Leaders In Our Neighborhood Charter School

LINCS sits just above the District 8 average on the city's overall quality measure (1.95 vs. 1.88 out of 4), with math proficiency at 52.2% edging out the district's 48.0% and ELA proficiency at 45.4% landing slightly below the district's 46.2%. The real story is the 2025 jump: ELA rose from 26.1% in 2024 to 45.4%, and math climbed from 41.4% to 52.2% — the strongest single-year improvement in the eight-year data set. Grades 3 and 7 are the academic bright spots, with 3rd-grade math reaching 65.2% and 7th-grade math at 60.9%, while 4th-grade ELA (35.5%) trails the rest of the school. The trajectory suggests the school's recent instructional changes are starting to land, though there's no telling yet whether 2025 is a turning point or an outlier.

Families clearly feel heard at LINCS. Parent satisfaction is 94% (above the district average of 93%), parent-teacher trust sits at 98%, and parent-principal trust is also 98% — among the stronger relationship scores you'll see in a District 8 school. Teachers rate instruction quality at 88%, in line with the district average, and report solid collegial trust at 86% and trust in leadership at 88%. The notable concern is teacher-reported safety at 67%, well below the district average of nearly 89% — something worth raising directly with the school if you're considering enrollment. Daily attendance is healthy at 91.4% (above the district's 89.4%), but chronic absenteeism is 67.8%, meaning roughly two-thirds of students miss 10% or more of school days — a district-wide issue but one worth understanding here.

LINCS draws a student body that closely mirrors its Hunts Point surroundings: 69% Hispanic and 26% Black, with very small numbers of White, multiracial, and Asian students, producing a diversity index of just 39%. Nearly nine in 10 students qualify for high economic need (the economic need index is 88.6%), and 25% have IEPs — a higher share than many neighborhood schools. With 936 students across 13 grades, this is a sizable community where most families share similar life circumstances and where cultural relevance in curriculum and communication tends to follow from the demographics rather than needing to be invented.

Hunts Point is one of the South Bronx's working-class, family-rooted neighborhoods, where the median household income is just under $39,000, nearly a third of residents live below the poverty line, and fewer than 13% of adults hold a bachelor's degree. Homeownership is unusually low at under 10%, and most housing is renter-occupied despite a typical home value in the upper-$400,000s — a reminder that property values and household incomes tell very different stories here. About 13% of households include children, and the schools serve as anchors in a community where families have often lived for generations.

The campus is reachable on foot from three stops on the 6 train: Hunts Point Av (about 10 minutes), Longwood Av (about 12 minutes), and Whitlock Av (about 15 minutes). Most students likely arrive by bus or on foot from within the neighborhood.