STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. —A newly constructed facility in Stapleton will house two schools when it opens for the first time this fall.
The new $77 million four-story building will offer 773 elementary, middle and high school seats for students on the North Shore when it opens for the 2022-2023 academic year.
According to the New York City Department of Education, the school building — formerly known as PS 70 — has been named the Evelyn King Campus — named after Staten Island activist Evelyn Morris King, a proud descendant of slaves who rose to become an educator, a champion of civil rights, community activist and keeper of Staten Island’s rich store of Black history. A 1986 Staten Island Advance Woman of Achievement, King died at 95 years old in 2012.
Morris Intermediate School (I.S. 61) in Brighton Heights is named after King’s father, William A. Morris. A petition garnered more than 1,000 signatures to call for the campus to be named after King.
The campus is located at 45 Waverly Place and will house two new schools — Waverly Academy for Empowered Learners (WAELS) and The Young Women’s Leadership School (TYWLS).
Here’s a look at the two new schools opening this September.
WAVERLY ACADEMY FOR EMPOWERED LEARNERS
The Waverly Academy for Empowered Learners is a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, math) and student-voice-centered elementary school founded in rigorous expeditionary learning and outward-bound practices, according to the DOE.
It is inspired by the Urban Assembly Model, which supports schools through innovative tools and programs that build cohesive learning communities for young people through coaching, coherence and community.
The academy is a diverse community committed to empowering students and staff to respect multiple perspectives and backgrounds, while also striving to plan an innovative curriculum that empowers young people to take an active role in their learning.
The school motto is “Learn to Live, Live to Love, and Love to Lead,” and students will aim to live each day by these core values.
THE YOUNG WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP SCHOOL
The Young Women’s Leadership School is dedicated to molding the minds of the world’s future female leaders. It will open with a class of 60 sixth-grade students, adding an additional grade each year, up to grade 12. The school is open to girls and gender-expansive students.
Admission to the school will be based on a lottery system, with those interested in applying simply needing to list the new school on their upcoming middle school application.
For the time being, the school will share a campus with WAELS. However, Dr. Marion Wilson, District 31 superintendent, has said she would be advocating to eventually move the school onto the former St. John Villa campus, which was acquired by the city in 2018.
The Young Women’s Leadership School, which currently has locations in the four other boroughs and across the country, opened its first school in East Harlem in 1996 and has since grown into a national network of all-girls college prep schools.
Ad Choices