Good Shepherd Services presents Senator Montgomery with an award for her leadership in the fight to save Transfer Schools in NYC

I am so grateful to Martha Bowers, Executive Director of Dance Theatre Etcetera and Sister Paulette LoMonaco, Executive Director of Good Shepherd Services for bringing this issue to my attention. I have had the priviledge of visiting transfer schools throughout my district and have witnessed firsthand the transformative difference these schools have made on the lives of young people who are all too often miscategorized as "not good enough," not "smart enough"' or told they "should just drop out." 

I am thankful to Good Shepherd Services and the students from South Brooklyn Community High School for recognizing my work as part of their Annual Thanksgiving Celebration. I continue to be inspired by the students and the advocates who work tirelessly to make a difference in our communities.

Transfer schools provide students individualized and rigorous instructional settings, robust student support services, career and post - secondary development, and more. In order to continue supporting the work of our transfer high schools, Senator Montgomery and her colleagues requested that NYS Education Department and the NYS Board of Regents consider transfer schools in a special category that recognizes the high need nature of these students while at the same time requiring vigorous accountability for academic standards. 

The 25th Senate District is home to six ransfer schools: Brooklyn Academy High School, Bedford Stuyvesant Preparatory High School, Brooklyn High School for Leadership and Community Service, Brooklyn Frontiers High School, South Brooklyn Community High School and Research and Service High School. 

Good Shepherd Services (GSS) is one of New York City's premier non-profit organization. GSS works in partnership with the New York City Department of Education to help youth who have faced previous academic challenges graduate high school prepared for careers and college. Their transfer high schools are based on a successful school model that they first pioneered at South Brooklyn Community High School in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn. These schools provide a full-day, year-round academic program in a small school setting for students who had previously dropped-out or were significantly off-track for graduation. The result is a highly personalized school environment where each student is known, respected and supported.

Good Shepherd Services in partnership with the community, has built a continuum of neighborhood-based youth development, educational, vocational, and family support services that now includes more than 80 programs—all dedicated to meeting the needs of underserved children, youth, and families and helping them succeed.

To learn more about Good Shepherd Services, visit https://goodshepherds.org

To find a Good Shepherd Services in your community, visit https://goodshepherds.org/programs/find-a-program/

To learn more about Senator Montgomery's efforts to save NYC transfer schools, visit:

https://www.nysenate.gov/newsroom/articles/velmanette-montgomery/senator-montgomery-and-colleagues-fight-nyc-transfer-high

https://www.nysenate.gov/newsroom/articles/velmanette-montgomery/nys-education-department-revises-transfer-high-school