It is one of the biggest schools in New York City – 4,447 registered students as of May 6. But, it received an A grade on the most recent academic progress report.
It is a school with a 14-period day that has some students beginning school at 7:15 a.m. and others ending at 7 p.m., sometimes prohibiting youngsters from participating in extracurricular activities or sports. But, its Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (JROTC) just won two national championships and its women’s volleyball team is 14-0, ranked No. 1 in the city.
It is a school that has been widely depicted in media reports as being the poster child for overcrowding. But, it had nearly 14,000 applicants who wanted to attend the school last year and a graduation rate of 82 percent.
These apparent contradictions have some parents, teachers and administrators at Francis Lewis High School in Fresh Meadows saying that the school has gotten too big and want the Department of Education (DOE) to help reduce the overcrowding before it has a negative effect on the school.
“Every year they [DOE officials] tell us we are going to get fewer students, and every year we get more students,” said Arthur Goldstein, United Federation of Teachers (UFT) Chapter Chair for Francis Lewis High School. “Every year they are going to make it better and every year it gets worse, and next year it’s going to get even worse. If they continue to do this to us, they will kill us, it’s just inevitable.”
During an interview on Thursday, May 6, Francis Principal Musa Ali Shama, who is in his second year at the helm of the school, said he is in frequent communication with members of the city’s DOE about enrollment for next year – having just sent an email about a proposed uptick in special education students earlier that day.
Shama, who said he is a proponent of large schools and believes they can work, acknowledged that it is a balancing act, but he believes the school right now is too crowded.
“We do have a responsibility to the community and to the city to accommodate as many kids as we can comfortably, and we’re just not comfortable right now,” Shama said.
One of Francis Lewis High School’s first yearbooks explained that the school, which just celebrated its 50th Anniversary on Saturday, May 15, was originally built to hold 2,400 students. Now, nearly every inch inside – and some space outside – the school building is being occupied.
Closets have been turned into offices. Four trailers housing eight classrooms have been placed behind the school to provide extra classroom space. Lunch periods begin before 9 .am., and navigating the hallways during a change in classes can be trickier than a pop quiz. Even with the trailers, the school is forced to run on a five-session, 14-period school day.
PTA Co-President Leslie O’Grady, who has to walk through the women’s bathroom in order to get to her office, believes that the students ultimately suffer because their academic schedule precludes them from participating in activities or clubs – something she said colleges are placing a greater emphasis on today.
“They want to see a well-rounded person and how can you do that when you’re in high school and you go to school until 5, 6, 7 p.m. at night?” O’Grady asked.
From September through April of this year, Francis Lewis took in 491 new students, according to Shama, which is equivalent to the total enrollment at some entire small schools. Although he said that the register projection for next year is slightly down, he did not seem confident that next year’s class would be significantly less.
“It’s very difficult to prepare; essentially, we prepare for the worst, and we adjust accordingly,” Shama said. “My real concern is what happens come August right before school starts and you get over the counter [students]. That’s where you can pick up a lot of kids.”
In a statement, the DOE said it will be “opening 2,700 new secondary school seats in Queens to help alleviate overcrowding and have opened a number of high schools in middle school buildings to help provide additional high school seats. This includes 750 new ninth grade seats for the coming school year.”
The DOE also said that it has been working with the school to admit more zoned students to their screened programs to reduce the overcrowding.
Goldstein, who teaches ESL classes in a trailer in back of the school, has attended meetings with representatives from the DOE to talk about the need to decrease the enrollment at and believes the DOE is the enemy.
“They say children first – coming from them it’s preposterous,” Goldstein said. “They’re not helping our kids. They’re not helping our schools. In fact, it’s their job to support us and they’re trying to kill us.”
Meanwhile, school representatives, teachers and parents continue to engage in discussions with the DOE about ways to reduce enrollment for September.
“We’re not asking for something dramatic to happen; we’re not asking for a new building to be attached to our building; we’re asking for a reduction of the children coming to the school so that within the next four to five years we’ll get down to a decent amount that we can handle so that we can reduce the amounts of periods per day,” O’Grady said.
Shama said that no matter what happens to the enrollment figures next year, the school will not regress.
“We’re not going backwards; we’re just going to get better,” Shama said.
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