54 New Schools To Open in September

April 17, 2012 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

Share this:

But Others May Close,
Including John Dewey H.S.

By Mary Frost
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

NEW YORK — The city will open 54 new schools next September, including an academy of software engineering for grades 9 through 12, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said this afternoon.

The new schools, many to be located in Brooklyn, will serve more than 21,000 students. This will bring the number of schools the Bloomberg administration has created to 589, the Mayor’s Office said in a news release. Thirty of the new schools will be traditional public schools, and 24 will be charter schools.

“New schools have changed thousands of lives in New York City for the better, helping more students graduate and prepare for college and careers,” Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said in a statement.

The Mayor made the announcement at Washington Irving High School in Manhattan, the site of the future software and engineering school.

“The Academy for Software Engineering is a visionary school that will equip New York City’s children with the tools they need to succeed and help shape the world,” said Chief Digital Officer Rachel Sterne.

The mayor has closed roughly 140 public schools, many of them larger than the schools that replaced them, since taking over the school system. He is facing increasing resistance from parents and representatives over the closures.

The mayor aims to close at least 23 schools — such as John Dewey High School in Brooklyn — at the next Panel for Educational Policy meeting on April 26, and fire up to half of the teachers who work in them. This would bring to 49 the number of schools closing at the end of this schools year.

Parents, students and teachers have announced a rally against the school closures.

Today, mayoral candidate (and former comptroller) Bill Thompson called for a moratorium on the closing of public schools until 2013, according to published sources.