New York’s Staten Island. To accommodate more students and provide a cutting-edge learning environment, a Staten Island charter school has been renovating its main campus extensively.
About 800 students in kindergarten through eighth grade are served by New World Preparatory Charter School in Port Richmond, which has multiple locations in the area. According to Eugene Foley, president of New World Prep and principal of grades 6–8, the school started out at its main campus at 26 Sharpe Ave., which is currently undergoing extensive renovations to become the new school facility.
In 2019, the charter bought the school building and nearby structures from the Archdiocese of New York, which included the former St. Mary of the Assumption Church, a former convent, and a former rectory, as the school grew and needed more room.
The structure at St. Mary’s was able to accommodate the middle school’s sixth, seventh, and eighth graders when we first opened, but it was also an old building that required extensive renovations, according to Foley. Our goal in expanding K–8 was to get students into school sooner so that we could work with them before they reached sixth grade. And we have to grow in order to accomplish that.
Construction was delayed because the demolition started shortly before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Following years of development, New World Prep stated that it now anticipates having students on campus by the upcoming academic year.
Inside an incomplete classroom at the new New World Preparatory Charter School building in Port Richmond. (Jan Somma-Hammel/Staten Island Advance)STATETEN ISLAND PROGRESS
Complete transformation
A new media center/library, a gymnasium, a theater stage, a cafeteria, administrative offices, a minimum of 36 classrooms, special spaces for music, science, and art, playground areas, and rooms for required special education services were all part of the transformation, which involved enlarging the current school building.
“This is a long time coming, and I think that this school is a beacon of hope in our community that all children, regardless of their academic or economic challenges, have a place to go to learn and to grow,” Foley said.
He went on to say: We truly want our scholars from our community to understand that they should be proud of who they are and their community, respect themselves and others, strive for excellence, and always have a direction in life and a purpose. Our mission and guiding values are pride, respect, excellence, and purpose. That, in my opinion, is what makes the school so intriguing. It represents the fact that it is frequently overlooked or not given emphasis in our community. Every child is a priority, according to that building.
Additionally, a buzz-in entry vestibule will be installed at the school to guarantee the protection of both personnel and students. Kindergarten and first-grade classrooms are equipped with separate restrooms. For the first time, students will have lockers, Foley continued.
To encourage greater student engagement, some classrooms even feature garage-style doors.
In the new building, glass doors that connect certain rooms lift like garage doors. (Jan Somma-Hammel/Staten Island Advance)Staten Island Advance
Foley noted that the garage doors would actually be able to accommodate various group projects with the pupils. They may spread out since those garage doors lead to greater hallway spaces. In order to facilitate interdisciplinary work and more extensive, small-group, hands-on activities, it would allow various subject areas to collaborate on related projects. However, from a different perspective, the science class might approach the project from a scientific point of view, while the writing class would approach it from a writing point of view.
Social-emotional learning
Personalization is one of New World Prep’s main instructional strategies, and it permeates every aspect of the school. Its robust social-emotional curriculum, which started prior to the coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic, benefits from this.
Foley remarked, “It’s been a part of who we are.” The advice is a crucial part of that personalization, but it’s also evident in our handbook, the language we use, and the interactions between staff and students as well as between students and parents.
This picture displays the front door of the school, which will have a buzzer-entry system installed. (Jan Somma-Hammel/Staten Island Advance)STATETEN ISLAND PROGRESS
The charter school counselors will also have their own distinct rooms on each floor to offer required services, treatments, and counseling in order to further its social-emotional learning priorities.
It’s crucial to have the room for the counselors to work with them, and since all schools have required services, like speech, physical therapy, or occupational therapy, we want to make sure that there’s room for them to perform those services effectively,” Foley said.
Tech in classrooms
According to Foley, both teachers and kids with their own laptops will have access to fast internet speeds thanks to a sophisticated server room on the ground floor.
Every student in kindergarten through eighth grade receives their own laptop thanks to the school’s 1:1 laptop program, which was made possible by a donation from the Northfield Bank Foundation. Kindergarteners through fourth graders keep their laptops at school, while fifth and eighth graders are allowed to bring their devices home.
Additionally, eighth-graders are exempt from returning the laptop when they graduate from New World Prep. According to Foley, they can keep the gadget to aid them during their time in high school.
Inside the school atrium is Eugene Foley, the principal of grades 6–8 and president of New World Prep. (Jan Somma-Hammel/Staten Island Advance)STATETEN ISLAND PROGRESS
Teacher input
When you first enter the new building, the campus showpiece is immediately apparent. The main floor is a three-story atrium with ceiling-mounted frosted glass windows. Along with a big TV that will show school news and alerts, the primary wall of the room will be occupied by a botanical garden.
The new area is purposefully designed in every way. According to Foley, teachers visited a school in Ohio to tour a recently built structure in order to brainstorm and collect ideas prior to construction. Depending on the grade level, kids even traveled to furniture stores across New York City to choose what they wanted in their classrooms.
Three stories make up the atrium. (Jan Somma-Hammel/Staten Island Advance)STATETEN ISLAND PROGRESS
Following that, Foley received input from those educators regarding what the best learning environment would be for their pupils.
According to Foley, there is a blend of the theoretical and the actual classroom experience because the teachers have been involved from the start in gathering input on what they want in the building, what they want in the classrooms, and even the furniture we were thinking about.
Foley pointed out that the school is also prepared to serve as an emergency shelter thanks to solar panels on the roof and a backup generator, which is significant for the neighborhood.
Looking ahead
Although Foley stated that in order to maintain small class sizes, the new building won’t be filled to its 925 student capacity, it is still unclear which grades will be served there.
By September 2025, he continued, the charter school expects to have kids back on its main campus.
According to Foley, families are thrilled since they won’t have to take their kids to and from multiple campuses based on grade level.
The new building’s exterior. (Jan Somma-Hammel/Staten Island Advance)STATETEN ISLAND PROGRESS
The fact that they are in the same building will help to simplify things for our family. According to Foley, they are thrilled to have a brand-new facility.
Currently, New World Prep has three sites in the Port Richmond area: 335 Morningstar Road, 465 Villa Avenue, and 285 Clove Road.
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