Tactical Media Project
Script
Me: Hello and welcome to this week's edition of School Hunters! I'm your host, Cody Perez, and I will be showing this week's lovely couple, the Smiths, some of New York City's finest learning establishments. They are looking for the perfect school for their 13 year old son Roger, who will soon be graduating as the valedictorian of his 8th grade class. With such a bright future ahead of him, his parents want to find a school that will foster his academic achievement and will provide him the best opportunities to succeed in college and beyond. Having this in mind, I have lined up three great schools for us to look at today. For the sake of diversity, I have chosen one public, private, and Catholic school, so as to highlight the key differences between these school types. Let's get right into it...
The first school that we are visiting is a public high school in the Throggs Neck section of the Bronx by the name of Lehman High School. Boy is this school something! Built on one of the borough's most heavily trafficked streets over one of the most highly utilized highways in the state, and with a train station only a block away, you'll surely have no problem getting here.....unless of course you get caught in traffic. And the noise? Trust me, once you're inside you'll forget all about it. Let's head on in so we can get a better look at things.....
As we can clearly see, this school has all the basics to be qualified as an accredited high school. The first thing you'll probably notice are the metal detectors immediately behind every entrance throughout the school. As a school with a predominantly minority population and with over 70% of students on the free lunch program, you can imagine that these kids are no strangers to the harsh realities of lower-income living, or the violence that at times accompanies it. However, you will be glad to know that safety is one of the school's biggest concerns. With the metal detectors at the doors preventing any types of weapons getting through the doors, and with the NYPD School Safety Division always on call within a close distance, Lehman makes it a priority to ensure that students are safe within its walls. But even with such tight security measures, sometimes a good old fist fight just cannot be avoided. I'd consider signing young Roger up for some karate classes, just in case.
As we continue to move along, you will notice a plethora of classrooms designed to serve the 2000+ students. With over 20 different courses being offered, you can be sure that your son will follow almost the exact same curriculum as virtually every other student that attends. Hopefully they finally get those new textbooks in, because I know that was a little bit of an issue in the past. And of course someone has to teach these classes! The school utilizes teachers that often cannot pass up on the opportunity to work here. Sure, their skills might be a bit rough during their first couple years, but I promise once they earn tenure they will adopt an entirely new teaching style.
And with an average class size of about 26 students, you won't ever have to worry about there being too much attention on Roger. Heck, I'd be surprised if he gets any at all!
Checking out the athletic facilities, you'll find a weight room, basketball court, and an 80-yard field that doubles as both a football field as well as baseball fields. Talk about space efficient!
Every year the city's Department of Education produces progress reports for every public school and indicates the school's strengths and weaknesses through grading in several sections: Student Progress, Student Performance, School Environment, College and Career Readiness, and Closing the Achievement Gap. Checking out the Report for Lehman we see some truly incredible numbers. In the area of Student Progress, which measures the annual progress students make towards meeting state graduation requirements and passing state exams, the school earned 14.0 out of 55.0 possible points making its grade in this section a solid D. In the area of Student Performance, which measures how many students graduated within 4-6 years of starting high school and the types of diplomas they earned, the school earned 6.5 out of 20.0 possible points, which once again equates to a D. In the area of school environment, which measures student attendance, academic expectations, engagement, respect, and safety, the school earned 5.1 out of 15.0 possible points. Again, a D. In the area of college and career readiness, which measures how well students are prepared for college and careers based on passing advanced cources, meeting proficiency standards, and enrolling in a post-secondary institution, the school earned 5.3 out of 10.0 points, giving it a "B" in this section. In the wild card section of Closing the Achievement Gap, which is an extra credit section of sorts, the school earned 3.9 out of a possible 16.0 points. Overall, this school earned 34.8 out of 100.0 points, giving it a final grade of an F. Like I said before: incredible.
The first school that we are visiting is a public high school in the Throggs Neck section of the Bronx by the name of Lehman High School. Boy is this school something! Built on one of the borough's most heavily trafficked streets over one of the most highly utilized highways in the state, and with a train station only a block away, you'll surely have no problem getting here.....unless of course you get caught in traffic. And the noise? Trust me, once you're inside you'll forget all about it. Let's head on in so we can get a better look at things.....
