J.H.S. 80 Isobel Rooney Middle School, Bronx NY on Mosholu Parkway North at Van Cortlandt Avenue East, April 2014. PWA funds allocated 1934-36, opened in 1936 or soon afterwards[1,2]. Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Penny Marshall, and Rob Reiner went here. This school, like most others in NYC in the era of "education reform", has been broken up into mini-schools, most or all of them probably charters. The name of the school was changed in 2012 to "Norwood Academy for Communal Excellence at the Isobel Rooney Campus", to the disgust of most parents and neighborhood residents[3]. Despite all attempts to shut it down[4,5] it's still going as a school in some form (I know because I live two blocks away). Photo: Frank da Cruz.

1. More PWA Funds Granted - $1,418,700 Allotted for 3 Schools and New Wing for Hospital, New York Times, 27 Sep 1934.
2. PWA School Aid Hailed by Tuttle - $34,500,000 Received by City for Work in Depression Years, New York Times, 26 Jan 1936.
3. J.H.S. 80 changes name, Bronx Times, 24 May 2012. If you visit the school's website today, its name is "J.H.S. 080 The Mosholu Parkway". No trace of Isobel Rooney, beloved school board member and champion of public education in the 1970s-80s-90s. All the changes apparently didn't do much good, quite the opposite [next reference].
4. Iconic JHS 80 likely to close amid poor performance, Bronx Times, 20 April 2012.
5. Recent articles, Norwood News (search results). A case study in how to crush public education.