 Jamaica High, Class of 2014/ Courtesy, Kathy Forrestal (I am in a rage over the closing of the grand New York tradition, Jamaica High School. The building still stands, built to last forever, on the glacial hill in Queens. My mom was in the first class to enter the new building in February of 1927. I was in the class of 1956, way down, but in it. A decade ago, I visited some honors classes and found education and hope alive and well. But New York let the school get away in recent years, and the most imaginative thing the city could think to do was close it down, and put four experimental schools in corners of the building. We’ll see how that works out. The concept of holding up a beacon to the new and the hopeful and the future of Queens seems to have escaped the city. What rank failure. (Unable to be around on June 26, to pay homage to the last graduates and dedicated teachers of Jamaica High, I asked Kathy Forrestal, whose family has remained close to Jamaica, to write her impressions.) By Kathy Forrestal Not long after this year’s graduating seniors were admitted, the Department of Education moved for a second time to close Jamaica High School and, after four years of slowly phasing out, the school graduated its final 24 students on Thursday, June 26, 2014. “You are the 175th graduating class,” Principal Erich Kendall told the graduates, “and there will not be a 176th.” I was a member of the class of 1994 and have been involved in efforts to save the school. I’ve had many opportunities to return to Jamaica. Watching the school phase out has been like watching a loved one waste away, particularly for the students and teachers who lived the loss daily. Principal Erich Kendall wondered if immediate closure would have been merciful; others noted that then the students and teachers wouldn’t have been able to spend those years together. The loss of Jamaica is traumatic for those who love the school. Shortly after I graduated, NY Times reporter and Jamaica alum George Vecsey wrote of a visit to Jamaica, “I see the same energy, the same dreams, the same potential. You remind me of my friends.” I can say the same thing about the graduating class of 2014: they remind me of my friends, and I am happy to welcome them to the Jamaica High School alumni family. I could not be sorrier that there will not be any more members added to this family in the future. “We were told Jamaica was a failing school, but we came, and we saw,” said graduate Philip Samuel. “We stayed. We chose to come to Jamaica and to work hard with our teachers to overcome any disadvantages associated with attending a closing school.” Twenty-plus years ago I was told I should reconsider my decision to go to Jamaica; how wrong people were. I can’t count how many times I’ve heard “I heard it was a bad school, but I was so wrong;” I wish we had been able to make more people believe us. Jamaica was family, a second home and, in spite of phase out, this sentiment was echoed by this year’s seniors. The Jamaica these students knew was different in many ways than the one I attended. As Jamaica’s student body shrank, the school lost classroom space to the growing schools co-located within the building. Honors and AP courses disappeared, as did the specialized programs like my old Computer Science program. Favorite teachers were excessed, including a teacher who represented the heart and soul of Jamaica. Every semester brought loss. If you can succeed in a phasing out school, Principal Kendall said, you can succeed anywhere. I have no doubt the 2014 graduates will succeed; they are truly impressive young adults. Student speakers expressed gratitude for the undying support of their teachers. Teachers past and present attended graduation. More than a few were emotional watching tribute videos, including one set to Passenger’s “Let Her Go.” The song’s lyrics say, “'Cause you only need the light when it's burning low, Only miss the sun when it starts to snow, Only know you love her when you let her go.” Jamaica alums know we love the school but just how much we loved her became truly apparent when we had to let her go, but the wonderful thing about Jamaica is the people. That can’t be destroyed and I’m clinging to the knowledge that Jamaica lives on in its alums. Jamaica has great alums. Assemblyman David Weprin, class of 1974, was saddened by the closure of his alma mater and spoke at graduation of the fact that his brothers (including Mark, a member of the NYC Council) both were alumni as well. The legacy of the school, he