Brooklyn & Staten Island Schools (BASIS)
715 Ocean Terrace
Staten Island, NY 10301
Contact: Susan Collins
Or
Paul Helfman
Telephone: (718) 390-1516
**Program Description**
The BASIS ESD/SVP effort has been carefully planned (by a team representing all educational stakeholders) to address the following critical needs:
- Direct pupil services in the area of violence prevention; non-violent conflict resolution; and leadership skills development.
- Expanded opportunities for staff to integrate non-violent conflict resolution into various content areas during after school hours.
The project targets 22 high schools in the Brooklyn and Staten Island High School Superintendency. Two of the target sites are SURR; two are Priority Schools; and many of the remaining schools are Schools in Need of Improvement where pupils display serious achievement lag. Pupils suspension rates, dropout levels, incident levels, and low daily attendance rates further exacerbate the patterns of poor academics achievement associated with SURR and Priority status.
The project involves a collaboration with the Leadership Program, Inc. which will provide a 16-component violence prevention program entitled the LEADERSHIP PROGRAM that will serve 4 classes per site, as well as support staff such as guidance counselors. At each school the LEADERSHIP PROGRAM will provide services in conflict resolution and leadership skills to 120 students. The LEADERSHIP PROGRAM promotes the development of student conflict resolution and leadership skills (e.g. goal orientation, personal and social responsibility, and confidence). The LEADERSHIP PROGRAM has been successfully implemented in a number of districts across the city.
Evaluation reports prepared by staff from the Courant Mathematics Institute and the Department of Health Education at New York University indicate that there is a statistically significant reduction in violence and precursors to violence in the leadership classes when compared to non-leadership classes. The second component of the project involved after-school activities that integrate non-violent conflict resolution into various content areas.
The project also involved a collaboration with New York University's Creative Arts Team (CAT) that will provide an educational drama residency at five target sites: Abraham Lincoln H.S., ACORN Community H.S., Curtis H.S., Lafayette H.S., and Port Richmond H.S. CAT will work with five teachers at each school providing 20 hours of professional development to help teachers devise educational strategies that use drama-based activities to resolve conflict, strengthen literacy, and create issue-based theater with students. CAT staff will also work with 360 students at each school in 20 after school workshops that address violence prevention, emotional and physical health and wellness, literacy development, communication, and critical thinking. Each school will also receive two performances of "Minus One", CAT's touring production about relationship violence followed by a talk-back where the facilitator processes issues in the show.
**Program Sites**
Automotive High School
Principal: Evaristo Jimenez
George Westinghouse High School
Principal: Jean-Claude Brizard
Harry Van Arsdale
Principal: Dr. Bruce M. Billig
School for International Studies
Principal: Anthony Randazzo
John Jay High School
Principal: Harold I. Lipitz
New Dorp School
Principal: Deirdre A. DeAngelis
Secondary School for Law, Journalism & Research
Principal: Marta Jimenez
Ralph McKee High School
Principal: Linda Waite
Port Richmond High School
Principal: Robert J. Graham
El Puente Academy
Principal: Alfa Anderson
Curtis High School
Principal: Edward Seto
Lafayette High School
Principal: Alan Siegel
Susan E. Wagner High School
Principal: Michael C. Tobin
Abraham Lincoln High School
Principal: Corinne S. Heslin
ACORN Community High School
Principal: Eleanor Leonard
Cobble Hill High School
Principal: Richard Weisberg
Fort Hamilton High School
Principal: JoAnn Chester
School for Global Studies
Principal: Bonnie LaBoy
High School of Telecommunication Arts and Technology
Principal: Philip Weinberg
ACORN High School for Social Justice
Principal: Damaso Parets
Tottenville High School
Principal: John Tuminaro
William E. Grady High School
Principal: Ivor Neuschotz