As we can clearly see, this school has all the basics to be qualified as an accredited high school. The first thing you'll probably notice are the metal detectors immediately behind every entrance throughout the school. As a school with a predominantly minority population and with over 70% of students on the free lunch program, you can imagine that these kids are no strangers to the harsh realities of lower-income living, or the violence that at times accompanies it. However, you will be glad to know that safety is one of the school's biggest concerns. With the metal detectors at the doors preventing any types of weapons getting through the doors, and with the NYPD School Safety Division always on call within a close distance, Lehman makes it a priority to ensure that students are safe within its walls. But even with such tight security measures, sometimes a good old fist fight just cannot be avoided. I'd consider signing young Roger up for some karate classes, just in case.
As we continue to move along, you will notice a plethora of classrooms designed to serve the 2000+ students. With over 20 different courses being offered, you can be sure that your son will follow almost the exact same curriculum as virtually every other student that attends. Hopefully they finally get those new textbooks in, because I know that was a little bit of an issue in the past. And of course someone has to teach these classes! The school utilizes teachers that often cannot pass up on the opportunity to work here. Sure, their skills might be a bit rough during their first couple years, but I promise once they earn tenure they will adopt an entirely new teaching style.
And with an average class size of about 26 students, you won't ever have to worry about there being too much attention on Roger. Heck, I'd be surprised if he gets any at all!
Checking out the athletic facilities, you'll find a weight room, basketball court, and an 80-yard field that doubles as both a football field as well as baseball fields. Talk about space efficient!
Every year the city's Department of Education produces progress reports for every public school and indicates the school's strengths and weaknesses through grading in several sections: Student Progress, Student Performance, School Environment, College and Career Readiness, and Closing the Achievement Gap. Checking out the Report for Lehman we see some truly incredible numbers. In the area of Student Progress, which measures the annual progress students make towards meeting state graduation requirements and passing state exams, the school earned 14.0 out of 55.0 possible points making its grade in this section a solid D. In the area of Student Performance, which measures how many students graduated within 4-6 years of starting high school and the types of diplomas they earned, the school earned 6.5 out of 20.0 possible points, which once again equates to a D. In the area of school environment, which measures student attendance, academic expectations, engagement, respect, and safety, the school earned 5.1 out of 15.0 possible points. Again, a D. In the area of college and career readiness, which measures how well students are prepared for college and careers based on passing advanced cources, meeting proficiency standards, and enrolling in a post-secondary institution, the school earned 5.3 out of 10.0 points, giving it a "B" in this section. In the wild card section of Closing the Achievement Gap, which is an extra credit section of sorts, the school earned 3.9 out of a possible 16.0 points. Overall, this school earned 34.8 out of 100.0 points, giving it a final grade of an F. Like I said before: incredible.
The next school that we are visiting today is a Catholic School in the Baychester area of the Bronx named Cardinal Spellman High School. Once again, getting here most like will not be a problem as there are a number of public bus stops right up the block to provide easy access to transportation. And despite the fact that the school is located in an urban and moderately trafficked area, it is has a beautiful 13 acre campus with everything you would expect a great school to have. There are two new all-weather fields, a gymnasium that can be separated into 4 full sized gym areas, and a state of the art fitness center with professional equipment so that Roger can let his inner athlete shine. And with art rooms, music rooms, science labs, 3 computer labs, and a library with thousands of books, there is no endeavor that your son can't participate in. This is one of the better schools in the city, and will provide your son with a great learning environment with all the resources to succeed in life. It does carry a yearly tuition of about $8000, though, so keep that in mind when you're making your choice.
The final school that we are visiting is a private day school in the Riverdale section of the Bronx named Horace Mann School. This school has a beautiful 18-acre campus with state-of-the-art facilities, including multiple buildings housing classrooms and computer laboratories, with several specialized buildings for the science facilities, music classrooms, dance and visual art studios, the dining hall, and . There is also a 650 seat theatre, a gymnasium with basketball courts, exercise and training rooms, an indoor track, and a swimming pool, and outside there are two huge fields and handball and tennis courts. When these various spaces don't suffice for the sporting events, there is a state park right across the street that the school also utilizes. And a great deal of why Horace Mann has such an amazing campus is due to outstanding lengths it goes to for its maintenance. The school reports that over the last 12 years it has spent over $100 million in renovations and new building! Talk about dedicated to greatness! And to ensure that the campus is always safe, there is a 14-man security team monitoring the premises at all times, and all visitors are required to sign in and obtain a Visitor Pass before being permitted to enter the campus.
