Amid plummeting test scores and reports of gang problems, the Department of Education is proposing to close MS 80, The Mosholu Parkway School, in Norwood. If approved, the school will undergo a dramatic re-organization including losing at least 50 percent of its current staff and changing its name.

Students who have not graduated before the start of the 2012-2013 school year will be being given a guaranteed seat in the new school. At this point, the DOE is calling whatever would replace MS 80, “New School.”

The new school “will develop rigorous, school specific competencies to measure and screen prospective staff – including [MS] 80 staff who apply to work at New School,” said a DOE press release.

The changes will maximize New School’s chance of receiving up to $1.8 million in supplemental funding over the next two years under the School Improvement Grant (SIG) program, the DOE said.

A joint public hearing for this proposal is scheduled for April 16 at 6 p.m. at J.H.S. 80, 149 East Mosholu Parkway. Oral comments can be left at (212) 374-5149, and written comments can be sent to D10proposals@schools.nyc.gov.

To talk about the re-organization of MS 80 and other Bronx schools, Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. is inviting elected officials, education activists, community leaders and parents to a forum next Thursday, March 15, at 6 p.m., at the Morris Educational Campus Auditorium, 1110 Boston Road. Elaine Gorman, the chief executive of the DOE’s turnaround program, will be on hand to speak.