Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School was a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

in the Windsor Terrace neighborhood of

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. Open from 1962 through 2014, it closed following a period of steeply falling enrollment and with an estimated $4 million in outstanding debt. Now called the Bishop Ford Educational Complex, the building is used by

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 (more commonly known as New York City Publ ...

to house a pre-kindergarten school and two middle schools.

History

Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School was established in 1962 by the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn The Diocese of Brooklyn () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in the U.S. state, State of New York (state), New York. It is headquartered in Brooklyn and its territory encompasses the New York City borou ...

. It was named after Bishop Francis Xavier Ford, a Brooklyn native and

Maryknoll Maryknoll is a Catholic non-profit mission movement consisting of four organizations. Together, they work as missioners around the world as Lay People, Priests, Brothers and Sisters. Mary's Knoll to Maryknoll In 1912, the Catholic Foreign Missi ...

missionary who was martyred in China in 1952. It was decorated in a Chinese-themed style, with a large red pagoda on its roof, signs with letters in a font meant to suggest

Chinese characters Chinese characters are logographs used Written Chinese, to write the Chinese languages and others from regions historically influenced by Chinese culture. Of the four independently invented writing systems accepted by scholars, they represe ...

, and a red-and-gold tiled lobby with light fixtures shaped like pagodas. The school was built on the site of the former 9th Avenue bus and trolley depot, used until 1956 for trolleys, and for buses until 1959 following a fire, with bus routes moved to the 5th Avenue (today's Jackie Gleason Depot) & Ulmer Park Depots. Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School was a Division I high school and had an active PTA and many clubs, activities, and sports. Some of the clubs included the International Society; Martial Arts Club; Science Club; Art Club; Student Activities Committee; Student Council; Newspaper and Yearbook. Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School's sports included cross-country, track and field, swimming, basketball, baseball, football, bowling, soccer, cheerleading, volleyball, and softball as junior varsity and varsity teams. Following a period of falling enrollment that saw the student body decrease 75%, from 1,347 students in 2006 to 499 in 2014, the school abruptly closed at the end of the 2013-14 school year. It was one of a number of Catholic schools to close around that time, faced with increased competition from public and charter schools. The school building is now used by the New York City Public School system for pre-k and middle schools. The religious symbols, such as a large cross that once stood above the entrance of the school, have been removed from the school building.

Notable alumni

Glenn Braica Glenn Braica (born September 16, 1964) is an American college basketball coach, currently an assistant coach at Fairfield University. He was previously the head coach at St. Francis College from 2010 until the program was cut in 2023. Braica w ...

(1982):

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

coach, head coach of the St. Francis College basketball team since 2010 *

William DeMeo William DeMeo is an American actor. He is known for his acting roles in '' Analyze That'', '' First Kill'' and ''The Sopranos''. He also played the role of Sammy Gravano in the 2018 film '' Gotti''. Career DeMeo was raised in Bensonhurst, Bro ...

, actor best known for his acting roles in ''

Analyze That ''Analyze That'' is a 2002 American crime comedy film directed by Harold Ramis and produced by Paula Weinstein and Jane Rosenthal. It is a sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music, or video game that con ...

'', '' First Kill'' and ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The series follows Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey American Mafia, Mafia boss who suffers from panic attacks. He reluct ...

'' * John Giuca (born 1983), felon * John Gray (1976):

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

and

television director A television director is in charge of the activities involved in making a television program or section of a program. They are generally responsible for decisions about the editorial content and creative style of a program, and ensuring the prod ...

, creator of TV series ''

Ghost Whisperer ''Ghost Whisperer'' is an American supernatural television series, which ran on CBS from September 23, 2005, to May 21, 2010. The series follows the life of Melinda Gordon ( Jennifer Love Hewitt), who has the ability to see and communicate w ...

'' * John Halama (1990):

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

(1998–2006) * Armond Hill (1971): professional basketball player in the NBA (1976–1984) and first-round pick in the

1976 NBA draft The 1976 NBA draft was the 30th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on June 8, 1976, before the 1976–77 season. In this draft, 18 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players ...

