Three West Harlem public schools were added to a list of schools that the Department of Education is considering closing next September.
The list includes 47 schools with which the DOE will have “early engagement conversations” to determine whether the school should eventually be closed or given another opportunity to improve.
Three of the schools recently added—Frederick Douglass Academy II Secondary School, Wadleigh High School for the Performing & Visual Arts, and Opportunity Charter School—are located on the same block, between 113th and 114th streets and between Frederick Douglass and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. boulevards.
The 27 schools added to the list last week brings the total number under review to 47.
The schools are evaluated according to the DOE’s school progress reports, quality reviews, state evaluations, and any ongoing efforts on the part of the school to make improvements.
The middle school for Frederick Douglass Academy II, the section of the school listed for closure, has received a C on the DOE’s progress reports for the past two years, while Wadleigh High School received a D for this year’s progress report after having earned a B on the 2009-2010 report. In contrast, Opportunity Charter School saw an improvement, from a C to a B, between the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 reports.
Wadleigh’s Principal, Herma Hall, said she expects her school to improve and regain the better progress report standing that it had prior to this year’s report.
“We have not had this extremely low grade for two consecutive years so we should not be slated for closure. We are working very hard to take ourselves back to where we were two years ago, double A,” Hall wrote in an email.
According to DOE regulations, a detailed proposal and assessment process must be completed before closure can occur, including extensive consideration of the closure’s impact on the students and the community. The process takes into account potential uses of the building and previous efforts on the part of the DOE to aid in the school’s improvement efforts.
Noah Gotbaum, a member of the District 3 Community Education Council, feels that the addition of Wadleigh, FDA II, and Opportunity Charter to the closure list is unwarranted.
“The parents are going to fight like hell, the teachers, the community, they will fight for these schools. The parents want their kids in these schools, they see them going in the right direction,” Gotbaum said.
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