If our viewers had a say, struggling schools wouldn't close. They would remain open, and issues would be addressed. But our viewers don't have a say. The Panel for Educational Policy will decide. And as the Manhattan appointee said on the show tonight, it's a done deal. The 25 schools slated for closure on Thursday...will close. Safe to say the eight Mayoral appointees to the PEP won't read what's below.

Decision day is approaching. On Thursday, the Panel for Educational Policy will decide whether to close 25 underperforming public schools. It's the latest round of changes proposed by the Department of Education as part of its plan to replace struggling schools with several smaller ones to improve student performance.

The DOE is recommending some type of closure for a total of 62 schools this year, up from the record 27 in 2011. The PEP, which consists mostly of Mayor Bloomberg's appointees, has never voted against a DOE proposal. But many parents and educators say introducing new teachers and administrators isn't the answer to a better education. What do you say?

Why are a record 62 schools slated for closure this year? Do you feel the DOE and PEP are considering the concerns of parents and teachers? What is the best way to improve performance in the classroom?

Send your thoughts using the link above.

The best way to improve classroom learning is to hold students accountable for classwork, homework, studying and attendance. Students must put forth the necessary effort in order to learn what is taught by teachers. This is common sense.

James (Educator - 22 years)
Middle Village

how can you educate children who are getting more and more violent in the schools...and you have principals sweeping everything under the rug in the name of more funding??

Sonia

Hi John,

Apparently, since I graduated grammar school in the 1950s, the education bar has been lowered to the point where idiots can graduate. In the 8th grade of Catholic School in 1956, we had finished geometry and algebra, and touched on the beginnings of calculus in the extra time we had left before graduating. We had to pass spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc. with a minimum 75 out of 100, but 85 was the norm, and if you didn’t pass YOU WERE LEFT BACK, and probably your parents beat the hell out of you and you were grounded for weeks.

Today, I’ve read that one-third of COLLEGE graduates can’t even reconcile a checking account, and just pick up any newspaper or magazine to see how low spelling, punctuation, and grammar has sunk—errors on every page.

We also had 30 to 35 kids per class, but we had discipline.

To get back to where we once were: 1) students need to be disciplined when needed, and left back when they fail 2) they should also be required to dress like humans with appropriate attire—no bling, no hoodies, etc. 3) stop any bi-lingual classes, all classes (except foreign language courses—of course) should be taught in English only. Recently, a woman in Arizona who was born in America and graduated HIGH SCHOOL could not grasp the English language well enough to run for public office — H-O-W I-S T-H-A-T P-O-S-S-I-B-L-E????? 4) Raise the bar to where it once was by knocking off the Mickey Mouse courses that are worthless fillers and double the time spent on the three r’s.

Regards,
Walter,
New Dorp

The problem is not the teachers. In order to be a teacher you must not only have a B.A. but also 3 different test and a masters. Failing schools is a society problem. Students see school as a social gathering and not a place to be educated. Parents are not and can not be parents if they holding two or three jobs just to make ends meet. They can't help their kids pass. To much blame is being put on teachers. Teacher see students for six hours, society needs to step up the rest of the hours. Schools need books, smaller class sizes, and two teachers in every classroom and vocational schools so needs are better met.

J from Rosedale

The mayor is clueless, the chancellor and the PEP are clueless. The PEP need to cut the puppet strings and do was fair for the students and parents of this city. The decisions that they are making today will have an adverse affect for generations of students. Closing schools is not the answer to improving education. The PEP isn't hearing anybody! They could care less about what is being said, they have cast their ballot already. What a FARCE!

Pearl, from the Bronx

It is time for this selfish mayor to go. Why will a sensible person close schools and build jails. Philip Lucky Dube said it in his music. All they build are prisons not schools.

Anonymous

Put cameras and microphones in every class. Record what goes on in the classrooms. This will stop teachers from sabatoging students. There will no longer be an Adult Supervisory's word undermining students intelect and integrity. Parents will be able to see how their children respond to others. While disrespectful teachers will have no place to hide. School security is to be set watch over daily recordings, as Peace Officers no one else will be authorized to retrieve footage without Principal and Security present. This way ~ all children will be educated, and all held accountable. No different than going to the bank.

