For Immediate Release
Feb 6, 2008 5:14 PM
On February 6, New York State Education Commissioner Richard Mills added 15 schools to the list of Schools Under Registration Review, six of which are in New York City. SURR schools can be shut down by the state if they don't improve academic results. Seven schools improved enough to be removed from the list, four in New York City. This bring the total number of schools on the SURR list to 68 statewide, with 32 of them in New York City.
Mills also announced that he had reached agreements with New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein and the superintendents of the Buffalo and Yonkers school districts to phase out a total of eight current SURR schools. Five of the schools slated to close are in New York City.
An additional five schools that would have been placed on the SURR list will be closed instead, four in New York City.
“While it’s good to see that four city schools came off the SURR list, we are concerned that we’re not seeing more schools coming off the list as in the past. In 2002, 12 schools were taken off, and in 2005 16 came off. We are also concerned to see that five of the six city schools newly added to the list are middle schools – similar to last year when eight of nine schools on the list were middle schools. Clearly, our middle schools are not getting the supports they need.
“We need a consistent, educationally sound plan to support and assist schools once they are identified as SURR, including smaller class size, a varied curriculum and meaningful professional development. Instead, the Department of Education’s plan consists of closing five SURR schools. For example, High School – which only learned of its SURR status in March 2007 – is slated for closing rather than being given the opportunity to improve.
“And then there’s another twist: This year, the Department of Education has decided to close four schools rather than have them identified (or re-identified) as SURR. We believe that closing schools should be the last resort, not a first step.”