The New York City Department of Education just announced yesterday that they would be shutting down four more schools for bad performance. The schools that will be shut down are: a technical school in Brooklyn, a school in the Bronx, and two more in Manhattan. The closings need to be approved by the Panel for Educational Policy, which is headed by the mayor (who proposed the closings of the schools in an attempt to overhaul the city's school system). The closings are determined by the school's report cards, and schools with especially low grades like D's or F's are the most at risk. One of the schools that were announced to be closed Wednesday is Maxwell, where 990 students received an F on the school's report card three years ago, but the new principal has turned it around to a D. Although this improvement is small, teachers were given bonuses for their hard work. Still, the school has been announced to close because even though the new principal has enforced a strict behavior and attendance rules, there are still problems. One sophomore at the school said that "Kids be smoking in the hallways".
I think that although it is sad that schools need to close and people will lose jobs, it seems like a necessary thing to do. If the students aren't improving and "smoking in the hallways", something needs to change. However, shutting down the school and sending them somewhere else- is that sending them the right message? Or is this something that just needs to be done?
Tuesday Late Night Open Thread
3 hours ago
11 comments:
Obviously, these schools need serious reform. If the "kids be smoking in the hallways," something definitely needs to be done. I really don't think shutting down schools is the way to go though. For example: My cousin goes to Bronx High School of Science right now, (which, by the way, is the 33rd best high school in the nation!) and if his school was shut down, I know it would be a ton of trouble for his family to find another school, which may cause his family to possibly relocate. This creates a bevy of problems, which definitely won't help turn academic lives around. Instead of taking an easy way out, I think reform programs need to be installed by a volunteer program perhaps? I don't know, it just doesn't sit right with me that they're closing schools down.
I feel that shutting down a school will not solve the problem of making sure that students' attitudes and grades improve. The students that went to the school that will be shut down will simply attend other schools and not all schools can be shut down.
Although change needs to occur, there should be a different resolution to this problem.
-Molly Cheng
This is really upsetting. Shouldn't the schools be commended for an improvement, even if it is small. If these schools are shut down, it is just seems to be yet another way to move kids around without addressing their needs. These schools and these students need help, and being thrust into a better school when they are already behind can't be helpful.
I think that even though the kids are performing poorly in school, the schools should try even harder to encourage the students. Since there was already some improvement, there could be a possibility for more improvement. Also, the principal should try even harder to enforce the rules and make sure that any student who violates it is severely punished. If the schools shut down, the students will remain the same and won't achieve much in life.
Britney, I do not believe that the city shut down the school are because of "people smoking in the hallways" and other forms of behavior, it is the poor performance of the students. What is the point of a school if its students aren't learning? That school, especially in these times, will be just a drain on city budget. Though it pains me to say this, people can scrape by with B's and C's as long as they apply themselves. If they're getting D's and F's, I feel that it may be because of the student's lack of motivation that the school clearly is not giving them.
Phoebe, with the current economic status, volunteer programs aren't as easy to get. Also, the city is running out of money, they don't have time to wait it out. Maybe they'll open the school again next year. But for now, I don't think they'll be able to support it, especially because of the abysmal results.
Molly, yes, they can go to another school, but the average spent per student will still go down, thus saving the system money. Maybe the students will be even more motivated when at their new school.
Sally, why not? They're being challenged even more, thus the motivated will be motivated to do more whereas the slackers will not drain as much out of the system.
Yvonne, it's easy to say we need to enforce more rules, but what can they do? Say they're in a school of 2000, how can a handful of administrators and teachers crack down on rule enforcement within a matter of days? I don't think the city would want to wait for results, because, again, the money issue.
Dang, Franklin beat me to most of the good stuff, well I'll add what I can.
First, it is understood that we are in the economic toilet, we should all realize this by now and understand things need to be cut for the greater good as horrid as that sounds. More importantly the average is a D. Think about what that means. These people are either stupid or really don't care about school, I'm inclined to believe the latter. That means no matter where you send the kids they will just be a drag on the educational system so I feel worse for the other schools having to accept these students. More importantly, an average of a D means that it isn't five people getting bad grades, it's an ENTIRE SCHOOL.
Phoebe- Not to offend you in any way, but there is no possible way that the 33rd highschool in the nation is getting shut down, that's a little absurd. Comparing a good school to a bad one doesn't quite work.
Jeff,
If you were reading closely, you would know that I wasn't comparing a good school to a bad school. I was just making an example of a family (being my cousin's) who would go under a lot of trouble if his school were to get shut down. "if his school was shut down, I know it would be a ton of trouble for his family to find another school."
I just HAPPENED to throw in there that it was a good school, just as an unrelated little fact. (Look at the parenthesis.) Mainly because I am proud of him :)
"Sally, why not? They're being challenged even more, thus the motivated will be motivated to do more whereas the slackers will not drain as much out of the system."
This sounds very "survival-of-the-fittest" to me.
I think that even if the school's performance level was averaged to be at a D grade, shutting down the schools was a step in the wrong direction. If the school was showing a little bit of progress due to the principal changing some policies around, I think that the school should've been kept open for a while longer to see if any further change would've occurred (and in what direction) or if any new ideas could've been presented so as to bring about more positive change. Shutting down these schools before any significant amount of change occurred could very well have been a mistake. Also, by shutting down these schools, that many more people have now added on to the unemployment rate of the economy. While I understand that cuts need to be made due to the current economy, the government should at least attempt to save as many jobs as possible for educators, maybe by trying to relocate them to other schools even.
I dunno. This just makes me sad. :[
-Annie Yang
I suppose that if some schools that have such corrupt systems and no basic rules, then there is not really much of a choice. A lot of those kids that smoke in hallways or sell drugs within the schools obviously need someone to better their situations, so why not obligate them to move into more disciplined schools.
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