40°43′44.79″N 74°0′22.04″W / 40.7291083°N 74.0061222°W
City-As-School (CAS) is a public high school located at 16 Clarkson Street between Hudson Street and Seventh Avenue South in the West Village of Manhattan, New York City which was established in 1972. It is one of the oldest alternative public high schools in the United States.
CAS was founded by Frederick J. Koury and Rick Safran in 1972. They chose New York City for the “schoolhouse” and their proposal was approved by the Board of Education of the City of New York.
CAS received funding from the Board of Education and additional grants from the Ford Foundation, and opened with ten seniors in 1973. To attract students, CAS advertised on WABC radio, targeting students who were considering dropping out. Their first class eventually grew to 61 students.
City As School is led by Rachel Seher.
Past principals are:
Students are required to register for an internship each cycle; a cycle is half the time of a regular semester. Currently, CAS has over 500 open internship relationships. Graduation from CAS requires a portfolio presentation before a panel of adults and peers.
To apply to CAS, a student must be at least 16 years old and have a minimum of 16 high school credits; thus, new students have usually completed about two years of high school elsewhere. Additionally, a personal interview is conducted.
Although guided by an advisor, students are responsible for registering for classes and internships four times a year. CAS does not use letter grades; students receive either credit (C) or no credit (NC).[citation needed]
CAS’s main campus is located at 16 Clarkson Street in Greenwich Village in New York City. There are also two satellite locations: in the Bronx at Tremont Avenue and Bruckner Boulevard, and in Brooklyn on Flatbush Avenue next to the Manhattan Bridge. City-As-School Queens opened in 1995 and closed in 2002. The original school was in a brownstone on Schermerhorn Street in Brooklyn. The first class was held in September 1973.
