Bushwick Community School Begs to Remain

Bushwick Community High School is fighting for its right to stay open and to service kids in need.  This is a “transfer” school on Palmetto Street that helps 420 students who have exhausted most other options.  They are now facing the possibility of being temporarily closed and having half of the teachers fired after they’ve appeared on the Education Dept.’s list that includes 33 city schools called “persistently low-achieving.”

The plan if the proposal goes through would include temporarily shutting down the school and overhauling the staff at the 33 targeted locations.  This is part of the mayor’s plan to get $58 million in federal grant money.

Begging Mayor Bloomberg for Change

In a letter to Mayor Bloomberg, the teachers wrote,

“Taking such a step would recklessly intensify a process which is already being misapplied to our school and would be a mistake with dire consequences for the young people of New York City who are at risk.”

Spokesman Frank Thomas for the Education Department said that, "Students who are missing credits deserve all the help we can offer, and we believe that proposing the Turnaround model for this school is an opportunity to ensure that students get the high quality instruction and program they need to complete their high school education.”

Conflicting Interests

Aaron Boyle, a teacher at the Bushwick Community High School, argued that new accountability system is interfering with helping the students. As he said, “We as a transfer school have a very specific mission and we’ve always sought to support that mission. The penalty coming out of this current accountability system is getting in the way of the work that helps struggling students.”