Leonard

classroom performance will improve when the REGENTS exams are eliminated.

the publishing companies and the standardized test movement introduced by Bush's No Child Left Behind law are controlling our public school system. the result is that students are not learning and publishing companies are increasing their profits on the backs of our country's future. why does NYS require kids to pass Regents exams when these exams can not get a student a job nor does it guarantee admission to a college? the answer: because the publishing companies make millions of dollars on these mandatory assessments! SOLUTION: There should be only two tests: the college entrance exam: SAT or ACT for the college bound and/ or the GED for students who are not academically inclined. If a student gets a minimum score on either of these two nationally recognized tests then that student should graduate.

Alison
Jackson Heights

Dear John,

Teachers are operating in an atmosphere of fear of closing. Whatever happened to rewarding good works and promoting an atmosphere of friendly competition? Why is the DOE allowed to ride roughshod over the public? Who can stop them? Kids need to develop a feeling of loyalty and belonging to a school, which is currently impossible--we are even losing all of the sports teams of NYC when the large schools are closed. How can we stop this man?

Shelley from Park Slope

Mayor Bloomberg has reduced a once-great city to a playground for the rich. He should be impeached. He cares nothing for the average New Yorker. This closing of schools is shameful!

Teresa
Manhattan

Ever since Bloomberg assumed control of the schools he ushered in the corporate culture into public education. He dismantled a well functioning Chancellor's district and destroyed the collective memory of all that was positive. He disrupted communities by getting rid of zoned schools making even getting into kindergarten a competitive process. There is truly little long term good that has come out of his tenure as the education mayor

Kenn from Bayside

These schools that are scheduled to close have absolutely horrible educational results. The people that are against closing these schools should enroll their kids if they’re serious.

I agree: Closing schools will not put an end to the problem. DOE needs to do much more to prevent schools from failing in the first place.

- John from Flatlands

Mr. Mayor needs to pay a visit to a class and teach for one week, and be held accountable for all data; only then will he begin to respect teachers.

Anonymous

Mayor Bloomberg needs to be impeached! This latest scandal with the schools is one more reason.

Teresa

Since the NYC DOE is now run by Wall Street more and more music and arts programs are being side tracked and eliminated in favor of data points and standardized testing. It is up to the teachers, parents, and students to continue pushing for cultural programs because the "leaders" of our educational system do not have the heart, soul, or inclinaiton to do so. Art is unifies and allows for expression against power. And power of the people is what the pretenders fear. ART SPEAKS ! ! !

Anthony - Sunnyside, NY

The DEO is not just closing school, it is intentionally replacing tenured, experienced, devoted teachers for interns and student teachers, in other words, the DEO is applying the corporate model of dismissing the most experience teachers to avoid pensions and benefits. This is a terrible practice because it destabilizes education altogether.

Rafael
Bushwick

Hi John,

I think we should take the kids from the failing schools, cook them, and eat them. That way they're no longer a burden; they will become valued assets in our society, and there's a multitude of other benefits.

If you think that's extreme, just remember that simple, common sense answers like more funding, more community involvement, more extracurricular activities, keeping gym, art, and music, giving teachers the responsibility and respect they deserve, keeping class sizes down, better and cheaper supplies, giving students better technology, and just pretending like we actually care enough to do something, are the ones that never get done. So eat up.

Jordan
Flushing

Mayor Bloomberg recently said that he would encourage overcrowded classrooms. I think he is trying to put his plan in action. By closing schools, he is just sweeping the problem under the rug. The worse mistake ever made by NYers was to re-elect him for a third time. We are paying dearly for that.

Daniel (Woodside, NY)

Apparently my daughter's school might close and I feel that is unnesessary. She's a junior and is almost ready to graduate. If the B.O.E wants better schools, then they should fix the teacher's way of educating the students. Where are all these high school kids going to go? And if they find that shutting down schools is the answer, they should at least let the class of the current grades graduate from 2012 to 2015.

