More spin by School Chancellor Joel Klein and Mayor Michael Bloomberg - as noted below these 6 new schools will share existing buildings...NYC needs new school buildings, not breaking up over-crowded schools into 4 or 5 schools within the existing structures...
Students in Queens weighing their options about where to start high school this fall will have more choices this year.
The city recently announced that 25 new small schools will open in September. But a Feb. 25 deadline for interested applicants leaves no time to dillydally.
"They have a month," said Education Department spokeswoman Melody Meyer, who noted that most students had already picked schools they learned about from high school fairs last October.
"If they see something they like, they can resubmit their application," she added.
Six new schools will open at various locations in Queens, but high schoolers may attend school in any borough.
In addition to offering the requisite high school curriculum, the Academy for Careers in Television and Film, which does not have a location yet, is set to offer unique courses such as introductions to screenwriting and directing.
Another school, the Queens High School for Information, Research and Technology in Far Rockaway, will train students in Web design and scientific research techniques.
The new schools are part of a continuing push by the Bloomberg administration to transform unwieldy and sometimes dangerous large public high schools into boutique "small schools" with student populations capped at 525.
Since 2002, schools Chancellor Joel Klein has opened 278 small high schools in the city, and credits the model with nearly doubling graduation rates in many schools.
But some critics call the push for smaller schools inequitable, and say the effort is a catalyst for overcrowding.
"Every kid, no matter where they go to school, should get the benefit of smaller classes," said Leonie Haimson, president of educational advocacy group Class Size Matters. "Instead, some kids are getting better opportunities but at the cost of other kids, who are getting shafted."
Many of the new schools - like Queens Collegiate, which will open on the campus of Jamaica High School - share space at existing schools. As the small school grows one grade per year, the larger school often struggles to accommodate everyone, Haimson said.
"They should be creating more facilities," said Haimson. "Instead they keep squeezing more and more small schools into already overcrowded schools."
