The city Department of Education plans to close more than a dozen struggling schools — including the Bronx high school where a student was stabbed to death by a classmate earlier this year, officials announced Monday.
Nine of the high schools the city is proposing to close are part of Mayor de Blasio’s controversial Renewal Schools program for low-performing public schools.
The Urban Assembly School for Wildlife Conservation in East Tremont — where Abel Cedeno, 18, fatally stabbed Matthew McCree, 15, with a switchblade inside a classroom in September — is one of five non-Renewal schools the city plans to shutter.
Only 15 kids listed the school as their first choice for 6th grade next year — an exceedingly low number, according to the DOE.
Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina said the department wanted to remove students from “what is seen as a school that had a trauma in it.”
“It’s having a fresh start for the students and for many of the teachers who went out on leave,” she said.
Cedeno, who claims he was bullied because of his sexuality, faces a manslaughter charge for the slaying. He’s pleaded not guilty.
The city also plans to merge five Renewal schools with other campuses.
Many schools marked for closure were being abandoned by parents. Some had enrollments of fewer than 200 kids slated for next year, Farina said.
While the DOE didn’t add any schools to the Renewal program, Farina denied that the initiative, a cornerstone of de Blasio’s education platform, is headed for extinction.
“We’re not giving up,” she said. “We’re just kind of tweaking a little bit about where the support is needed and the schools that will be in year four will be schools we feel need that extra year to show the next level of success.”
The DOE also revealed Monday that new schools will replace some of those being shuttered. More information about those projects will be released in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, the teachers’ union also issued a press release Monday, urging the DOE to improve their retention of city instructors.
“The schools on this list are generally characterized by high staff turnover, averaging nearly 60 percent over four years and as high as 83 percent,” said UFT president Michael Mulgrew.
“The first challenge the DOE will face in the schools that replace the closing operations is finding ways to attract and retain teachers.”