Herbert H. Lehman High School

Herbert H. Lehman High School is a public high school at 3000 East Tremont Avenue, in the Bronx, New York City, U.S.A. The school is named after former New York State Governor Herbert Henry Lehman (1878 – 1963). The school is not affiliated with Lehman College in the Bronx but does hold its annual graduation ceremony there each June.

The school's first graduating class was in June 1974. The location is unique as the school is built on top of an overpass. This was a result of the fact that no other piece of land large enough for a school was available at the time the school was built. The largest part of the school exists on the west side of the Hutchinson River Parkway, with the rotunda on the east side. Connecting the two is a 3 level section on top of the overpass, with classes looking out over the parkway in both directions.

Behind the school, and alongside the Hutchinson River Parkway, there is a waterway (Westchester Creek) that is a small inlet for boats that load and offload various cargo. The water comes directly up against the school's tennis courts and football field.

In late 2006 and early 2007 the school underwent an external renovation that included painting the entire building. Much of the work was done during the night to avoid disrupting classes.

Robert Leder was the school's second principal and had remained principal for most of its 37-year existence. After a New York City Department of Education investigation of two assistant principals and abuse of overtime funds, Mr. Leder was given the choice to resign his post as principal at the end of the year, or be immediately removed and reassigned. His decision, amid a great deal of student and parent protest, was to resign effective June 30, 2008.

The new principal as of July 2008, is Dr. Janet Saraceno, formerly the principal of High School for Media and Communications in Manhattan, NY.

After 3 years, Dr. Janet Saraceno resigned and was replaced by Mrs. Rose Lobianco, the former assistant principal of Columbus High School in Bronx, NY

Academics

In Lehman each student is placed into a certain "mansion" based on his or her academic record. Lehman offers sophomores and above Advanced Placement where students can earn college credit in these college-level classes. Most classes require the student to take a New York State Regents to complete the course and earn a credit. Lehman also offers many academic clubs, in areas such as Math, Law, Science and others. The Lehman law team has had tremendous success in the past and has won numerous state and city-wide titles and championships.

Campus

Lehman's main building is an expansive multi-winged structure. It contains 4 floors plus a basement for the schools athletic activities. An interesting note is that one of Lehman's main hallways is situated over a highway and the school resides of both sides of an overpass. This is due to the fact that when the school was built, a piece of land large enough to fit a school could not be located. The campus also features a large rotunda housing the school's auditorium. Behind the school is Lehman's primary home field used for soccer, lacrosse, football and baseball. It is covered in an artificial turf and is surrounded by a clay running track.

Athletics

Sports

Lehman offers a wide variety of athletic clubs and teams for the students. The mascot of Lehman is the Lion and the schools colors are blue and orange. The schools Varsity football, baseball, soccer, track & field and bowling teams have had tremendous success in recent years.

Perhaps the most followed sport at Lehman is football. The former coach of Lehman's varsity football team, Carmine Colasanto has been recognized as one of the PSAL's best coaches. He has recorded over 200 career victories and has been honored with numerous coach of the year awards. Coach Colasanto was the longest tenured coach in the PSAL until his resignation before the 2008 season. Some of the players Coach Colasanto had were former NFL players Doug Marrone(Head Coach at Syracuse University),Charles Puleri. Lehman football has produced numerous IA players and have sent alum to Tulane, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Syracuse and Cincinnati among numerous prominent schools. The football team is now led by the only woman head football coach in the PSAL, Ms Deborah Vance. Coach Vance had a successful run with the Junior Varsity and is now establishing her legacy with the varsity, leading Lehman from 1-8 to a 5-4 record and a playoff appearance in 2009.The school's varsity football team has been consistently ranked among the PSAL's best and has been in numerous City-wide championships. Junior varsity football is also offered and the team has also met with success in recent years, even managing to finish the 2007 season a perfect 8-0, and winning the New York City championship.

Lehman's baseball team is one of the best in the Bronx area. Led by Coach Adam Droz, Lehman has become a dominant force throughout the Bronx, and New York City, competing with the likes of Monroe and George Washington, traditional Bronx powerhouses. In 2008, they went 15-1 and ranked top in the city. In the late 70's and early 80's former baseball coach Joe Levine had former major league star Bobby Bonilla on his roster.

Also Lehman's soccer team had success in recent years. They had won their first New York City Championship back in the PSAL B division in 2001 and has made an appearance back to the finals in the PSAL A division in 2006, eventually falling against MLK Jr High School 4-0. Also in the 2009-2010 season, Lehman finished the Bronx A Division with a record of 9-0-3, an undefeated season although they finished second behind Christopher Columbus. Led by Coach Straw, Lehman has become one of the best teams in the Bronx alongside Christopher Columbus and Bronx Science. Since 2001, they have made it to the playoffs every season finishing in the top 4.

Logo and Uniforms

Since its inception the school's colors have been orange and blue and the mascot the lion. The home football uniform consists of a Royal blue jersey with blue numbers outlined in white and orange piping with blue pants highlighted in orange and white. The road uniform is a white jersey with blue numbers outlined in orange with orange piping and it accompanies blue pants. The helmet is solid orange with a blue paw print on both sides.

The Baseball uniform consist of white pants with a blue and orange stripe down the pant legs. The jersey consist of a white top with an interlocking "HL" which is blue outlined in orange. The hat is all blue with an HL logo in white with orange outlining.

The basketball team also has representation within the PSAL but isn't as prominent as football, baseball, soccer or softball.

Collocated school

A small specialty school, the Renaissance High School for Musical Theater & Technology is collocated on the Herbert H. Lehman campus. In addition, Westchester Square Academy is also collocated on the Herbert H. Lehman campus but it's school is limited and only take up parts of the 4th floor. Pelham Lab High School, Schuylerville Preparatory High School, & Bronx River High School are now co-located with Lehman on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floor.^[1][2]

Notable Alumni

• Bobby Bonilla - former MLB player
• Doug Marrone - former NFL Head Coach for the Buffalo Bills
• Nikolas Donadic - Class of 2015 Valedictorian, Founder of the "Lehman Walmart" Project, current Stony Brook student and sportswriter

References

External links

• Herbert H. Lehman High School
• NYC Department of Education: Herbert H. Lehman High School
• Review on insideschools.org