Principal Wins Mayor’s Award for Arts and Culture
by CSA Staff
Ronnie Shuster, the Principal of PS 94, Manhattan, was among a small group of luminaries to receive a special mayor’s award for running a special education school that embraces the arts.
Ms. Shuster received her award on Nov. 1 at Alice Tully Hall; other recipients of the award this year are Mikhail Baryshnikov, Alice Diamond, Jimmy Heath, Maya Lin and the Theatre Development Fund.
Stephen Sondheim was presented with the 2011 NYC Handel Medallion, the city’s highest honor for achievement in the arts. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and actor Alec Baldwin presented the awards.
Ms. Shuster was recognized “for her extraordinary leadership as Principal of PS 94M, a public school made more dynamic by integrating theater arts into the academic experience of students with autism as well as other disabilities. Through her outstanding contribution to education and her commitment to the arts, Ms. Shuster has been an unwavering champion for arts education and its importance to all aspects of learning,” said a press release from the Mayor’s office.
Ms. Shuster’s school has five sites in Manhattan and she has been the Principal since 2001. “We believe that it’s really, really important to tap into every student’s fascination in order to help them learn best,” Ms. Shuster told The New York Times. Ms. Shuster is responsible for about 250 students in K-8.
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