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Bronx Parents Fleeing Low-Performing Schools, Advocacy Group Says

By Eddie Small | February 27, 2015 11:42am | Updated on March 2, 2015 8:51am
 The Foreign Language Academy of Global Studies has seen a significant decline in enrollment, according to Families for Excellent Schools.
The Foreign Language Academy of Global Studies has seen a significant decline in enrollment, according to Families for Excellent Schools.
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DNAinfo/Eddie Small

THE BRONX — Families are fleeing some of The Bronx's lowest-performing public schools in droves, according to a report from the charter school advocacy group Families for Excellent Schools.

At 33 of the lowest-performing schools in the borough, student enrollment has declined by roughly a third since 2009, while enrollment at all other Bronx schools has increased by 10 percent, the report found.

The lobbying group, which has been an outspoken critic of the quality of the city's public schools, also found that applications to Bronx charter schools have risen by 63 percent since 2010. The waiting list for seats at Bronx charter schools was about 16,300 students this school year, the highest of all five boroughs, the group said.

"Parents are voting with their feet to choose better schools for their kids," said Jeremiah Kittredge, CEO of Families for Excellent Schools, "and it shows us that there’s a clear vote of no confidence in efforts to turn around failing schools to date."

The Department of Education slammed the report, noting that three of the schools mentioned had phased out grade levels or were targeted for enrollment reduction.

Arturo Toscanini/MS145, the Urban Science Academy and Dr. Roland N. Patterson School had grade levels removed, which is why their enrollment decreased, the DOE said.

“This report is grossly misleading," DOE spokesman Harry Hartfield said in an email. "It includes multiple schools where the enrollment reduction was a result of our decision, and it ignores the fact that many of these schools are part of our Renewal School Program and dramatic improvement plans are already underway.”

Families for Excellent Schools maintained that enrollment declines took place at these schools even after controlling for removed grades.

Enrollment fell by at least 20 percent at each of the 33 schools between 2009 and 2014, and at six of the schools, it dropped by 40 percent or more, the report says.

Over the same period at all other Bronx schools, combined enrollment increased by more than 10 percent, and it went up by 12 percent at schools that exceeded city averages for college readiness or proficiency, the report found.

"The Bronx is home to New York City's worst educational dysfunction," the report reads. "It is no surprise that failure on such a large scale has led to a stampede for the exits."

The 10 schools with the biggest enrollment declines include I.S. 339, where enrollment dropped from about 800 in 2009 to less than 600 in 2014; the Globe School for Environmental Research, which fell from just less than 500 to about 300 students; and the Foreign Language Academy of Global Studies, where enrollment dropped from about 450 to about 150.

The schools with the sharpest declines in enrollment reported an average of 14 violent or disruptive incidents per 100 students in the 2013-14 school year, the report says, including Banana Kelly High School, where a student pepper-sprayed the principal and at least 13 others in 2011, and Bronx Mathematics Preparatory, which the state has identified as a persistently dangerous school.

Representatives from those schools did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Kittredge maintained that the report demonstrated the need for the state to take over failing schools.

"To date, the de Blasio administration has been wholly unwilling to tackle this crisis head on," he said. "If they won’t, then Bronx families deserve all the help they can get."