Fort Hamilton High School Home

From the Principal’s Desk

Dear Fort Hamilton Community:

Striving for excellence is the ongoing mission of Fort Hamilton High School. When there are challenges, such as the pandemic and frequent policy changes, we face them together and build upon the strength of our inclusive and committed community.

Fort Hamilton High School is a culturally diverse community with students from over 60 countries. Our dedicated staff members prepare students to meet, even exceed, the academic challenges of New York City and the New York State Education Department’s performance standards and assessments. All curriculum is aligned with the New York State Next Generation Learning Standards (NGLS), and we set our instructional focus on literacy based on the needs of our students. We engage them with a variety of learning choices and opportunities to guide their development as positive and productive citizens of the 21st century.

Parents and families are an integral component, and we share information and decision making to better enable participation and input. Preparing our students for college and/or career necessitates that we work together to maximize every learning opportunity for all students. We encourage active participation in the Parent Teacher Association in addition to the use of PupilPath, an online gradebook and communication system that helps students and families monitor academic progress.

During the 2020-2021 school year, Fort Hamilton continued to reach excellence, although limited by safety restrictions. Our athletic department supported an abbreviated spring season with 17 PSAL teams along with our Cheer Squad. We are ready for three full seasons of athletic competition in SY2021-2022. Performances this past year were all recorded and made available virtually, but our instructors and students met the challenges with style and learned new skills. Our popular Marching Band is already booked for parades in the Fall 2021, and we expect audiences to be bigger than ever for our Joffrey Ballet Academy as well as the Drama Academy starting its fifth year.

Fort Shadowing, a program that began several years ago, offers seniors an opportunity to shadow someone at their workplace and/or to learn about careers of interest with professionals visiting Fort Hamilton High School. The partners who shared their careers virtually in SY2021-2021 represented a variety of professions that helped expose seniors to learn better what a career entails. Our partners appreciate our wonderful students, and it is a true collaboration between school and community.

Community service remains a core value of Fort Hamilton, as exhibited by Leadership, the National Honor Society, JROTC, and dozens of clubs that contribute to the broader community.

At Fort Hamilton High School, our focus is quality instruction provided in an environment safe and conducive to learning with mutual respect for all. Fort Hamilton is known as the “jewel in the crown” of Bay Ridge community and a highly regarded large comprehensive New York City public high school. We are proud to share it with you as we continue to set the standard for excellence and prepare students for college and career.

Very truly yours,

Kaye Houlihan, Principal

Mission Statement

To provide all students with “Excellence in Education.” The Fort Hamilton High School community is diligently striving to meet the academic and social/emotional challenges of the 21st century. The continual refinement of teaching and learning is the school’s focus to enhance scholastic achievement, strengthen student attendance, and promote cultural responsiveness. Our philosophy is that every member of our diverse population is capable to succeed and realize their potential in an encouraging, nurturing, and rigorous learning environment designed to address individual needs. We make our large community safe and inclusive by encouraging student voice, supporting expansive co- and extra-curricular activities, reinforcing high expectations, applying learning to real-life experiences, and preparing all students to be college and career ready as well as civically responsible.