At a Glance
A pocket-sized alternative high school in Bed-Stuy betting on relationships, service, and a no-suspension culture
Best suited for
Families seeking a small, relationship-driven high school where their child won't get lost — especially students with IEPs, recent arrivals, or those who struggled in larger, more traditional settings.
What stands out
- Just 132 students total — most NYC high schools enroll 500 to 2,000 or more.
- Zero suspensions last year, a genuinely unusual achievement at the high-school level.
- An IEP rate of 36%, well above the citywide average, signaling strong special-education capacity.
- Leadership and community service are baked into the school's identity rather than offered as an extracurricular.
Things to consider
- No state test proficiency data was reported, so academic outcomes are hard to gauge from the outside.
- Only one family returned the satisfaction survey, which makes parent-engagement signals essentially anecdotal.
- The single G train access means longer commutes for families coming from outside northwest Brooklyn.
- A 92.2 economic need index means most families are dealing with significant financial pressure, which can affect everything from homework time to college-prep resources.
Based on 2024-25 data
School SummaryDistrict 13
District 13's high school landscape mixes large comprehensives with small alternatives, and this 132-student school sits firmly in the small-alternative category. The peer schools listed are mostly elementary, which reflects how few comparable small Brooklyn high schools exist within the district to benchmark against.
Academics
School-level proficiency data wasn't reported in the figures available, so it's hard to say how students here perform on state tests relative to the district's 53% ELA and 46% math averages. With 36% of students classified as IEP and a 92.2 economic need index, instructional priorities likely extend well beyond test prep toward social-emotional and life-skills work. The absence of reported scores may itself signal that the school measures success differently than traditional metrics capture.
Culture
Zero suspensions is genuinely unusual — the district average hovers around 1.4%, and most Brooklyn high schools suspend students. Teacher-principal trust at 91% is solid, and teacher-reported instructional quality (87%) lands right at the district average. The parent satisfaction figure of 75% versus a district average near 91% deserves a heavy asterisk — only one family returned the survey, so it's essentially a single household's view rather than a real benchmark. Day-to-day, the school reads as small, intimate, and adult-supported, but family engagement infrastructure appears thin.
Community
The student body is 64% Black and 28% Hispanic, with an economic need index of 92.2 — meaning the vast majority qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Thirty-six percent of students have IEPs, well above the citywide average, suggesting the school is a destination for families seeking smaller, more supported settings for students with disabilities. The surrounding Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood is economically split: 27.9% of households are below the poverty line, yet nearly half of adults hold a bachelor's degree — a sharp contrast with the families actually enrolled here.
Neighborhood
Bedford-Stuyvesant (West) is a Brooklyn neighborhood in visible transition, where the $1.27 million median home value reflects new buyers even as longtime residents face a 27.9% poverty rate. Only about 15.7% of neighborhood households include children, which is on the low side for a family-dense area. Public transit is limited to a single line, so families commuting from Manhattan, Queens, or southern Brooklyn should expect longer rides with transfers.
The school is about a 5-minute walk from the Classon Av G stop and 6 minutes from Bedford-Nostrand Avs G, with Myrtle-Willoughby Avs G roughly 11 minutes away — G train service only, so plan transfers in advance.
Survey Results
NYC School Survey (2025) · 1 families responded (1% rate)
Racial & Ethnic Diversity
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Discipline
NYSED Student & Educator Database
Economic Need & Special Populations
How to get in, step by step
High school (9th grade)
High school is one citywide application, made in 8th grade. We don't have Brooklyn High School for Leadership and Community Service's program list, so read how each of its programs admits on MySchools before you rank it.
High school application
- Opened
- Tue, Oct 6
- Closes
- Fri, Dec 4
- Offers
- Wed, Mar 3
The DOE’s published dates.
- 1Apply on MySchools during the high school application, in 8th grade.
- 2Rank programs in true preference order — the match places your child in the highest-ranked one that offers a seat.
Open houses and tours
We haven’t seen open-house dates for this school yet.
From the MySchools admissions calendar, checked weekly.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Is Brooklyn High School for Leadership and Community Service a good school?
- Published quality ratings aren't available for Brooklyn High School for Leadership and Community Service yet on Motley. It's a public school serving grades 9 to 12 in Bedford-Stuyvesant (West).
- What grades does Brooklyn High School for Leadership and Community Service serve?
- Brooklyn High School for Leadership and Community Service serves grades 9 to 12.
- Is Brooklyn High School for Leadership and Community Service public, charter, or private?
- Brooklyn High School for Leadership and Community Service is a public school in NYC Community School District 13.
- What neighborhood is Brooklyn High School for Leadership and Community Service in?
- Brooklyn High School for Leadership and Community Service is in Bedford-Stuyvesant (West), Brooklyn.