LOWER EAST SIDE — Jenny Martinez said her son cried when rumors started swirling that the city was considering closing his school, P.S. 137, last month.
The Lower East Sider explained that her fifth-grader is an above-average student and had a lot of expectations from the East Broadway elementary school, but that news of it landing on a list of the city’s failing schools sent shockwaves through the community there.
Now, nearly a month after the Department of Education graded P.S. 137 John L. Bernstein among the 20 lowest-performing schools in the five boroughs, Martinez’s son fears what will happen to the only school he’s ever attended.
“He feels alone and doesn’t like what’s happening,” Martinez said, as a fellow parent translated her words from Spanish.
While the DOE’s decision to place P.S. 137 on the list after it earned an “F” on its latest progress report does not definitely mean the school will close, the designation has unsettled many staff and parents at the 233-student, pre-kindergarten through fifth-grade school.
“It’s been difficult,” said one teacher at P.S. 137, who agreed to speak if she could remain anonymous. “For those teachers who are giving 100 percent, they need to give 200 percent. There aren’t enough hours in the day.”
Just two years ago, P.S. 137 received an “A” grade on its progress report and only showed signs of slipping last year, when its grade dropped to a “C.”
On its 2010-’11 progress report, the DOE ranked the school in the bottom 18 percent of schools citywide for student performance in English, as well as in the bottom 12 percent for mathematics.
It earned an “F” grade in the "student progress" category and a “D” grade in the "student performance" category. It's highest mark — a “C” grade — came in the "school environment" category, which ranked in the bottom 40 percent for attendance and bottom 42 percent for communication.
The school’s principal, Melissa Rodriguez, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
While the DOE would not comment on what the future holds for P.S. 137, a spokesman did say that the department is engaging the school to find out what’s wrong.
“We are working with parents, students and school leadership to get a picture of what is working and what isn’t in these [failing] schools,” said DOE spokesman Thomas Francis.
The P.S. 37 teacher said the school lost five teachers last year through a combination of retirement and other staff turnover, but noted that the faculty is redoubling its efforts now that the school is on the hot seat.
“As a result [of the DOE ranking], I get the sense that most of the teachers are committed to saving the school,” the teacher said, adding that parents have also used it as a rallying cry.
“Even before the school was a failing school, I understand that the principal had higher standards and expectations to create an ‘A’ school,” the teacher continued. “Now, given the circumstances, those standards and expectations are still in place, but with more urgency.”
P.S. 137 — which was relocated to its current location at 293 Broadway in 2006 after sharing space with the Shuang Wen School on Cherry Street — has seen some shuffling of classes this year, parents said.
Nancy Bermejo, who has a daughter in fifth grade, said she expected P.S. 137 to have two fifth-grade classes this school year after having two fourth-grade classes last year.
However, her daughter arrived to find only one fifth-grade class this year, filled with 29 children.
“I think that’s too much for the kids,” said Bermejo, noting that the school has shown improvements in some aspects over the past few years but has failed in other respects.
For instance, she explained, the staff has always been “very good” at P.S. 137, but her daughter has not gotten help with her attention problems, and parents have been less involved with the school over the past two years. However, Bermejo’s daughter is “still happy,” and her mother now has direct access with her teachers in a way she didn't have before.
She added that P.S. 137’s move to East Broadway — where it currently shares space with the 382-student elementary school P.S. 134 — might have contributed to its difficulties.
“That is a problem,” Bermejo said. “Maybe [the parents] decided to take their kids to other schools.”
Fellow parent Martinez said the city showed favoritism to Shuang Wen in relocating P.S. 137, attributing the decision to the DOE doing more for the high-achieving dual language school than P.S. 137’s mostly low-income, minority population.
“If the DOE doesn’t give [resources] to the school, how do they expect it to achieve?” she said in Spanish.
The head of the downtown school district’s Community Education Council believes the city’s revamped criteria for its progress reports unfairly cast the school as a failing one, when it earned an “A” grade only two years ago.
“About 60 percent of schools citywide had grade changes,” said CEC 1 president Lisa Donlan, adding that anytime a school is relocated, students suffer.
“With co-location, you have a winner and a loser.”
She explained that P.S. 137’s poor marks could result in many possible outcomes, including hiring more staff, replacing about half the staff, replacing the school with a charter school or full closure.
And while closing the school is still far from being determined, parents and students said the writing is on the wall.
“The teachers seem to have a sad expression,” Martinez’s fifth-grade daughter said.
“Before they paid attention to the kids a little more,” Bermejo added. “I don’t know what changed inside the school.”
