June 08th, 2023

                                   Why this Story?
 
                                                                                            (Part One)
 
            If you have not read the late Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential (The Ecco Press, 2000) I recommend you get it and consume it posthaste.  It’s a wonderful book in which the author’s voice rings true throughout.  Back at the turn of this century it became a cause celebre in the restaurant industry, particularly as The Food Network was exploding as a national phenomenon.  I bring Bourdain’s book up here to explain why I’m writing this story --- a story about a unique secondary school that was started in Westchester County, New York fifty years ago.

            A half-century is a good chunk of time  --- presently, 34% of the U.S. population is 50 years old or more --- about one-third of the country.  As one who spent most of his professional life teaching history to secondary students (or to aspiring teachers of history),  a 50th Anniversary is significant to me.  In the last  five  years we have seen the 50th Anniversary of the MLK and RFK assassinations, the moonwalk and Woodstock, Earth Day and Roe v. Wade.  Fifty years ago, I began my first full-time teaching job at Blind Brook Jr./Sr. High School in Rye Brook, N.Y. in September of 1973.  At that time, BB Jr./Sr. High School was brand-new and had students in grades 7 through 10, with the plan being to add a grade each year, graduating its first full class in 1976 (4 students graduated early in 1975).  More than that, it was a consciously planned interdisciplinary, Arts/Humanities focused school, with a radical open space floor plan (no interior walls!)  and a unique glass and brick structure.  Some of the early graduates told their college classmates they had attended an “experimental” high school.

            Most people have attended secondary schools that have been in their community (seemingly) forever.  Even in this era of charter schools, it is still unusual to see a brand-new school created from scratch.  Yet, in 1973, a school was created where one had not existed before, and its story is worth noting --- not only because of its unique architecture and curriculum but because of the people who attended and taught there.  In its first decade (1973-1983) Blind Brook produced a stunning array of graduates (particularly in the Arts/Humanities) and boasted an administration and faculty that, like the school itself, was singularly unique.  And that’s where the connection to Anthony Bourdain occurs.

            The first Blind Brook administration and faculty was notable for their energy, creativity, and youth  --- orchestrated by a visionary leader.  It was  a faculty well-versed in progressive education philosophy and recognized, in their Principal and colleagues, a shared commitment and a clear awareness that we were creating something no one had seen before.  And that’s where this quote from Bourdain comes into play:

            I want readers to get a glimpse of making really good food at a professional
            level.  I’d like them to understand what it feels like to attain the child’s dream
            of running one’s own pirate crew – what it feels like, looks like and smells like
            in the clatter and hiss of a big-city restaurant kitchen. . . . I’d like civilians who
            read this to get a sense, at least, that this life, in spite of everything, can be fun.
            (Kitchen Confidential, p. 5)

Like Bourdain’s book, I’d like to re-create the sights and sounds, successes and failures, of those early years at Blind Brook where, at least some of us, did feel like we were that “child’s dream of (being) one’s own pirate crew.”  There was an energy that propelled the school’s creation that felt . . . swashbuckling!  We had set out into unchartered waters and, luckily, the man at the helm, David Schein, knew how to set a course that moved us forward, guided us through storms and swells, and kept us headed toward a safe harbor for the crew and its precious cargo (our students).

            It’s also important to tell this story through the voices of those who were there --- the students, teachers, administrators, and staff.  Most people (“civilians”) think they know how schools work because they went to school.  To me, that’s like saying you can fly a plane because you’ve been a passenger on an airliner.  Unless you’ve spent your days in schools, with students, with other teachers, with administrators, with the staff, for 8 to 10 hours a day, forty to forty-five weeks a year, you have no idea what “life in schools” is like.  And here, again, I must quote Bourdain’s “A Note from the Chef” in his book:

            For me, the cooking life has been a long love affair, with moments both
            sublime and ridiculous.  But like a love affair, looking back you remember
            the happy times best --- the things that drew you in, attracted you in the
            first place, the things that kept you coming back for more.  I can give the
            reader a taste of those things and those times. (p.5-6)

For me, the teaching life was a similar “love affair” and I’m sure it’s because that first decade at Blind Brook taught  me how interesting, exciting, creative, and gratifying spending your days with young people and committed adults can be.  I only hope that the stories that follow will convey  a fraction of the unique and exceptional experience that first decade at Blind Brook was.
 
                                                                                               (Part Two)
 
            In the summer of 2022, I was watching a New York Yankees game when a rookie reliever was brought in during the late innings to pitch for the Bombers.  I wasn’t paying much attention until I heard that Greg Weissert went to Bay Shore High School --- my alma mater.  Maybe this has happened to you, too --- that someone from your high school has reached a place of notoriety or celebrity.  Up to that point in time, the most notable BSHS graduates I knew of were Harvey Milk (Class of ’49, the year I was born), writer Ron Rosenbaum (Class of 1963), and investigative journalist/radio personality Amy Goodman (Class of 1975).  And now, Greg Weissert!  Given that Bay Shore has graduated anywhere from 350 to 500 students every year since I attended the place (1963-1967) I assumed that most PUBLIC high schools do not, in fact, graduate very many notable luminaries.  We know, of course, that the elite private schools crank out people whose names we recognize in the worlds of business, politics, entertainment, literature, etc.  And, to a lesser extent, “prestige” public high schools (Stuyvestant & Bronx Science in New York City, for example) also have their fair share of “known” graduates.  But most public high schools graduate a handful of people who achieve “celebrity” or “notable” status.  Which is why, ultimately, I believe the story of Blind Brook Jr./Sr. High School’s first decade is significant --- and might, I hope, give rise to a discussion about (if not an argument for)  the necessity of progressive education in our public schools.

