Courier-Life Publications: Alternative Schools to Get the Axe by Michèle De Meglio...

The public school system is being restructured – again.

Schools Chancellor Joel Klein announced plans to revamp “failing” alternative schools and programs due to poor attendance and success rates.

To be eliminated are schools for pregnant girls, New Beginnings centers, which take in disruptive students, and many schools operated by Offsite Educational Services (OES), the alternative high school system that helps students earn General Equivalency Diplomas (GED) and offers small learning environments.

According to city Department of Education (DOE) data, schools for pregnant girls, called P-Schools, have a 48 percent attendance rate and less than 10 percent of students pass Regents exams.

Figures are similar for New Beginnings centers, where attendance is 67 percent and less than 1 percent of students pass Regents exams.

In place of these programs, the DOE will create GED Plus schools offering part-time and full-time programs for students.

There will also be a Referral Service Center in each borough to direct students to the appropriate program or school.

Some students now in GED programs will be redirected to traditional high school settings, such as small schools, where they will have an opportunity to earn a high school diploma.

The response has been mixed to news of the latest DOE restructuring.

“I think it’s good,” said Carlo Scissura, president of District 20’s Community Education Council (CEC). “The schools for pregnant girls I thought were really a relic of the 60s. We’re all savvy enough now to be able to accept everyone.”

But with the elimination of many alternative schools and programs comes the loss of jobs. The teachers, administrators and other school staff running these programs have been excessed and must now search for new positions.

The competition will be fierce, as the DOE is also doing away with regions and those staffers are looking for work.

Excessed staffers wonder if there will be enough jobs to go around.

“That’s the only concern because now you have a lot of regional support people who don’t have positions. You’re going to have all these teachers,” Scissura said. “The issue becomes where are all these people going?

“It goes to competition,” he continued. “If you’re good, you’re going to get a job. And if you’re not good, you’re not going to get a job.”