 The constituent schools include the Gramercy Arts High School, the High School for Language and Diplomacy, the International High School at Union Square, the Union Square Academy for Health Sciences, the Academy for Software Engineering, and the Success Academy Charter School.The school was founded as an all-girls school due in large part to the efforts of Patrick F. McGowan, then head of the Board of Education and later acting mayor of New York City.The school is named after the writer Washington Irving.