Jessica

Mr. Bloomberg is treating the public school system as his own private properties.

We are horrified to see Mr. Klein representing Mr. Murdock at the British court hearing.

Clearly Mr. Bloomberg is breaking the public system to sell it to his friends who cannot wait to make profits out of kids who are not their own.

Yoko, Manhattan

My children's school is slated for truncation of its middle school. ps/is 298 in brownsville bklyn currently does not have a functioning library nor do we have a librarian when chancellor walcot was confronted about this his response was that our school does not need a library. Excuse me? Doesn't every school need a functioning library with a qualified librarian to help teach researching skills, library skills and most importantly to promote a love and joy of reading. These crucial skills propel students to success.

But it is clear that this mayor and this chancellor do not care about the success of all the children of nyc...just a privileged few.

Natasha from Brownsville

Bloomberg is a union-busting, bully who has done so much harm to our schools with his standardized testing and crony chancellors. He will do anything, but anything to get his own way no matter how wrong he is and no what the collateral damage and long term damage is.

Frances
East Village

The DOE is bailing on schools right and left, without having put enough effort into ensuring those schools had the services required to support their teachers and student bodies. In some cases they are proposing to close schools that are in the process of turning the tide, raising graduation & attendance rates and improving test scores...why? So they can give the space to a charter school? or to another 'small' school DOE has devised that likely will serve fewer high needs kids than the closed school? and where will those kids go? It is a truly pathetic effort on this admin's part and is, I feel, bordering on criminal at this point.

Anni
Manhattan

The mayors plan to close these schools is nothing more than a shell game. He is trying to make people believe he is fixing schools but really his actions will not help students. To help New Yorks children we need to bring back vocational training and more graduation alternatives to the Regents exam.

Anonymous

What mayor Bloomberg is doing is a grant plan of privatization of public education that set the stage and opened the door for a lot of corruption. A coalition of politicians and business people with no experience in education are making the decisions. It is an unholy alliance the purpose of which is profit. It was very well said by the former chancellor Ms. Klein when he started his new job at the Murdock enterprises. "We will explore investment opportunities in education," he said and he is. Two weeks ago he was about to get an unbid contract with the DOE for ten million dollars to collect data. This is where the money is going, consultants, software companies, data analysis and charters. In one of the charter schools two weeks ago the principal was reported making 470.000 a year and it is not an isolated incident. For ten years we have stood by and watched while he undermined traditional established schools, broke them down, re-started them, charted them, and the outcome after ten years of destruction is "mixed results". The complexity of what is happening can not be discussed in a snap e-mail, but the bottom line is the mayor has to be stopped.

Georgia from Astoria.

Nothing will ever be solved, until this experiment in NYC children's lives is declared OVER!

Bill
Manhattan

The school grades are unreliable and unfair, based primarily on one year’s test scores alone. Moreover, those schools most at risk of closure are those that have large numbers of special needs kids; and the DOE does not take their higher need level into account. The DOE has given NO support to these schools, but overloaded them with at-risk students while cutting their budget to the bone, causing class sizes to grow and the loss of important programs and services.

Why the rush to close over 60 schools this year, despite huge parent, teacher, student and community outrage? The mayor does not take our wishes into account when he makes these destructive decisions.

Leonie
Class Size Matters

The "system" that has taken over NYC schools in the current administration's reign of terror is beyond comprehension. When they are once and for all gone, though probably never forgotten, it will be a miracle if the damage is ever undone. Some legacy.

Peace, Nick
Hell's K.

Many of these high schools slated for closure teach a trade. In these tough economic times, having job skills is essential for survival. If academics are not your strong point and you can make a living fixing a car, WHY not keep these vocational schools open? Why close 62 schools and then open a Brooklyn Prison?. Maybe because when these kids cannot find a job,and commit a crime to make money, the city will have a place to put them.

Adrienne
Jackson Heights

Teachers are only one side of the equation. Parents must be partners in educating our children. Perhaps in certain neighborhoods classes should be offered to empower parents to participate in the education process.

