New York's Once-Mighty Far Rockaway High School Closed: Why?
06/25/2011
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Far Rockaway HS - No longer the same inside!

Far Rockaway HS - No longer the same inside!

New York's Far Rockaway High School has a tremendous record  -

The alma mater of three Nobel Prize winners as well as financier Carl Icahn, Dr. Joyce Brothers and Bernie Madoff

But it is closing: School's out forever at Far Rockaway High School after 115 years in the Queens neighborhood By Clare Trapasso The New York Daily News Thursday, June 23rd 2011

Why?

Jonathan Gaska, district manager of Community Board 14, is discreet:

"In the last, probably, decade and a half it has been a school that has struggled with a number of issues,"

Actually, there was only one issue: race. The school went from being heavily Jewish to being, at last count, 1% white, 55% Black, and 39% Hispanic. Being New York, it is probable that many of the Blacks as well as virtually all the Hispanics come from immigrant households.

Put simply, it makes a crucial difference who enters a community. The wrong type can cause utter destruction.

Alas, the beneficiaries of Far Rockaway at its strongest, and their descendants, are likely to be the last to acknowledge this.

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