Norwood News

While stuck in a Manhattan College basement, the Jonas Bronck Academy became one of the most successful middle school programs in the northwest Bronx.

But since its inception 12 years ago, the school community has longed for a space of its own.

This July, the academy’s wish was granted as it moved from its Riverdale home to one of the classiest office buildings in the entire borough. It’s not the ideal place for a school, but the academy’s new home is a vast improvement in many ways. 

The small, thriving middle school now lives on the newly-renovated fourth and fifth floors of the Fordham Place office tower, on the corner of Webster Avenue and Fordham Road.

Big picture windows offer sweeping views of the sky and neighborhood. From the principal’s office, the view stretches all the way to Manhattan. Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada Jr. recently opened an office on the seventh floor of the building, saying he wanted to have the best district office in the Bronx.

On a tour of the academy’s new space, Principal Donalda Chumney called it, with a laugh, “our transition to greatness.”

Staffers marvel at what they used to do without: a principal’s office, a nurse’s office, a kitchen in the cafeteria, a gym, art and music rooms, even a custodian and school safety officers. The new space has locker rooms and a teachers’ lounge. Smart boards with internet access are standard in all the classrooms. In the science lab, the equipment is so new the science teacher hasn’t yet been trained to use it. 

At 44,000 square feet, the new space is 10 times bigger than where they previously called home and has allowed the school to expand to 152 students and add new programs. Local Councilman Oliver Koppell’s office funds an after-school music program in the brand new music room, which has three separate practice rooms. For the first time, the school can offer Spanish, which all students now take. A parent resource center is outfitted with computers parents can use any time.

Still, there are issues. The school doesn’t have access to any outdoor space and sits at one of the busiest corners in the Bronx.

But the school has moved closer to most of its students, who live largely within walking distance of the new location, Chumney says.

Regardless of the environment, Jonas Bronck, a school founded by local Bronx parents seeking a small, progressive middle school, remains focused on rigorous academia. As a self-proclaimed “college preparatory school,” Chumney says her goal is to keep “expectations really high in terms of homework completion and participation.”

Students wear uniforms, and attendance is highly emphasized. In the brand new cafeteria, tables are named after colleges. Every student has an assigned seat, sitting with their “advisories,” groups of 10 that meet each morning under the mentorship of a teacher.

This, Chumney says, has cut down on cliques.

“I ate my lunch in the bathroom for the first two weeks of eighth grade,” she says. “So I decided that when I ruled the world, everyone would have assigned seats.”

A recent graduate of the city’s Leadership Academy, Chumney is in her second year as principal here. Before, she taught special education at the Bronx High School for the Arts.

She knows her kids by name. She is liberal with hugs and high-fives, but a stickler for breaches of dress code . “[They’re] the best kids in the Bronx for sure – easily,” she says.

She may be right. The school has earned A’s (the highest mark) on its Department of Education progress reports for the past three years. In the annual parent surveys since 2007, over 90 percent of the parents declared themselves “satisfied or very satisfied” with the school.

Students apply to the school as part of the middle school selection process. Prospective parents are required to attend an information session, and staff interviews each student. Chumney says the school doesn’t look at test scores or report cards when evaluating applicants, but quality attendance records are crucial. “[We] look at a child’s willingness to be part of the school community and parents’ willingness to abide by school norms,” Chumney says. 

“I love it, it’s nice,” said 7th grader Besnik, 11. “I like the space.”