Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics

Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics (abbreviated as MCSM) is a public high school at East 116th Street between Pleasant Avenue and FDR Drive in East Harlem, within Upper Manhattan, New York City. The school building, which was formerly Benjamin Franklin High School, was designated a New York City landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission on May 29, 2018. History The precursor of MCSM in the same building, Benjamin Franklin High School opened in 1934 and was sited at 200 Pleasant Avenue, between 114th Street and 116th Street. A long-time principal there was pioneering educational theorist Leonard Covello, the city's first Italian-American principal. The New York City Board of Education shuttered the school in June 1982 for performance issues and converted the building into a four-year high school, the Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics, and a grade 6-8 middle school, the Isaac Newton Middle School for Math and Science, effective September 1982.