Bronx High School for Law and Community Service

The school sits in District 10, where the average ELA proficiency is about 45% and the average math proficiency is about 44%. School-level proficiency numbers are not in this dataset, so a direct read on how Bronx Law's students perform on state tests isn't possible — though the strong teacher-reported instruction quality (96%, well above the district's 91% average) and the school's demanding admissions process suggest the building is built to push students. The school offers AP courses for college-bound students and dedicated ELL support, a meaningful pairing given that the student body is 69% Hispanic and likely includes many English learners.

Survey numbers here are unusually strong across the board: 94% parent satisfaction, 97% parent-principal trust, 95% parent-teacher trust, and 96% of teachers rate instruction quality highly. Teachers also report 93% trust in the principal and 97% collegial trust in each other — a pretty rare combination that suggests a tight, aligned staff. Zero recorded suspensions is striking for a Bronx high school, especially one with a 27% IEP population. The honest caveats: only 29 teachers and 120 families responded to the surveys, so the picture is being drawn from a self-selecting group.

Bronx Law's students are 69% Hispanic, 26% Black, 3% White, and 2% Asian — a student body that closely mirrors the surrounding Belmont neighborhood and the broader Bronx. The school's economic need index of 88.4 (out of 100) places the vast majority of students in the city's highest tier of financial need, consistent with a neighborhood where the median household income is under $33,000. Twenty-seven percent of students have IEPs — a meaningfully higher share than the district average — and the school explicitly offers ELL support, reflecting the linguistic reality of families in the area.

Belmont is one of the densest, working-class stretches of the Bronx, anchored by the Fordham Road shopping corridor. The area skews young and renter-heavy — only about 4% of households own their homes, and just 11% include children under 18 — which means many of your child's classmates may be from families living in nearby apartments rather than detached houses. About 13% of neighborhood adults have a bachelor's degree and nearly 38% of residents live below the poverty line, a backdrop that frames the school's law-and-community-service mission in a very literal way.

The school is a 10-minute walk from Fordham Rd (B and D trains) or a 12-minute walk from Kingsbridge Rd (B and D), with the Kingsbridge Rd (4 train) about 15 minutes on foot.