A high school that would train students for careers in advertising will open in Brooklyn next fall if the Department of Education approves a proposal being spearheaded by Borough President Markowitz.
The Beep, who sees himself as Brooklyn’s A-1 pitch man, says he’s been dreaming of an advertising high school for years. Now he’s trying to sell the idea to the Bloomberg Administration.
Markowitz announced that his dream is moving forward during “Advertising Week” festivities at Borough Hall on Monday. Flanked by high-powered advertising executives — including Tom Carroll, president of TBWA Worldwide and O. Burtch Drake, president of the American Association of Advertising Agencies — Markowitz declared that “the advertising Mecca of the world has always been a subway ride away, but the subway has been closed to Brooklyn’s minority community,” which is woefully under-represented on Madison Avenue.
The deadline for new school proposals is Nov. 28. Markowitz says the proposal is being written, but the details are murky. No location has been chosen, the number of students has not been determined and the total cost is unknown. Markowitz is allocating $2 million from his budget for classrooms and equipment and says the rest of the money will come from industry leaders and the Department of Education.
Opening a new school in the city is not easy, said Education spokeswoman Melody Meyer.
“It’s a very rigorous process. But, that said, at the end of last year we [created] 40 new schools,” Meyer said.
One of them, of course, was the Khalil Gibran International Academy, the city’s first Arabic language and culture school.