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the chopping block

October 25, 2011

Among low-scoring schools, familiar names and dashed hopes

by Philissa Cramer, at 3:29 pm

Yesterday’s high school progress reports release put 60 schools on existential notice.

Fourteen high schools got failing grades, 28 received D’s, and another 14 have scored at a C or lower since at least 2009 — making them eligible for closure under Department of Education policy.

In the coming weeks, the city will winnow the list of schools to those it considers beyond repair. After officials release a shortlist of schools under consideration for closure, they will hold “early engagement” meetings to find out more about what has gone wrong. City officials said they would look at the schools’ Quality Reviews, state evaluations, and past improvement efforts before recommending some for closure. Last month, they said they were considering closure for just 20 of the 128 elementary and middle schools that received low progress report grades.

The at-risk high schools are spread over every borough except for Staten Island and include many of the comprehensive high schools that are still open in the Bronx, including DeWitt Clinton High School and Lehman High School, which until recently were considered good options for many students. They also include two of the five small schools on the Erasmus Campus in Brooklyn and two of the three  small schools that have long occupied the John Jay High School building in Park Slope. (A fourth school, which is selective, opened at John Jay this year.)

They include several of the schools that received “executive principals” who got hefty bonuses to turn conditions around. Murry Bergtraum High School for Business Careers, Washington Irving High School, and Lehman all got executive principals between 2008 and 2010. The city’s first executive principal was plucked from Wadleigh Secondary School for Performing Arts, which is also on the list of low-scoring schools.

Some of the schools have been to the brink of closure before. Just before the Panel for Educational Policy was slated to vote — and, presumably, approve the phaseout of Alfred E. Smith Career and Technical Education High School, the DOE changed course and pared the school down instead. John Dewey High School and Sheepshead Bay High School, both in Brooklyn, were among the first schools where the DOE held early engagement meetings a year ago but ultimately did not wind up on the chopping block. And students at Samuel Gompers Career and Technical Education High School in the Bronx have been worrying aloud for years that their school could be the next to close.

A dozen of the schools are among the 33 citywide that are receiving federal funds to undergo the “transformation” or “restart” overhaul processes, including two that began transformation last year. But just because a school is undergoing transformation or restart doesn’t mean it can’t be closed, said a DOE spokesman, Matthew Mittenthal. The city is already using federal turnaround funds to support new schools that open when low-performing schools began to close.

The full list of low-scoring schools:

Academy For College Preparation and Career Exploration: A College Board School (Brooklyn): D
Academy For Scholarship And Entrepreneurship: A College Board School (Bronx): D
Alfred E. Smith Career And Technical Education High School (Bronx): 3 C’s
Aspirations Diploma Plus High School (Brooklyn): D
August Martin High School (Queens): D
Banana Kelly High School (Bronx): 3 C’s
Boys And Girls High School (Brooklyn): F
Bread & Roses Integrated Arts High School (Manhattan): D
Brooklyn Bridge Academy (Brooklyn): 3 C’s
Business, Computer Applications, and Entrepreneurship High School (Queens): 3 C’s
Coalition School For Social Change (Manhattan): 3 C’s
Cypress Hills Collegiate Preparatory School (Queens): D
Dewitt Clinton High School (Bronx): F
Dreamyard Preparatory School (Bronx): D
EBC High School For Public Service (Brooklyn): F
Expeditionary Learning School for Community Leaders (Brooklyn): D
Flushing High School (Queens): D
Fordham Leadership Academy For Business and Technology (Bronx): D
Frederick Douglass Academy II Secondary School (Manhattan): 3 C’s
Frederick Douglass Academy (Manhattan): 3 C’s
Freedom Academy High School (Brooklyn): F
Gateway School For Environmental Research and Technology (Bronx): D
George Westinghouse Career And Technical Education High School (Brooklyn): D
Gotham Professional Arts Academy (Brooklyn): F
Grace Dodge Career And Technical Education High School (Bronx): F
Herbert H. Lehman High School (Bronx): F
High School For Health Careers and Sciences (Manhattan): D
High School For Youth And Community Development at Erasmus (Brooklyn): 3 C’s
High School Of Graphic Communication Arts (Manhattan): F
Holcombe L. Rucker School Of Community Research (Bronx): D
Independence High School (Manhattan): 3 C’s
International Arts Business School (Brooklyn): F
Jane Addams High School For Academic Careers (Bronx): F
John Dewey High School (Brooklyn): 3 C’s
Juan Morel Campos Secondary School (Brooklyn): 3 C’s
Landmark High School (Manhattan): D
Law, Government And Community Service High School (Queens): D
Legacy School For Integrated Studies (Manhattan): F
Manhattan Theatre Lab High School (Manhattan): F
Martin Van Buren High School (Queens): D
Mathematics, Science Research and Technology High School (Queens): 3 C’s
Murry Bergtraum High School For Business Careers (Manhattan): D
Newtown High School (Queens): 3 C’s
Pan American International High School (Queens): D
Park Slope Collegiate (Brooklyn): D
Peace And Diversity Academy (Bronx): 3 C’s
Richmond Hill High School (Queens): D
Samuel Gompers Career And Technical Education High School (Bronx): F
School For Democracy And Leadership (Brooklyn): D
School For Legal Studies (Brooklyn): D
Secondary School For Law (Brooklyn): 3 C’s
Sheepshead Bay High School (Brooklyn): D
The High School For Global Citizenship (Brooklyn): 3 C’s
University Neighborhood High School (Manhattan): 3 C’s
Urban Assembly High School Of Music and Art (Brooklyn): D
Urban Assembly School For The Performing Arts (Manhattan): D
W.E.B. Dubois Academic High School, D
Wadleigh Secondary School For Performing Arts (Manhattan): D
Washington Irving High School (Manhattan): F
Williamsburg Charter High School (Brooklyn): 3 C’s

