Launch Schools — a network of public charter schools serving Brooklyn — announced its acquisition of 5902 Sixth Avenue in Sunset Park in a press release on Aug. 28. The campus, formerly the campus of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Academy, will now be home to Launch High School.
The full-block site includes a 60,728-square-foot building with classrooms, an auditorium, a cafeteria, recreation areas and space for community programming. The campus will open at the beginning of the 2027-2028 school year.
According to Alexis Rubin, executive director of Launch Schools, securing the property gives them the “foundation to grow while remaining the kind of school where students are challenged to do meaningful work and supported in building a path toward college careers.”
The campus has been an educational facility for more than 120 years, and the move will continue its educational use. Launch plans to invest in improvements to modernize the building before the high school’s opening.
Launch has since been at a temporary Sunset Park location at 475 53rd St., where one third of their founding ninth-grade class lives in Sunset Park.
“I grew up in this neighborhood, and I had been searching for a school like Launch for a long time,” said Jahaira Acevedo, a Launch High School parent and Sunset Park resident.
“Securing a permanent, purpose-built home for Launch High School is a transformative moment for our students and for the future we are building in Sunset Park,” Rubin said.
The new high school will support partnership with Runway Green, an independent nonprofit developing a workforce campus at Brooklyn’s Floyd Bennett Field in partnership with the National Park Service. Launch has begun piloting hands-on learning intended to inform future Runway Green programming across the city.
