Mayor

NYC Will Close or Merge Worst-Performing Schools

New York City's Education Department says 19 of the city's worst-performing schools will be closed or merged.

Fourteen of the schools are part of the city's Renewal Schools program, which was announced by Mayor Bill de Blasio about three years ago.

Renewal Schools is slated to cost $582 million by the end of this academic year.

The five non-Renewal schools that are being closed include the Urban Assembly School for Wildlife Conservation in the Bronx, where two students were stabbed by a classmate earlier in the school year, one of them fatally. 

The DOE says despite additional safety measures, visits and leadership changes since the September stabbings, "there continues to be instability for students and staff, and the chancellor has determined that Wildlife students will be better served at another school."

The nine Renewal schools proposed for closure are: 

  • PS 050 Vito Marcantonio (04M050)
  • Coalition School for Social Change (04M409)
  • High School for Health Careers and Sciences (06M468)
  • New Explorers High School (07X547)
  • Urban Science Academy (09X325)
  • PS 92 Bronx School (12X092)
  • Brooklyn Collegiate: A College Board School (23K493)
  • PS/MS 42 R. Vernam (27Q042)
  • MS 53 Brian Piccolo (27Q053)

The five Renewal schools proposed for merger are: 
  • Holcombe L. Rucker School of Community (08X332) and Longwood Preparatory Academy (08X530) – Longwood Preparatory Academy will be the prevailing school. Both schools are Renewal Schools, both schools are in the same building, and the merged school will remain in the Renewal program next year.
  • Accion Academy (12X341) and Entrada Academy (12X384) – Accion Academy, which is not in the Renewal program, will be the prevailing school.
  • East Flatbush Community and Research School (18K581) and Middle School of Marketing and Legal Studies (18K598) – East Flatbush Community and Research School, a Rise school, will be the prevailing school. Both schools are in the same building.
  • Middle school grades of Gregory Jocko Jackson School (23K284) and Brownsville Collaborative Middle School (23K363) – Brownsville Collaborative Middle School, which is not in the Renewal program, will absorb the middle school grades of Gregory Jocko Jackson School. The elementary school grades at Gregory Jocko Jackson School will remain in the Renewal program.
The single Renewal school proposed for truncation is the middle school grades of Wadleigh Secondary School for The Performing Visual Arts; next year, the school serve students in grade 9 through 12. 

The five non-Renewal schools proposed for closure are:
  • KAPPA IV (05M302)
  • Academy for Social Action (05M367)
  • Felisa Rincon de Gautier Institute (08X519)
  • Urban Assembly School for Wildlife Conservation (12X372)
  • Eubie Blake School (16K025)
Meanwhile, the DOE says there are 21 schools in the Renewal program that have seen "strong and steady gains," and those will be designated "Rise Schools." Those schools will transition out of the Renewal program. 

The remaining 46 Renewal schools will receive increased support and oversight for an additional year. 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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