Blind Brook High School (BBHS) is a public, four-year secondary school in Rye Brook, New York, United States. It is the only public high school that serves the Blind Brook School District. BBHS is a relatively small high school; the Class of 2025 was made up of 100 students. The principal is Mark Greenwald.
History
Beginnings Blind Brook High School opened its doors in the fall of 1973. The construction of the Blind Brook School District's first high school came about after the community (which was the unincorporated area of the Town of Rye at the time) wanted to expand the local school district, District #5. This push for expansion started after the community became frustrated about spending much money to send their children to local high schools including Port Chester, Mamaroneck, Rye Neck, and Valhalla, without commensurate representation or influence on those districts' policies and programs. In addition, the Ridge Street School, which housed classes from kindergarten to 8th/9th grades, was becoming overcrowded and could not accommodate the growing population that would become known as Rye Brook (in 1982). Land was purchased on King Street, and construction was started in 1972 and ended in late 1973, months into the school year. The high school today stands on the same campus as in 1973.
1973-2003
In the fall of 1973, Blind Brook opened its doors, with David Schein as its first principal. Construction was ongoing in the new building during the first months of the school year. In fact, some classes were held while construction proceeded around them.
The original building was considered modern as it contained "open classrooms". This setup contained classrooms that had movable walls and/or book cases separating them. This made for an interesting and different learning environment since students walking in hallways would also be walking behind classes. The building was designed this way as the district chose to focus around a humanities curriculum that included interdisciplinary studies. Its faculty, a blending of teachers already working on the K-9 Ridge Street staff with new hires committed to the open-space educational concept, began an educational adventure that lasted in spirit for over 20 years.
Since the school officially opened in 1973 with Grades 7–10, Blind Brook's first graduating class was the Class of 1975, a class made up of only four advanced students, with the graduation taking place in the middle of the school year, at the conclusion of the first semester."Spectrum" Yearbook, 1976 edition
1997 brought the arrival of Principal Robert Chlebicki, who would hold the position until 2003. During his tenure at Blind Brook, Chlebicki helped Blind Brook move into the 21st century in many areas. In 1999, with the construction of Bellefair, a new housing development, and the influx of younger families to the community, the Blind Brook community started to outgrow the footprint of the original high school building. Further, after spending several years at the Ridge Street building, as Blind Brook grew into a 9-12 high school, the seventh and eighth grades were reintroduced back at the Blind Brook campus, adding to the crowded conditions. A parent-school district committee, called "Let's Bond for our Kids", formed a construction plan and encouraged the community to get involved and vote for funding to build a separate middle school wing. The bond passed by a large margin, bringing construction to the BB campus for the first time since 1973.
In the summer of 2000, Portables 1 and 2 were installed to create additional classroom space during the construction.BBHS FOCUS Same Classes, New Settings Pg 8 These modular buildings are connected to each other, but are not connected to the main high school building. To this day, the modular classrooms, or as they are often called, the portables (though they cannot be moved), are still used for daily classes and are fairly popular among the student body.
During this time of physical change in the district, Susan Shirken, the assistant principal for the middle/high school, left to become an administrator in the Edgemont district. This marked the arrival of Michael Mitchell in 2001.BBHS FOCUS Meet Mr. Mitchell Pg 2
With administrative change occurring, the construction project progressed. The project ultimately resulted in a middle school wing, a middle school gymnasium, a renovated Instructional Media Center (library), new middle school and high school main offices, a 450-seat auditorium, a new front walkway and entrance, a renovated commons area, and high school classroom renovation. In addition to expansion of the building, in order to meet state fire codes, the construction also resulted in traditional, four-walled, closed classrooms. By removing wall-less classrooms, the new classroom setup left some interior rooms windowless. In addition, the Commons had its carpet removed and new, artistic walls were installed. These walls were often poked fun at and seemed very silly in the eyes of students, with statements of "This is a school, not an art museum!" pushing a backlash against the walls. Many wanted the walls removed, though that wouldn't happen until Blind Brook went through a second wave of construction.BBHS FOCUS Construction Concludes in Controversy Pg 1 The new auditorium was also criticized as it was too small and could not fit the entire high school and its faculty in the facility at the same time. In addition, the end-of-the-year graduation would not be able to be held in the new facility as it lacked necessary seating for guests. Graduations are held in the gym as it can accommodate the larger number of guests.