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  • jeff S

    Of course as we go along, every comprehensive high school or just about every comprehensive high school ends up on these lists.  Why?  Well we all know what happens.  They close a igh school and form 3 or more new schools which get the opportunity to pick their students.  Which students do you think they choose?  And then the students who they don’t choose, are distributed to the remaining comprehensive high schools starting them on the road to ruin.  It happened n Manhattan, it happened in Brooklynn, it happened in the Bronx and it is now happening in Queens.  I will remind you all of Yogi Berra’s famous quote.  When asked what makes a good manager, he thought for a second and said, “good ball players.”  What makes a good school?  Good students, of course but I don’t necessarily mean students with 90 averages.  I mean students who have manners and who want to suceed in school.  All rhetoric aside, there are too many students attending our comprehsive high schools who don’t give two you know whats about their education, who don’t do a stitch of homework and when they fail,k the teac hers, principals and schools are blamed and we all know that is utter nonsense.  What will happen when there are no comprehensive high schools left?  Well the Emperor Michael I and his lackeys will be gone leaving behind a ruined school system.

  • Caplee

    False indicators lead to failed schools when, in reality, no one knows what schools are failed.  Until we change the system to allow teachers to teach and kids to learn in a way that is real to them, there will be continuous failure.  The current system of education was never designed to serve all kids and will never succeed.  The system, designed during slavery and never changed, is a set up for urban schools. How many decades will it take until we realize this system is broken.  http://www.WholeChildReform.com

  • Elizabeth Kellner

    I think most of us, “we the people”, should all give ourselves a “D”, or perhaps even an “F” because society and government as a whole have failed, not these schools or these kids.  What are they expected to do in a city with the most most unequal distribution of wealth in the country, no economic opportunity for their families or them, no money for sports, after school or summer programs, guns on the street, stop and frisk etc. We really need a good documentary film to be made to demonstrate what a ludicrous and utterly misleading euphemism the phrase “school closing” is.  It so wrongly suggests that some sort of ameliorative action has been taken when all we’ve done is walk away from the problems no one wants to tackle or pay for, pretending some sort of whitewashed fresh start is all that’s needed. 

  • Elizabeth Kellner

    I think most of us, “we the people”, should all give ourselves a “D”, or perhaps even an “F” because society and government as a whole have failed, not these schools or these kids.  What are they expected to do in a city with the most most unequal distribution of wealth in the country, no economic opportunity for their families or them, no money for sports, after school or summer programs, guns on the street, stop and frisk etc. We really need a good documentary film to be made to demonstrate what a ludicrous and utterly misleading euphemism the phrase “school closing” is.  It so wrongly suggests that some sort of ameliorative action has been taken when all we’ve done is walk away from the problems no one wants to tackle or pay for, pretending some sort of whitewashed fresh start is all that’s needed. 

  • http://twitter.com/MaryConwaySpieg Mary Conway-Spiegel

    I’m confident “Failing Schools” is a myth.  The grading template is an incomprehensible illusion no one understands that ingeniously serves as the greatest educational distraction/decoy of the decade.  
    I’ve visited many of the schools on the above list, they take all students (per Jeff S), can’t/don’t sort for good data and are filled with caring competent teachers.  The Comprehensive High Schools on the list above serve the neediest students, instead of filling these schools to the brim with support, they are starved.  Cross need with starvation add a pinch of Blame and you get irresponsible policy, not “Failure.”  
    There are no “Failing Schools.”

  • http://twitter.com/MaryConwaySpieg Mary Conway-Spiegel

    I’m confident “Failing Schools” is a myth.  The grading template is an incomprehensible illusion no one understands that ingeniously serves as the greatest educational distraction/decoy of the decade.  
    I’ve visited many of the schools on the above list, they take all students (per Jeff S), can’t/don’t sort for good data and are filled with caring competent teachers.  The Comprehensive High Schools on the list above serve the neediest students, instead of filling these schools to the brim with support, they are starved.  Cross need with starvation add a pinch of Blame and you get irresponsible policy, not “Failure.”  
    There are no “Failing Schools.”

  • Vote NO!

    “They also include two of the five small schools on the Erasmus Campus in
    Brooklyn and all three of the small schools that occupy the John Jay
    High School building in Park Slope. (A fourth school, which is
    selective, opened at John Jay this year.)”

