Late last year, M.S. 334 was given a new lease on life when it was named one of 94 schools to receive help under New York City's Renewal Schools program. But the city now says the low-performing school will be combined with its more successful upstairs neighbor, M.S. 354.
The plan marks a sharp reversal of course, from investing in struggling schools to essentially shutting one of them down. Mayor Bill de Blasio and Chancellor Carmen Fariña have put a lot of stock in their renewal program, defending it as the solution when Gov. Andrew Cuomo was pushing for stronger interventions in this year's budget. Renewal schools get more teacher training, a longer school day and partnerships with community based organizations to improve leadership and performance.
But Fariña portrayed the merger as a better solution in this particular case. "We are looking at school redesign in creative ways to best serve students, and I'm confident we'll be able to use this model where it make sense to lift up schools across the city," she said in a statement.
The Department of Education cited a lack of student interest in the school as one reason for the consolidation. M.S. 334 has just about 150 students in grades six through eight, and only 22 fifth graders ranked it as their top choice in the middle school application process for the coming fall. The upstairs school also had much higher test scores, even with a very similar student population. Last year, 42 percent of students at M.S. 354 were proficient on their state math tests, compared to just 1 percent at M.S. 334.
The story was first reported in the New York Times.
The proposal to formally consolidate the two schools in the 2016-17 school year won't be voted on by the city's educational panel until the fall. But the city has already laid out its plans for the transition, starting this fall.
The principal of M.S. 334 will depart to run another school in Brooklyn whose leader is retiring, while the principal of M.S. 354 will supervise both schools. The chancellor said the renewal program would continue and "there will be innovation, collaboration, and heightened training for teachers."
In many ways, M.S. 334 is a creature of the past 15 years of school reform in New York City. Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration closed down the original middle school on the site in 2005, replacing it with two smaller middle schools and a KIPP charter school. Now, it's being absorbed into a larger school.
When asked if the decision reflected a philosophical rejection of the small schools model so popular during the Bloomberg years, her spokeswoman, Devora Kaye, portrayed it more as a case-by-case decision instead of a policy shift.
“This is a struggling school intervention strategy, but if school communities or superintendents come forward and say this will be better for my school or these school communities whether they are successful or not, we’ll consider it," she said.
The consolidation was announced just as another study was published finding Bloomberg's small schools movement led to improvements in the city's graduation rate. But one of the authors, Leanna Stiefel, an economics professor at New York University's Institute for Education and Social Policy, explained that small schools do better — on average.
"For the ones that are not doing well, it is always a good idea to figure out ways to improve them," she said.
In January, WNYC visited M.S. 334 soon after it was labeled a renewal school. "I'm confident it will turn around," Principal John Samerson said at the time.
But Samerson also acknowledged that a quarter of his 12 full-time teachers had received ineffective ratings. Another one, who was removed in the previous year, was going through a dismissal proceeding.
The Department of Education said some teachers at M.S. 334 might lose their positions during the consolidation process because of redundancies. Students selected to enroll this fall will have a chance to attend another school in the same district if they so choose.