De Blasio's First School Closures Up for a Vote

The plan to shutter three New York City public schools is expected to be approved by the Panel for Educational Policy Wednesday night, marking a notable moment in Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration: his first district school closures.

City officials said that M.S. 596 Peace Academy, The School for the Urban Environment and Foundations Academy High School — all in Brooklyn — were struggling academically, had low enrollment and showed signs of even further decline in student interest.

Still, closure hurts, school faculty and families said.

"This is an extremely difficult time for us," said Kourtney Boyd, principal of The School for the Urban Environment. "I personally started this school, and this is like my baby."

She worked hard to increase enrollment. The middle school had 47 students enrolled at the end of last school; this year, 82 students. But the school was still less than 25 percent full.

Because of the small size, the school felt like family and the news of its closure hit hard.

“We’re talking about people who are 10, 11 and 12 years old who are having a difficult time processing this," Boyd said. "And regardless of what numbers say, regardless of what you hear about our test scores, we’re a success story. We take the kids that nobody else wants and we educate them every single day.”

Located in the same building as Urban Environment, Foundations Academy High School focused on students who were far behind but making progress.

Principal Neil Monheit said at a public hearing earlier this month that Foundation's graduation rate almost tripled and attendance greatly improved in the past year and a half.

As a matter of policy, de Blasio has shied away from closing schools in favor of giving troubled schools extra resources through school "Renewal" or community schools programs. Two of the schools up for closure, Peace Academy and Foundations, were part of the Renewal program.

Still, education officials said the schools were too small, with too few staff, to make sustainable improvements.

As for what would go into the vacated spaces, there are plans to co-locate Brooklyn Prospect Charter School in the building now housing Peace Academy. Department of Education spokesman Harry Hartfield said the co-location would be temporary while construction of private space for Brooklyn Prospect is completed. 

Hartfield said, as of yet, there were no plans for the space potentially vacated by Foundations Academy and The School for the Urban Environment, both co-located in the same building along with a District 75 school and Success Academy Bed-Stuy 1. 

"We are continuing to engage with each school community around potential proposals for 2016-2017," Hartfield said. "No final decisions have been made."

The city also recently announced that it would close three charter schools at the end of the school year: Beginning with Children, Lefferts Garden Charter School and Staten Island Community Charter.