I wonder if the Chancellor was smoking something with Bill Maher before penning this op/ed...
Just another example of a dictum from on-high at Tweed with no consultation with any parent groups or other significant stakes holders...
Bill Maher, Richard and Lisa Plepler, and Joel Klein - pic courtesy of New York Social Diary
December 10, 2007 -- NOT long ago, right here in New York City, dozens of schools were demonstrating abject failure. Year after year, thousands of students entered these schools. Many didn't pass their classes and didn't get credits. After four years, only 20 percent or 30 percent graduated.
This outcome wasn't remotely OK.
It wasn't all right with me as chancellor, and I know it wasn't all right with the families and communities of our city.
We owe it to our kids to give them schools that set high expectations for students and help them meet and exceed those expectations. We owe it to our kids to help them when they're struggling, not to let them fall further and further behind.
That's why, starting in 2002, we began phasing out and shutting down schools that had a history of failure. These decisions were not an indictment of any single teacher or principal. They were an acknowledgment that the schools weren't remotely educating students - and that they weren't going to get better on their own.
From the start, we considered all relevant data and evidence as we made these decisions.
For high schools, we analyzed how many students were passing Regents exams and how many were graduating after four years. We also looked at how many students wanted to attend the schools - and how many stayed enrolled once they were there. For elementary and middle schools, we considered test scores and promotions. We also consulted with educators who knew the schools best to determine if there was any chance the schools could turn themselves around.
Starting last week, we began notifying the schools on this year's closure list.
This year's process was more transparent than in past years. We also had more information to work with: Our new school Progress Reports and the Quality Reviews we conducted last year allowed me and my colleagues (as well as parents and communities) to see just how well - or how poorly - schools are performing and make clear judgments on the merits.
We considered all schools that received grades of F and D and Quality Review scores below "well-developed." As we have in past years, we also analyzed reams of other information - including historical patterns of performance. And, thanks to the new school environment surveys, we were able for the first time to see what school communities said about their schools .
These schools face different challenges and have a range of problems - but what ties them all together are their records of academic failure.
These are schools that were not serving the needs of their children. These are schools that, for years, haven't been doing what we, as New Yorkers, expect our schools to do for our children.
Consider Franklin K. Lane HS in Queens. Last year, only about 30 percent of students graduated. That's even lower than it was a few years ago, when it was hovering around 40 percent. For years, Lane has been plagued with low performance and safety problems. A new principal started at the school a few years ago. He's done good work in a tough situation, but the challenge of reforming this particular environment from the inside out would have been too long and too slow. We can better serve the students of that community by closing Lane, and opening new schools in its place.
We can't afford to stand by as a school demonstrates such profound failure.
Back in 2003, we shut down a school that had a very similar story. Bushwick HS had a graduation rate of just 23 percent. We replaced it with four new small schools, which now make up what we call the Bushwick campus. Last year, the new schools had a combined graduation rate of nearly 60 percent -almost triple what it once was. The students literally paraded through their neighborhood in June, demonstrating the pride that they feel for their schools and their community.
It's important to note that we don't forget about the students who are attending schools that are being phased out. As we phased out Bushwick, for example, more students attended school and student achievement actually improved.
Bushwick isn't an exception. Over the last five years, closing down and phasing out schools has helped us get rid of our worst schools. Maybe more importantly, it has allowed us to create new schools, schools that are better equipped to help students succeed.
A 60 percent graduation rate isn't nearly high enough. We certainly have more work to do. But almost tripling the graduation rate for students in just four years is the kind of dramatic change that we have achieved and that we are trying to achieve in schools throughout our city.
Closing a school is one of the toughest decisions I have to make as chancellor, but it's also one of my most crucial responsibilities. I know that our school system and, more importantly, our students, will be better off because of these decisions.
Joel Klein is New York City schools chancellor.
