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NEW & NOTEWORTHY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

A Downtown Upstart

The nine-story building at 41 Broad Street stood vacant for 14 years before it became Claremont Preparatory, the first school built in lower Manhattan in 50 years. Previously, it was a bank.

Michael Koffler, founder of MetSchools Inc., which established the private school, says the construction process involved restoring the building, built in 1928, to its original glory. That means, besides state-ofthe art facilities, the school boasts design elements worthy of placement in a museum. (The bank’s vault houses the basement Irwin Shlachter, headmaster cafeteria; a restored mural painted by navy artist Griffith Baily Coale adorns the auditorium walls.)

At 125,000 square feet, Claremont is one of the largest schools in the city. It opened in September 2005 with 54 students in kindergarten through seventh grade. This September enrollment has doubled and includes eighth-graders. There are plans to start a pre-kindergarten in the fall of 2007, and the building, which can accommodate 1,000, will eventually include a high school. Claremont has a rooftop playground, two science labs, two art studios, a pool one floor underground, and wireless Internet, among other amenities. Classes have 15 to 20 students, and tuition is currently $26,500. Like most schools, Claremont takes on the personality of its neighborhood.

“I would liken the downtown area to what the Upper West Side looked like 20 years ago,” says Irwin Shlachter, the school’s headmaster. “It’s a very community minded group of people.”

Many kids hail from the neighborhood; others commute from uptown and Brooklyn. The student body includes African-Americans, Asians, Hispanics and children with gay and lesbian parents. Claremont requires school uniforms to create a sense of equality. They consist of khaki bottoms and polo shirts available in eight different colors. Parents love them.

Those involved with Claremont say the school stands apart for its proactive approach to students’ social and emotional development. For grades K to 4 that means a morning meeting in homeroom in which children share how they’re feeling with the class. In the upper school that translates into the student council adopting land in the Amazon.

“We’re teaching these kids to be good citizens,” says Shlachter. Claremont, he says, “will be one of the top schools in the city in a very short time.”

-- Leah Black