said, will live on in its graduates. Given the number of alumni and friends in attendance at graduation – including Borough President Melinda Katz, whose father taught at Jamaica High School, and Special Assistant to the Borough President and former NYC Councilman Leroy Comrie, who graduated in 1976 -- that legacy is strong and will remain. “These students understood the loyalty and pride of being part of Jamaica High School,” Jamaica High School coach Susan Sutera said. “They carried the legacy of tens of thousands of students who came before them and they did it with incredible honor and dignity. They sent the school out with a bang.” I never wanted to say good bye to Jamaica. Walking its halls, seeing the mural in the lobby depicting colonial Jamaica, photos of students who attended long before I was even born, trophies representing decades of athletic dominance, and most importantly meeting alums from the 1950s through today, I know without a doubt you can’t replace Jamaica High School. (I can only echo Kathy’s lovely words. Sue Sutera and James Eterno and Josh Cohen and the other teachers had the same dedication and effect that Irma Rhodes and Jean Gollobin and Rose Kirchman had in my time. The terminators who closed Jamaica High will never understand. It’s their failure but the city’s loss.) More on Jamaica’s closing: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/04/nyregion/a-failing-school-not-to-these-students-at-jamaica-high.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/queens/24-students-graduate-jamaica-high-school-final-graduation-article-1.1845848 http://Iceuft.blogspot.com http://www.timesledger.com/stories/2014/26/jamaicahighschool_tl_2014_06_27_q.html  It's Engraved on a Lot of Us/ Courtesy, Kathy Forrestal
Alan D. Levine
7/3/2014 05:42:50 am
What a beautiful, sad essay. And what an outrageous disgrace. Just another ignominious legacy of the Bloomberg regime.
George Vecsey
7/3/2014 06:10:52 am
Yep. They knew what was best for us. Big-box Olympic stadium cluttering up the west side of Manhattan. Ban big sodas. Boutique "high schools." GV Wow! I am so shocked. I loved this school. This school was the gateway to my future. I must have climbed that hill so many times. But it was well worth it. Times have definitely changed, I don't know for better or for worst. This is so sad. I graduated in the late 1970's from this school. I still have dreams even to this day that I am still attending that school of yesteryear.
Craig N. Oren
7/3/2014 06:33:27 am
I spent my sophomore year at Van Buren high school in 1965-1966. Jamaica was our arch-enemy in basketball, and I even remember being at Jamaica for a game. I took a civil service test there. I liked the feel of the place,and would idle away time by walking outside around the school in the spring of 1966.
Craig N. Oren
7/3/2014 07:00:29 am
Perhaps memory is betraying me, but I remember that Jamaica had an unusual clock in the gym that made it hard to tell how much time was left.
George Vecsey
7/3/2014 07:05:03 am
Craig, I'll let some of the guys who played for JHS, answer that.
G
7/4/2014 07:43:48 am
This just in from Arthur Benoit, who was the point guard on the PSAL championship team in 1955:
DON CRFONSON
2/4/2015 02:25:24 am
ken trell (and his wife carolyn) are old friends of mine--i am trying to get in touch with them--the address and phone numbers i have on my roladex apparently are not current--can you help--my tel # is 212-362-3322
Eddie Lewin
7/3/2014 07:35:55 am
Jamaica High School was the site of my development.
George Vecsey
7/3/2014 08:10:52 am
Eddie, I won't embarrass you if I note that you were a natural at (a) midfield and (b) singing in Mrs. Gollobin's choir and the leads in the school musicals. And most of the Cleftones were with you in the choir. You would have loved the English classes and assemblies and soccer matches I visited in the past decade. GV
Tom F
12/3/2014 06:09:53 am
I graduated Jamaica in 1980.I was in the Xtra honor program
SDK
9/12/2015 01:01:29 am
Me too... Same year. Great memories of JHS.
Barbara Wills Chardenet
7/22/2015 02:40:19 am
Class of January 1950. Oh boy, Mrs. Gollobin, I remember her, along with so many good teachers of that era, Dr. Shieswolhl being my favorite; he opened up the joys of Shakespeare.....the witches......"when shall we three meet again", etc. he intoned. I still have the tribute made by The Hilltopper to him when he retired because of failing health, it is pasted in my yearbook. Those were the days, my friend, as the old song goes.
