Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics

Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics is a public high school in New York City, at East 116th Street between Pleasant Avenue and FDR Drive in the East Harlem neighborhood in the northeastern part of the borough of Manhattan.HistoryThe precursor of MCSM in the same building, Benjamin Franklin High School opened in 1943 and was sited at 200 Pleasant Avenue, between 114th Street and 116th Street. A long-time principal there was pioneering educational theorist Leonard Covello, the city's first Italian-American principal. Frank Sinatra sang "Aren't You Glad You're You," to quell racial tensions after a riot between African-American and Italian-American students. Future jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins said that the concert changed his life.The New York City Board of Education shuttered the school in June 1982 for performance issues and converted the building into a four-year high school, the Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics, and a grade 6-8 middle school, the Isaac Newton Middle School for Math and Science, effective September 1982. It later was renamed Manhattan Center is a four-year high school which provides students with a rigorous curriculum that emphasizes mathematics and science.DescriptionLike all New York City high schools, admission is by application. Admission priority for Manhattan Center is given first to students attending the Isaac Newton Junior High School, which shares the campus with Manhattan Center; second to students residing in District 4; and then to other residents citywide.