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RISING STAR PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Educating Downtown Generations
Ever-improving extras supplement a solid core of academics at P.S. 110 on Delancy Street

Founded 104 years ago, P.S. 110, Florence Nightingale School has been a pillar of the Lower East Side community for generations. Just as the neighborhood has experienced drastic changes throughout the years, so has the school, and today it stands as a shining example of how public education can and should function.

Principal Irene Quvus, a Manhattan native, has been at P.S. 110 for seven years and said that the school’s historic presence in the neighborhood is one of the many factors that make it attractive to students and parents alike.

“We are a very nurturing community, and we have a real sense of belonging,” Quvus said. “It’s a very inter-generational school. Parents and grandparents were students here. It’s been in the neighborhood for so long that there’s that continuity. Teachers have their children in the school. It’s a very warm environment, but at the same time it’s a school that has very high academic standards. It’s a combination of both, and it works well for us.”

P.S. 110 recently instituted a gifted and talented program. A more established extra—an arts program and architecture club initiated years ago—is now run in conjunction with the Henry Street Settlement, a community services group on the Lower East Side. Projects from the club adorn the school’s doors and hallways.

Students in the science program, which includes an after-school component, presented at the National Science Institute in Maryland last year. This year, the school hopes to send the group to present at a science conference for teachers in Colorado.

In addition to the basics of reading, writing and math, all P.S. 110 students receive Spanish as enrichment, and science instruction starts at the pre-K level. “The variety of programs enables students to really prosper and make the most of their school experience,” Quvus said. “We feel that’s very important and it rounds out the picture for a student.”

The principal is particularly proud of the school’s chess program.

“Chess involves a lot of thinking,” she said. “I think it’s important for students’ academic growth. What I find is, you improve critical thinking through chess—your reading and math is improving. One feeds the other. It gets the juices flowing in your head.”

Most students are from the Lower East Side—specifically, the co-ops on Grand Street and nearby housing projects—but there are also children from the East Village and Stuyvesant Town.

P.S. 110 also prides itself on its significant parent involvement, which Quvus believes is absolutely essential for school functioning.

“I think it’s critical,” she said. “Schools cannot do it alone. You have to have the parent-school partnership.”

P.S. 110’s PTA is an active fundraiser, the principal said, and there are many volunteer opportunities for parents.

One program trains parents to come to the school and work in classrooms.

The school recently received a Robin Hood Foundation grant that will be used to construct a new library—a project that will hopefully begin this year—as well a substantial grant from the New York State Council for the Arts to develop a comprehensive arts program. Partnerships with New York University, Metropolitan College and Hunter College help recruit quality teachers.

But at the core of what makes P.S. 110 a successful school, according to the principal, is something more basic.

“No matter how many programs you have, what really matters is the day-to-day instruction and what happens in the classroom,” Quvus said. “Our teachers do an outstanding job with that.”

— Mark Allwood