Share This Article
Photo by: Jarrett Murphy
John F. Kennedy High School is one of five schools sharing a West Bronx campus.
The city’s school department on Monday and Tuesday announced that it plans to close 26 schools, some of which were part of a similar attempt last year that was blocked by a state judge.
The DOE issued fact sheets on the closure of each school (you can read them below). The high schools slated for phase-out posed an average graduation rate of 49 percent last year, 14 points below the citywide average. The elementary and middle schools posted passing rates on state math and English exams that were less than half the citywide average.
The schools come from a list of 55 troubled schools that the city Department of Education identified earlier this fall. Schools from the list that aren’t tabbed for immediate closure or phase-out (which means the school stops taking new students but remains open long enough for all current students to pass through) will be targeted for a turnaround strategy.
Such a strategy might include firing the principal and replacing many teachers. In a statement, the DOE said it hoped for cooperation from unions to permit such salvage strategies to go forward.
The department’s school closure policy has come under fire. In July, Public Advocate Bill deBlasio issued a report contending that DOE had Metropolitan Corporate Academy High School
Paul Robeson High School in Brooklyn
Performance Conservatory High School in the Bronx
Metropolitan Corporate Academy High School
Monroe Academy of Business/Law
Frederick Douglass Academy III
Academy of Collaborative Education
Urban Academy For History And Citizenship For Young Men
Academy for Environmental Science
School For Community Research and Learning
