James Monroe High School (New York City)

James Monroe High School is a former comprehensive high school located at 1300 Boynton Avenue at East 172nd Street in the Soundview section of the Bronx, New York City.

Opened in 1924, the original school ran for seventy years before being shut down in 1997 for poor performance. The original building now houses seven smaller high schools: the Monroe Academy for Visual Arts and Design (H.S. 692), the Monroe Academy for Business and Law (H.S. 690), the High School of World Cultures (H.S. 550), The Metropolitan Soundview Highschool (X521), Pan American International High School (X388), Mott Hall V (X242) and the newly opened Cinema School (first opened its doors for the 2009–2010 school year). The building also used to house an elementary school, The Bronx Little School.

The building was designed by William H. Gompert, who was the New York City Superintendent of School Buildings. The building was built by the T.A. Clarke Co., and is substantially identical to a handful of other high school buildings that were built in the city at the same time.

Notable alumni

Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg

Lennie Rosenbluth

• Danny Aiello, actor, who attended Monroe for two weeks before dropping out to enlist in National Guard
• Saul Bass, graphic designer, movie title sequence designer, and filmmaker
• Edward J. Bloustein (1925–1989), 17th president of Rutgers University^[1]
• Paul Bogart (1919–2012), television director and producer^[2]
• Milton Cardona ('63), musician who recorded with Willie Colon, Hector Lavoe and Tito Puente
• Darren Carrington ('84), 8-year NFL player (Broncos, Lions, Chargers, Panthers), played in two Super Bowls
• Cornelius H. Charlton, U.S. Army soldier and Medal of Honor recipient in Korean War
• Judy Craig, Patricia Bennett, and Barbara Lee of singing group the Chiffons
• Larry Eisenberg, biomedical engineer, science fiction writer and limericist
• Jules Feiffer (‘47), cartoonist for Village Voice (won Pulitzer Prize in editorial cartooning); author, playwright and screenwriter
• Paul A. Fino, GOP Congressman and State Senator, representing the Bronx
• Art Fleming ('41), original host of TV's Jeopardy! and former Monroe football star
• Stan Getz, jazz saxophonist
• Nathan Glazer, sociologist who co-authored Beyond the Melting Pot
• Izzy Goldstein, Major League Baseball player
• Hank Greenberg ('29), Major League Baseball player with Detroit Tigers, 2-time American League MVP and Hall of Famer; led Monroe to PSAL basketball championship in 1927 and PSAL baseball title in 1929, three-sport All-City selection in soccer, basketball and baseball
• Lenny Hambro, jazz musician (woodwinds), notably with bands of Gene Krupa, Glenn Miller, Machito, and Chico O'Farrill
• Jonathan Harris ('31), actor
• Robert Johnson, first Black American to serve as the Bronx County District Attorney (January 1, 1989) in history of New York State; in 2005, he became longest-serving District Attorney in Bronx County history; Monroe graduate and U.S. Navy veteran
• Herbert E. Klarman ('35), American public health economist
• Martin J. Klein ('39), historian of modern physics and senior editor of The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein (Princeton University Press) from 1988 to 1998; first winner (2005) of Abraham Pais Prize, first major award for history of physics^[3]
• Karen Koslowitz, New York City Council member representing Queens
• Ed Kranepool ('62), Major League Baseball player, signed by the New York Mets just days after his 1962 graduation from Monroe, one of 1962 Mets and member of 1969 World Series champions^[4]
• Leon M. Lederman ('39), Nobel Laureate in Physics in 1988^[5]
• Samuel Lubell, public opinion pollster, journalist, and National Book Award for Nonfiction finalist (1957)
• Juliet Man Ray, dancer and model, wife and muse of artist Man Ray^[6]
• Robert Marshak (1916–1992), physicist, educator and eighth president of the City College of New York^[7]
• Judith Merril, science-fiction author and editor
• Stanley Milgram (1933–1984, class of 1950), social psychologist^[8]
• Dan Monzon ('64), baseball infielder, manager and scout
• Malloy Nesmith Sr. ('88), streetball player
• Estelle Reiner ('32), actor and singer^[9]
• Regina Resnik (1922–2013), opera singer and actor^[10]
• Ellie Rodríguez ('64), former Major League Baseball player
• Lennie Rosenbluth ('52), college and NBA basketball player
• Mickey Rutner, Major League Baseball player
• Nancy Savoca, Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Award-winning filmmaker
• Paul R. Screvane, politician
• Art Shay ('39), photographer and writer
• Leonard P. Stavisky (1925–1999), university professor and politician^[11]
• Robert Strauss, actor, Academy Award-nominated for role in Stalag 17
• Anthony Velonis, WPA artist who helped introduce silkscreen printing to mainstream as fine art form
• Cora Walker, one of first black women to practice law in New York^[12]
• Doris Wishman, filmmaker
• Wilbur Young ('67), former defensive lineman in National Football League
• Philip Zimbardo (born 1933), social psychologist known for his 1971 Stanford prison experiment^[13]

