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Process of elimination

November 2, 2011

City adds high schools, charter schools to possible closure list

by Philissa Cramer, at 6:24 pm

Three schools that are getting millions of dollars in federal aid are among 27 schools newly added to the list of schools that could be closed.

Department of Education officials announced today that they had added 17 high schools, six charter schools, and the middle school grades of four secondary schools to the list of schools they are considering closing. The schools join 20 elementary and middle schools where the city began “early engagement” meetings in September about .

The high school additions include three schools receiving federal “transformation” funding; troubled Lehman High School, which handed out the most suspensions in the city by far; and most schools that got F’s on this year’s progress reports. Seven of the schools are in the Bronx, where large high schools say they are straining to serve high numbers of needy students; five in Manhattan; three in Brooklyn; and two in Queens.

Department officials compiled the shortlist by looking at schools’ progress report grades, their Quality Reviews, the results of state evaluations, and the efforts they’ve already undertaken to improve. But in holding early engagement meetings, the department hopes to learn why the schools are struggling and whether other efforts could help them, according to Marc Sternberg, the DOE deputy chancellor in charge of school closures.

Echoing an argument that advocacy groups are pushing at schools on the potential closure list, teachers union president Michael Mulgrew said he thought the department was not entering the engagement meetings in good faith.

“The ‘engagement’ process should mean a real attempt by Tweed to help these struggling schools improve,” Mulgrew said in a statement. “But as history as shown, when it comes to sitting on their hands and watching schools fail, this administration has always gotten straight A’s.”

Virtually all of the schools that were considered so low-performing that they qualified for federal aid escaped the chopping block. Of the 26 high schools undergoing “transformation” and “restart” processes, just three landed on the early warning list.
One of those schools, Washington Irving High School, has long posted one of the lowest graduation rates in the city but remained open even as schools who graduated more students were shuttered. This year, reports emerged that the school was handing out credits to students who had not passed their classes. The other two schools receiving “transformation” funding that could close are Lehman and Grace Dodge Career and Technical Education High School, both in the Bronx.

Ten of the 14 schools that got failing grades on this year’s progress report are on the list. Boys & Girls High School, Dewitt Clinton High School, Dreamyard Preparatory Academy, and Gotham Professional Arts Academy all got F’s but escaped the ax.

The charter schools include two — Academic Leadership Charter School and Williamsburg Charter High School — that are currently on probation for major management violations and two with low test scores whose charters are up for renewal.

High schools that could be closed:

Academy For Scholarship And Entrepreneurship: A College Board School (Bronx)
Cypress Hills Collegiate Preparatory School (Queens)
Freedom Academy High School (Brooklyn)
Fordham Leadership Academy For Business and Technology (Bronx)
Gateway School For Environmental Research and Technology (Bronx)
Grace Dodge Career And Technical Education High School (Bronx)
Herbert H. Lehman High School (Bronx)
High School Of Graphic Communication Arts (Manhattan)
International Arts Business School (Brooklyn)
Jane Addams High School For Academic Careers (Bronx)
Juan Morel Campos Secondary School (Brooklyn)
Law, Government And Community Service High School (Queens)
Legacy School For Integrated Studies (Manhattan)
Manhattan Theatre Lab High School (Manhattan)
Samuel Gompers Career And Technical Education High School (Bronx)
Wadleigh Secondary School For Performing Arts (Manhattan)
Washington Irving High School (Manhattan)

Middle school grades of secondary schools:

Academy Of Business And Community Development (Brooklyn)
Frederick Douglass Academy II Secondary School (Manhattan)
Frederick Douglass Academy IV Secondary School (Brooklyn)
Brooklyn Collegiate: A College Board School (Brooklyn)

Charter schools:

Academic Leadership Charter School (Bronx)
Bronx Academy of Promise (Bronx)
Future Leaders Institute Charter School (Manhattan)
Opportunity Charter School (Manhattan)
Peninsula Preparatory Academy (Queens)
Williamsburg Charter High School (Brooklyn)

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  • Vote NO!

    Closing schools..The  education  “reformers”  equivalent  of  “dropping  bombs  on  Vietnam.”  Expensive  and  destructive,  but  will  NOT  bring  “victory.”  

  • guest

    Williamsburg Charter High School sucks!!! My daughter used to attend that school and I had to pull her out. She got bullied and the teachers were so inconsistent. The administration was no help at all. My daughter wishes that I never sent her there. Yes, please do close down horrible failing schools and save us parents sleepless nights when we can’t transfer our child out of a horrible high school because of the laws. All schools should be great and don’t blame it on the students and parents. I was also a former teacher and been a mother for 18 years with four children. I attended public school myself so I know a lot about this system. Yes, please do throw out those lazy teachers and administrators that just want to collect their paychecks and blame the failures on the students!!!! Unfortunately there are always some great teachers employed at this failing schools and I’m sure they will work again.

  • Nikki

    This is all past the point of disgusting.  Cypress Hills Collegiate is located at the Franklin K. Lane Campus. Lane is almost phased out (It got a 1 year reprieve from being closed in 2011). Nothing the DOE does ever makes sense. 

  • Pogue

    This mayorship should have been closed after two terms.

    Thank you, Christine Quinn.

