The Department of Education has named nine more schools it intends to close or shrink, bringing the final tally of schools it will try to shutter this year to 26.
Seven of the new additions would phase out over time, while two would have some of their grades lopped off under the city’s plans. P.S. 156 in Queens and the Academy for Social Action in Manhattan would lose their middle schools but their high schools would remain open.
On Monday, the department announced that it would seek to close or phase out 17 other schools.
That means 32 schools that the city considered closing will stay open instead, and department officials said they were considering “a wide range of potential interventions” to help the schools get better. They said the options could include, for schools that are eligible, federally prescribed school overhaul strategies like the ones the city has tried to use in the past.
The schools that evaded closure this year, the last when the Bloomberg administration will be able to carry out closure plans, include Boys and Girls High School, Murry Bergtraum High School, and DeWitt Clinton High School. The three comprehensive schools have some of the weakest performance statistics in the city — and some of the most ardent defenders.
The newest additions to the list include one high school, two middle schools, three elementary schools, and three schools that include elementary and middle school grades.
Outside a school that the city announced yesterday that it would try to close, the Choir Academy of Harlem, one graduate said she thought the city’s assessment of the school mirrored her community’s.
“The school is not as popular as it was when I attended,” said Monique Marvey, whose son attends Harlem Children’s Zone Promise Academy II Charter School, which shares Choir Academy’s building. “[The] school has gone downhill.”
The Panel for Educational Policy will vote on the proposals at its March meeting, after a series of public hearings and, presumably, protests. The majority of panel members are appointed by the mayor, and the panel has never rejected a city proposal.
The schools added to the closure list today are
Manhattan: J.H.S. 013 Jackie Robinson Academy for Social Action: A College Board School (middle school only) Bronx: Performance School P.S. 230 Dr Roland N. Patterson P.S. 050 Clara Barton Brooklyn: P.S. 174 Dumont P.S. 073 Thomas S. Boyland Queens: P.S. 156 Laurelton (middle school only) Business, Computer Applications & Entrepreneurship High School
And here, again, are the 17 schools the city announced on Monday that it would work to close:
Manhattan High School of Graphic Communication Arts* M.S. 45/S.T.A.R.S. Prep Academy*** Choir Academy of Harlem Bread & Roses Integrated Arts High School* The Bronx M.S. 203 Herbert H. Lehman High School*, ** P.S. 064 Pura Belpre Jonathan Levin High School for Media and Communications MS 142 John Philip Sousa*, ** Brooklyn: Freedom Academy High School**, *** P.S. 167 The Parkway J.H.S. 166 George Gershwin* J.H.S. 302 Rafael Cordero Sheepshead Bay High School* General D. Chappie James Middle School of Science** Queens P.S. 140 Edward K Ellington Law, Government and Community Service High School** *City proposed the school for turnaround in 2012 before the process was halted **City considered closing the school during the 2011-2012 school year but opted not to ***City is proposing to close the school at the end of the year, rather than phase it out