1st Teacher at 1st School for Gay Students Dies at 63

The first instructor to teach at Harvey Milk High School in Manhattan, Fred Goldhaber, died at home at age 63, the New York Times reported on Nov. 15.

Harvey Milk High School began accepting students in 1985. At the time, it was a two-room facility, according to Wikipedia. The school was set up to provide a safe educational environment for GLBT students, though heterosexual students are also welcome.

The school became fully accredited in 2002, at which point Harvey Milk High came under the auspices of the New York City Department of Education. For its first 17 years, the school was administered by Hetrick-Martin Institute. That organization, which serves youth at risk, is still involved in some aspects of the school's curriculum.

During those first 17 years, Harvey Milk High was a transfer school, enabling students to accrue enough credits to graduate officially from other schools. Since 2002, students have been able to graduate from Harvey Milk High School. Its enrollment has grown to around 100 pupils, and the school's graduation rate of 92% soars above the state average; 60% of the school's graduates continue on to college, according to Wikipedia.

Goldhaber was the first instructor at Harvey Milk High School. His first classes took place at a church, before the school moved into a space in the East Village. Among the pupils in that inaugural class of 22 were several youths who had run away from home, the New York Times reported; some of those gay youths had been beaten or even sexually assaulted by their families and others for being gay.

As the school's only teacher, Goldhaber guided the students' education in all areas of study, the article said. including science, grammar, and mathematics. His brother told the New York Times that Goldhaber's students saw him as their rescuer. Goldhaber's brother also told the press that Fred Goldhaber had lived with HIV for three decades prior to his death from liver cancer.