Big Al
7/3/2014 08:15:50 am
JHS v. MVB, yes, Jamaica was our rival down Hillside. The campus on Gothic drive was so impressive. We all called the gym "the dungeon:", when we arrived to battle Hilty Shapiro's minions on the hardwood. The V-B's never lost one there in my years under the great Marv Kessler.
George Vecsey
7/3/2014 10:38:27 am
Big Al: We've got our Alan Seiden stories, you have Marv Kessler.
Jack Kelly
4/12/2016 10:32:13 pm
George,
Mark Weinrib
7/3/2014 09:01:23 am
Class of 73. Loved that school
George Vecsey
7/3/2014 10:44:09 am
Mrs. Kirchman was so sweet. I would visit her til she passed. Her son played soccer with me and the aforementioned Eddie Lewin -- I think five doctors on that team.
Jeff from Jersey; yes New Jersey
7/3/2014 12:49:23 pm
Just got out my Folio *73 yearbook to remember the good old days. JHS was overcrowded at that time but it was worth it. Remembered going into a music history course and finding out from Mrs. Gollobin that I was drafted, with the rest of the class, to be the JHS Chorus. It consisted of 5 Basses, 7 Tenors, 15 Altos and 100 Sopranos (sounded like it sometimes.) Also fondly remembered the original Sing shows of *71 and *73 along with Guys and Dolls. Remember the Hilltoppers!
Mark Weinrib
7/3/2014 01:26:41 pm
Jeff. You were in my class!!
Marvin Fein
7/3/2014 02:19:31 pm
Happy Birthday George. Welcome to the 75 group. It is really wonderful.
George Vecsey
7/3/2014 02:30:52 pm
Thanks, man...I will find out...
Jeff from Jersey; yes New Jersey
7/3/2014 02:42:25 pm
A Happy Birthday Mr. Vecesy. As they say, may you live to be 120 and the last voice you hear is mine. Have a root beer on me tomorrow, maybe two, when watching the Beautiful Games, However, with all the nail biting finishes going on, it*s beginning to become the international version of Can You Top This? As for Mr. Weinrib, you just never know when you*ll meet a Jamaica Alum; whether on the street or in cyberspace. Best regards!
George Vecsey
7/4/2014 01:32:34 am
We meet them everywhere. My wife, not from JHS, sees me running into somebody interesting I like right away...and then we find out the person is from JHS. And you know, I was still meeting nice people last fall when I went to a couple of soccer games where a Jamaica team, from the schools in the building, played a united schedule. But to take away the identity is an act of foolish ego. GV
Wally Schwartz
7/3/2014 03:06:45 pm
Who killed Jamaica High? Who killed the Brooklyn Dodgers? The simple answers: Michael Bloomberg; Walter O'Malley. I can't say I never liked either Michael Bloomberg or Walter O'Malley. Some of the things each of them did, I liked, a lot. But for just one thing each one did, and we all know what that is, I came to hate them, a lot. 57 years ago, the Brooklyn Dodgers, after a long good run, left Brooklyn, and for that one thing, I, like many others, came to hate Walter O'Malley. Years later, I thought more about it and then I read Michael Shapiro's The Last Good Season, and I came to appreciate that maybe O'Malley wasn't the real or the only villain in the story: the people who stopped supporting the Brooklyn Dodgers were villains, too. Granted, Brooklyn's neighborhoods changed, but the old Brooklynites ran away to build new homes in the suburbs, watched the games on TV, stopped coming to the old ballpark and stopped purchasing the product. It's the same with a television show where after a while the fans stop watching the soap opera or buying the soapsuds. And there are often many reasons why that happens, some obvious, others more subtle. With our beloved Jamaica High--and I can say with pride that no boy or girl, woman or man, loved Jamaica High more than you or I did--there were many reasons why the old institution went out of business. We didn't need to prove our devotion or dedication, to ourselves or anyone else, but some of us came back often and again over the years, to speak with students, watch basketball games, present awards, meet with principals, plan or attend reunions in the gym, visit teachers or coaches, give out money we collected, attend meetings aimed at saving Jamaica High, or just to drive by, ponder and appreciate what our alma mater did to improve our lives and those of so many thousands of others like or unlike ourselves. We didn't only