Bronx charter school to build high school campus

Mike Kennedy | Jan 29, 2019

The American Dream School began as a middle school and is constructing a permanent site for high school grades.

The American Dream School is scheduled to break ground next month on a new high school campus in the Bronx section of New York City.

The charter school opened as a middle school in 2014 and since has expanded into high school grades. The American Dream School’s mission is to develop academic excellence in both Spanish and English, and prepare students in grades 6 to 12 for college.

The groundbreaking will take place at 10 a.m. on Feb. 8, according to a news release from Hollister Construction Services, the project’s design builder.

“We’ve grown in ways we didn’t anticipate when we opened our middle school, but that growth has been organic and in response to the real needs of our community,” says Board President Luz Maria Rojas. “When our parents and students asked for a high school, we listened, but we were stuck in temporary space.” We knew pretty quickly that we needed to find a permanent home.”

The American Dream High School will be a five-story, 33,000-square-foot facility in the Bronx’s Grand Concourse Historic District. The facility will house high school students and have a chemistry science lab, gymnasium, outdoor learning terrace, multipurpose room and classrooms. The school is slated for completion in 2020 and will have space for 324 students.

“A key element of our vision is to cultivate a welcoming, encouraging environment for English Language Learners and immigrant students where learning and language development is supported,” says Melissa Melkonian, founder of the school and its principal. “With the groundbreaking of our new High School Campus, we’re pushing our vision forward.”

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