Jimmy Iovine James Iovine ( ; born March 11, 1953) is an American entrepreneur, former Music executive, record executive, and media proprietor. He is the co-founder of Interscope Records and became chairman and CEO of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscop ...

(1971):

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

; co-founder of

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture ...

* Charles Jones (1993): professional basketball player in the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

and abroad (1998–2009) * Jason Mattera (2001): conservative political commentator and author, editor of ''

Human Events ''Human Events'' is an American conservative political news and analysis website. Founded in 1944 as a print newspaper, ''Human Events'' became a digital-only publication in 2013. ''Human Events'' takes its name from the first sentence of the U ...

'' magazine * Brian Nash (1988):

coach who was an assistant coach at Bishop Ford from 1992 to 1993 *

Marco Oppedisano Marco Oppedisano (born November 20, 1971, in Brooklyn, New York) is an American guitarist and composer whose compositions focus on the innovative use of electric guitar in the genre of electroacoustic music. His musique concrète/acousmatic music ...

(1989): guitarist and

electroacoustic music Electroacoustic music is a Music genre, genre of Western art music in which composers use recording technology and audio signal processing to manipulate the timbres of Acoustics, acoustic sounds in the creation of pieces of music. It originated a ...

composer

Filming Location

The building was used as a filming location for several commercials and music videos. Rock band

R.E.M. R.E.M. was an American alternative rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the fir ...

's music video "

All the Way to Reno (You're Gonna Be a Star) "All the Way to Reno (You're Gonna Be a Star)" is a song by American rock band R.E.M. It was released on July 23, 2001 as the second single from the band's twelfth studio album, '' Reveal'' (2001). The single did not chart on the US ''Billbo ...

" was shot at Bishop Ford in 2001, directed by

Michael Moore Michael Francis Moore is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and author. Moore's work frequently addresses various Social issue, social, political, and economic topics. He first became publicly known for his award-winning debut ...

. Rapper

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals and creatures * A male duck * Drake (mythology), a term related to and often synonymous with dragon People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family ...

's debut music video " Best I Ever Had" was shot at Bishop Ford in June 2009. Record producer

Mike WiLL Made It Michael Len Williams II (born March 23, 1989), known professionally as Mike Will Made It (often stylized as Mike WiLL Made-It) or simply Mike Will, is an American record producer. He is best known for producing trap beats for several Southern hi ...

's debut music video "#23" was shot at Bishop Ford in August 2013. The music video features Mike WiLL Made It, singer

Miley Cyrus Miley Ray Cyrus ( , born Destiny Hope Cyrus, November 23, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and director. Regarded as a contemporary pop icon, Cyrus has been recognized for her evolving artistry and image reinventions. She is ...

, and rappers

Wiz Khalifa Cameron Jibril Thomaz (born September 8, 1987), better known by his stage name Wiz Khalifa, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter and actor. Raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he signed with the local independent label Rostrum Records to re ...

and

Juicy J Jordan Michael Houston III (born April 5, 1975), known professionally as Juicy J, is an American rapper and record producer. Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, he is a founding member of the Southern hip-hop group Three 6 Mafia, established ...

. The school building appears in several early shots in the 1975 film ''

Dog Day Afternoon ''Dog Day Afternoon'' is a 1975 American biographical crime drama film directed by Sidney Lumet and produced by Martin Bregman and Martin Elfand. The film stars Al Pacino, John Cazale, James Broderick and Charles Durning. The screenplay ...

'', which was filmed nearby.

Bishop Ford Educational Complex

The building now houses three public schools: *K-280, a pre-K school drawing students from across School District 15 *Brooklyn Urban Garden School (BUGS), a middle school focused on environmental sustainability and education *MS 442, a middle school with a successful program for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Notes and references

{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1962 Educational institutions disestablished in 2014 Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn 1962 establishments in New York City 2014 disestablishments in New York City Roman Catholic high schools in Brooklyn