think or care about the 8:40 to 3:20 PM students who went to class with us from September to June. Beginning back in the late 19th century, about the same time the Brooklyn Dodgers were created, thousands, including your mother and my sister, traveled from one end of Queens or the other by railroad, subway, bus or foot to attend day, evening or summer session at Jamaica. Then, in 1955, the year before we graduated, Van Buren High arose. Next came Hillcrest, the new Edison down the block, Cardozo and Francis Lewis, and too many of the people from Jamaica Estates and other surrounding neighborhoods stopped buying the product and stopped supporting the school or sending their kids to Jamaica High. That was their business, and they each had their reasons, but it was once their school as well as ours. And, like the Brooklyn Dodgers, who were born about the same time but closed their doors more than half a century earlier, Jamaica High, too, has ceased to operate, although, unlike Ebbets Field, its portals, magnificent edifice and campus will remain open to educate present and future generations. We grieve together with all those who also grieve for the closing of Jamaica High, but how many who pine today cared enough to attend a rally, sign a petition, write a column, make a donation to the union, call an activist, encourage a teacher, hold up a sign or send a kid to Jamaica? They might say it wouldn't have made a difference, and maybe it wouldn't have. But maybe, just maybe, it would have.
George Vecsey
7/4/2014 01:35:11 am
Chief, Jamaica was up against a trend. "They" can do it better by eliminating the past. That's what Pol Pot said, too.
Thor A. Larsen
7/5/2014 04:51:43 am
A beautiful article Wally! Your classmates know that you learned your writing craft as an editor of the Jamaica High School newspaper, The Hilltopper, I believe. Similarly, with George,learning his writing craft with the school newspaper. Without a large school anymore, now split to sevral schools, what happens to the imporant school newspaper?? Multiple, poor papers or none??
Kathy Forrestal
7/7/2014 03:44:36 am
The Hilltopper ceased to exist several years ago. There was a collection of bound copies from the 1930s-60s that preserved all these years in the school; those have been taken to the Archives @ Queens Library. So Wally and George's high school articles have been preserved. I was a feature and news editor in the 1990s; our issues were never bound but I have a collection in my files at home. George visiting the newspaper staff when I was first on the paper in 1992 or so is one of my most memorable experiences from high school along with reading through all those older papers in preparation for a 100th anniversary issue in 1992. As I said in my comments (which were published in the Queens Chronicle as well as on this page), Jamaica certainly can never be replaced.
Bruce L. Hecht
8/7/2017 06:38:02 pm
As a Jamaica graduate (class of 1959) I too was very annoyed by the closing of the school. Beautiful school, terrific memories. By the way, I was a fanatic Brooklyn Dodger fan & also hated O'Malley for moving the team until I found out it was Robert Moses who denied O'Malley the right to build a new stadium in Brooklyn! O'Malley offered to pay for it himself but Moses wanted the stadium to be built in Queens. O'Malley said no and the rest is history.
Ed Martin
7/4/2014 04:36:28 am
George, an outsider can sense the loss of "community.". My sense is JHS was "community" not just school. My Southside HS in RVC was a good school, we avidly followed it's sports, but for me, at least, my community was my neighborhood. We played dirt, half-court basketball, touch in the streets with an occasional too hard push, spaldeen "baseball" in the widest street--everyone tried to hit to center field. Kids from St.Agnes, Brooklyn Tech and elsewhere were part of that community. Later, my friends at the National Center in Albertson, Enes Carnesecca and Bob Ludwig always identified new Catholic friends by Parish, swapping names of Priests, Nuns and ruler-oriented Sister/teachers. Sorry for your loss and that of JHS alums and future students.
George Vecsey
7/4/2014 05:58:01 am
Ed, the bond among JHS people is strong, even across generations. Everybody knows we were part of something special.
