The Department of Education’s (DOE) proposal to co-locate a new district high school in Long Island City H.S. (LIC H.S.), along with 19 other proposals for co-locations citywide, was approved by the Panel for Educational Policy (PEP).
“All of the co-locations are getting approved by a vote of eight to four…disregarding public outcry and disagreement,” said Queens PEP representative Dmytro Fedkowskyj on Twitter at the October 30 meeting that went on past 1 a.m.
At an October 23 public hearing, testimony was unanimously opposed to the idea of co-locating a new Career and Technical Education H.S. in the Long Island City H.S. building at 14-30 Broadway, beginning in September, 2014.
State Senator Michael Gianaris, Assemblymember Aravella Simotas, Assemblymember Catherine Nolan and representatives for Councilmembers Daniel Dromm, Jimmy Van Bramer and Peter Vallone Jr., as well as Fedkowskyj all spoke against the proposal.
So did Community District Education Council 30 President Rachel Paster, representatives from the LIC H.S. Student Leadership Team, the United Federation of Teachers and the Council of Supervisors and Administrators and the Citywide District 75 Community Education Council representative.
The PEP, composed of a majority of mayoral appointees, has never voted down a city proposal and has now approved 37 co-locations in the month of October alone at two meetings held on the 15th and 30th, with more changes coming up at meetings scheduled in November and December.
Amid accusations that the Bloomberg administration is rushing to enact school changes that will go into effect after the mayor’s term in office ends on December 31, more than 1,100 schools now share space in about 540 buildings. DOE defines a co-location to mean that two or more school organizations are located in the same building and may share common spaces like auditoriums, gyms and cafeterias.
“A lot of times people view their (school) buildings as their own buildings,” said Chancellor Dennis Walcott in an October 30 Schoolbook.com post. “These are buildings that are available for students of New York City and our goal is to make sure that we maximize the use of that space.”
Gianaris, a LIC H.S. graduate said the plan would hurt the school.
“After failing to close [LIC H.S.] entirely last year, DOE is now trying to achieve the same result surreptitiously despite LIC’s steady improvement,” said Gianaris, in an October 24 statement. Gianaris suggested DOE place a tech program in LIC H.S. for existing students.
The DOE plans to integrate the CTE school, year by year, with 460 students planned by 2017- 2018. Despite a current enrollment of 2,524 and 117 percent capacity, DOE maintains LIC H.S. is losing students and is not improving in performance.
“CTE programs integrate academic study with workforce skills in specific career clusters. Students receive instruction in an industry-related area and have the opportunity to graduate high school with industry-specific competencies and skills that lead to postsecondary education, further industry training and/or entry into the workforce,” according to the DOE.
Opposing the co-location, Community District Education Council 30 cited recent studies demonstrating that “small high schools are unable to offer the kind of challenging college preparatory coursework NYC students need”.
CDEC 30 noted that LIC H.S. offers 26 Advanced Placement courses and Regents level courses in 17 subjects.
“The DOE, under Mayor Bloomberg, has made no secret of its antipathy to large high schools,” said CDEC 30.
