Universal makes its case on Audenried
by Benjamin Herold on Mar 13 2011
Almost two months after the School District firstannounced its plans to convert Audenried High School into a charter, Universal CompaniesPresident and CEO Abdur-Rahim Islam finally got to share his vision Saturday for how Universal intends to overhaul the school.
“We have the capacity to not only improve the education scores, but change the neighborhood,” said Islam, who said Universal will bring a health clinic, day care center, and extensive internship opportunities for students to the school as part of its efforts to turn the entire community into a Promise Neighborhood modeled on the Harlem Children’s Zone.
“We will embrace every child in this community,” he said.
But many of the roughly 100 people in the audience, frustrated that the Universal takeover was presented to them as a fait accompli, remained focused instead on the School District’s process for deciding Audenried’s future.