141: Through the years
Posted
1950 – The Riverdale Press is founded and shortly after, editor David A. Stein begins to editorialize for the building of local schools.
1952 – The Press calls the reservation of land for new public schools “Riverdale’s Number One Project.”
June 1955 – Recognizing that new apartment buildings have created a need for more schools and playgrounds, on June 30, the city acquires the area bounded by West 237th Street and Independence Avenue for educational and recreational purposes.
May 1956 – Ground is broken for JHS 141.
September 1957 – JHS 141 opens, amidst ongoing construction, serving grades seven through nine, with Max Rubenstein as principal.
June 16, 1958 – Ceremonies dedicating JHS 141 are held in the auditorium, only three days after construction is officially completed.
July 1958 – Riverdale Playground, adjacent to the school, opens.
1959 – Empty classrooms are filled by 125 pupils from the Inwood area, to relieve overcrowding at JHS 52 in Manhattan. A much publicized intent on the part of some Harlem parents to enroll 200 of their children at JHS 141 fails to materialize.
June 1960 – The first class to complete the full compliment of grades, seven through nine, graduates.
September 1972 – Norman Kaufman begins his 18-year career as principal.
February 1972 – The Riverdale Community Center opens as an after-school program housed at JHS 141.
November 1982 – Schools Chancellor Frank J. Macchiarola announces parents can chose to send their students to high school early. Some JHS 141 students leave after eighth grade.
March 1983 – Community School Board 10 votes unanimously to change the name of JHS 141 to the David A. Stein Riverdale Junior High School, after the founder of The Riverdale Press, who died in April 1982.
September 1983 – Principal Kaufman reorganizes the school into special “academies,” patterned after the Career Education Academy that debuted at the school the year before.
December 1983 – JHS 141 holds a ceremony to rename the school the David A. Stein Riverdale Junior High School.
Spring 1985 – Councilwoman June Eisland sponsors a $294,000 reconstruction of Riverdale Playground.
September 1990 – Rose Primiani, former math teacher at JHS 141, serves as interim acting principal; later, Ernest Gisolfi is named as interim acting principal, before Melvin Katz takes the helm. Overcrowding begins to pinch local schools — JHS 141 seats 60 more students than its capacity.
January 1991 – More than 100 students from JHS 141 march on Independence Avenue to protest war in the Persian Gulf, carrying flowers, chanting slogans and holding banners reading “No blood for oil.”
September 1996 – Library is expanded, adding study areas and “computers hooked up to the Internet.”
1997 – Principal Katz founds three academies. Students are able to “major” in business and careers, health and science or journalism and writing
1997 – Prodded by Riverdale Review publisher Andrew Wolf who wanted Kingsbridge children — most of whom were black or Hispanic — ousted from the school, parent leaders start to discuss the possibility of adding high school grades for Riverdale students. Facing criticism, and concerned about the proposal to rezone and reorganize the school, Mr. Katz accepts a post as principal of a school in New Jersey.
September 1998 – Former PS/MS 95 assistant principal Ira Gurkin serves as principal for one school year.
October 1998 – Charles Williams, president of Community School Board 10, denounces the proposal to create a high school, calling it racist. Mayor Rudolph Guiliani backs the plan to change the middle school into a grade six-to-12 school.
October 1998 – PS 81 parents back the school plan in a 90-10 vote.
November 1998 – The Riverdale/Kingsbridge Educational Advocacy Committee proposes a new school, MS 368 (to be completed in 2000) include high school classes open to Riverdale as well as Kingsbridge students. In the tentative proposal, MS 141 would focus on writing and research, and MS 368 would center on math and sciences.
Nov. 19, 1998 – The Riverdale/Kingsbridge Educational Advocacy Committee invites Board of Education members to hear its 10-point plan for the high school. The proposal, created by PS 24 parent association leaders and Mr. Wolf, calls for a grade six-to-12 school to be housed at the David A. Stein Riverdale School, MS 141 to serve students from PS 24 and PS 81 in Riverdale and PS 7 students from Kingsbridge who live west of Broadway and north of West 231st Street
Nov. 26, 1998 – School superintendent Irma Zardoya drafts a plan to create two new local high schools and titles her proposal “The Academies at 141 and 368.”
December 1998 – More than 2,000 Riverdale and Kingsbridge residents sign a petition in support of adding high school grades to MS 141.
March 1999 – Amid charges of racism and educational neglect, a bitterly divided Community School Board 10 votes 5-4 to kill plans to restructure the school.
June 1999 – Riverdalians turn out in droves for the school board elections, representing 80 percent of the district-wide votes, to elect a new board that overwhelmingly supported the high school plan. Oliver Koppell serves as president of that board.
July 1999 – The board begins its term on July 1, with the high school plan at the top of their agenda. A few weeks later, they vote to open the school in September 2000.
September 1999 – Principal Mike Taub starts his term.
September 2000 – High school opens to 127 ninth-graders; first sixth-grade class of MS 368 is housed in Whitehall annex at West 236th Street and Independence Avenue
2000 – Councilwoman June Eisland funds a further $250,000 reconstruction of the basketball and handball courts
September 2002 – Principal Daniella Phillips starts her term. School has its first organized sports team: boys’ basketball.
September 2002 – New high school wing with new library opens.
June 2003 – First field day held.
June 2004 – First senior class of 54 students graduates. Coach Jason Zulauf starts girls’ basketball team. Coach Steven Forman starts boys’ soccer team.
September 2006 – Coach Dave Bloom starts wrestling team. MS/HS 141 joins empowerment network giving principals autonomy surrounding their own budget, instruction, professional development and assessment.
September 2007 – Principal Lori O’Mara starts her term.
