“Phased-Out”: Voices from Students on the Inside
Since the year 2000, the New York City Department of Education has closed 21 high schools serving 33,000 students. A recent report by the Urban Youth Collaborative demonstrated the destructive impact that these closings has had on graduation and dropout rates of students in those schools. These statistics represent actual students, who have experienced these shocks first-hand, but all too often their voices have not been heard. Below are the voices of three students speaking about how being in a phase-out school has affected them and their school.
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Wilvin Lopez, Samuel Gompers High School
I attend Samuel Gompers High School and I’m a leader at Sistas and Brothas United. The schools currently being targeted on the closing and PLA list (Persistently Lowest-Achieving schools) have high percentages of Black and Latino students, low-income students, English Language Learners, students with special needs, overage students and students who entered high school below grade level. New York State Education Department reviews of 17 PLA schools report that in 14 PLA schools, the DOE has not provided the assistance and support necessary for improvement.
In my opinion, the DOE doesn’t really give us the opportunity to show them what we have. They just close our schools down based on what they want to see. They don
’t want to pay attention to all those students who are constantly fighting and working hard to keep their schools