    I  thought  the  new  small  schools  were supposed to  be  “better”  than  the  schools  they  replaced?  There  are quite  a  few  small  schools  on  that  list.

  • NYCparent

    “A dozen of the schools are among the 33 citywide that are receiving federal funds to undergo the “transformation” or “restart” overhaul processes, including two that began transformation last year. But just because a school is undergoing transformation or restart doesn’t mean it can’t be closed, said a DOE spokesman, Matthew Mittenthal.”
    Especially if a charter school is waiting in the wings to move in — fully authorized by SUNY, and … just waiting for space to open up.  I agree with Mary Conway-Spiegel — “Failing schools are a myth.”  It’s just “slum clearance” plain and simple. 

  • NYCparent

    Even Bill Gates has disavowed his own small schools movement!

  • NYCparent

    Considering the schools on the list, I’m thinking the ed-deform thinking goes something like this: first, all those technical and voc-ed schools have to go because those kids should really be paying tuition to the vocational schools you see advertised in the subways.  Then, the “boutique” schools that couldn’t attract students, so had kids assigned to them instead, should be shut down so that new boutique schools with new limited themes can be opened up with the word “charter” in them somewhere.  Either way, none of these students get served, and more union teachers lose jobs.  What other reason is there to shut down schools instead of helping the students in those schools?  

  • Smith

    I only noticed one John Jay (Law) and one Erasmus (YCD) on the list.  Could you do my tired eyes a favor and tell me the others?

  • Transformation Teacher

    Closing a school designated “transformation” or “restart” this year would be ridiculous.  Why would you put several million dollars into a school, to turn it around, only to close it before it has any change to improve?  Oh wait, I almost forgot that this is the DOE.  Actually making a school transformation or restart before closing it is a very smart idea.  You can give a few million dollars of federal money to an “educational non-profit organization,” plus some money for talent coaches, and other educrats.  Then, at the end of the day still sell the building, teachers, and students out to several charter schools.

  • WTF

    Ahaha ha HA HA AH  …………the city will “hold meetings as to what has gone wrong.”  I love it!  What has gone wrong?  You put all the dumb kids in 1 school and created “other” schools with smart kids.  That’s it!  It’s a wrap!  You should come to the Columbus Campus where there are 7 schools trying to figure out what the hell is going on.  2 of the schools are closing and the kids know they are in failing schools and moral is at an all time low!  The other schools that came in and are “new” are’nt even that great.  The kids are the same, staff is young and inexperienced as well.  The only difference is that a new principal only has about 90 kids in his/her school.  AHAHAH AH AHah HA HAh HA AHhahahhahahahahahahaha HA Ah HAha HAhah Hahaha HA HHA AHAH HAhahahhahaaa.  What’s wrong with the DOE?  Close a school, open a school, round n round we go.  The kids?  No one cares about the kids.  The teachers will prevail one day.  Stop the closures! 

  • Invictus

    A very obvious opening round in the latest salvo against entrenched UFT chapters.  To make matters worse, the UFT is collaborating with DoE who has in their best intentions, the ultimate solution to those pesky, old time unionist educators, throw them all in the festering ATR roulette.  Send them all, all over the place and make the pool burst at the seams.  Make it so politically unpopular to have all these ‘lazy’ teachers without positions in the payrolls.  Drum up the public pressure to cut them off…  This is a simple Guts game at its finest.  The pot getting larger and larger, until someone blinks. 

    We are taking bets now, UFT or the DoE (with their shadow, billionaire wanna be educators but more likely educational vultures.)!!!!

    Hurry, hurry, you can now be the next educational ‘Supermen’(who we all know exists only in cartoons) or be left behind, in the ATR pool, in the history of once have been unions etc…

    All of this with the only truly losers being, the students who have everything to lose.

  • Philissa Cramer

    The Academy For College Preparation and Career Exploration: A College Board School is also at Erasmus.

    And Park Slope Collegiate is the new name for the Secondary School for Research, located in the John Jay building along with the Secondary School for Law. But the third longtime small school in that building, the Secondary School for Journalism, isn’t on the failing schools list — that was my mistake.

  • Philissa Cramer

    The Academy For College Preparation and Career Exploration: A College Board School is also at Erasmus.

    And Park Slope Collegiate is the new name for the Secondary School for Research, located in the John Jay building along with the Secondary School for Law. But the third longtime small school in that building, the Secondary School for Journalism, isn’t on the failing schools list — that was my mistake.

  • Philissa Cramer

    The Academy For College Preparation and Career Exploration: A College Board School is also at Erasmus.

    And Park Slope Collegiate is the new name for the Secondary School for Research, located in the John Jay building along with the Secondary School for Law. But the third longtime small school in that building, the Secondary School for Journalism, isn’t on the failing schools list — that was my mistake.

  • Nichole

    The high school I used to work at – Williamsburg Charter High School had not 3 Cs but a C, a D, and a C. I see it on this list but it goes through a different, longer process before it gets shut down, right? I

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