October 2007 – MS/HS 141 celebrates 50 years.
1952 – The Press calls the reservation of land for new public schools “Riverdale’s Number One Project.”
June 1955 – Recognizing that new apartment buildings have created a need for more schools and playgrounds, on June 30, the city acquires the area bounded by West 237th Street and Independence Avenue for educational and recreational purposes.
May 1956 – Ground is broken for JHS 141.
September 1957 – JHS 141 opens, amidst ongoing construction, serving grades seven through nine, with Max Rubenstein as principal.
June 16, 1958 – Ceremonies dedicating JHS 141 are held in the auditorium, only three days after construction is officially completed.
July 1958 – Riverdale Playground, adjacent to the school, opens.
1959 – Empty classrooms are filled by 125 pupils from the Inwood area, to relieve overcrowding at JHS 52 in Manhattan. A much publicized intent on the part of some Harlem parents to enroll 200 of their children at JHS 141 fails to materialize.
June 1960 – The first class to complete the full compliment of grades, seven through nine, graduates.
September 1972 – Norman Kaufman begins his 18-year career as principal.
February 1972 – The Riverdale Community Center opens as an after-school program housed at JHS 141.
November 1982 – Schools Chancellor Frank J. Macchiarola announces parents can chose to send their students to high school early. Some JHS 141 students leave after eighth grade.
March 1983 – Community School Board 10 votes unanimously to change the name of JHS 141 to the David A. Stein Riverdale Junior High School, after the founder of The Riverdale Press, who died in April 1982.
September 1983 – Principal Kaufman reorganizes the school into special “academies,” patterned after the Career Education Academy that debuted at the school the year before.
December 1983 – JHS 141 holds a ceremony to rename the school the David A. Stein Riverdale Junior High School.
Spring 1985 – Councilwoman June Eisland sponsors a $294,000 reconstruction of Riverdale Playground.
September 1990 – Rose Primiani, former math teacher at JHS 141, serves as interim acting principal; later, Ernest Gisolfi is named as interim acting principal, before Melvin Katz takes the helm. Overcrowding begins to pinch local schools — JHS 141 seats 60 more students than its capacity.
January 1991 – More than 100 students from JHS 141 march on Independence Avenue to protest war in the Persian Gulf, carrying flowers, chanting slogans and holding banners reading “No blood for oil.”
September 1996 – Library is expanded, adding study areas and “computers hooked up to the Internet.”
1997 – Principal Katz founds three academies. Students are able to “major” in business and careers, health and science or journalism and writing
1997 – Prodded by Riverdale Review publisher Andrew Wolf who wanted Kingsbridge children — most of whom were black or Hispanic — ousted from the school, parent leaders start to discuss the possibility of adding high school grades for Riverdale students. Facing criticism, and concerned about the proposal to rezone and reorganize the school, Mr. Katz accepts a post as principal of a school in New Jersey.
September 1998 – Former PS/MS 95 assistant principal Ira Gurkin serves as principal for one school year.
October 1998 – Charles Williams, president of Community School Board 10, denounces the proposal to create a high school, calling it racist. Mayor Rudolph Guiliani backs the plan to change the middle school into a grade six-to-12 school.
October 1998 – PS 81 parents back the school plan in a 90-10 vote.
November 1998 – The Riverdale/Kingsbridge Educational Advocacy Committee proposes a new school, MS 368 (to be completed in 2000) include high school classes open to Riverdale as well as Kingsbridge students. In the tentative proposal, MS 141 would focus on writing and research, and MS 368 would center on math and sciences.
Nov. 19, 1998 – The Riverdale/Kingsbridge Educational Advocacy Committee invites Board of Education members to hear its 10-point plan for the high school. The proposal, created by PS 24 parent association leaders and Mr. Wolf, calls for a grade six-to-12 school to be housed at the David A. Stein Riverdale School, MS 141 to serve students from PS 24 and PS 81 in Riverdale and PS 7 students from Kingsbridge who live west of Broadway and north of West 231st Street
Nov. 26, 1998 – School superintendent Irma Zardoya drafts a plan to create two new local high schools and titles her proposal “The Academies at 141 and 368.”
December 1998 – More than 2,000 Riverdale and Kingsbridge residents sign a petition in support of adding high school grades to MS 141.
March 1999 – Amid charges of racism and educational neglect, a bitterly divided Community School Board 10 votes 5-4 to kill plans to restructure the school.
June 1999 – Riverdalians turn out in droves for the school board elections, representing 80 percent of the district-wide votes, to elect a new board that overwhelmingly supported the high school plan. Oliver Koppell serves as president of that board.
July 1999 – The board begins its term on July 1, with the high school plan at the top of their agenda. A few weeks later, they vote to open the school in September 2000.
September 1999 – Principal Mike Taub starts his term.
September 2000 – High school opens to 127 ninth-graders; first sixth-grade class of MS 368 is housed in Whitehall annex at West 236th Street and Independence Avenue
2000 – Councilwoman June Eisland funds a further $250,000 reconstruction of the basketball and handball courts
September 2002 – Principal Daniella Phillips starts her term. School has its first organized sports team: boys’ basketball.
September 2002 – New high school wing with new library opens.
June 2003 – First field day held.
June 2004 – First senior class of 54 students graduates. Coach Jason Zulauf starts girls’ basketball team. Coach Steven Forman starts boys’ soccer team.
September 2006 – Coach Dave Bloom starts wrestling team. MS/HS 141 joins empowerment network giving principals autonomy surrounding their own budget, instruction, professional development and assessment.
September 2007 – Principal Lori O’Mara starts her term.
October 2007 – MS/HS 141 celebrates 50 years.
