CB1 Threatens to Pull Support from Downtown H.S. By Carl Glassman and Ronald Drenger In an ultimatum to schools chancellor Joel Klein, Community Board 1 chair Madelyn Wils said the board would not raise funds for the Millennium High School if, by Dec. 17, he does not accede to demands that the school give priority to Lower Manhattan students. “CB1 and its parents have worked very hard to see a high school our children deserve,” Wils wrote in a Nov. 20 letter to the chancellor. “We would be devastated if our efforts lead to a school our children cannot even attend.”   As of late last month, it appeared likely that the school will move into the former International Telephone and Telegraph Building, a 26-story office tower at 75 Broad Street, between Beaver and South William streets. But no lease had been signed and it was not yet clear what facilities would be included in the school or whether it could open by next September. Through fundraising efforts, the Community Board expects to find most of the $25 million needed to convert the Downtown building into a school. In a resolution passed in July, the board said it would only support a school that admits all children living below Houston Street who make the school their first choice. The board also insisted that the school reserve three-quarters of its seats for students who meet or exceed standards on seventh grade state exams. Although the school is run by District 2, Shelley Harwayne, the district’s superintendent, and Roy Moskowitz, its counsel and spokesman, declined to discuss the district’s position on the admissions policy. Moskowitz and Kevin Ortiz, a Department of Education spokesman, would say only that the policy was under negotiation. “We’re looking at a couple of different options,” Ortiz said. State Assembly members Sheldon Silver and Deborah Glick have pledged $2 million towards the school and Councilman Alan Gerson $1 million, but the funding is contingent on the community board supporting the school. It is assumed that a large part of the money will come from the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., the city-state agency in charge of the rebuilding and revitalization of Downtown. But the LMDC has made no promises, saying last month that it was reviewing the proposal. “There’s no reason they should not make a commitment to a Downtown high school as part of a new Lower Manhattan,” said Gerson, asserting that, by now, the agency should have expressed support for the school in principle, even without committing a dollar amount. “Just as they have made a commitment to a cultural center and to new office space, we need to have a commitment to the educational infrastructure of Downtown,” Gerson said. The school, currently called the Millennium/Tribeca High School, is now in its first year, operating with a ninth grade class in temporary quarters in the High School of Art and Design on 57th Street and Second Avenue. Uncertainty over the location and funding of the high school has left eighth graders and their parents in a quandary over whether the school is an appropriate choice. Students have already submitted their preliminary high school preferences and they must make their final choices this month. “We like the director and what he said [on a school tour],” said Lucy Reitzfeld, whose daughter is an eighth grader at I.S. 89. “But should our kids have faith that it’s going to be what it’s promised to be?” In a meeting late last month of CB1’s Youth and Education Committee, board members expressed concern that the uncertainty over the school will lead many local students to apply elsewhere. “There will be two classes with many kids who are not local, and it will have its character established out there,” said board member Jeff Galloway. “Once it’s established, after two years, we’ll have an uphill battle changing it.” I.S. 89 principal Ellen Foote said she gets many questions from parents about the school’s status, but has no information to give them. “They want to know where it’s going to be, what the families are going to look like. They want to know what kind of music and art programs will be available. Without knowing about the facilities it’s hard to make a decision whether it will be a good match for your child.”