Horace Mann also has an amazing technological system. It has a network of over 1800 desktop and laptop computers connected via fiber optic backbone, which ensures the speed and stability of the internet connection. Every classroom is equipped with full Audio-Visual systems and at least one permanently installed, up-to-date computer with full time internet access, most of which are accompanied by SMART Board interactive whiteboards. There are also a number of computer labs across campus that can be used by students and faculty during class periods or free time. In addition to this, all students receive personal school email accounts for easy internal communication, and they gain access to all of the school's online databases and electronic resources. There is also a highly capable Technology Department that ensures that everything surrounding the electronic systems is running smoothly at all times.
The state-of-the-art facilities and superior technological set up lay the foundation for making Horace Mann a world class academic institution, but the school does not stop there. Of the 240 faculty members that the school employs, 186 have master's degrees and 22 have doctoral degrees, which is an extremely rare quality for a high school. By having such highly educated professors that are some of the most knowledgeable in their fields teaching its students, Horace Mann guarantees an extremely rigorous and intellectually rewarding academic experience that will push Roger to his limits while giving him the skills that he will need to succeed in college and in the real world. There are also 230 courses offered each year, which will give your son the freedom to tailor his academic experience to best fit his intellectual interests. Plus with over 60 clubs, Roger can feel free to take on any extracurriculars that he wants to participate in! And the college counselors will make sure that your son will not only get into college, but will go to one of the country's most prestigious universities. These are the very things that consistently have Horace Mann ranked as one of the best schools in the United States. Of course an education of this caliber comes with a price. While the $43,300 yearly price tag is definitely an extremely large expense, about 16% of students do receive financial aid, so based on your income you may qualify.
And that about wraps up our three school tour! So Mr. And Mrs. Smith, what do you think??
Horace Mann also has an amazing technological system. It has a network of over 1800 desktop and laptop computers connected via fiber optic backbone, which ensures the speed and stability of the internet connection. Every classroom is equipped with full Audio-Visual systems and at least one permanently installed, up-to-date computer with full time internet access, most of which are accompanied by SMART Board interactive whiteboards. There are also a number of computer labs across campus that can be used by students and faculty during class periods or free time. In addition to this, all students receive personal school email accounts for easy internal communication, and they gain access to all of the school's online databases and electronic resources. There is also a highly capable Technology Department that ensures that everything surrounding the electronic systems is running smoothly at all times.
The state-of-the-art facilities and superior technological set up lay the foundation for making Horace Mann a world class academic institution, but the school does not stop there. Of the 240 faculty members that the school employs, 186 have master's degrees and 22 have doctoral degrees, which is an extremely rare quality for a high school. By having such highly educated professors that are some of the most knowledgeable in their fields teaching its students, Horace Mann guarantees an extremely rigorous and intellectually rewarding academic experience that will push Roger to his limits while giving him the skills that he will need to succeed in college and in the real world. There are also 230 courses offered each year, which will give your son the freedom to tailor his academic experience to best fit his intellectual interests. Plus with over 60 clubs, Roger can feel free to take on any extracurriculars that he wants to participate in! And the college counselors will make sure that your son will not only get into college, but will go to one of the country's most prestigious universities. These are the very things that consistently have Horace Mann ranked as one of the best schools in the United States. Of course an education of this caliber comes with a price. While the $43,300 yearly price tag is definitely an extremely large expense, about 16% of students do receive financial aid, so based on your income you may qualify.
And that about wraps up our three school tour! So Mr. And Mrs. Smith, what do you think??
Mrs. Smith: Well this has truly been an eye-opening experience. We have never had the opportunity to get such an up close look of what the city has to offer in terms of educational opportunities, and there really are significant differences between public, Catholic and private schools. After touring Lehman High School, Cardinal Spellman High School, and Horace Mann School, and putting much thought and consideration into our choice, we've decided that we are going to try to get Roger into Horace Mann School. It is a truly amazing school that we feel will provide our son with a challenging environment with many different opportunities that will put him in the best position to succeed. However, we do realize that it is a difficult school to get into and the price tag is extremely hefty, so if things do not work out we are going to have our son apply to Cardinal Spellman High School as a back-up. It is another great school that would put our son in a great position to succeed, and the price is more within our budget. Thanks so much School Hunters, you've been so much help!!!