Ed Martin
7/4/2014 07:06:04 am
ugh!
Kathy Forrestal
7/7/2014 03:46:32 am
Chancellor Klein also tried - unsuccessfully - to close his own alma mater, Bryant HS.
Mark Weinrib
7/7/2014 09:59:56 am
George - Did they really cook the books to make it look like a failure? All I ever read was that the school went downhill and was unsafe inside and out. It made me very sad (JHS 73)
George Vecsey
7/7/2014 11:06:24 am
Mark: They included short-termers at Rikers Island as part of the JHS figure. They would advise parents to take their children out of the school when there was a certain amount of police activity. (It's the law...a fine way to run people off. I met two young women from families just arrived from Bangladesh or Pakistan who were sent to another HS by their parents -- and then insisted on going back to JHS because they said Jamaica was far superior academically and every other way. The city wanted JHS gone.
mike from whitestone
7/4/2014 07:57:10 am
GV,
George Vecsey
7/4/2014 08:22:24 am
Mike, I picked 'em to win the entire Weltmeisterschaft, so I have to stay with 'em.
Thor A. Larsen
7/4/2014 08:04:34 am
As a classmate with George and Wally among 650+ graduates in 1956, I found that when I went on to Queens College and Columbia University, the foundation I had received at Jamaica High was either equivalent or superior to any of my college classmates. When my children went to high school upstate, I realized again, that the high school education I received at Jamaica High was vastly superior. But, Jamaica High School was much more than a ‘knowledge factory’. The commitment of most of the teachers to the success of their students was very evident. The bonding of classmates remained after leaving Jamaica High School as evident today as some of us have remained connected for many years and still meet once a year. Jamaica High was NOT a ‘knowledge factory’ but a close, supportive community of learning and maturing. From relatively recent reporting by George, it was clear Jamaica High was remained a superior high school. The blame for the destruction of this fine institution lies squarely with incompetent senior school administrators and city officials who simply do not understand how schools can and should educate their youth.
George Vecsey
7/4/2014 08:26:06 am
Thor, I would add that my experience was mostly visiting honors classes and seeing the world through the eyes of kids headed toward Syracuse, Hunter, Boston Univ., Haverford, Harvard...plus city schools and the military...motivated kids from all over the world. I can't speak for all the classes, and clearly there were issues outside. But to arbitrarily send kids scrambling all over the city to find other schools sounds insane. Pol Pot or Mao Tse Tung, turning people out into the countryside. GV
Gloria "Hach" Hachigian-Ericsen
7/4/2014 08:10:22 am
To say that it is heartbreaking is putting it rather mildly. Like so many symbols of happy blissful days of our youth, Jamaica High School has fallen prey to ineptitude, incompetence and ignorance. Some of my happiest teen years were spent in the halls of this magnificent building and those memories are still alive and continue to bring me joy when I remember those long ago times, Reunions have brought many friends back into my life from my JHS days whom I cherish and hold dear. If I close my eyes, the rush of fellow students rushing up and down those stairs to class still comes vividly back to mind. Days in the girl's gym, following the boy's basketball team from game to game, the stinky smell of chorine when down in the pool area, sweating during regents week and finals without the benefit of A/C....I remember it all like it was just a few years ago instead of almost 60. (class of 1955). My dear hubby graduated in 1948 and we used to reminisce about our great high school years. I will say "so long JHS" but never "goodbye" as it will always live in my heart.
George Vecsey
7/4/2014 08:28:59 am
Gloria, we've known each other since grade school. You'll see my comments to Thor above. I know contemporary education is not about us, but the current world. Still, my experience is that the ego of the re-inventors is suspect -- inventing the wheel. We came along in a good time. Best to you, G
Clyde Pittelli
7/4/2014 07:46:24 pm
I'm part of a family of great educators. My sister
George Vecsey
7/5/2014 02:10:33 am
Clyde, I also have many teachers in my family, and I can tell everybody that Sue is the epitome of a teacher. As coach and adult figure and educator, she had the feel of that entire building. She knew people even if they did not play on one of her teams or take one of her classes. Now the New Breed has blown up the concept of community, pushing out people like Sue. Thanks for writing. GV
Jackie Forrestal
7/5/2014 05:09:44 am
"The heart and soul of Jamaica High School" are precisely the words that my daughter, Kathy, used when she introduced Sue to Borough President Melinda Katz at the commencement exercises at Antun's. The DOE was especially cruel to our Jamaica High School students and to her when they removed her to ATR status with only one year left until closure.
