Will Rogers once said, “The schools ain’t what they used to be and never was.”
New York City is getting 58 new schools this fall -- despite 19 low-performing ones that were originally set to be closed.
On Wednesday, the Department of Education reached an agreement with petitioners that provides additional supports for students and educators in 19 low-performing schools that were threatened to shut down. The agreement allows the DOE to co-locate new schools and programs in some of the 19 schools.
In January, the city's Panel for Educational Policy voted to close 19 low-performing schools across the city. The closings were challenged by petitioners, which included members of the UFT, the NAACP, and the Alliance for Quality Education.
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Chancellor Joel Klein said in a statement “This agreement is a huge victory for parents and students who have been looking forward to new schools opening in the fall. Our new small schools have been proven to outperform the struggling schools they were set to replace...”
Jack Zarin-Rosenfeld, a spokesman for the Department of Education, told NBCNewYork that a total of 58 new schools are being opened: 13 of which were supposed to be in the buildings of the original 19 schools.
But only eight out of those 13 schools actually are set to open in those buildings, and five are being opened in alternate locations. Some of the others will open in private spaces or in schools that were not under threat, and a few are still to be announced.
Peter Kadushin, Deputy Communications Director of the United Federation of Teachers , told NBCNewYork that locations were determined by looking at the amount of space at each school.
While UFT President Michael Mulgrew said, “This agreement will help improve the academic experience for children in all 19 that are part of the lawsuit, while permitting schools that can accommodate new students to share space with other schools and programs."
