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City Announces 19 Schools On The Chopping Block

By

Garth Johnston

Published Dec 9, 2011

Modified Dec 9, 2011

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By

Garth Johnston

Published Dec 9, 2011

Modified Dec 9, 2011

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"These aren't marginally bad schools or non-performing schools," Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday regarding the list of schools the Department of Education wants to shut down or truncate this year. "They just don't do the job, this is no question they're not doing the job." In a two-part process the city released a list of 19 schools that are facing execution at the end of the school year—including one Manhattan school with a violent rep that included an assault on a pregnant woman—as well as six schools that may have their middle school grades removed. "This is about student performance, student outcome, making sure we improve our schools and making sure students are college ready and career ready," schools chancellor Dennis Walcott assured parents today.

A notable addition to the closing list is Manhattan's Washington Irving High School, which back in 2005 the mayor took off the most dangerous schools list and which in the past decade has been the site of a tragic stooling and an attack on a pregnant woman as well as the source of lots of violence in the Union Square area.

The DoE culled its list from 47 schools that had already been put on notice for having poor performance. On the plus side, the department is going after fewer schools this year than last year (barely). Meanwhile, as Ernest Logan, president of the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators, notes, it is interesting that a quite a few of the schools on the chopping block this year opened under Bloomberg's watch, not a good sign for the mayor's tricky education reputation. "You can’t keep saying that the ones you opened are better if they’re the ones you’re closing." he said.

For those keeping score, here are the schools the city wants to close completely:

• Washington Irving High School, Manhattan
• Samuel Gompers Career and Technical Education High School, Bronx
• Grace Dodge Career and Technical Education High School, Bronx
• Jane Addams High School for Academic Careers, Bronx
• Legacy School for Integrated Studies, Manhattan
• Manhattan Theater Lab High School, Manhattan
• Gateway School for Environmental Research and Technology, Bronx
• International Arts Business School, Brooklyn
• Aspire Preparatory Middle School, Bronx
• Knowledge and Power Preparatory Academy VII, Brooklyn
• Satellite Three, Brooklyn
• Middle School for the Arts, Brooklyn
• Junior High School 296 The Anna Gonzalez Community School, Brooklyn
• Academy of Business and Community Development, Brooklyn
• Public School 19 Roberto Clemente, Brooklyn
• General D. Chappie James Elementary School of Science, Brooklyn
• P.S. 14 Cornelius Vanderbilt, Staten Island
• P.S. 22, Brooklyn
• P.S. 215 Lucretia Mott, Queens

And here are the schools the city is contemplating eliminating middle school grades from:

• P.S. 161 the Crown, Brooklyn
• Academy for Scholarship and Entrepreneurship, Bronx
• Brooklyn Collegiate: A College Board School, Brooklyn
• P.S. 298 Dr. Betty Shabazz, Brooklyn
• Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing Arts, Manhattan
• Frederick Douglass Academy IV, Brooklyn

Tagged

dennis walcott

DOE

mayor bloomberg

school closings

school closure

Garth Johnston

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