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Deputy Schools Chancellor Shael Suransky told a hostile audience at the Jan. 31 hearing that the plans to close the school with 1,039 students at 40 Irving Place were made in December because of the school’s poor performance over the past few years.
Graduation rates for the past 10 years have been at or below 55 percent, and were only 48 percent last year, well below the 65 percent citywide average. Moreover, Washington Irving received an “F” grade on its 2010-11 annual progress report, according to the Department of Education.
But school advocates and union representatives of the United Federation of Teachers said the failures of Washington Irving were largely caused by the city for packing more high-need students into the school compared with other schools and not providing the resources to help them.
Advocates recalled that Washington Irving teachers and department officials came up with a transformation plan last fall to improve the Gramercy-area school. But on Dec. 22 the department presented the phase-out with the replacement in the building by two smaller high schools, one, the Academy for Software Engineering, and the other as yet unnamed but possibly themed for health services.
City Councilmember Rosie Mendez, whose district includes Washington Irving, told the hearing she opposed the planned closing of the school.
“There hasn’t been sufficient time to implement the transformation plan,” Mendez said. “The school has been improving recently, but over the last four months Washington Irving has been fighting against the closeout,” she added.
Timing of the phase-out plan “shows a lack of respect for the democratic process, and lets everyone know that this is a done deal,” Mendez said. “Don’t rubber-stamp this plan. My community should not be punished by closing this school,” she said.
The Panel on Education Priority, the governing entity of the education department with a majority of its members appointed by the mayor, is expected to decide on the plan at its Feb. 9 meeting.
If approved, the phase-out begins in September 2012 when no ninth grade class would be admitted.
Washington Irving High is the only school in the building involved in the closing. There are three other schools at 40 Irving Place. Gramercy Arts High School began admitting students after auditions last year. The High School for Language and Diplomacy began admitting students this year, and so did the International High School at Union Square.
“Closing Washington Irving is not going to help students currently enrolled,” said Sarah Chu, a member of the District 2 Community Education Council appointed by Borough President Scott Stringer. “Why is the city concentrating high-need students in a few schools? We know that increased diversity in a school leads to success,” she said. “We’re creating a two-tiered education system,” Chu declared.
“When a school closes there is a lot of pain, and there are all these schools that have failed,” Gregory Lundahl, the U.F.T. chapter president at Washington Irving, said at the Tuesday meeting. “The mayor has winning schools and losing schools and the plan seems to be that students with the highest risk are placed in the losing schools so that other schools have higher scores,” Lundahl said. He charged that Washington Irving received a federal grant in November that the city took away three months later.
Suransky, however, said the federal grant was withheld from all schools because of a disagreement between state officials and the U.F.T. Suransky also said that other schools with high-need students have been able to improve.