Kathy Forrestal
7/7/2014 03:50:03 am
Sue Sutera is the "teacher who represented the heart and soul of Jamaica" I mention in the piece above.
Altenir Silva
7/5/2014 12:03:35 am
When a school is closed means that the Light was turned off. How many minds will fail to shine? Very sad. But the minds that already shine, never turn off.
George Vecsey
7/5/2014 02:13:15 am
Altenir, obrigado.
Altenir Silva
7/5/2014 05:47:04 am
Dear George,
George Vecsey
7/5/2014 06:02:59 am
That is profoundly true. Some things are finite. Guess we have to accept that. My friend Mike From Whitestone, who writes in to this site, does some mentoring with young people from that same area of Queens, and I drop in occasionally. We know a couple named Mancebo that finds bright kids and prepare them for the next steps...so life goes on. You are exactly right, Altenir. GV
Andy Tansey
7/5/2014 12:17:26 am
George, et al.:
George Vecsey
7/5/2014 02:18:53 am
Andy, thanks. We had a family friend who went to St. Ann's in Manhattan. (Could have played for Looie, but needed to work.) And my brother Pete played for Molloy -- and I have great memories of visiting Jack Curran in recent decades. I think we become alumni of other schools, too -- I love Music & Art (dated a lovely girl from there) and Adams (ditto) and Bronx Science (had friends) and Jackson and Bayside and other Queens schools. And legends of Lafayette and Erasmus Hall in Brooklyn. To tinker with that structure means tearing down memory and community. How nice for dilettantes to step into the school system for a few years and play with history. GV
artie leporin
7/5/2014 07:11:26 am
I am wondering if the principal Mr. Kendle is a descendant of the swimming coach unk Kendle.ink coached Bob Eiken and others from our swimming team also my friend Phil Di Perna .ink also coached my p.s. 33 friend Frank Gorman ,Frank went on to Bayside high.was unk Pooood .Frank went into win a silver in the Olympics in Japan.Had memory also of the Dean of boys chasing ,cutters on J.H.S. campus
George Vecsey
7/5/2014 02:55:01 pm
Artie, I remember Eichen (sp?) and of course I remember Unk Kendall in the pool. He had an oar or something he wielded at pooolside. The dean was Dean Caro...he'd chase truants right into the Valencia Theater, or around Goose Pond. This principal, Erich Kendall, is African-American -- possibly from the Caribbean? -- and I doubt related to Unk Kendall. Thanks for writing. GV
Ken Iscol
7/5/2014 07:21:20 am
Hi George
George Vecsey
7/5/2014 08:45:43 am
Ken, you've done great, going back to the bus to JHS 157 back in the day. Congratulations.
Gloria Hachigian Ericsen
3/3/2015 09:32:28 am
Ken, I remember you but more so your sister Kate. Where is she these days? I put together a 50th reunion of our 1955 class but was hard pressed to find the gals in our wonderful class as most of them married and I had no clue as to their new last names. I might put together a celebration for those of us still living :) from our 1955 class if the interest is there. We are getting "up there" and many of us remaining oldsters do not wish to travel much any longer. I hope there is some interest as it is wonderful to gather together and remember the happy days of our youth. Gloria
bruce
7/5/2014 10:10:31 am
George,
Kenneth Pollack
7/6/2014 07:30:47 am
1955 grad....Just a pity for the school of Red and Blue
Jerry Cooper
7/6/2014 09:05:34 am
As a 1955 graduate, nearly 60 years later, it seems like yesterday that we danced to the "new" music of the Cleftones at our SAR dances, cheered our basketball team to the City Championship and sometimes went to classes.
