Currently, DOE efforts to support struggling schools prior to closing can include changing a school's structure, bringing in different leadership and supporting curriculum reform, according to DOE officials. But as Deputy Chancellor John White explained in a City Council hearing in March, DOE believes that when schools are truly failing, they must close, even when there is strong community desire to keep a beloved school open.
City Council Education Committee Chair Robert Jackson and 18 City Council members have co-sponsored a resolution urging DOE to adopt the School Transformation Zone model to turn around failing schools, stressing the value of a longer school day.
"I believe that closing schools should be the last resort," Jackson said at a Council hearing on May 5. "School closures displace many of the students most at risk," increasing the chances of dropping out, he added. "There is a 'domino effect,' from school closings," Jackson continued, "leading to surrounding schools becoming overcrowded, then being targeted for closure themselves." Adopting a model to save troubled schools will, he said, "fix low-performing schools, rather than close them."
The concerns Jackson mentioned—along with complaints about the lack of community input—have been raised for years by opponents of the closings. The recent lawsuit by the United Federation of Teachers, the local NAACP chapter and other plaintiffs that has, at least temporarily, delayed the current round of school closings argued that the DOE's process for closing schools failed to include procedures outlined in state law.
The STZ proposal would also impose a moratorium on school closings and co-locations, which site multiple schools in single school buildings or 'educational campuses.' While the DOE's decision to close failing schools has been overturned by the court, its co-location efforts continue: The Panel for Education Policy, which serves at the appointment of the borough presidents and Mayor Bloomberg, who appoints most members and the chair, voted on May 5th to approve three new co-locations for the coming academic year.
Asked to comment on the CEJ proposal, DOE spokesman Jack Zarin-Rosenfeld said: "President Obama agrees that in order to prepare all of our children for college and the workplace, it is critical that we turnaround our lowest performing schools. This includes, in some cases, transformation, as laid out in the Race to the Top competition. We will continue to engage parents and community leaders as we work to transform our lowest performing schools, win federal dollars for our students, and build on the progress we've made in improving student outcomes."
