by Helen Zelon

Middle School Director Courtney Allison (second from right) with teachers (left to right) Morgan Hall, Darren Kawaii, and Shawn Persaud Henry Street School for International Studies 220 Henry Street Principals: Hoa Tu, Courtney Allison Parent Coordinator: Migdalia Rodriguez Grade levels: 6 to 12 Enrollment: 196 Attendance: 91% www.henrystreetschool.org Admissions: e-mail info@henrystreetschool.org

ot long ago, Courtney Allison and Hoa Tu met through the Asia Society, an educational and philanthropic nonprofit seeking to fund internationally-oriented public schools in major American cities. Each woman came to school leadership through the New Programs, New Schools initiative of the Department of Education – Allison after a half-dozen years teaching middle school, Tu as a seasoned classroom teacher and member of school-development teams that launched lauded new NYC high schools, including Bard High School/Early College and the Life Sciences Secondary School. “We embarked on this together,” Allison says now, in the Pepto-Bismol pink former classroom that serves as their shared office.

The Henry Street School for International Studies, approved only last spring and welcomed its first students this past fall, comprises two divisions: Middle school and high school. Both administrators and both programs share common goals: Developing disciplined, inquisitive, and academically competitive students who learn about the world, and their place in it, via an in-depth study of world languages and cultures. Students admitted to HSSIS are required to study a foreign language, either Spanish or Chinese, in addition to their regular “core” coursework, as required by the Department of Education.

An abiding commitment to travel and multicultural exploration is another cornerstone of the school’s mission. The goal is to open the awareness of citybound students to the multitude of variations the world embodies.

The school’s first year began in haste: The proposal to open was approved last spring; space in the building was allotted by midsummer, and in the fall many students arrived without a clear sense of the school’s mission and vision. The school has a dress code, for example, which still rankles some youngsters’ fashion sense – still, they’re glad they came here. “It’s cooler than my old school,” says Klim Yelose, 12, an outgoing 6th grader. His tablemates at an early morning bagel breakfast agree. Alberto Priego, 13, says “it’s a good school here – the teachers are good. At my other school, the teachers let the kids be bad.”

“Here, they have higher standards,” chips in Jonathan Jaquez, 12. “In science, we do work, but we get to do projects and labs. We get to use the microscopes.” “We get to do fun stuff,” chimes in Garson Chan, 12, “and the high school’s dissecting rats!”

Teachers are, in the main, relatively young – and deeply committed to the goals and culture of the school. Shortcomings in physical assets are offset by the staff’s enthusiasm and energy. Rich afterschool programming offers academics as well as sports, dance, digital photography, drumming workshops, and video club. Because many high school students come from all over the city, the afterschool stands as a de facto community for kids from far-flung neighborhoods. The middle school draws its students from nearer schools, which has ruf.ed feathers in local elementary schools, worried about losing students to the new competition.

(Most Lower East Side elementary schools, unlike the majority of NYC schools, end in grade 6 – the same year HSSIS middle school begins. For this reason, HSSIS will not admit 6th graders for the coming school year. In 2006-7, when all local elementary schools shift to a 5th-grade graduation, 6th graders will again be admitted to HSSIS.) On a recent, somewhat tumultuous morning – standardized testing was in progress, a class was leaving for a .eld trip – no voices were raised. Students streamed in and out of the directors’ of.ce, with chatty morning greetings, to call home, or to cover non-code attire with more modest (if substantially less hip) garments. Through it all, High School director Tu – in a pearl-gray suit and white athletic shoes, literally bounding down the hallways – maintained a steady stream of respectful conversation, and the kids, in large measure, followed suit.

“We constantly engage students in conversation,” she explained, in a brief interlude of calm. “We engage in mediation, in reflection. There’s no yelling, no labeling. Conversations take much less time than discipline, and the children know the boundaries.”

Like an acorn that’s not yet a tree, HSSIS is only beginning to sprout: Full of promise, still tender and delicate, yearning to explore territories that now only belong to the imagination.