Harriet Gibbons High School, a learning community of Albany High School, provided alternative-education programs in the City School District of Albany in several configurations for 40 years before closing after the 2009-2010 school year. Harriet Gibbons was restructured to a ninth grade academy in 2005 to provide added support for small groups of freshmen with high academic needs or who preferred a small learning environment. Leading educational research shows that students who complete ninth grade successfully are significantly more likely to graduate on time. The Board of Education voted in July 2010 to close the school and relocate all students to Albany High.

The school first opened in 1970 by Sacred Heart nuns, as the independent Street Academy serving students in grades 9-12 who weren’t achieving in a traditional setting. The Street Academy became part of the district in 1973, and was renamed in 1992 after Harriet Gibbons, one of the school’s first principals (1974-1977) and the first African-American woman elected to the school board. From 1974 to 1991, the school had been located at 165 Clinton Ave, then moved to 27 Western Ave., and finally to 75 Watervliet Ave. in 2002.