DOE announces 9 more school closures in biggest round yet

In the most sweeping round of school shuttering this year, the Department of Education announced today that it intends to phase out nine more schools, eight of them high schools and three of them opened under Chancellor Joel Klein.

The schools slated for closure today include large high schools in every borough except Staten Island. Paul Robeson High School in Brooklyn, Norman Thomas High School in Manhattan, Christopher Columbus High School in the Bronx, and Beach Channel High School in Queens all will not accept new students for next year, provided that the city school board approves the closures next month. Together, the four schools have nearly 6,000 students.

Beach Channel received attention in 2007 after students and teachers complained about a destabilizing influx of students who had not chosen to attend the school but were placed there. Those students included many who would have been zoned for Far Rockaway High School, a large school nearby that has since begun to phase out.

Today’s proposed closures also include three schools that were opened by the current administration: New Day Academy and Global Enterprise Academy in the Bronx and Brooklyn’s MS 334, which opened in 2005 to replace a failing school in the same building that later closed.

Today’s announcement brings to 17 the total number of schools so far slated for phase out after this school year. The department proposed two sets of closures last week, one of which included another large high school in Queens, Jamaica High School.

According to the school governance law passed in August, the proposed closures must be given public hearings and approved by the city school board, known as the Panel for Educational Policy. The panel has never rejected a DOE policy proposal.

The full list of schools and the city’s bullet-pointed reasoning behind the closure of these schools, taken from an e-mail sent to reporters by DOE spokesman William Havemann, is below:

Phase-out of Beach Channel High School (27Q410)

  • The Department of Education is proposing the phase-out of Beach Channel High School, a high school in Queens that currently serves students in grades 9-12. Under this proposal, the school would stop accepting new ninth grade classes starting in September 2010.
  • The graduation rate at Beach Channel has consistently remained below 50%:
  • In 2007-08, the graduation rate was 46.1%.
  • In 2008-09, the graduation rate was 46.9%.
  • Credit accumulation rates are also low:
  • In 2007-08, only 52.1% of first-year students accumulated 10 or more credits.
  • In 2008-09, that figure fell to 50.8%
  • Demand for the school is low and declining:
  • In 2008-09 1,522 students enrolled in the school.
  • In 2009-10 this number fell to 1,345.
  • Beach Channel received a C on the 2006-07 Progress Report, a C on the 2007-08 Progress Report, and a D on the 2008-09 Progress Report, including an F in the Progress and Environment sub-sections and a D in the Performance sub-section.
  • Parents, teachers, and students expressed widespread dissatisfaction with the school on the 2009 Learning Environment Survey:
  • Only 59% of students believe that their teachers inspire them to learn, and only 56% of students feel safe at school.
  • Only 56% of teachers believe that order and discipline are maintained at the school.
  • Only 68% of parents believe their child is safe at school.

Phase-out of Paul Robeson High School (17K625)

  • The Department of Education is proposing the phase-out of Paul Robeson High School, a high school in Brooklyn that currently serves students in grades 9-12. Under this proposal, the school would stop accepting new ninth grade classes starting in September 2010.
  • The graduation rate at Robeson High School is well below the citywide average and has declined while most other schools have made progress:
  • In 2007-08, the graduation rate was 56.7%.
  • In 2008-09, the graduation rate fell precipitously to 40.1%.
  • Credit accumulation rates are also low:
  • In 2008-09, only 58.4% of first-year students accumulated 10 or more credits.
  • Demand for the school has remained consistently low:
  • In 2008-09 1,049 students were enrolled in Robeson.
  • This year, Robeson enrolls 1,020 students.
  • Robeson received a C on its 2006-07, 2007-08, and 2008-09 Progress Reports. In 2008-09 it also received an F in the Environment sub-section and a D in the Performance subsection of the report.
  • Last year, average attendance at Robeson High School was 69.2%.
  • Parents and students expressed widespread dissatisfaction with the school on the 2009 Learning Environment Survey:
  • Only 64% of students feel that their teachers inspire them to learn, and only 64% of students feel safe at school.
  • Only 66% of parents feel their child is safe at school.

Phase-out of the Middle School for Academic and Social Excellence (17K334)

  • The Department of Education is proposing the phase-out of the Middle School for Academic and Social Excellence (MS 334), a middle school in District 17 that currently serves students in grades 6-8. Under this proposal, the school would stop accepting new sixth grade classes starting in September 2010.
  • The school has failed to help students make the progress they need. Math and ELA scores lag significantly behind district averages:
  • Only 39.7% of students are proficient in math, compared with 75% district-wide.
  • Only 30.0% of students are proficient in ELA, compared with 62.4% district-wide.
  • The school’s performance is well below that of MS 354, a middle school located in the same building as MS 334 that serves a similar student population and shares MS 334’s zone.
  • The 2008-09 Learning Environment Survey found dissatisfaction with the school among all constituents, and especially among students:
  • Only 76% of students say their teachers inspire them to learn, and only 61% of students feel safe at school.
  • Only 43% of teachers feel order and discipline are maintained at the school.
  • Only 75% of parents reported satisfaction with the education their children have received.

Phase-out of Metropolitan Corporate Academy (15K530)

  • The Department of Education is proposing the phase-out of the Metropolitan Corporate Academy, a high school in Brooklyn that currently serves students in grades 9-12. Under this proposal, the school would stop accepting new ninth grade classes starting in September 2010.
  • The graduation rate is low and declining:
  • The 2007-08 graduation rate was 48.0%.
  • In 2008-09 the graduation rate fell to 47.1%.
  • The percentage of students earning Regents Diplomas is very low:
  • In 2007-08, the Regents completion rate was 16.8%.
  • In 2008-09, the Regents completion rate was 25.3%.
  • The school earned a C on the 2006-07 and 2007-08 Progress Reports. The school’s grade fell to a D on the 2008-09 Progress Report, including a D on the Performance sub-section.
  • The school earned an “underdeveloped” on its 2008-2009 Quality Review.

