MESA Charter High School
Amy Polanco has a diverse work experience in the education sector. Amy started their career as a Teaching Fellow at Citizen Schools in 2014 and then became an ESL Teacher at Lawrence Public Schools from 2016 to 2018. Amy then joined MESA Charter High School, where they served as an At-Risk Coordinator from 2019 to 2021. In 2021, they transitioned to the role of Associate Director of Student Support, where they provided instructional support to students with disabilities and English language learners. Currently, they are the Director of Student Support at MESA Charter High School since 2023. Amy's roles have included instructional coaching, professional development, data management, and creating action steps to support students.
Amy Polanco completed their Master of Education - MEd degree in English/Language Arts Teacher Education at UMass Boston, with their education concluding in 2021. Prior to that, they obtained a Bachelor's degree in Sociology from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, which they pursued from 2010 to 2014.
MESA Charter High School
Math, Engineering, and Science Academy (MESA) Charter High School is a community high school in Bushwick, Brooklyn. We opened our doors on August 19, 2013, and we now have 465 students in grades 9-12. We graduated our first class of seniors in June 2017 and our graduation rate is 92%. Our students come from more than forty different middle schools, including public, parochial, and charter schools. Some are advanced students coming from magnet schools; others are beginning English Language Learners. What they all have in common is a desire to succeed. MESA students come to school every day, ready to work—we have a 95% attendance rate and a 97% punctuality rate, both significantly higher than other high schools in our district! When it comes to regents pass rates, MESA outperforms its peers by a rate of 20-30%!