Happiness comes from discovering just how much we have to learn and how much we can teach others.


I live in Brooklyn with my beautiful and patient wife Debra and daughters Maud and Stella. I have worked in New York City schools for 12 years and until 6 years ago, I had no idea what it really meant to engage in a labor of love.  When I began to participate in the building a new small high school in the great neighborhood of Bushwick, I didn’t realize how much I would learn from the students, families, and staff about love, community, education, and dedication.

We operate with a student centered curriculum where student have many opportunities to have a hand in shaping their own learning experiences.  This ensures each student feels his education is relevant to his own needs and his own life.  In this student-centered  curriculum, students are able to realize that they are not only capable of meeting standards set out by others, but also that they exceed those standards by setting and surpassing their own.


My hope is that every member of the BSSJ community, students, parents, teachers, and administration views the school as a center for exploration, action, dignity, and justice.  Our teachers and our students are animated by the inclusion of social justice in the curriculum and in social action projects.  By embodying and acting out the principles of social justice they share in the classroom, they are living the curriculum in a more lively and realistic way than in a traditional school setting. In addition, our advisory program, support for student leadership, and a strong relationship with families and the community, have enabled a school community which is collectively owned, genuinely caring and respectful, and internally as well as externally accountable.


Students, staff, community partners, and families have been consistently engaged in discussing and helping to shape BSSJ attitudes around important issues such as the social purpose of education, the value of community, notions of personal character, the value of critical thinking, and the importance of building familiarity with our intellectual heritage.


BSSJ’s community partnerships have been instrumental in providing and feedback and have enabled the school to better navigate challenges of staffing, professional development, student support, and community building. These relationships have maximized BSSJ’s ability to serve its students, become a valued resource in the Bushwick community, and support the development of a new generation of leaders for social justice. I can only hope that the community continues to be engaged with us in this manner, as it has become an indispensable and integral part of what makes BSSJ work.


I would like to reiterate how fortunate I feel to have been a part of the building process and how much I enjoy being a continuing member of the BSSJ community.  My life has been profoundly altered through my interactions with all of the members of our school community.  I am grateful for the opportunity to continue to serve the students and the community of Bushwick and look forward to everything they still have to teach me.


Sincerely,


Mark Rush, Principal

The Bushwick School for Social Justice

400 Irving Avenue

Brooklyn, NY 11237

718.381.7100 ext. 5000

mrush2@schools.nyc.gov