The original Townsend Harris Hall Prep School, founded in 1849 and located in Manhattan, was closed by New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia in 1942.

Before Jahoda was appointed permanent principal of the school, a petition and a sit-in protest[19] in December resulted in the hiring process being temporarily paused.

[21] 2017 Editors Mehrose Ahmad and Sumaita Hasan, who live-streamed the protest, published a series of pieces covering the community's objections to Jahoda's appointment and the DOE's process for hiring a permanent principal.

Ahmad and Hasan obtained evidence of the accusation made at the closed door meeting and then published a letter to the superintendent, chancellor, and mayor disputing the charge of fake news.

[23] The accusation, and The Classic's response, was covered[24] by numerous outlets,[25] with a source in an article by The Columbia Journalism Review calling it "the first time we’ve heard of the ‘fake news’ weapon being turned on students.

In November 2021, then Editors-in-Chief Ryan Eng, Julia Maciejak, and Jasmine Palma appeared on the front page of The New York Post[31] after Post journalist Susan Edelman reported that Eng, Maciejak, and Palma's behind the scenes efforts, including their filing of a Freedom of Information request, to report on another teacher accused of misconduct led to his removal from the school.

[35] In February 2022, Eng, Maciejak, and Palma were featured[36] on an Instagram Live session with New York Times journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, who won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse story.

The three Classic editors were invited to discuss Kantor and Twohey's book on the Weinstein story and their own experiences covering sexual misconduct in a high school.

[39] The News, Features, Opinion, Arts & Entertainment, Science & Technology, and Sports department editors and staff writers produce coverage for the online and print editions.