I wanted to take the opportunity to voice my concerns about what has clearly been the systemic destruction of Jamaica High School by the New York City Department of Education (DOE). I speak not only as an elected official, but as the parent of two public-school students and a very proud alumnus of Jamaica High School.
I have many concerns regarding the recent decision by the Panel for Educational Policy in voting to close Jamaica High School. Before the DOE makes a decision to close down schools, we must ensure that these schools have been given adequate resources to properly educate our children and that the DOE is using accurate and correct evaluation measures to determine a school closure.
The current system and criteria used by the DOE to determine whether a school should be closed is not clear, reliable or consistent. For example, one school that was scheduled to close last year received a “D” on its Progress Report, yet still received a rating of “proficient” on its quality review. It is not clear how other schools that receive near failing grades on both their progress reports and quality reviews are allowed to be kept open, however, schools that are slowly getting better and receive “proficient” marks on their progress report are forced to close by the DOE
The DOE is manipulating schools to fail so that they can clean out the staff and administration through the back door. Since 2003, Jamaica High has had a 63 percent reduction in school support staff, including secretaries, guidance counselors and paraprofessionals. Jamaica High has the most over-the-counter registrations of any school in the city, which has prevented administrators from developing a concise budget to deal with a transient student population. Over the last four years, it has become the primary intake school for last-minute admissions and could not compete with specialized first-choice schools
Closing schools should be a last resort – not an automatic response when things are not going well. The DOE takes steps to install new leadership at failing schools, but doesn’t give them time to make lasting changes.
At Jamaica High, the recently appointed principal, Walter Acham, has admirably reversed trends and has started to make progress, but has only been on the job for little more than two years – nowhere near an acceptable amount of time to make an assessment of a school team’s capabilities. I stand by my conviction that the dissolution of Jamaica High School is not the change that is needed. Jamaica High School has neither been given the ability to flourish, nor the resources that have been legislatively allocated.
It is my contention that the Department of Education has purposely employed a systematic deconstruction of Jamaica High School by co-locating three smaller schools within Jamaica’s premises. These smaller schools were then given incredible resources, such as laptops and Smart Boards, as well as priority classroom and office space.
Jamaica High School is an institution that has a great deal of history in the borough of Queens. At the time of its construction in 1925, it was the largest school site in the entire country. Last year, it was designated as a New York City landmark. It has an impressive list of alumni including Pulitzer Prize winners, a Nobel Prize winner and a myriad of congressional and city elected officials.
Today, the school has an award-winning robotics team and a highly-successful women’s track team. Jamaica High is still a place where the minds and bodies of young people can be properly trained for success in the future, if given the proper resources. Ultimately, a historical institution such as Jamaica High School shouldn’t be lost to the variances of desiring smaller schools. The DOE needs to address the underlying issue of resource allocation and give new leadership a real chance to succeed.
It is an untenable situation that has left me with this recourse – to tell the truth about Jamaica High School and shame the devil.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Leroy Comrie is a graduate of Jamaica High School and represents the 27th District in the City Council as the Deputy Majority Leader
