School Desk

All work and no play? Not at AmPark

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Not long after AmPark Neighborhood School music teacher Josh Joffee led students in renditions of “This Little Light of Mine” and “Waving Flag” by K’naan on Sept. 17, he reflected on the school’s origins as it dedicated its new playground to AmPark founder Betty Lopez-Towey. 

One of the school’s first teachers, Mr. Joffee recalled going with Ms. Lopez-Towey to an office space with unneeded furniture offered to them by an acquaintance. As he and Ms. Lopez-Towey transported items out of the space to AmPark’s first home at the Amalgamated Houses, not even the corkboard on the walls was off limits, as the two realized they could be used as classroom bulletin boards. 

“We started ripping off the walls,” he said, garnering laughs from students gathered in the cafeteria. “This school was really built with a lot of heart, a lot of love, a lot of care.”

The story exemplified Ms. Lopez-Towey’s ability to turn possibility into reality. After co-founding the Ella Baker School, a public school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, she took her progressive education vision to Van Cortlandt Village. 

The school opened in 2006 with help from the Amalgamated Park Reservoir community, in a leased space, before moving to its permanent home on Hillman Avenue in 2011.

Ms. Lopez-Towey explained her philosophy to students during the playground dedication. Some had her as their principal before she retired in 2012, when she chose current Principal Christine Milton to continue her work.

“There are not many places where it’s easy to be good,” she said, adding that at AmPark, teachers strive to make the school an exception to that idea.

She emphasized the notion that students are at the center of every decision the school makes, with teachers and families working closely to promote each child’s well being. Students at the school call teachers by their first names, a custom meant to cultivate an environment of mentorship. 

AmPark Neighborhood School, Betty Lopez-Towey, Christine Milton, Playground, Maya Rajamani
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