When John F. Kennedy High School opened in 1972 in the Bronx, it was an exciting place for a high school student.

“It was great,” said Ilan Strasser, age 54, the owner of a comic book store who was a member of the school’s first freshman class. “Everything about it in the beginning was phenomenal.” He described the positive relationship that students had with their teachers and the energy that one could feel in the halls. He listed off the afterschool programs, theatre classes and athletics that contributed to “an atmosphere of success.”

Now Kennedy is the lowest performing of the four smaller district schools that now share the same building. Last year the graduation rate was 46 percent, well below the city average of 63 percent, according to the New York City Department of Education. Kennedy fell in the bottom 17 percent of New York City schools for attendance and the bottom 3 percent for number of credits earned by the freshman class. By city and state assessment, this put Kennedy in the category of failing schools.

Kennedy High School is phasing out beginning next year. (Photo by Anna Edgerton)

In December, the DOE announced that Kennedy would be phased out and replaced by two charter schools. The schools, run by New Visions Schools, would receive public funding but like other charter schools would be governed by their charter rather than the district. Prospective students apply for admission and are chosen by lottery. This gives families more choice beyond just their neighborhood schools.

Mayor Bloomberg is an outspoken advocate for charter schools and has repeatedly attempted to lift the cap on the number of charter schools in New York City. Both he and his appointment for chancellor, Cathie Black, a former media executive who had no previous experience in education, are advocates of the “small school movement,” breaking up large schools all over the city that are deemed to be failing. They have also occasionally positioned themselves in opposition to the United Federation of Teachers that represents all district teachers in New York City, especially on the “last in, first out” practice of firing teachers, a policy that protects teachers’ seniority.

Some community members and leaders look suspiciously at the motivation behind some of the education policies that have come down from Bloomberg’s administration. “It’s almost like they create the very conditions that allow them to justify closing the school so they can then replace it with five smaller schools,” said assemblyman Jeffery Dinowitz. He described the money that has been wasted on “highly paid consultants and no-bid contracts” elsewhere in the city, and student test scores that are “worthless” for evaluating teachers. He admitted to not being a fan of charter schools, saying that their higher success rate is “a myth that’s been perpetuated by a lot of very rich people.”

Kenneth Levine, began teaching physical education at Kennedy in 1980, but five years ago he moved to one of the smaller schools that share the building. After witnessing the decline of Kennedy firsthand, now he just wants to make sure that students get the education they deserve, even if it means closing the school that has been his second home for 32 years.

He worries that the DOE doesn’t have a solid plan for replacing Kennedy with the New Visions charter schools. He said that when it began introducing the smaller schools in 2002, it was done haphazardly, without much thought to how resources and facilities would be shared. Although there have been various community meetings about the closing of Kennedy, he said the decision was made long before the DOE sought input from the community or the teachers.

“We saw in the Riverdale papers that they’re advertising new charter schools with a number for parents to call,” he said, explaining how the teachers at the smaller schools found out about the decision to bring in charter schools. “There’s no communication.”

Beginning next year, incoming freshmen will have the choice between two charter schools and four smaller district schools. Different options for families in public education is one of the goals of New Visions according to Ron Chaluisan, the vice president of charter schools for that organization. “Having those various opportunities within the public sector is a really important element of what we think an effective school system is,” he said.

School districts across the country are increasingly incorporating this model to help students who are underserved in the large district schools of many cities. There are now almost 5,000 charter schools nationwide, with 32 in the Bronx alone. This is partly in response to President Obama’s Race to the Top initiative, which provides funds to states that are willing to adopt certain measures, including more opportunity for establishing charter schools. New York came in second place in the Race to the Top competition between states, winning over $600 million for changes to the education system, including raising the cap on charter schools from 200 to 460.

However, not all charter schools are more effective than regular public schools according to a report from Brookings Brown Center on Education Policy. The variations in focus and pedagogical strategy between different charter schools make it difficult to generalize about success rates. The same study found that “charter schools are particularly effective in raising the achievement of low-income and minority students in urban areas.” With 85 percent of students at Kennedy receiving free lunch, this is the demographic that sees the most benefit from charter schools.

Kenneth Levine, the PE teacher, has seen thousands of students come through Kennedy, and said that for decades the school has not received the support it needed from the district. He said the school was “set up to fail,” and now that it has, two new charter schools seem like the best option.

“The politicians don’t ever get a good view of the school,” he said, hoping that the decisions they make regarding Kennedy will mean a better education for the next generation.

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