Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School

Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School
Location
500 19th Street Brooklyn, New York City, US
Coordinates	40°39′23″N73°58′57″W / 40.65639°N 73.98250°W / 40.65639; -73.98250
Information
Type	Private, coeducational
Motto	Erudio pro Excellentia (Educating for Excellence)
Religious affiliation	Catholic
Patron saint	St. Francis of Assisi
Established	1962
Status	closed
Closed	2014
Area trustee	Myles Davis '67
Principal	Thomas P. Arria
Faculty	40
Grades	9–12
Colors	Black, red and gold
Slogan	Your Children, Our Students, the Nation's Future
Mascot	Falcon
Team name	Falcons
Accreditation	Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools [1]
Newspaper	Highpoint
Yearbook	The Pagoda
Tuition	$8,950 per year
Dean of Girls	Josephine Herman
Dean of Boys	Manuel Fernandez
Admissions Director	Deanna Philippe
Athletic Director	Peter Goyco '84

Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School was a private, Catholic high school in the Windsor Terrace neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. ^[2] Open from 1962 through 2014, it closed following a period of steeply falling enrollment and with an estimated $4 million in outstanding debt. ^{[3] [4]} Now called the Bishop Ford Educational Complex, the building is used by New York City Department of Education to house a pre-kindergarten school and two middle schools. ^[5]

History

Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School was established in 1962 by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn. It was named after Bishop Francis Xavier Ford, a Brooklyn native and Maryknoll missionary who was martyred in China in 1952. ^[6] It was decorated in a Chinese-themed style, with a large red pagoda on its roof, signs with letters in a font meant to suggest Chinese characters, and a red-and-gold tiled lobby with light fixtures shaped like pagodas. ^[3]

The school was built on the site of the former 9th Avenue bus and trolley depot, used until 1956 for trolleys, and for buses until 1959 following a fire, with bus routes moved to the 5th Avenue (today's Jackie Gleason Depot) & Ulmer Park Depots.

Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School was a Division I high school and had an active PTA and many clubs, activities, and sports. Some of the clubs included the International Society; Martial Arts Club; Science Club; Art Club; Student Activities Committee; Student Council; Newspaper and Yearbook. Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School's sports included cross-country, track and field, swimming, basketball, baseball, football, bowling, soccer, cheerleading, volleyball, and softball as junior varsity and varsity teams.

Following a period of falling enrollment that saw the student body decrease 75%, from 1,347 students in 2006 to 499 in 2014, the school abruptly closed at the end of the 2013-14 school year. It was one of a number of Catholic schools to close around that time, faced with increased competition from public and charter schools. ^{[3] [4]}

The school building is now used by the New York City Public School system for pre-k and middle schools. The religious symbols, such as a large cross that once stood above the entrance of the school, have been removed from the school building.

Notable alumni

• Glenn Braica (1982): basketball coach, head coach of the St. Francis College basketball team since 2010 ^[7]
• William DeMeo, actor best known for his acting roles in Analyze That , First Kill and The Sopranos ^[8]
• John Giuca (born 1983), felon
• John Gray (1976): screenwriter and television director, creator of TV series Ghost Whisperer ^[9]
• John Halama (1990): Major League Baseball pitcher (1998–2006) ^[10]
• Armond Hill (1971): professional basketball player in the NBA (1976–1984) and first-round pick in the 1976 NBA draft ^[11]
• Jimmy Iovine (1971): record producer; co-founder of Interscope Records ^[12]
• Charles Jones (1993): professional basketball player in the NBA and abroad (1998–2009) ^{[13] [14]}
• Jason Mattera (2001): conservative political commentator and author, editor of Human Events magazine ^[15]
• Brian Nash (1988): basketball coach who was an assistant coach at Bishop Ford from 1992 to 1993 ^{[16] [17]}
• Marco Oppedisano (1989): guitarist and electroacoustic music composer
• Chaz Williams (1991): basketball player

Filming Location

The building was used as a filming location for several commercials and music videos.