Notable staff

• Anthony J. Alvarado (1942-2024), educator^[14]
• Rose Freistater (born 1908), schoolteacher notable for being denied a teacher's license for being overweight^[15]
• Alexander Taffel, physics teacher and principal^[16]

References

1. Wolff, Craig. "Edward J. Bloustein, 64, Is Dead; President of Rutgers Since 1971", The New York Times, December 11, 1989. Accessed August 14, 2024. "He graduated from James Monroe High School in the Bronx and enrolled in New York University on a scholarship."
2. Martin, Douglas. "Paul Bogart, TV Director, Dies at 92", The New York Times, April 17, 2012. Accessed August 14, 2024. "He graduated from James Monroe High School in the Bronx, but couldn’t afford college."
3. Hevesi, Dennis (April 2, 2009). "Martin J. Klein, Historian of Physics, Dies at 84". The New York Times. Retrieved March 13, 2012.
4. Bradbury, Wilbur. "Mets Sign Schoolboy for $75,000; Kranepool, Monroe High Star, to Be Aided by Hodges", The New York Times, June 29, 1962. Accessed August 14, 2024. "The New York Mets, who have no past and are dismally bogged down in the present, invested a substantial sum in the future yesterday by signing Ed Kranepool, a 17-year-old first baseman from James Monroe High School in the Bronx."
5. Johnson, George. "Leon Lederman, 96, Explorer (and Explainer) of the Subatomic World, Dies", The New York Times, October 3, 2018. Accessed August 14, 2024. "Leon grew up in the Bronx and graduated from James Monroe High School in 1939 and from City College of New York in 1943."
6. Flint, Peter B (January 21, 1991). "Juliet Man Ray, 79, The Artist's Model And Muse, Is Dead". New York Times. Retrieved November 15, 2016.
7. "Scientist‐Educator", The New York Times, February 28, 1970. Accessed August 14, 2024. "He was born Oct. 11, 1916, in the Bronx and graduated from James Monroe High School at the age of 15 and then, in 1936, from Columbia University."
8. Stanley Milgram papers, Yale University. Accessed August 14, 2024. "Stanley Milgram was born in New York City, on August 15, 1933. He attended James Monroe High School in the Bronx, graduating in 1950."
9. Weber, Bruce. "Estelle Reiner, 94, Comedy Matriarch, Is Dead", The New York Times, October 29, 2008. Accessed August 14, 2024. "Estelle Lebost was born on June 5, 1914, in the Bronx, where she graduated from James Monroe High School."
10. Yardley, William. "Regina Resnik, Metropolitan Opera Star, Dies at 90", The New York Times, August 9, 2013. Accessed August 14, 2024. "Ms. Resnik graduated from James Monroe High School in the Bronx and studied music education at Hunter College, graduating in 1942."
11. "Educator in Assembly", The New York Times, March 31, 1976. Accessed August 14, 2024. "The son was graduated from James Monroe High School and City College, where he did two years in the Reserve Officers Training Corps in the closing years of World War II."
12. Fox, Margalit (July 20, 2006). "Cora Walker, 84, Dies; Lawyer Who Broke Racial Ground". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
13. "Psychologist Investigates The Origins Of Evil", NPR, June 30, 2008. Accessed August 14, 2024. "There's a famous study by Stanley Milgram, who actually was a high-school classmate of mine at James Monroe in the Bronx, where he puts people in this situation where he shows the vast majority are blindly obedient to authority, are willing to give a painful electric shock to a stranger, enough so that the shocks might even have killed him."
14. Chambers, Marcia. "Man In The News; An Innovative School Administrator: Anthony John Alvarado" Archived 2016-03-05 at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, April 29, 1983. Accessed July 27, 2010.
15. Perrillo, Jonna (February 24, 2017). "Beyond "Progressive" Reform: Bodies, Discipline, and the Construction of the Professional Teacher in Interwar America". History of Education Quarterly. 44 (3): 337–343. doi:10.1111/j.1748-5959.2004.tb00013.x.
16. Thomas Jr., Robert McG. (January 25, 1997). "Alexander Taffel Dies at 86; Championed Bronx Science". NY Times. Retrieved February 13, 2019.