There is no doubt that the Academy of Collaborative Education, a public middle school located on 134th Street, has its difficulties.
The school, also known as JHS 344 or ACE, was given a grade of “F” on its annual report card two weeks ago—part of only one percent of city public schools to receive a failing grade. It has been placed on the state’s list of “persistently dangerous schools” under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The city’s Department of Education attempted to shut the school down last year, citing its low scores.
But this summer, the Manhattan Supreme Court ruled in favor of the city’s teachers union and the NAACP in their lawsuit to stop the closure of ACE and 18 other city schools. So 140 students this year are enrolled right now at ACE, down from 194 last year.
Parents and students at ACE have mixed feelings about their beleaguered school, with many citing the disruptions that resulted from teacher turnover.
Terrence Jermain, whose stepson is an eighth-grade student at ACE, said that after a few good teachers left the school, “the school crashed.”
Jermain said that he is fed up with the school’s environment, which he described as having no structure. He agreed with the city that ACE needed drastic change. “If they can’t change the way the teachers are teaching, and if they do not show any improvement, then close the school,” he said.
Renee Bell, whose daughter is an eighth-grade student at ACE, also said that teacher turnaround is a problem. “The school had a lot of good teachers they let go, and a lot of them are fairly new, and I think that has a lot to do with the schools report,” she said.
Rashaunda Shaw, the principal at ACE, did not respond to requests for comment.
ACE is open despite the city’s attempts to close it because last February, the city’s teachers union, the United Federation of Teachers, and the NAACP filed a lawsuit against the Department of Education to stop the closing of 19 New York City schools. The suit claimed that the DOE failed to comply with the school closure provisions of the school governance law, requiring community notification and a detailed Educational Impact Statement for each of the closing schools.
Michael Mulgrew, president of the UFT, said in testimony before NYC Council Committee on Education, and NYC Council Committee on Oversight and Investigations in March, “The UFT and others fought hard for changes in the school governance law precisely because we feel that it is important for the public to have a voice in important matters like this one. But such changes mean nothing if the city doesn’t follow the statutes.”
The UFT and the NAACP won the suit in April, and a judge declared that the city needed to start the process over.
In a few weeks, the DOE will begin its school closure notification process. Due to the lawsuit, the DOE must follow all the rules and regulations of the new governance law. Kenneth Cohen, regional director of the NAACP’s Metropolitan Council, said that his organization is “monitoring the process very closely.”
Meanwhile, eighth-grade student Terrell Wilder said, “School is not bad. It is just the way some of the students are.” He explained that the teachers were a little hard on the students, but that he is learning more than before, adding, “I like the school better than last year.”
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