The History of John Dewey High School Told Through Videos and Documents from 1969 to the 2000's 

In 1963 a group of the best and brightest high school educators met in Hershey Pennsylvania to reform New York City high school education.  They felt that the old high school model was no longer working, so they developed a revolutionary program that empowered students to learn and nurtured the partnership between student and teacher. It was called "The New School", later "Shore Front High School" and finally John Dewey High School. John Dewey High School, although a school for modern times had been gutted and only within the last several years has been serving the needs of it's students in a creative way.

On this page are documents that were found at the school or donated by former students or faculty.  There are gaps in the history, but  these documents illustrate the early development of the Dewey Model and the richness of the  program that was in place in 1969.  Teachers wrote curricula and sometimes students worked with teachers developing courses. It was truly a place where one was motivated to learn and had control of one's education.

The Yearbox was the class of 1974's Yearbook. In it was a record (below) a gameboard with teachers photos as spaces, and two soft covered oversized books. Although it was a creative idea, bits and pieces of it have deteriorated over the years and some people have lost parts of  the Yearbox.  

1974 Year Box Record Side 1 part 1

1974 Year Box Record Side 1 part 2

1974 Year Box Record Side 1 part 3

1974 Year Box Record Side 2 part 1

1974 Year Box Record Side 2 part 2

Bonnie Bickwit and Mitchel Weiser vanished without a trace from Camp Wel-Met in upstate Narrowsburg on the morning of July 26, 1973. There were announcements every day at  Dewey telling us all what was happening. What happened to them is part of our collective memory of being a student at John Dewey High School during the early '70's.  A memorial tree was planted on the John Dewey High School campus. Below is a t.v. show about their disappearance.  Under that  are pictures of the original tree planting on the Dewey campus.  A new tree is being planted on April 22, 2010, since the first one did not survive.

" In 2000, a witness, Allyn Smith, claimed he saw both Bickwit and Weiser drown while they were on their way back from Watkins Glen. Smith, then 24, said he was also going to the Watkins Glen rock festival and hitched a ride on a Volkswagen bus and two teenagers, whom he identified as Bickwit and Weiser, were also on the bus. He did not know their names but had heard them talking about the girl’s summer camp and recalled their clothing. They all stopped to cool off in a nearby river when Bickwit got into trouble in the water. Weiser jumped in to save her and they were both swept away, still alive. The bus driver told Smith he would call the police at the nearest gas station, but authorities have no record of such a call being made.

Police call Smith “credible” but wonder why, as an athletic Navy veteran, he did not try to rescue the drowning teenagers. They are investigating his account, which has not been confirmed. The driver of the bus has not been found and Smith cannot remember the location of the river the teens allegedly drowned in. As a result, his story cannot be fully investigated.

Quote from Lenny Warner (Weiner) talking about a document that he wrote to try to save the extended day in 1995. This is a testament to the dedication of Dewey teachers.

Missing from the historical accounts is the fact that in 1994-95 there was a budget crisis in the city, and the Chancellor and Superintendent announced that funds for schools with extended days were being eliminated (Dewey and Hillside, I believe). This meant the end of the Resource Centers, and essentially the Dewey program. I was a member of SBM (School Base Management) and the UFT Executive Board at that time. For that entire school year, in consultation with Jack Hart the UFT Chapter Chair, I organized and led a campaign to restore the funds. The campaign consisted of organizing the staff to make telephone calls every day to politicians (Federal, State, City) to get their support for the school and apply pressure to the Board of Ed. (I stood at the time clock each day handing out assignments to teachers of who to call that day.) It also consisted of visiting politicians and talking to them personally, of writing to them, of attending town hall meetings, and of organizing the parents and the PTA to do likewise. I composed letters to the parents and had them delivered to each and every homeroom. I also did a statistical analysis from previous school report cards, showing that Dewey Students were ahead of all other school of equal poverty level in all categories of success and acheivement. More important for the archives, I wrote an extensive profile of Dewey.... its special features, its programs, its accomplishments, student achievements, and statistical workups of our success..... that I sent out to every politician. In the end, most of the funds were returned and the school got a lease on life for the next 15 years. This profile reflected the state of affairs at Dewey in the year 1995.