Manhattan Country School - New York, New York

ROLAND N. J.

GUS TOWBRIDGE EMBRACED "THE DREAM", MANHATTAN COUNTRY SCHOOL REALIZED IT

Gus Towbridge Turned Dr. King's Integration Dream into a School, (news, 16 July) highlights the fact that Gus wanted a school where " ...if Dr, Martin Luther King, Jr. visited he would say, "that's what I was talking about". My parents were public school educators in Baltimore and yet their grandchildren have all attended expensive private schools. Gus understood the nature of quality education and the impact that has on children, because the impact of opening educational opportunities impacts families forever.

I met Gus when I became an MCS step parent. I was new to Manhattan I had not heard of the school before I arrived in Manhattan. The commitment to racial, cultural & economic diversity was incredible. I remember my first weekend visit to the school's farm. The concept of kids from all backgrounds in New York City spending a week together on a working farm was awesome. In the late 70's & 80's the City was recovering from the financial crisis and a wave of gentrification was happening on the Upper West side where we live. Manhattan Country School however had kids from zip codes all over Manhattan and we were all the richer for it. There are kids from the school whose families have been changed forever because of Gus Towbridge's dream of making financial aid available so that the school was a reflection of the City.
One particular incident in Central Park one Saturday afternoon stands out in my mind, I had helped to organize a birthday party for one of my kids in Central Park. A number of other MCS kids were at the party, which involved food and a baseball game, where I pitched for both sides Suddenly my son walked over to me an pointed to a group of boy's standing and watching us playing baseball. My sports loving son had been mugged at knife point a few weeks earlier in the park, and a baseball bat that we had gotten from a recent New York Yankee bat day, was stolen. I asked Cris how he could be so certain, The event was traumatic and I felt it might have been a difficult thing to remember. He assured me that this was the boy. I walked over to the group of four young teen age boys and asked them their names and where they lived. Three of them gave me addresses in Harlem, but the one who Cris identified, Jimmy, told me he lived in Brooklyn. His friends ran away and I restrained him and asked him if he had ever seen my son. He replied, "yes I stole a baseball bat from him last Satuday". I put him into my car and we drove to an apartment in West Harlem. I had informed him that if he did give his real address our next stop was going to the Central Park NYPD Precinct. I did not find the bat but I found a great many expensive items in a closet. I explained to Jimmy, that I had to take an item of equal value from his stash to make Cris "whole". I also was confronted by a women who appeared to be high or intoxicated. She said to me, "If you are from Social Services take that little mother F_ _ _ er away. I fought to hold back my tears and put arm around the boy. I told him I would be back. When I returned to Central Park the other parents were waiting. They were worried that I had run into a problem in Harlem. One of the parents, a granddaughter of a US President said, " We need to do something". The MCS kids all agreed. Gus was on board with at least finding out what we could do to help Jimmy. These are the kind of people who make up the Manhattan Country School community. Unfortunately Jimmy and his "mother" moved out after I had visited him two more times. He stopped going to school and I was unable to locate him.

Dr. King often warned that racial inequality and income equality for all people were inextricably connected. Gus Towbridge understood that and all of the graduates of Manhattan Country School have been the beneficiaries.

When Gus encounters Dr. King in heaven I am certain that Dr. King will place his arm on Gus's shoulder and say, "Well done, good and faithful servant, well done"
(Rev) Roland Nicholson, Jr
Shanghai, China

Abe Z.

I am currently a 7th grade at Manhattan Country School, and have been going since 5th grade. It is an extremely diverse school where there is not one race, religious, or ethnic majority. What makes them unique is their curriculum around social justice, as well as them having a farm in Roxbury, New York. It is fortunately very small, with one class per grade, which typically contains 20 students.

Ro C.

Pauline G.

Michael M.

Melissa D.

François-René R.

K M.