William Howard Taft High School is a former New York City high school in the southwest section of the

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, whose building now houses small specialized high schools. The school was operated by the

New York City Department of Education The New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) is the department of the government of New York City that manages the city's public school system. The City School District of the City of New York (or the New York City Public Schools) is t ...

. The Taft school campus is located on Sheridan Avenue and 172nd Street in the Bronx.

History

Founded in the 1940s, Taft originally served the largely homogeneous population of the surrounding area. In the post-war years of the forties, fifties and sixties. Notable graduates included director Stanley Kubrick, producer

Jerry Weintraub Jerome Charles "Jerry" Weintraub (September 26, 1937 – July 6, 2015) was an American film producer, talent manager and actor whose television films won him three Emmys. He began his career as a talent agent, having managed relatively unknown ...

, novelist Judith Rossner, and singers

Eydie Gormé Eydie Gormé ( ; born Edith Gormezano; August 16, 1928 – August 10, 2013) was an American singer who had hits on the pop and Latin pop charts. She sang solo and in the duo Steve and Eydie with her husband, Steve Lawrence, on albums and telev ...

, Chuck Negron, Luther Vandross and

Alan Merrill Alan Merrill (born Allan Preston Sachs; February 19, 1951 – March 29, 2020) was an American vocalist, guitarist and songwriter. In the early 1970s, he was one of the few resident foreigners to achieve pop star status in Japan. He was the write ...

. Demographic and the advent of specialized magnet schools brought about shifts in enrollment. During the Abraham Beame (1974–1977) and

Edward Koch Edward Irving Koch ( ; December 12, 1924February 1, 2013) was an American politician, lawyer, political commentator, film critic, and television personality. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 1977 and was mayo ...

(1978–1989) administrations, citywide, crime rates were high and unfavorable publicity accelerated the decline of the school. By the early 1970s, Taft H.S. earned a reputation as a "failing school" with many of the problems of other high schools in poor, marginalized neighborhoods in New York City. Entering the 1990s, as a non-selective high school, it was unable to compete with the newer schools housing magnet programs that attracted prime students from throughout the borough. Crime intimidated vibrant young professionals from teaching at the high school. The danger was highlighted in May 1997, when Jonathan Levin, an English teacher at the school and the son of former

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

chairman Gerald M. Levin, was murdered by a former student in his Manhattan apartment. Of the 629 students attending Taft in the 1990s, the majority were Hispanic and African-American. On any given day, attendance hovered around 86%. The impoverished community, lacking in political clout or a cohesive PTA, was provided 10 truancy officers, rather than improved education strategies. The last graduating class of Taft High School was in June 2008.

Transformation

Within the same building, the previously identified "failing school" has been transformed into a series of small specialized high schools to meet modern career needs. The specialty schools are: * Bronx High School for Medical Science * Bronx High School of Business * Bronx Collegiate Academy (formerly Bronx Expeditionary Learning High School) * Claremont International High School * DreamYard Preparatory School * Jonathan Levin High School for Media and Communications * The Urban Assembly Academy for History and Citizenship for Young Men * New Directions Secondary School

Notable alumni

Eddie Carmel Eddie Carmel (born Oded Ha-Carmeili ; March 16, 1936 – August 14, 1972) was an Israeli-born American entertainer with gigantism and subsequent acromegaly resulting from a pituitary adenoma. He was popularly known as "The Jewish Giant", "The ...

(born Oded Ha-Carmeili, 1936–1972), Israeli-born entertainer * Arthur J. Cooperman (born 1933), lawyer and politician * Irwin Dambrot (1928–2010), basketball player *

(1928–2013), pop singer *

Richard Gottehrer Richard Gottehrer (born 1940) is an American songwriter, record producer and record label executive. In 1997, he co-founded the Orchard with longtime business partner Scott Cohen, an independent music distribution company. His career began as ...

(born 1940), songwriter, record producer and record label executive * Artie Green, basketball player *

Joe Hammond Joseph William Hammond (10 July 1902 – 25 December 1990) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Essendon in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Family His brother, Bob Hammond also played VFL football for Hawthorn and St Kilda. ...

, streetball basketball player * Louise Hay (née Schmir, 1935–1989), French-born mathematician * Barbara Kalik (née Bennett, born 1936), politician * Stanley Kubrick (1928–1999), film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer * Gerald M. Levin (born 1939), mass-media businessman * Ed Roman (1930–1988), college basketball player * Judith Rossner (1935–2005), novelist * Joanna Russ (1937–20), science fiction writer * Ken Rudin, radio journalist * Vic Ziegel (1937–2010), sports writer, columnist, and editor * Luther Vandross (1951–2005), singer, songwriter, and record producer

References

External links

New York City Board of Education page
*
2002–2003 annual school report

School profile and article from Insideschools.org
(also source of new schools in the building)

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