School’s out forever come this summer for 24 New York City public schools, 10 of which are in the Bronx, after a meeting and vote by the Department of Education’s Panel for Education Policy last night in Brooklyn.
Under the so-called “turnaround” program, the two dozen schools, including venerable, long-standing Bronx institutions such as MS 80 and Herbert H. Lehman High School, will be closed after the school year, their administrations and staffs overhauled over the summer and reopened in the fall under new names. Students who are not graduating from the schools will be guaranteed a spot in the replacement schools if they choose to stay.
The outcome was entirely expected, given the fact that the 12-member panel, which is controlled by a majority of mayoral appointees, has never rejected a DOE-recommended proposal.
Yesterday afternoon, Cecilia Donovan, the head of the parents association at MS 80, where a new principal — its third in just two months — was introduced this week, said she decided two weeks that if the situation didn’t appear to be shifting in the school’s favor, she didn’t see the point in going all the way to Brooklyn from the northwest Bronx.
A total of nine schools, including two just yesterday morning, were taken off the original list of 33 schools slated for turnaround. None of the schools saved were in the Bronx. The final tally was 8-4 in favor of closing the schools, with the seven mayoral appointees and the Staten Island representative easily out-voting the representatives of the other four borough presidents.
Now, teachers at all of the turnaround schools will be forced to re-apply for their jobs. The DOE will set up hiring committees at each school that will consist of two DOE appointees, two teachers union appointees and the principal.
Kevin Kearns, an English teacher at Lehman High School, said he and all of the teachers he had spoken with were planning to re-apply to the school, despite all of the upheaval.
These are the Bronx schools that will live out their last days over the coming two months:
Alfred E. Smith Career and Technical High School
Herbert H. Lehman High School
Banana Kelly High School
J.H.S. 22 Jordan L. Mott
I.S. 339
Bronx High School of Business
J.H.S. 80 Mosholu Parkway
M.S. 391 Angelo Patri Middle School
Fordham Leadership Academy
J.H.S. 142 John Philip Sousa
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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.
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In my personal opinion I would say that the schools should not be closed at all. There should be restrictions for the teachers. The teachers are the ones that need to take more classes on how to educated the children’s and how to handle the teaching with those students that need to spend more time in their class subjects. The Principals from each school should pay more attention to the education of each students. Make meetings to talk with the parents on how to help the students academically. There could be alot of progress for the schools academically if there is cooporetation and effort from the teachers, principal and parents. The committee of Board Of Education should think carefully on their decision based on the education of our children’s. It is not fair for our children’s to be left behind in the middle of no where without their education. How our children’s would have their education if the mayority of the school are closing. What is going to happen with our children’s future?
I taught at JHS?MS 80 for 27 years. I started in 1968 when we sent 93 students to The Bronx High School of Science in one year. Those were great days. I taught math there until 1983…. left for another profession for 9 years.. came back to 80 in 1992 and stayed there 10 more years. I could easily see the transition from a school of learning to a school of distress where the kids had very little respect for the staff and their peers.
I loved my time at 80 and have stayed in touch with about 100 students since 1968. I am sorry to see 80 disappear… but I wish for once they would stop blaming the teachers and put the onus on the parents. I once had 150 students in 5 classes and for Parent-Teacher night met only 10 representatives of my 150 students. Only 4 were parents. This si not the way is should be. Parents must get involved and support the teachers. “Our strong band will not broken” 80 will live in the hearts of minds of the teachers forever.