NEW YORK (AP) — New York City is creating what is described as the nation’s first public high school for GLBT students.

The Harvey Milk High School will enroll about 100 students in a newly renovated building in the fall. By fall 2004, enrollment will increase to 170 students, the Department of Education said.

The school is named after San Francisco’s first openly gay city supervisor, who was assassinated in 1978.

“I think everybody feels that it’s a good idea because some of the kids who are gays and lesbians have been constantly harassed and beaten in other schools,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. “It lets them get an education without having to worry.”

The school is an expansion of a two-classroom public school program that began in 1984. A GLBT-rights youth advocacy group, the Hetrick-Martin Institute, has managed and financed the program since its inception.

The principal, William Salzman, told the New York Post that the new school will be academically challenging and will follow mandatory English and math programs. It also will specialize in computer technology, arts and culinary arts.

“This school will be a model for the country and possibly the world,” Salzman told the Post.

The facility is slated to include a new science lab, was well as 60 laptop and desktop computers donated by IBM and a new cafeteria.

Salzman, a former Wall Street executive, assured the school will be academically challenging.

“This is a not a touchy-feely situation,” Salzman told the Post. “We intend to have 95 percent of our students go on to college. We have a lot of talent coming into the school. We want to steer these kids in the right direction.”

State Conservative Party Chair Mike Long criticized the creation of the school.

“Is there a different way to teach homosexuals? Is there gay math? This is wrong,” Long told the Post. “There’s no reason these children should be treated separately.”

The Hetrick-Martin Institute’s website says the school will give its students “an opportunity to obtain a secondary education in a safe and supportive environment.... We believe that success requires the ability to respect and value the diverse human community.”