Leadership & Public Service High School

Infobox Secondary school
name = High School for Leadership and Public Service

motto = Leadership Means Setting an Example Worth Following
established = 1993
type = Public (secondary school) secondary
principal = Frank Broncato (previous: Helen Cohen, Ada Rosario-Dolch)
faculty = 43
students = 750
mascot = Panther
colors = Blue
city = New York
state = New York,
country = USA
website = [http://www.geocities.com/hslaps]
grades = 9-12
address = 90 Trinity Place
newspaper = "Soul Of The Panther"

Leadership began in 1993 as a joint project between Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs (notable: Bill Coplin from the Maxwell School) and the Board of Education of the City of New York. Helen Cohen, the first principal (1993–1995), set the school in a firm college-prep direction with much success and affection from her staff. The first few graduating classes showed remarkable self-motivation and enthusiastically embraced the rigorous curriculum. Ada Rosario-Dolch, the second principal of the school (1995–2004) brought in the second golden age of HSL&PS. Continuing to build on the already impressive teaching staff, Dolch worked hard to make the school effective and a draw for interested and interesting students. Published teachers such as Josie Burgos and Josh Cabat, coupled with visionary artists [http://www.stuartrossnyc.com/ Stu Ross] , talented musicians such as Conrad Sparnroft and Joel Griffin, rounded out the dedicated staff, encouraging and exciting the students to accomplish more than they thought they could.

Leadership enjoyed a high school-to-college ratio, with the majority of the students eventually graduating from college.

Notable in Leadership's history is the effect of 9/11. Leadership, a [http://www.geocities.com/aolgillian/arial.jpgblock south of the South Tower] , was directly in the line of fire that morning and, along with its neighbor school ( [http://www.hseaf.org/ Economics and Finance] ) found it necessary to evacuate after the second plane hit. The engine of the second plane landed on Leadership's roof, and the school building itself was used as one of the morgue sites in the aftermath. The day of, however, Principal Dolch was on the street welcoming voters to the school's polling booths and thus was on the street when the first plane hit. She realized immediately that her sister, a Cantor Fitzgerald employee, most likely hadn't survived the first attack and instead turned her focus to keeping the kids and teachers safe.

Dolch, school secretary Lisa Quigley, AP Ted Bronsnick, and Dean of Students Neil Marks, smoothly and without external guidance evacuated the 14-story building from the top down in minutes, out the south-east entrance and down to Battery Park where the students and teachers eventually found boats and ferries to get them off the island. Few students were left to their own devices as the vast majority accompanied their math teachers, Conrad Sparnroft and Brian Donnelly, to Staten Island, another contingent took ferries to NJ with [http://www.geocities.com/aolgillian/HSLAPS_WTC.html English] and history teachers, a few more accompanied teachers on private yachts down from the 79th street boat basin, and others walked with Principal and staff across the Brooklyn Bridge. The only injury was a sprained ankle during the stair descent. No windows were broken on the building, though the gaskets sealing the windows failed in the face of the collapsing towers, as dust covered everything inside the building. No students lost family members in the attacks.

Post-9/11 the school was housed at Fashion Industries High School. The merging of the two schools was fraught and the teachers and students were relieved to be allowed back to their own building at the end of the first semester. Regular (many times a day) air testing and dust testing was conducted throughout that year. September 11 had an enormous, if sometimes delayed, impact on the staff and students. Lessons in school management and support in the wake of disasters could be taken from the Department of Education's handling of the relocation and aftermath.

Notable alumni include: Anahad O'Connor—NYTimes Scholarship Winner; writer for NYTimes