George Vecsey
7/6/2014 09:10:24 am
Jerry, great to see your name. You would know about the cheers, since they were for you...and Seiden and Reed and Benoit and Rodin and the rest.
Gene Palumbo
7/7/2014 10:43:35 am
Not to interrupt these comments, but just to alert you all: George has a piece in the Times today: 7/15/2014 11:53:45 pm
A beautiful but sad elegy. Such a loss is painful, way more so than the tragic loss of a beautiful building. This is about the loss of a spirit that now must live on in memory. I am so sorry.
Peter Warren
2/16/2015 08:42:57 am
As a graduate of J.H.S. in the late 1980s, I observed "white flight" to be the beginning of the end for this once great hall of learning. Sadly.
Otto Barta
3/2/2015 01:17:24 pm
I was there from 1978-1981.There was no discipline.The thugs and bullies ran rampant throughout the school.There was a police officer assigned to the school who was posted in a hallway in the same location everyday and did nothing to provide security to those students who wanted to learn.The teachers at the time were powerless to do anything about it.The liberals destroyed this once great school.The white flight was happening while I was there.What was needed was a Joe Clark to instill respect and enforce discipline.What a shame.
SDK
9/12/2015 01:06:53 am
I graduated in 1980, and I don't recall any of the "blackboard jungle" atmosphere you describe. The JHS I attended was very safe. I worked in the theater department and often walked to/from the school alone, especially in the evenings. I was never accosted and can't recall a single violent incident.
bill glickman
3/1/2015 11:01:30 am
looking for wendy hasson grad in 63 I think
Mike Dub\in
3/27/2015 02:10:56 pm
A few days ago, March 19th some of us remembered a glorious 60th anniversary of Jamaica High School most memorable sports achievement the winning of the 1955 Basketball City
bill glickman
7/22/2015 04:55:41 am
And yes I was stunned finding out that Jamaica was closed. . OK I was captain of the chess team, played somewhat on the freshman tennis team class of 63
Nola Royce
2/6/2016 06:04:30 pm
I was shocked to discover that Jamaica High School closed. In its day, Jamaica High School was one of the finest high schools in the US. I didn't attend. My sister did and went on to Pembroke College and Harvard Graduate school. She eventually taught at Yale. Enid Hester Rhodes Peschel was one of many who achieved so much. My mother was a teacher at Jamaica for many years and all her students in the honors english program did well. Irma Gelber Rhodes devoted her life to her students' success. Although I started out as a musician (attending Performing Arts High School), I eventually also found my way into the field of education, completing a family legacy. I see the demise of the public school system all around me and am deeply disappointed. The halcion days of Jamaica High School and other fine public institutions is in my rear view mirror and it's a shame. Nola Rhodes Royce
Alan Brown
6/24/2016 11:35:10 am
I graduated with you George and back then Jamaica HS was a great school. There was discipline maintained by one assistant principal (whose name I forget) rumored to carry a gun. When I went back for the 50th reunion to find the 'No Doo Rag' signs and learn that over a dozen uniformed police officers were stationed at the school to maintain order I was appalled. The breakdown in discipline obviously took its toll. The Liberal mindset was always the wrong way to go and now JHS has gone also. I am so glad we had the opportunity to experience it at its best and look back fondly on those days. There were plenty of the 'bad' kids in attendance but they did not make the experience a negative one. Not even for the poor pretzel man at the bottom of the hill on the way to the bus stop.
Helen
4/4/2017 03:44:49 pm
I graduated in 1987, my daughter was assaulted and knocked unconscious in 2004. She was one of 10 students assaulted within a month. The girls were not suspended until a teacher called me on the sly to tell me there would be no consequences. I had them suspended and brought up on charges. This school needed to close. Nostalgia is a wonderful thing but not at all the reality that the children stuck in that school were living. It was basically a free for all. Comments are closed.
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