A Second Hearing at John Jay, Without A Fight

On Tuesday the auditorium of the Seventh Avenue John Jay Campus was packed to hear the Department of Education's to add a fourth high school to the campus, but last night the space was virtually empty as community members gathered to hear proposals to truncate middle school grades at the schools of Journalism and Law. Absent were any sign of protestors, clever chants or brightly colored signs.

This second suggestion, it seems, is welcome by both schools, which have seen significantly dwindling middle school enrollment over the past few years.

“The number of middle schools in this district have exceeded the population in this district,” said Abbie Reif, Principal of the Secondary School for Journalism. “This is my decision and my community’s decision, and I support it.”

According to the DOE, the number of middle school students in the School for Journalism has fallen from 207 students in the 2006-2007 school year to just 73 students this year. In the School for Law, the number has dwindled from 200 students to 77 in the same time period, with only 32 students enrolled this year in the sixth grade.

The proposals to truncate grades six through eight are scheduled for a vote Jan. 19 by the Panel for Educational Policy at the Brooklyn Technical High School in Fort Greene. If passed, the grades will be phased out gradually beginning next year, so that by fall 2013 the schools would serve only grades nine through 12.

At last nights hearing, Reif was the only speaker, with the exception of Councilmember Brad Lander, who stood up only to say that he was there only to listen. The proposal was read without interruption, and the hearing was over in what must be a public hearing record: just over half an hour.

Principal Reif has her fingers crossed the proposals pass.

“I have a $450,000 budget deficit I am paying back over four years,” she said, explaining that since her school had not met registration projections in past years, she ended up owing the DOE money she was given per student. “I literally cannot afford to go on. There are not enough students, and too many middle schools in District 15.”