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Q: What's the Harvey Milk High School?
A: The Harvey Milk High School is an inclusive voluntary public high school focusing on the educational needs of children who are in crisis or at risk of physical violence and/or emotional harm in a traditional educational environment. The Harvey Milk High School has been in existence for almost two decades, and is now a four-year, fully-accredited high school. 95% of HMHS students graduate, well above the NYC average, and over 60% of HMHS students go onto advanced programs or college.
Q: Why can't at-risk children remain in their current schools? Isn't this segregation?
A: These are children that have been in traditional schools, but have needed to leave or have dropped out because of physical violence and/or emotional harm. Thanks to HMHS they have a safe place to learn so that they can graduate with an education, a diploma and their lives ahead of them. Being in a separate space during the school day doesn't mean that these students will never learn how to adjust to the demands of the larger world. Every day they face real-life pressures, including harassment.
It is not segregation to remove a child from a dangerous situation in order to give them a chance to learn safely. HMHS is a successful refuge for a small portion of youth, who have fled unsafe schools in order to secure their right to a safe educational environment; no one is arguing for a totally separate school system.
Q: What kind of educational environment does The Harvey Milk High School provide?
A: HMHS is one of the many NYC small schools, like the Frederick Douglas Academy, the Young Women's Leadership School and the Urban Academy Laboratory School, that provide safety, community and high achievement for students not able to benefit from more traditional school environments.
HMHS uses the same curriculum and graduation standards as any other NYC public high school, with the same Regents and other rigorous tests. HMHS' highly trained educators provide a supportive and safe environment for its students.
Q: How does the secure environment of HMHS prepare children for "the real world"?
A: Every day they face real-life pressures, including harassment. HMHS offers them a chance to learn in a safe environment. Our students graduate and attend advanced programs or college at a higher rate than the NYC public school average.
Q: Are heterosexual students welcome at HMHS?
A: HMHS and The Hetrick-Martin Institute care about the needs of children in crisis and focuses on their educational needs. Admission to HMHS is voluntary and open to all, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion or physical abilities.
Q: What about at-risk youth who want to remain in a mainstream environment?
A: Admission to HMHS is voluntary. HMHS focuses on the needs of children who are at-risk and may be subject to extreme levels of violence and harassment. HMHS services only a small portion of the youth population. The vast majority of these youth in the NYC public school system attend their zoned schools.
Q: Don't many children face harassment at school? Should we have special schools for them all?
A: In an ideal world, all children and other students who are considered at-risk would be safely integrated into all NYC public schools - but in the real world, at-risk students need a place like HMHS.
Q: Wouldn't the money be better spent on public schools with anti-harassment programs, trying to teach more tolerance among students towards some of these other kids?
A: HMHS is a practical, safe solution for certain at-risk students subject to extreme levels of violence and harassment. We believe that anti-harassment programs and teaching tolerance in all public schools are important, and that additional funding should be continue to directed to those programs.
Have more questions? Please visit LGBTQ Youth Statistics or our FAQ's pages to find out more information. You can also e-mail us at info@hmi.org.
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