- Joined
- Oct 1, 1999
- Messages
- 6,490
Its been about 40 years since I graduated and Ive never been back for a reunion, but its still sad thats it will soon be gone.
http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=9&aid=64986
December 12, 2006
Citing poor graduation rates and safety problems, the Department of Education said Tuesday it will close five city high schools.
Lafayette High School in Bensonhurst is among the three schools in Brooklyn and two in Manhattan that will phase itself out over the next few years. Teachers and students at Lafayette have been fighting the new principal's policies. The school's most recent graduation rate was 45 percent.
Lafayette has always been a tough school. I remember my first day there my Mom made me wear a tie to school. I walked in the front entrance and a guy spotted my tie, whipped out a switchblade and cut it in half. I didnt wear a tie there again. One year on Senior Day, the students ripped up all of the trees alongside the school threw them into the street and set them on fire. They then proceeded to set the Deans car on fire. They set the Deans car on fire the next year also. The year after that the Dean took a cab to work.
I remember sitting in class and watching them build the Verrazano Bridge. If you ever saw the movie the French Connection with Gene Hackman, when Popeye Doyle chases the train they pass by Lafayette several times. If Tony Manero (John Travolta) from Saturday Night Fever went to high school it would have been Lafayette. The two most famous real people that went to Lafayette would have been; Sandy Koufax, pitcher for the Dodgers 1955-1966, and actor Paul Sorvino, (Big Paulie from the movie Goodfellas).
Theres an old joke, Whats long and hard on an Italian teenager? Answer, Third grade. I couldnt wait to get out of high school, but the memory is funny, looking back I can only remember the good times. Im going to look back fondly on Good Ol Lafayette.
http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=9&aid=64986
December 12, 2006
Citing poor graduation rates and safety problems, the Department of Education said Tuesday it will close five city high schools.
Lafayette High School in Bensonhurst is among the three schools in Brooklyn and two in Manhattan that will phase itself out over the next few years. Teachers and students at Lafayette have been fighting the new principal's policies. The school's most recent graduation rate was 45 percent.
Lafayette has always been a tough school. I remember my first day there my Mom made me wear a tie to school. I walked in the front entrance and a guy spotted my tie, whipped out a switchblade and cut it in half. I didnt wear a tie there again. One year on Senior Day, the students ripped up all of the trees alongside the school threw them into the street and set them on fire. They then proceeded to set the Deans car on fire. They set the Deans car on fire the next year also. The year after that the Dean took a cab to work.
I remember sitting in class and watching them build the Verrazano Bridge. If you ever saw the movie the French Connection with Gene Hackman, when Popeye Doyle chases the train they pass by Lafayette several times. If Tony Manero (John Travolta) from Saturday Night Fever went to high school it would have been Lafayette. The two most famous real people that went to Lafayette would have been; Sandy Koufax, pitcher for the Dodgers 1955-1966, and actor Paul Sorvino, (Big Paulie from the movie Goodfellas).
Theres an old joke, Whats long and hard on an Italian teenager? Answer, Third grade. I couldnt wait to get out of high school, but the memory is funny, looking back I can only remember the good times. Im going to look back fondly on Good Ol Lafayette.
