Families For Excellent Schools Response To Panel for Educational Policy Vote to Close or Merge Eight Renewal Schools

Statement on Panel for Educational Policy Vote to Close Eight Renewal Schools

New York, NY – Families for Excellent Schools’ CEO Jeremiah Kittredge released the following statement in response to last night’s Panel for Educational Policy vote to close or merge eight Renewal schools.

Jeremiah Kittredge, CEO, Families for Excellent Schools:

“We already knew that Mayor de Blasio’s Renewal School program was failing and last night’s vote to close or merge just eight Renewal Schools is proof that his team still isn’t willing to put students first. Six renewal high schools and 23 renewal elementary schools that will remain open next year have lower graduation rates and fewer students performing at grade level than those that were voted on last night. If the Mayor wants to do what’s best for New York City students, he should abandon this failed experiment and give parents the public school choices they deserve.”

Six of the renewal high schools that will remain open next year — or nearly 20 percent of those currently operating — reported graduation rates below Leadership Institute’s, which the Panel for Educational Policy voted to close last night.

23 of the renewal elementary and middle schools that will remain open next year — or nearly 40 percent of those currently operating — reported ELA-Math pass rates below MS 584’s, which the Panel for Educational Policy voted to close last night.

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Leadership Institute graduated just 51.1 percent of its seniors on time last year – but six renewal high schools that will remain open performed even worse:

· Juan Morel Secondary Campos Secondary School: 49.1% graduation rate
· Bronx High School of Business: 48.5% graduation rate
· DeWitt Clinton High School: 47.7%graduation rate
· Coalition School for Social Change: 46.3% graduation rate
· Banana Kelly High School: 45.2% graduation rate
· August Martin High School: 38.6% graduation rate

Frederick Douglass Academy IV Secondary School and Automotive High School are the two renewal high schools that will merge with their co-located schools. In 2016, they graduated 63.2 percent and 56.3 percent of their seniors on time, respectively.

· 15 renewal high schools that will remain open had lower graduation rates than Frederick Douglass Academy IV
· 10 renewal high schools that will remain open had lower graduation rates than Automotive High School

At the elementary and middle school level, renewal school MS 584 will be closed after just 10 percent of students scored at grade level in reading and math in 2016 – but 23 renewal schools that scored even lower will remain open next year. These include:

· M.S. 301 Paul L. Dunbar: 5 percent of students at grade level
· Henry Street School for International Studies: 5 percent of students at grade level
· The Hunts Point School: 5 percent of students at grade level
· Urban Science Academy: 6 percent of students at grade level
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