There were no metal detectors at the front of the 75-year-old neo-classic high school. Adults and teens greeted each other at the door. It was the fall of 1999 on the upper east side of Manhattan, and I saw something I had never imagined–six schools in one building, each unique but with a sense of calm, support and intentionality.
The Julia Richman Education Complex (JREC) housed four high schools, an elementary school and a middle school for children with autism, as well as a health center and teacher development center. The architect of this high functioning assemblage was Ann Cook, who founded Urban Academy in 1986 with a focus on inquiry teaching where teachers “frame questions in a way which challenges students to examine often conflicting evidence, draw conclusions and support these conclusions in thoughtful discussions with others who, using the same evidence base, reach divergent conclusions.”