• Rock band R.E.M.'s music video "All the Way to Reno (You're Gonna Be a Star)" was shot at Bishop Ford in 2001, directed by Michael Moore. ^[18]
• Rapper Drake's debut music video "Best I Ever Had" was shot at Bishop Ford in June 2009.
• Record producer Mike WiLL Made It's debut music video "#23" was shot at Bishop Ford in August 2013. The music video features Mike WiLL Made It, singer Miley Cyrus, and rappers Wiz Khalifa and Juicy J.
• The school building appears in several early shots in the 1975 film Dog Day Afternoon , which was filmed nearby.

Bishop Ford Educational Complex

The building now houses three public schools:

• K-280, a pre-K school drawing students from across School District 15 ^[19]
• Brooklyn Urban Garden School (BUGS), a middle school focused on environmental sustainability and education ^[20]
• MS 442, a middle school with a successful program for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder ^[21]

Notes and references

1. MSA-CSS. "MSA-Commission on Secondary Schools". Archived from the original on May 14, 2011. Retrieved May 27, 2009.
2. O'Keeffe, Michael (April 24, 2010). "Bishop Ford HS coach Ray Nash dragged into ugly legal battle involving loan to son, Peter J. Nash". Daily News. New York.
3. Spencer, Kyle (April 20, 2014). "A Catholic High School Abruptly Loses Its Fight to Stay Open". The New York Times . Retrieved March 18, 2021.
4. "Brooklyn's Bishop Ford H.S. Closing in June". WNBC . April 14, 2014. Retrieved February 27, 2015.
5. "Pre-Kindergarten Directory Update - Brooklyn" (PDF). schools.nyc.gov. New York City Department of Education. Retrieved June 1, 2016.
6. BFCCHS. "Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School History". Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School website. Archived from the original on June 30, 2007. Retrieved August 1, 2007.
7. "Hoop dreams in hands of new coach Braica". SFC Today. October 17, 2010. Archived from the original on March 8, 2012. Retrieved August 30, 2012.
8. McGoldrick, Meaghan. "Bensonhurst actor to channel the past in new documentary", Brooklyn Reporter, November 20, 2015. Accessed April 15, 2024. "The Bishop Ford graduate is hoping to debut his first-ever documentary, Cruisin' 86th Street, shortly after the premiere of his most recent feature film, Back in the Day (the gritty tale of a half Italian-half Puerto Rican teen with a passion for boxing growing up on the streets of Bensonhurst that stars himself, Alec Baldwin, Danny Glover and Shannon Doherty, among others), slated for theaters early next year."
9. "Alumni notes" (PDF). Falcon Flash. Spring 2006. p. 11. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2012. Retrieved August 31, 2012.
10. "John Halama". baseball-reference.com. Retrieved August 30, 2012.
11. "Armond Hill". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved August 30, 2012.
12. Duffy, Thom. "Will.i.am, Jimmy Iovine Speak on Entrepreneurial Spirit At USC’s Iovine & Andre Young Academy Commencement", Billboard , May 12, 2018. Accessed April 15, 2024. "In the neighborhood known then as Red Hook and now as gentrified Carroll Gardens, Iovine attended a Catholic elementary school, Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and then Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Windsor Terrace."
13. "Charles Jones". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved August 30, 2012.
14. "Charles Jones". eurobasket.com. Retrieved August 30, 2012.
15. "Alumni notes" (PDF), Falcon Flash, Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School, p. 14, Spring 2010, archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2012, retrieved August 31, 2012
16. "Brian Nash and Rich Glesmann Named to the Men's Basketball Coaching Staff". Duquesne Dukes. April 12, 2012. Retrieved August 30, 2012.
17. "The odd couple: Former downtown rivals Ferry and Nash reunited at Duquesne". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. May 8, 2012. Retrieved August 30, 2012.
18. Black, Johnny (2004). Revival: The Story of R.E.M. Winona, Minnesota. p. 258. ISBN   0879307765.
19. Gould, Jessica (April 3, 2019). "Some Parents Worry More Pre-K May Mean Less Space For Everyone Else". wnyc.org. WNYC News. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
20. "Brooklyn Urban Garden Charter School (BUGS)". InsideSchools.org. Inside Schools.
21. Spivack, Caroline (September 6, 2017). "Middle School Lauded for Autism Program Moves to Windsor Terrace". dnainfo.com. DNA Info. Archived from the original on October 21, 2019. Retrieved March 18, 2021.