On October 21st, Murray L. Fisher, founder and program director of the New York Harbor public high school on Governor’s Island, discussed the long and exciting process of creating an alternative education system in which he believes deeply. “I’m going to tell you the story of how a person goes from a vision to an institution,” he began.
Murray grew up on a farm, fishing in the creek, and developed a “natural affinity for the outdoors.” He was a biology major in college, but after trying his hand at field research he realized he wanted to work with other people. He joined Riverkeeper, a non-profit that advocates for clean water in New York, traveling up and down the Hudson teaching kids about its ecological structures and talking to lawyers about pollution issues. “I kept thinking: I’m learning so much more than I learned in school,” Murray admitted. Next, he joined Waterkeeper, beginning 60 new water advocacy programs around the world. Though he achieved great success, Murray was frustrated: “it’s not really a movement if the only people involved are older white men.”
A vision gleamed in Murray’s mind and he committed himself to it. Like many visions, it began with a “what if” statement: “what if a school took on the long-term goal of restoring its local ecosystem?” In 2003 his application for a new public high school was approved. He was originally placed on the fourth floor of Bushwick high school, “literally the furthest distance from the water you could get.” In 2006, the city finally agreed to move the school to Governor’s Island, right on the New York harbor.
They continued to “stumble along,” trying to figure out how to integrate river protection with the school curriculum: “we wanted a real way to tell students, this is your harbor.”
They discovered an integrative solution in oyster farming. New York harbor used to have a huge number of oysters. At its peak, all harbor water was naturally filtered by passing through these valuable mollusks. The Harbor School now has 500,000 oysters in 5 reefs. Their 20-year goal is to have 1 billion oysters, enough so that the harbor’s waters are filtered every three days.
Murray envisioned his students graduating with three major achievements: 1. An acceptance letter to a four-year college. 2. A technical credential in a marine field. 3. Some qualified demonstration of their stewardship ethic. The first two requirements are in place and the third is still being developed.
Each student must choose one of six technical credential options: Scientific diving (this is the only public school in the country that can certify students to do this), vessel operations, marine systems technology, aquaculture, underwater robotics, or marine science research. By the time these students graduate, they are qualified to work in a specialized field if they choose not to go to college.
The Harbor School originally took from a pool of students with a 7-22% chance of graduating. The School now boasts a 75% graduation rate, from which 95% go to a four-year college.
Murray is still working on how to link English, history, math, and science curriculum into the technical aspects of schooling: “we feel like we’ve accomplished so much, but we know we have so much farther to go.”
When asked how he stays so positive, he responded that he has a great partnership with the principal of the school. While the principal is involved with internal conflicts, Murray keeps himself external so that he can stay positive and opportunistic. When asked how he fought through all the bureaucracy, he responded, “you could always out persist the person saying no.”
Murray encouraged his audience to try on his positive outlook: “the world is desperate for ideas with passion and commitment behind them.”
Written by Claire Lafave, CES Research Assistant