A school board vote to close 19 city schools is “null and void,” according to a decision handed down by a state Supreme Court justice today.
The bombshell decision leaves the fate of all 19 schools and their staffs up in the air and forces the Department of Education to rewrite arguments for why they deserve to be shut down. The ruling is the first time a court has interpreted the new mayoral control law Albany put in place last summer.
The city received the decision at 12:30 this afternoon, two days after the deadline for high school students to be notified about which schools they’ll attend in the fall. In February, the teachers union sued the city, arguing that the DOE had violated the law that governs school closures. The decision (posted below) notes:
“The court wishes to make clear, however, that this decision is not intended to prevent completion of the matching process for any students who are not directly affected by the proposed closure or phase out of the 19 schools…”
Affected schools:
New Day Academy
Christopher Columbus High School
Paul Robeson High School
W.H. Maxwell Career and Technical Education High School
Academy of Environmental Science
Jamaica High School
School for Community Research and Learning
Beach Channel High School
Metropolitan Corporate Academy
Choir Academy of Harlem’s high school grades
Norman Thomas High School
Global Enterprise High School
School of Business, Computer Applications and Entrepreneurship
Monroe Academy for Business/Law
Frederick Douglas Academy III’s middle school grades
KAPPA II
P.S. 332
Middle School for Academic and Social Excellence
Academy of Collaborative Education
Source: Anna Phillips