The first public charter high school to open in the Bronx recently moved to a new location.
On Wednesday, January 27, International Leadership Charter High School held the grand opening of its new academic facility at 3030 Riverdale Avenue on the corner of West 231st Street, after spending the first decade of its existence at 2900 Exterior Street.
The 28,000 square-foot, three-story building, which will accommodate 350 students, includes two science labs, Wi-Fi Technology, a full size cafeteria, a library/media center and an adolescent school based health clinic.
The new school building, a $17.5 million facility, was advocated for by BuildNYC, a conduit bond issuer who facilitated the process for charter schools, such as ILCHS, to pursue municipal bond financing in 2011.
The grand opening of the school’s new facility was attended by school principal, chief executive officer and founder Dr. Elaine Ruiz-Lopez, Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation president Marlene Cintron, Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz and Councilman Andrew Cohen, among others.
“As the first community grown charter high school established in the Marble Hill community in 2006, I am very proud of what we have been able to achieve,” Ruiz-Lopez said. “We can now build upon our 95% graduation rate and focus on scholarships and enrolling students to the college of their choice.”
ILCHS officially opened the doors Exterior Street in September 2006, and within three years the school was recognized as the second best performing charter school in New York City and the seventh best performing New York City public school.
The school landed in the top 1% of schools in New York City, receiving an ‘A’ rating on the NYC Department of Education Progress Report.
The U.S. News and World Report named ILCHS on their ‘Best High Schools’ list for 2013, 2014 and 2015, recognizing that the school is among the top 25% of all public high schools in the United States.