            If “the proof is in the pudding” then it is significant to peruse what Blind Brook’s “kitchen” produced between 1973 and 1983.  The graduates I am going to list are  individuals who have achieved not only success in their field but at least a modicum of recognition for their work.  Given that Blind Brook was designed to be an Arts/Humanities high school at the outset, it is particularly interesting to note how many writers and artists (in a variety of genres/fields) the school produced.  Which is not to say it did not produce notable graduates in business, the sciences, and the culinary world, as well.  But it seems more than coincidental that a school that focused on the progressive tenets of student-centered classes, project-based learning, and developing critical thinking skills produced graduates who carried that learning into their careers beyond the classroom.  If “the proof is in the pudding” then it seems Blind Brook’s progressive approach to education was, indeed, a success.

                                                                                                 (Part Three)

            Without naming names, here are some of the  positions achieved and accomplishments of the BBHS graduates from that first decade.
​

• The Chair of the Cellular & Molecular Physiology Department at Yale Medical School.
• A pediatric oncologist named to President Obama’s National Cancer Advisory Board
• A very successful Hollywood film editor (Rush Hour movies, Jumanji, Showgirls, etc.)
• Artistic director CalArts dance company
• Best-selling author & consumer activist on genetic engineering
• The Senior Vice President & Director of Creative Development at HarperCollins
• Youngest executive producer at CNN when it launched & Executive producer of the TED/Med inaugural conference at the Kennedy Center
• Talent agent for Russel Crowe, Tiffany Haddish, Dennis Quaid, et al
• Chairman & CEO of Brillstein Entertainment Partners
• First violist for the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
• Content producer for Comedy Central, SONY International, NFL Network, et al
• Journalist and Editor for Variety, Adweek, the NY Post, the NY Times, Wall Street Journal, et al
• Best-selling author of 16 novels with numerous awards & founder of Phoenix Rising Press
• Public policy consultant (Chesapeake Bay Commission) and author
• Successful restauranteur in Atlanta
• Media Bytes Award winning Podcast host and popular author of popular  fiction and non-fiction
• “Go-to” CNBC financial analyst.
• Producer, songwriter, arranger, engineer for numerous artists (Kelly Clarkson, Chaka Kahn, et al) & member of pop group Scritti Politti
• Producer of Quentin Tarantino’s first three movies, twice-Oscar nominated Producer, & head of Brooklyn College’s Film School
• Journalist and Fellow at the Center for American Progress, former Clinton Administration advisor.
• Barron’s “Top Ten” Wealth advisors numerous years.
• Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers & a National Law Journal “Winning Litigator” & “Antitrust Trailblazer” as well as “Best Lawyers in America.”
• Acclaimed Vegan cookbook author & pioneer restauranteur.
• Emmy & Writer’s Guild of America award winning television writer.
• VP & Creative Director of Reader’s Digest & PEOPLE magazine.
• Pulitzer Prize winning journalist (1986), best-selling author & motivational speaker.
• Renowned Sports Doctor/Surgeon (Texas Rangers team physician)
• President of Barnard College, President of Lincoln Center, Harvard professor
• Design Studio head & artist featured in the NY Times, Wall St. Journal & adjunct professor at FIT.
• Corporate Head Chef for Aramark’s Higher Ed Division
• ESPN writer and analyst
• TONY-nominated Actor (2000) with extensive film, tv, stage credits
• Executive Editor Rolling Stone, Editor at Large Billboard, Editor Village Voice, Editor in Chief Maxim, Editor in Chief Blender
• Editor of Texas Monthly &  the Village Voice and journalist at the Austin American-Statesman
• President & CEO of the Northwest Area Foundation, working to reduce poverty and build sustainable culture from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest.
• Editor and writer at Bloomberg News
• Associate Principal Bass, Metropolitan Opera NYC
• Artistic director of Dance Company, associate director Yorke Dance Project & Cohan Collective
• Children’s book author and Educational Consultant for Nick Jr., Disney Jr., Amazon Kids, Dreamworks Animation TV, PBS Kids, Universal Kids & Curriculum Director at Warner Brothers Discovery Cartoon Network.

 
              This doesn’t mention all the other successful graduates, of course, who (like teachers) lead productive and enjoyable lives --- and remain an active part of that early Blind Brook Community (thank you, Social Media Networks).  In reviewing the list above, it is significant to note how many writers, artists, and arts-related graduates emerged from that first decade at BBHS, when the focus was on a progressive, student-centered Arts/Humanities curriculum.  Maybe it’s coincidental, maybe it’s a fluke, but maybe, just maybe, there was something special happening in that place at that time.  And that’s “why” this story.