  • Dumb n Dummahhh

    AHA AH AHA AHA HAHAHAHHAHHA AH AAHHAHAHAH AH AHA HA AH AH AHHAH AH AH AHA A HA A HAHHAHAHAAH AHA HAH A   CLOSE EM ALLLL!!!!!!!  I LOVE THIS STUFF.  CLOSE A SCHOOL AND OPEN A SCHOOL.  CLOSE A SCHOOL AND OPEN A SCHOOL.   SAME KIDS ——- JUST DUMBER PRINCIPALS WITH NO CLUE HOW TO RUN A BUILDING 9OOOOPS, I MEAN FLOOR IN A BUILDING.)  WHY DO U THINK NETWORKS EXIST NOW BUT NEVER DID BEFORE?  UMMMM, BECAUSE THE PRINCIPALS NEED HELP BECAUSE THEY ARE DUMBER.  A NEW SCHOOL WITH LESS THAN 100 KIDS AND A PRINCIPAL MAKING 140K NEEDS A NETWORK?  YES, THEY DO BECAUSE THEY CAN’T EVEN RUN HALF A FLOOR OF A BUILDING WITH 100 KIDS.  AHAHAHAHA AH AHAHHA AH AHAHHA AH AHA AHAH AH AHAHHAHAHAHHAHAH AH AHHA HAHA AH AH AHAHHA HA AH HAH AHAH AHHAHAHAH A HA HAHAHAH AH AHHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHA AH HAH AH AHA HHAHAH AHHAAAA.  SAD, SAD, SAD BUT TRUE!  A FEW NEW SCHOOLS OPENED IN MY LARGE HIGH SCHOOL.  THE PRINCIPALS ARE SOOOO DUMB!  YOU USED TO HAVE TO BE A TEACHER FOR LIKE 15 – 20 YEARS BUT NOWWWWWW, A FEW YEARS IF ANY QUALIFIES YOU TO GO INTO THE PRINCIPAL LEADERSHIP PROGRAM.  AHA AH AHA HAHHA  HAHAHA HAHA AHA HA AHHAHAHHAHHAHAAAA.  HEY, U WANT A SCHOOL?  COME ON DOWWWWNNNNNN.  YOU’RE NEXT, HOW BOUT A NICE NAME LIKE THE HIGH SCHOOL FOR VISIONARY AND EXPLORATION ACADEMY OF JUSTICE?  SOUNDS GOOD TO ME!  AHAHA AH AHA AH AHAHAHAHAHAH AH AHAHAHAHAHHAHAAHHAHHHHAHAHAHA AH A  AH AHA  AH HAH AHA HAHAHAHHAHAH  AHAHAAHAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • bee

    Not to mention the Tweed tactic of hastening the demise of a school in order to co-locate the charter schools waiting in the wings. How much “time” does the DOE allot to public school turnarounds versus time allotted to failing charter schools?

  • Koozy14

    How is it that after more than a decade of “reform,” we are still closing schools?  What is even more amazing is that we are closing schools created by the “reformers” themselves.  It’s about time we call Bloomberg what he really is—The Bernie Madoff of Education.

  • Transformation Teacher

    If they close the 3 transformation schools without even waiting to see if the model improves the schools, at least we can rest assured that the doe gave a few million dollars in federal money to private “education” companies, before they gave the buildings up to charters.

  • Informed citizen

    I just keep wondering something.   Where is the 360 degree accountability for the mayor and his education department?   In that I mean is it not he who is in charge of schools?  So if a school is failing under his watch, why is blame not placed at the doorsteps of the mayor?  Instead he is able to outsource the educating in that physical space to some entity that may or may not do it better?   This doesn’t make sense to me.   It seems like a slow, systemic approach to outsourcing education of all students in the city.   Can the charter movement handle an entire city?   I don’t know, but something here seems fishy.

  • FYECM

    I taught at Williamsburg Charter High School and, like 20+ teachers in that single school year (2009-2010), was fired on the spot one day despite bringing kids to record test scores and having a great bond with students and parents alike. It has been embarrassing and even detrimental to have a school with, “The worst reputation of any charter school in New York,” (as one interviewer put it) on my resume, but fortunately there has been no shame in getting fired as the entire local education community knows it is not a reflection on me. Eddie Calderon Melendez and his dear friend of many years Lourdes Putz (his aptly-named, appointed board chair with the integrity of a cockroach) deserve all of the negative attention they are getting. 

  • bee

    That’s an understatement!

  • il flerpolo

    “Where is the 360 degree accountability for the mayor and his education department?   In that I mean is it not he who is in charge of schools?  So if a school is failing under his watch, why is blame not placed at the doorsteps of the mayor?”

    Isn’t that what many people on these boards are doing?  Blaming Bloomberg and his policies for failing schools?  Whether you think mayoral control of schools is a good or bad thing, it’s always been clear that accountability happens in polling booths.  What do you propose — if a school is judged to be “failing,” then the Mayor should be immediately removed from office?  Beaten?  Ridiculed on the Internet?

    Or are you just saying that you don’t think school closings and charter openings are a good idea.

  • Caps Gowns

    We need to take more than a moment to talk to our children, the students in all schools. They know something is wrong when a curriculum fails all but 3 students in a subject class but they need the adults to really listen providing them with clarity & voice concerns out loud 

  • Gals

    Eddie Calderone Melendez is a straight up crook.  Nothing more…nothing less.  he has been stealing from the City of New York for 8 years now at about 225,000 peryear in salary.  I worked at the Williamsburg Charetr High School for over 5 years and saw every single violation you could imagine.  Horrific stuff really, and I am not just talking about cheating on test scores…I mean reall hard core abuse and fiscal mismanagement with criminal intent.  The fact that Melendez is not in jail is a crime in and of itself.  Yet here he stands today still running three school under a complete sham of a “network”.  If there is justice that man will do hard time for what he has done.

  • Empty

    Any school that received the grant for 3 years is NOT CLOSING.  So if u work at one of these fine establishments, you’re good for another 2 1/2 years + 4 more for closure = 6 1/2 years of coasting along, congrats!

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