City Schools Slated for Closure Suffer Low Enrollment

Enrollment is way down at the 19 low-performing schools the city had wanted to phase out starting this fall.

At Norman Thomas High School in Manhattan, only about 1,800 students were officially registered, compared to over 2,300 when school opened last year.

Many of the schools are high schools and they've had a tough time attracting new freshmen. There are just 21 ninth-graders enrolled at the Choir Academy of Harlem, a third of last year's number. And Jamaica High School has just over 300 ninth-graders compared to more than 530 last year. The drop in students will make it harder for the schools to offer elective classes.

The city says the numbers are fluid, though, and more students may enroll in coming weeks. The Department of Education was forced to keep all 19 schools open for new applicants after the teachers union and the NAACP won a suit claiming the city hadn't followed the right procedures for phasing them out.