Truncation of the Choir Academy of Harlem’s high school grades (05M469)

  • The Department of Education is proposing to truncate the high school grades of the Choir Academy of Harlem, a middle and high school in District 5 that currently serves students in grades 6-12. Under this proposal, the school would stop accepting new ninth grade classes starting in September 2010.
  • The school’s graduation rate has declined below the citywide average:
  • In 2007-08, the graduation rate was 73%.
  • In 2008-09, the graduation rate fell to 57.5%.
  • First-year credit accumulation is also declining significantly:
  • In 2007-08, 79.3% of first-year students earned 10 or more credits.
  • In 2008-09, that figure declined to 61.5%.
  • Demand for the school is very low:
  • Choir Academy only has 40-50 students in each high school grade, a student population that is too small to constitute a viable high school.
  • The availability for seats in performing arts programs citywide exceeds the level of demand for such seats.
  • The Choir Academy middle school earned an A on its 2008-09 Progress Report, but fewer than 40% of eighth-graders continue on to the high school. Only 25% of Choir Academy ninth-graders attended the Choir Academy middle school. The school’s current configuration is not fulfilling its primary purpose, which is to provide a seamless educational experience for students from grades six through twelve.
  • The Choir Academy’s high school received a D on its 2006-07 Progress Report, a C on its 2007-08 Progress Report, and a D on its 2008-09 Progress Report.

Phase-out of Christopher Columbus High School (11X415)

  • The Department of Education is proposing the phase-out of the Christopher Columbus High School, a high school in the Bronx that currently serves students in grades 9-12. Under this proposal, the school would stop accepting new ninth grade classes starting in September 2010.
  • Columbus’ graduation rate is low:
  • In 2007-08, the graduation rate was 36.9%.
  • In 2008-09, the graduation rate increased slightly to 40.3%, still 20 points below the citywide average of 60%.
  • First-year credit accumulation is also low:
  • In 2007-08, only 48% of first-year students accumulated 10 or more credits. In 2008-09, that figure increased slightly to 49.4%.
  • Demand for the school is low:
  • Columbus is a zoned school, but only 11% of students zoned for the school attend it. Just 46% of the students attending Columbus are zoned for the school.
  • Columbus received a D on the 2008-09 Progress Report, down from a C in 2006-07 and 2007-08.

Phase-out of Norman Thomas High School (02M620):

  • The Department of Education is proposing the phase-out of Norman Thomas High School, a high school in Manhattan that currently serves students in grades 9-12. Under this proposal, the school would stop accepting new ninth grade classes starting in September 2010.
  • Fewer than half of Norman Thomas students graduate on schedule:
  • The 2007-08 graduation rate at Norman Thomas was 41.7%.
  • The 2008-09 graduation rate was 42.7%.
  • The school has persistently failed to help students progress toward graduation. In 2008-09, the school had 109 registered twelfth-grade students and 945 registered ninth graders – meaning that half of the total student body was in the ninth grade.
  • The 2009 Learning Environment Survey indicates low satisfaction with the school among all constituents, especially among students:
  • Only 57% of students feel that teachers inspire them to learn and only 64% of students feel safe at school.
  • Only 68% of teachers feel that order and discipline are maintained at the school.

Phase-out of New Day Academy (12X245)

  • The Department of Education is proposing the phase-out of the New Day Academy, a middle and high school in District 12 that currently serves students in grades 6-12. Under this proposal, the school would stop accepting new sixth and ninth grade classes starting in September 2010.
  • The New Day high school received a D on its first high school Progress Report in 2008-09, including Fs on both the Environment and Progress sub-sections. The graduation and credit accumulation indicators from the 2008-2009 year are low:
  • The 2008-09 graduation rate was 56%.
  • For two consecutive years, fewer than 55% of first-year students accumulated 10 or more credits – a key predictor of future academic success.
  • The New Day middle school received a C on its 2007-08 and 2008-09 Progress Reports, with low ELA and math proficiency rates:
  • In 2008-09, 40.8% of students were proficient in ELA and 34.3% were proficient in Math.
  • Demand for the school is low:
  • 2008-09 enrollment is 461 students.
  • Only 30% of the New Day eighth grade students continue to ninth grade, where they represent about 30% of total ninth-grade enrollment.

Phase-out of the Global Enterprise High School (11X541)

  • The Department of Education is proposing the phase-out of the Global Enterprise High School, a high school in the Bronx that currently serves students in grades 9-12. Under this proposal, the school would stop accepting new ninth grade classes starting in September 2010.
  • The graduation rate at Global Enterprise High School is low and declining:
  • In 2007-08, the graduation rate was 52.7%.
  • In 2008-09, the graduation rate fell to 50.9%.
  • First-year credit accumulation is also low:
  • In 2007-08, only 55.8% of first-year students accumulated 10 or more credits. In 2008-09, 63.6% of first-year students accumulated 10 or more credits.
  • Demand for the school is low:
  • Global Enterprise participated in the supplementary high school admissions round, indicating that the school did not get enough matches during the main high school admissions round to fill its ninth grade class.
  • The school received a C on the 2007-08 and 2008-09 Progress Reports, down from a B in 2006-07.