Danielle
The Bronx

Critics should research on-line the NYS Dept. of Education minimum requirements for licensing in NYS, hence, NYC, where potential teachers, guidance counselors, and others, must graduate with full NYS certification in their license area which includes a Master's Degree, so NYC officials should find a different pinata where to vent their true objectives which are the gathering of public support via demagogic slogans concocted to eliminate basic employees' rights, tenure, and, ultimately, pensions. So it concerns me when I hear "good" or "bad" teachers because this ill-intended labeling is entirely subjective and would be used against anyone in any career when the employer needs disposing of employees for evident reasons: income and benefits which they prefer to do away with altogether. Senior employees are the easy scapegoat because they are the ones in the highest positions. Their years of devotion are seen as "damaged goods" and the "best and brightest" is the recent graduated.

Rafael
Bushwick

A few of the schools had grades of A and B up from last year and they are still being closed. I think Bloomberg's agenda is to privatize the public schools and open up more charter schools. I also think the city screwed the public schools up so bad they do not know how to fix them. This has been going on since the Dinkins administration.I cannot wait to move to another state that actually cares about our education. NYC does not.

Tony,
Mariners Harbor, Staten Island

John,

The way to improve activity in the classroom is to get rid of the unions.

The way to improve schooling is to get it out from under government control.

Parents appear to have abandoned any effort to teach and raise their children, instead deferring that to some inept government bureaucracy.

Joe
Port Richmond, SI

Who benefits from shuttering so many schools?, it seems that everyone loses here, the children, the parents and the whole of society suffers when education is so randomly trivialized and ostracized by political hacks and administrators.

Felix
Bay Ridge

Groundhog Day was last week, but it seems like it's the same thing every week in this city lately. At this point I don't think anyone in charge knows what the correct questions are, let alone the answers. Ironically the story about the re-opening of the Brooklyn detention center probably has as much to do with this story as anything about education reform, since that is where many of the youth in this city will be headed soon. Incarcerated, unemployed or dead, those are what the boxes on the multiple choice standardized tests should read at this point.

Like the song says, "Ain't it funny how the factory doors close, Round the time the school doors close, Round the time that the doors of the jail cells, Open up to greet you like the reaper"

RL-The Bronx

Hi John,

This little square dance that they keep doing to our children is becoming very troublesome. IT DOESN'T WORK AT ALL BUT THEY KEEP DOING THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER AGAIN AND AGAIN. THEY DON'T EVEN HAVE THE INTELLIGENCE TO TRY SOMETHING ELSE. ALL THEY DO IS KEEP BLAMING THE WRONG PEOPLE AND BY THAT I MEAN [THE POP AND THE PEP], All of us must start to make a statement and end this regime once and for all. We must demand to be heard and not insulted by these so called panels appointed by this dictator. We have to demand that this Mayor is our problem and he needs to go. Whatever he puts his hands on never works out. We need to take action against him and his administration. We have no one to represent us at all. Now we also find out that Cuomo is living the high life like everyone else in his administration. He has the gall to not even address us.

Thank you John,
maxxiee
mp

I AM NOT FOLLOWING THIS LOGIC OF CLOSING STRUGGLING SCHOOLS AND REPLACING THEM WITH SMALLER SCHOOLS. THE PROBLEM WILL STILL BE THERE. THIS POLICY IS LIKE COMPLAINING ABOUT THE PIGEON POPULATION,ONLY TO COME UP WITH A HAREBRAIN SCHEME BY NO LONGER CALLING THE PIGEON A PIGEON, CALL THEM CITY DOVES INSTEAD. SEE?, NO MORE PIGEONS.

JOE, BAY TERRACE

I am a parent agonized to work in the schools system . I think that the reason the styem is not working is be everyone us looking at numbers as the problem and believe that is how you fix it. We have a school chancellor who should be going to all schools that are schedule to. Loses and spend a day with the staff and students hearing and seeing from them. Not just listening to people who sit in a office all day. I mean there are good teachers and students who needs his help.

Mr. H.