In the early 1970s, multiple school-within-a-school education programs blossomed across the northeast. Unlike other alternative schools—which appeal to struggling, gifted or trade-focused students—these were created as subsections of existing public institutions, with unique classroom structures and grading systems. New York districts like Great Neck and Herricks fostered these academically and socially uplifting programs, where only a few dozen students, ranging from sophomores to seniors, took rigorous classes in a close-knit community.

Despite this boom in attention to secondary education, dozens of programs began to dissipate—as early as a decade after their inception.

Great Neck South High’s School-Within-a-School (S.W.A.S.) was discontinued in the early 2000s, while Roslyn High’s program was discontinued in 1986. On Long Island alone, the programs of Herricks High School, Farmingdale High School, Lawrence High School and other institutions dissolved as well.

School-within-a-school models entail smaller classroom sizes, shrinking the teacher-to-student ratio and thus exacerbating education costs. These programs thrive off of student interest, administrative support and overall funding. A decline in any of these factors could easily contribute to this model’s cessation.

Although few alternative programs within public schools remain in 2025, students and alumni testify to the importance of a personalized, academic and uplifting high school experience.

“It gives you more opportunity to express your interest through internships,” said Sam Weston, a junior in the Scarsdale Alternative School (the A-School). Each January, the A-School’s classes are replaced with individualized internships. Out of the high school’s approximately 1,400 students, only a few dozen are selected for the A-School.

“The A-School has also affected my life in other ways,” Weston continued. “My confidence has grown … talking to these people that I trust as friends and trust to learn the same way I do.”

“It felt like a release to go into that classroom,” said Amy Althoff, who graduated from Great Neck South High’s S.W.A.S. in 1996. “There was something about that setup, that design of teaching, that made me more comfortable to share my ideas. There wasn’t a fear of being wrong.”

Of the many Long Island public schools with foundations of similar programs in the 1970s, only two remain: Great Neck North High’s Community School (C.S.) and The Wheatley School’s School-Within-a-School (S.W.S.).

C.S., a combination of rigorous, discussion-based history and English classes for approximately 52 students, was established in 1971—the earliest of the Long Island alternative schools-within-a-school. Similar to Scarsdale’s A-School, C.S. once entailed “externships” in which seniors could spend their final semester abroad in locations like Russia and Singapore. However, when the Great Neck Public School district banned international trips in the late 1990s, C.S. adopted its current format: students take two years of history, three years of English and a weekly meeting period for community-building activities.

“C.S. is such an academically and socially rewarding experience,” said Gregory Lyakhov, a current C.S. junior. “I can’t imagine high school without it.”

Wheatley’s S.W.S., on the other hand, was nearly discontinued multiple times since its establishment in 1973 as a program only for English classes. School district officials considered abandoning the program altogether in the early 1980s. After student and parent protests, however, S.W.S.’ operations remained relatively unthreatened until the late 2010s.

“When I was there, there was definitely talk about getting rid of [S.W.S.], and a lot of freedoms we had as students were stripped away,” said alumna Sydney Behar, who graduated in 2018. One of these freedoms was a room where S.W.S. students socialized during free periods—a commonality amongst these programs. Yet, for S.W.S. students, the room can now only be used if opened by a teacher.

“I thought they were leaning towards [discontinuing S.W.S.], but then they did a complete 180 and added more stuff in terms of social studies,” Behar continued.

Wheatley’s S.W.S. includes English and social students classes operating in five-week modules. Students take these classes—previous subjects have included “Holocaust Literature” and “Melodic Memoirs”—four days out of the school week. Wednesdays are reserved for Community Days, in which students lead team-building events and revise the core principles of S.W.S.

“We try to promote S.W.S.; we go into classrooms, we encourage students to join and we talk about it with parents and with the guidance department,” said Seren Lark, a senior in the program. “I think that S.W.S. has built a great reputation for itself over the years, even though it hasn’t always been like that in the past.”

While Great Neck North’s C.S. has never been significantly endangered like SWS, its numbers and reputation fluctuate over time. C.S. has always been a staple of the school, though its students have been inclined towards arts, academics and athletics throughout the decades. Many agree that, currently, C.S. is more balanced than ever in terms of its participants.

Despite the dissipated school-within-a-school programs of Great Neck South High, Roslyn High, Herricks and other high schools, C.S. and S.W.S. continue to profoundly impact its participants. Their students, alumni and provisions ultimately testify to the power of alternative education, but for other schools, the implementation of similar resources may be unfeasible—regardless of financial stability.

Without adherence to the core philosophies of academia and self-improvement, a school-within-a-school fails. The futures of both C.S. and S.W.S., for instance, were only questioned when participants perceived them as opportunities to slack off rather than challenge themselves.

“It’s important to keep people who are going to sustain the program and give their all to it, but not every student can give 110 percent,” said director Edward Baluyut, who has taught English in C.S. for 21 years. “If that balance is skewed, and there’s no student interest, the program will die.”

Maverick Williams, a C.S. alumni whose mother graduated from the program in 1985, shared a similar sentiment: “‘Satisfaction is a function of participation,’” he said, quoting one of the program’s mottoes. “If people aren’t invested, then the whole idea falls apart. Productive discussions don’t happen, and the magic drops out because so much of what makes it special is that everyone can benefit off of each other.”

Alternative education programs require effort that not every school atmosphere is capable of providing. When one looks beyond the scope of financials, the cessations in the 1980s do not reflect flaws within the programs’ structure; they reflect flaws in the students’ dedication.

Students need to believe in the philosophy of a program to ensure its future. Without administrative and financial support, schools-within-a-school simply shut down. But without unequivocal commitment from its participants, they see a different decline, in which the programs become shells of themselves—and unfulfilled promises.