Frank McCourt High School

Pulitzer Prize winner Frank McCourt (HAIDER SHAH/AFP/Getty Images)

The city plans to name a new academically selective high school after Frank McCourt, the local teacher and author who died this past summer. The school will open on the campus of Brandeis High School on the Upper West Side. Brandeis is currently being phased out for its low performance. Three small schools already opened in the building this fall. The McCourt school would open next September with its first class of ninth graders. Frank McCourt taught in the city schools for 29 years and won a Pulitzer for his memoir 'Angela's Ashes.' Chancellor Joel Klein said the city would honor his legacy through a new school that nurtures the academic and creative talents of city students. Community hearings will be held in coming months before a final plan for the school is voted on by the Panel for Educational Policy.