Shrouded in Controversy, Bed-Stuy High School Rebounds

, the Bed-Stuy high school Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz helped launch two years ago, is on the rebound with a little – no, big – assist from Markowitz himself.

Last night, the school held its parents orientation meeting, a standard event for any New York City high school looking to attract new students. Except unlike 99.99% of most schools in the city, BAGF’s orientation was held in a fancy reception room at City Hall, complete with food, fanfare and the BEEP himself.

But BAGF is no ordinary school. In August, after the Department of Education rolled out the results of all schools’ Learning Environment Survey, a New York Daily News article listed BAGF as one of the most dangerous in all of New York City, according to the survey.

At the time, Kavita Gupta, BAGF’s principal, and Markowitz went on the defense, refuting the claims of violence as overblown and pointing to all of the things the school has going for it, including a live trading floor, high-level corporate partnerships and language classes in Mandarin.

During last night’s orientation of 60 or so guests -- composed of prospective parents and their children, teachers and BAGF students -- Markowtiz, Gupta and professional developers working inside the school continued their campaign, hailing the school's many attributes.

“The Academy of Global Finance is a school near and dear to my heart,” said Markowitz. “I helped launch it, because I believe it is never too soon for children to begin thinking about what career path they’d like to take.

“The world is getting smaller. All of our local economies are intermingled. That, more than anything else, is why a school like this is important.”

Margaret Kelley, education policy analyst in the office of the borough president, said the school is unique and important in that it’s preparing students early for competitive careers on a global scale.

“We need to get our kids interested in school again, and so this is an exciting way to do it,” said Kelley. “They’re learning things they can apply later. There’s always bumps in the road with any new school, but I think we’re on the right track.”

In her finely prepared remarks, Principal Gupta also focused squarely on the school’s attributes, highlighting its partnerships and reasserting the school’s mission, student performances and expected (if not, desired) outcomes.

Whether or not the audience was buying it, was hard to tell. But Markowitz seemed evermore optimistic about his school’s uncertain future.

“And just remember, in the Bible, I know it says somewhere, ‘Blessed are those who know how to use money to make money.’”