On January 26th the NYC Department of Education voted to phase out 19 public city schools. Alfred E. Smith Career & Technical HS was the only one of the original 20 schools that made it off the list, in part due to "feedback from the community and the demand for an automotive program to continue to exisit in the Bronx." Despite this, we're still dealing with a troubling situation where the DoE has proposed "to move two existing schools into the X600 building and co-locate with Alfred E. Smith. The two existing schools are Bronx Haven High School (08X381, “Bronx Haven”), an existing transfer school that serves students in grades 9-12, and the New York City Charter High School for Architecture, Engineering and Construction Industries (84X395, “AECI”)."
We welcome change, however, phasing-out our Building Trades Program in one of the poorest congressional districts in the United States and replacing it with a for-profit, fragmented charter school that doesn't offer endorsed diplomas or hands on training is a mistake. Not having a plan that involves educating the economically disadvantaged South Bronx students in plumbing, carpentry, electrical, HVAC, and architecture is an educational injustice.
New York Times article, Jan 15th, 2010
cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/15/using-music-to-fight-the-school-closings/#more-122167
New York Times article, Jan 21st, 2010
cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/21/part-of-one-closing-school-will-be-spared/#more-123915
To read quantitative reasons why our CTE/shops class should not be phased out see this link:
docs.google.com/fileview?id=0ByrinkbsP6p3YTc2MmVhOTMtYmFhOS00MWM5LTkyNDMtOTBhNTdjNmE0YWRh&hl=en
To see the DOE's phase-out proposal and learn more about our school and this situation go to this link:
docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0ASrinkbsP6p3ZGMzcnhoM3hfMTZjZ3MycW1wcA&hl=en
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
- Submit a public comment to Samuel Sloves (HS.Proposals@schools.nyc.gov, 718-935-4414). TYPE Alfred E. Smith CTE High School in the subject line. Feel free to use any/all of the above reasons, or just simply state you don't want to see AES BUILDING TRADES phased out.
- Reach out to politicians: re-send this email to the following people (and whoever else you can think of):
Helena Foster 718-55-7790 foster@council.nyc.gov
Vanessa Gibson 718-538-2000 GibsonV@assembly.state.ny.us
Michael Benjamin 718-589-6324 BenjamM@assembly.state.ny.us
Carmen Arroyo 718-292-2901 Arroyo@assembly.state.ny.us
Complete political list, see this link:
docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0ASrinkbsP6p3ZGMzcnhoM3hfMjNmM3ZoMzdmZw&hl=en
Cast:Save AES CTE HS, South Bronx
Tags:South Bronx, NYC, Alfred E. Smith Career CTE HS and DoE's Proposed School Phase Out
