Emphasis on green jobs is right for area, says letter to chancellor
In a letter to Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, Community Board 2 has called on the Department of Education to approve plans for Hunts Point High School for Sustainable Community Initiatives, a school to prepare students for green jobs.
The school “is capable of changing the landscape and mindset of the area and making Hunts Point a preeminent educational and vocational destination of choice,” wrote board chair Roberto Garcia in the Feb. 10 letter, which followed a unanimous vote of approval at the board’s Jan. 27 meeting.
Slated to be housed at The Point CDC on Garrison Avenue, the school would use the community center’s soon-to-be-created green roof and a new farm plot on land owned by The Point next door to Hunts Point Riverside Park as teaching tools.
It has also formed partnerships with Green Living Technologies, a company that plans to use patented technology to grow produce on the roofs and walls of buildings, and with the Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education and Mothers on the Move. It hopes to work with businesses in the Hunts Point Market and with Sims Metal Management to pursue its goal of training students in environmental technologies.
The letter praises Stephen Ritz, the veteran teacher who has spent years trying top win approval for the school, for putting together “a superior and well integrated consortium of partners.” (Ritz presented the idea to a larger audience on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer show on Feb. 12.)
“This is a school that the community wants and supports,” the community board letter concludes. “A 21st Century school proudly bearing the name of our community would send a resounding message.”