2002-2003 brought much more change to Blind Brook High School. A new look, some new technology, and several new "traditions" changed the style of the culture throughout the school's new halls. A (non-merged) football team, albeit at the junior varsity level, was created, after a long absence of any type of recreational football. The team was originally made up of 25 students, and practiced at Ridge Street School.BBHS FOCUS Football Finally Touches Down at BB Pg 4
Parking issues at the then-IBM building between the high school and the building's owners continued, resulting in tense negotiations between the two groups.BBHS FOCUS Blind Brook Plagued by Persistent Parking Problems Pg 1
Three International Baccalaureate classes (12th grade English, 11th grade Chemistry, and Theory of Knowledge) were added in order to create a more difficult and challenging baccalaureate curriculum, though after months of discussion and debate, the Board of Education voted 4 to 1 against the continuation of the program in March 2003.BBHS FOCUS Board of Ed Votes Down Controversial IB Proposal Pg 1
The end of the school year also brought the resignations of Blind Brook's top administrators, long-time principal Robert Chlebicki and assistant principal Michael Mitchell, leaving a sense of uncertainty in the Blind Brook community.BBHS FOCUS Students Shocked By Beloved VP’s Surprise Resignation Pg 1 Chlebicki left Blind Brook for the North Shore School District on Long Island to become the Assistant Superintendent for Instruction.BBHS FOCUS Principal Leaving Pg 1
2004-present Blind Brook's administration was still up in the air in the 2003–2004 school year, as an interim principal was hired while the search for a new principal continued. Anthony Baxter and Jane Wermuth were hired for the positions of principal and assistant principal, respectively.
Blind Brook's future curriculum plans were also in limbo after the International Baccalaureate plan was rejected. A new strategy was put into action by the Board of Education to investigate the AP program and to see if it would be a good fit for BBHS. From 2004 to 2006, Blind Brook added numerous AP classes to its class offerings. In addition to new AP classes, Blind Brook, in the 2005–06 school year, also added Latin as an elective.
In early 2005, the Blind Brook community was once again outgrowing the High School building. This gave school officials no other choice than expand onto the high school building once again. A bond vote was conducted and passed by a high percentage. With this bond passed, construction returned to the Blind Brook campus for the second time in only five years.
Construction, however, did not start until late 2005, around October, because of problems with architectural plans and a slow permit approval by the New York State Education Department. In the 2005-06 phase of construction, a new middle school cafeteria, fitness center, science labs, HS and MS classrooms, and new athletic fields were built.BBHS FOCUS A Whole New Blind Brook Pg 2 BBHS FOCUS After Months of Delay, Construction Bids Awarded Pg 2
Problems arose when students became concerned with the future of the Rock, a tradition Blind Brook students take part in every year as the senior class paints it.BBHS FOCUS It’s Better on…Where? Pg 1 The problem was fixed as the rock was moved out of harm's way.
The new fields feature synthetic grass, to give teams more flexibility in when and how often they can use they fields and.
A significant retaining wall malfunction delayed the construction of the soccer/football field, as it had to be rebuilt.BBHS FOCUS Construction Moving Along Slowly but Surely Pg 1 The manufacturer said that the wrong type of stones had been chosen for the wall, meaning all retaining walls on the campus had to be taken down and rebuilt. This set the field projects back several months. The wall was finally completed in October 2006. The company which installed the wall and provided the stones paid for the damages. The upper field contains an artificial turf baseball field and the lower contains a six-lane track and an artificial turf lacrosse/soccer/football field. Because of the new field space, girls' lacrosse was started in 2007 at the JV level. The baseball field, complete with stands, backstop, and sliding-dirt cutouts, was completed in mid-October 2006,FieldTurf - Artificial Turf for Baseball Fields - Baseball Artificial Turf Installations while the soccer/football field wasn't complete until the spring of 2007, and the track wasn't complete until July 2007.
The Village of Rye Brook, New York, at the same time, was building their fields adjacent to the BBHS campus. These fields contain a softball field and a soccer/football field.Artificial Turf by FieldTurf - Artificial Turf for all your Synthetic Grass Needs - Synthetic Turf, Field Turf
It was announced in the spring of 2007 that Anthony Baxter would not be returning to Blind Brook for the 2007–08 school year. The Board of Education hired William Stark in June 2007 as the interim principal until a permanent replacement was found.BBHS FOCUS Blind Brook Welcomes Principal Stark Pg 1
In the summer of 2007, Blind Brook was the site of the 2007 Empire State Games men's soccer matches, which helped further show the community the new and state-of-the-art facilities Blind Brook had to offer.ESG Sporting Events and Venues
At the 2008 graduation ceremonies, the Board of Education President announced that the IMC would be renamed the Monroe E. Haas Library and IMC, in honor of the outgoing board member.Rye Brook Westmore News:B.B. dedicates library to Monroe E. Haas
On April 16, 2008, it was announced that Scott Bersin, who had been the assistant principal at Great Neck High School North on Long Island, had been hired as the school's new principal effective July 1, 2008.Rye Brook Westmore News: New BBHS principal has law background BBHS FOCUS Selecting Blind Brook's New Principal Pg 1 However, Bersin only served one year of his three-year probationary appointment. At a special meeting held on Tuesday, June 2, 2009, the Board of Education accepted Bersin's resignation, making him the third principal to resign in six years.Rye Brook Westmore News: BREAKING NEWS: BBHS principal resigns