MOTT HAVEN — A South Bronx high school that had struggled with low graduation rates and low student enrollment will shut down at the end of the current school year following a vote from the city.
The Department of Education had proposed shutting down the Foreign Language Academy of Global Studies at the end of the academic year in February, and on Wednesday, the department's Panel for Educational Policy voted unanimously to close the school.
The school, located at 470 Jackson Ave. in Mott Haven, employs 16 full-time teachers and serves 101 students in grades nine through 12, and it had seen a 55 percent decline in enrollment since the 2012-13 school year, according to the DOE.
Additionally, just 2 percent of the students at FLAGS graduate prepared for college, the DOE said.
Although the city expects to find new jobs for most of the teachers who work at FLAGS, Aixa Rodriguez, a teacher at the school, was still very upset about the decision to close down her workplace.
"Some of us felt like we were evicted," she said. "We felt invaded during regents week when the walkthrough came through."
"I feel as if this was really rushed," she continued.
Rodriguez also said that her students were confused by the move, but Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña said a team would be coming to the school to meet with parents and students and develop a plan for each child.
"Our plan is to have an individualized plan for every child that will be explained to that child in their native language," she said.
