Open Mind, historian, professor, editor of Democracy in America, and former chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America film rating system
- Tom Henderson, NBA basketball player; Olympic medal winner in 1972
- Bernard Herrmann, composer
- Judd Hirsch, actor
- Robert Hofstadter, 1961 Nobel Prize in Physics
- Irving Howe, author, essayist
- Irving Jaffee, speed skater who won two gold medals at the 1932 Winter Olympics
- Leo Kadanoff, physicist, National Medal of Science
- Bob Kane, co-creator of Batman
- Ralph Kaplowitz, professional basketball player
- Stanley Kauffmann, New Republic film critic
- Stubby Kaye, actor
- Theodore W. Kheel, former New York Labor mediator, civil rights activist, entrepreneur
- Benjamin Ralph Kimlau, USAF pilot killed during World War II; square named for him in Chinatown, NYC
- Robert Klein, comedian, actor, author
- George Kleinsinger, composer, Tubby the Tuba
- George Kojac, won two gold medals at the 1928 Summer Olympics
- Kool Keith, hip hop MC, member of Ultramagnetic MCs and a solo artist
- Stanley Kramer, film producer and director
- William Kunstler, attorney
- Burt Lancaster, actor
- Don Lane, entertainer, talk-show host, sportscaster. Once the highest paid person on Australian television.
- Joseph P. Lash, Pulitzer Prize author and historian
- Ralph Lauren, designer
- Butch Lee, NBA basketball player
- Howard V. Lee, Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, Vietnam, Marine Corps Officer
- Stan Lee, year comic book publisher
- Alfred Leslie, artist
- Seymour Leslie, founder of Pickwick International record company; president of MGM Home Video
- Edward Lewis, co-founder of Essence magazine
- Joe E. Lewis, entertainer
- Robert Q. Lewis, actor, television host
- Eric Linden, actor
- Frank Loesser, composer and lyricist; Pulitzer Prize winner for Drama; Tony Award winner
- Eddie Lopat, New York Yankee pitcher
- Robert O. Lowery, first black fire commissioner of the FDNY
- William E. Macaulay, private equity investor, Forbes 400 billionaire, Chairman and CEO of natural resources buyout firm First Reserve Corporation
- George Macy, publisher
- Vito Marcantonio, US Congressman
- Garry Marshall, director, producer, actor
- Donald McKayle, stage and film choreographer
- Abel Meeropol, teacher at DWC; lyricist, "Strange Fruit", "The House I Live In"
- The Kid Mero, media personality, Viceland
- Hal Miller, actor, Sesame Street, Law & Order; singer; lyricist; poet; painter
- Paul Milstein, real estate developer, philanthropist
- Walter Mirisch, film producer
- Tracy Morgan comedian, also attended Clinton and with the approval of the New York City Department of Education, Morgan was awarded an honorary diploma in 2003.
- Jerome Moross, film composer, The Big Country
- Howard Morris, actor
- Ralph Morse, photographer, developed the camera that went to the moon in 1969
- Jerry Moss, co-founder of A & M Records
- Johnny Most, radio play-by-play announcer for the Boston Celtics basketball team
- Jan Murray, actor, television host
- Lou Myers, cartoonist, writer for The New Yorker
- Frank H. Netter M.D., anatomy artist
- Roy Neuberger, financier
- Barnett Newman, artist
- Herbie Nichols, pianist, songwriter, "Lady Sings the Blues"; left at age 15 to attend City College of New York
- Barnet Nover, longtime Washington bureau chief for the Denver Post
- Basil Paterson, labor lawyer, political leader in New York
- Jan Peerce, Metropolitan Opera tenor
- Abraham Polonsky, blacklisted screenwriter
- Bud Powell, jazz pianist and composer; dropped out at age 15
- Mel Powell, Pulitzer Prize-winning jazz composer
- Robert Poydasheff, former mayor of Columbus, Georgia
- Henry F. Pringle, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography for his 1931 biography of Theodore Roosevelt
- Mario Procaccino, New York City Comptroller and politician
- DeWitt Clinton Ramsey, admiral, US Navy
- John Randolph, actor
- Charles Rangel, United States congressman
- Maurice M. Rapport, biochemist who identified the neurotransmitter serotonin
- Seymour Reit, co-creator, Casper, the Friendly Ghost
- Sugar Ray Robinson, champion prizefighter
- Richard Rodgers, Emmy Award, Grammy Award, Academy Award, and Tony Award winner
- A.M. Rosenthal, The New York Times journalist; 1960 Pulitzer Prize winner for International Reporting
- Bob Rothberg, songwriter and author
- William Ruder, co-founder of Ruder-Finn
- Jack Rudin, real estate developer, philanthropist
- Lewis Rudin, real estate developer, philanthropist
- Juan R. Sanchez, judge, US District Court PA
- Dolph Schayes, NBA Hall of Fame basketball player
- Danny Schechter, journalist, filmmaker, author
- Daniel Schorr, journalist
- M. Lincoln Schuster, co-founder of Simon & Schuster publishers
- Barry Schwartz, co-founder of Calvin Klein
- Sherwood Schwartz, creator of Gilligan's Island and The Brady Bunch
- Gil Scott-Heron American Musician, Poet, and activist.
- Barney Sedran, NBA Hall of Fame basketball player
- Bobby Sharp, songwriter, "Unchain My Heart"
- Steve Sheppard, played for the Chicago Bulls; won a gold medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics
- Neil Simon, playwright and screenwriter; recipient of a Pulitzer Prize, various Emmy Awards, Tony Awards, and a Golden Globe
- Aaron Siskind, abstract photographer
- Ricky Sobers, professional basketball player
- Lionel Jay Stander, actor in films, radio, theater and television
- Louis Stark, The New York Times reporter and Pulitzer Prize winner for Telegraphic Reporting in 1942
- Sol Stein, author
- Milton Steinberg, prominent rabbi, philosopher, theologian and author; Valedictorian, class of 1921
- Larry Storch, actor
- Charles Strouse, composer
- Howard Taubman, music and theater critic for The New York Times
- Sammy Timberg, musician and composer
- Laurence Tisch, head of Loew's Hotels, CBS
- Doug "The Greaseman" Tracht, radio personality
- Marvin Traub, former head of Bloomingdale's department store
- Lionel Trilling, educator and literary critic
- Ozzie Virgil, Sr., major league baseball player
- Fats Waller, jazz pianist
- Ed Warner, college basketball player; central figure on point shaving scandal
- Ben Wattenberg, host of Think Tank on PBS; author
- Jerome Weidman, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama
- Allen Weinstein, Archivist of the United States
- Grover Whalen, "Mr. New York", WNYC founder, President of World's Fair Corporation
- Woodie W. White, bishop of the United Methodist Church
- Willie Worsley, community leader and basketball player
- Lester Wunderman, advertising expert, consultant, professor, author, photographer
- William Zeckendorf, real estate developer
Distinguished visitors
- Jim Brown
- Sioux Chief Buffalo Bear
- Andrew Carnegie
- Douglas Fairbanks Sr.
- Lou Gehrig
- Frederick Gregory
- Mickey Mantle
- Wynton Marsalis
- Adam Clayton Powell Jr.
- Jackie Robinson
- Theodore Roosevelt
- Babe Ruth
- Sgt. Slaughter
Records
- DeWitt Clinton High School students organized one of the largest high school walkouts in New York on September 19, 2005. The protest occurred over installation of airport-style metal detectors and x-ray scanners, which had already been installed in many other schools throughout New York City.
- According to the school, it offers more Advanced Placement courses than any other school in the borough other than the Bronx High School of Science.