The Tools of Recovery

Addressing the Need to Know What Works and What Doesn't.

The Verrazano Foundation Spearheads Charter School Planning

VF President Ken Byalin with Hughes Hubbard attornies Tom Furst, Teresa Delany, Eduardo Vidal, Perla Kuhn,and Arinze Ike. Photo coutesy of New York Lawyers for the Public Interest.

Over the past two years, The Verrazano Foundation has been working with individuals and organizations to create a school which will prepare young people living with emotional disorders for college. The John W. Lavelle Preparatory Charter School will provide a college preparatory education for students in grades 6 through 12 who are at risk of academic failure or underachievement as a result of disturbances of mood, thought, cognition or behavior. While admission to Lavelle Prep is not limited to students with a psychiatric diagnosis, the majority of seats will be reserved for these students. The school will be located on Staten Island and will serve youth in grades 6 to 12 in classes of approximately 15 students. Current plans call for the school to open in September 2009, admitting 75 6th graders that year and each year thereafter.

As the work has progressed, many individuals and organizations have generously shared their time and resources: the New York City Center for Charter School Education, Hughes, Hubbard and Reed LLP, the Education Department of the College of Staten Island, Perkins Eastman, Community for Education Foundation – Overcoming Obstacles Program, and the Center for the Advancement of Children’s Mental Health at Columbia University. And many local elected officials have endorsed and contributed to the project: Borough President James Molinaro; Councilman James Oddo, Michael McMahon, Vincent Ignizio; Assembly members Michael Cusick, Janelle Hyer-Spencer; and State Senator Andrew Lanza.

The school will be named for the late Staten Island Assemblyman John W. Lavelle. Lavelle was a tireless advocate for education and mental health and epitomized the ability of the Island’s elected officials to coalesce across party lines in support of programs which benefited the community. Although not an advocate of charter schools, Lavelle had committed his support for the school which will bear his name because he was convinced that it addressed a critical community need. He suffered the stroke which eventually took his life only a few hours after making this commitment.

Attention 4th Grade Parents - You can help!

Your support can help make the John W. Lavelle Preparatory Charter School a reality on Staten Island. We are now at the point of applying for a Charter through the New York City Department of Education. As part of this process, we need supportive signatures of parents whose children will be entering the 6th grade in September 2009. As long as you live in New York State, you are eligible to sign the petition. All New York State residents will be eligible for admission although Staten Island residents will receive priority. By completing and signing the Intention to Apply, you are not making a binding commitment. During the Spring of 2009, you will have the option of applying, but only if Lavelle Prep exists.

Without the signed petitions of you and parents like you, Lavelle Prep will not become a reality. By signing and returning the Intention to Apply, you help insure that this option is available. It does not, however, guarantee your child’s admission to the school.

To complete the petition, click on the link below, print out the “Intention to Enroll” Form, complete it and mail it to The Verrazano Foundation. If you need further information, please leave a message at 718-667-2832 and we will return your call as soon as possible. Or email tools@verrazanofoundation.org

For parent petition, click here.

About Tools of Recovery

Like the rest of The Verrazano Foundation website, the Tools of Recovery will become whatever the recovery movement makes of it.

We hope that people living with mental illness, consumers of mental health services and their families, will share the news of what works and what doesn't. We are particularly interested in providing news of non-traditional, peer-based service systems.

We hope that providers will also utilize this page to share techniques and practices, ways of serving individuals and families, and ways of structuring the delivery of service. We are cognizant, however, that professionals have often advocated solutions which have not been helpful. So we will ask that professionals provide us with telephone access to three consumers so that we can include consumer testimony.

One tool which we think has great promise is what we will call "bearing witness." We hope that people living with mental illness -- those with diagnoses as well as their families - will use this section to tell their stories. We believe that these voices can be crucial in breaking the silence which feeds the cycle of stigma and shame.

We hope that the Tools of Recovery will serve both providers and consumers of mental health services, although we know that other venues address their information needs. We hope especially that the Tools of Recovery will serve the need for information of the small but growing army of lay people supporting the movement for the rights of people living with mental illness and their inclusion at the table of society.

Please send tools stories to tools@verrazanofoundation.org

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