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| Why One School Lives as Another Dies in the Same Building | Why One School Lives as Another Dies in the Same Building |
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| What is the distance between progress and failure? | What is the distance between progress and failure? |
| At 1000 Teller Avenue in the South Bronx, it is two flights of stairs and a few points on the annual state exams — the gap between the New Millennium Business Academy Middle School, on the second floor, and Junior High School 145 Arturo Toscanini, on the fourth. | At 1000 Teller Avenue in the South Bronx, it is two flights of stairs and a few points on the annual state exams — the gap between the New Millennium Business Academy Middle School, on the second floor, and Junior High School 145 Arturo Toscanini, on the fourth. |
| Both schools teach children from poor families, including large numbers of recent immigrants. Both are in the de Blasio administration’s Renewal program, which has provided nearly $400 million in social services and academic assistance to the city’s most struggling schools. At both, the percentage of children who pass the English and math exams each year is in the single digits or low double digits. | |
| But the city’s Education Department sees New Millennium as on the rise. Its test scores have ticked up, however slightly. Enrollment is steady. The schools chancellor recently paid a visit and praised the school’s gains. | But the city’s Education Department sees New Millennium as on the rise. Its test scores have ticked up, however slightly. Enrollment is steady. The schools chancellor recently paid a visit and praised the school’s gains. |
| Just up the stairs, it is a different story. The Education Department said in January that J.H.S. 145 would be one of six Renewal schools that would be closed for not making sufficient progress. This school year is likely to be J.H.S. 145’s last. | Just up the stairs, it is a different story. The Education Department said in January that J.H.S. 145 would be one of six Renewal schools that would be closed for not making sufficient progress. This school year is likely to be J.H.S. 145’s last. |
| At a hearing at the school in January, a parent asked the superintendent who oversees the school, Leticia Rodriguez-Rosario, why it hadn’t improved. | At a hearing at the school in January, a parent asked the superintendent who oversees the school, Leticia Rodriguez-Rosario, why it hadn’t improved. |
| “We don’t know,” Ms. Rodriguez-Rosario said. “The formula didn’t work.” | “We don’t know,” Ms. Rodriguez-Rosario said. “The formula didn’t work.” |
| But in several visits to the building and in interviews with teachers at both schools, it became clear that decisive leadership can make or break a school’s turnaround efforts: At New Millennium, a longtime principal has united the staff in a sense of optimism and purpose. At J.H.S. 145, a rapid succession of principals, along with other blows, has sown frustration and mistrust. One sign of that mistrust: Some staff members believe that the city is closing the school primarily to give its space to a charter school that moved into the building in 2015. | But in several visits to the building and in interviews with teachers at both schools, it became clear that decisive leadership can make or break a school’s turnaround efforts: At New Millennium, a longtime principal has united the staff in a sense of optimism and purpose. At J.H.S. 145, a rapid succession of principals, along with other blows, has sown frustration and mistrust. One sign of that mistrust: Some staff members believe that the city is closing the school primarily to give its space to a charter school that moved into the building in 2015. |
| “It’s very, very hard not to be a complete and utter cynic when it comes to this,” James Donohue, a longtime English teacher at the school, said. Ms. Rodriguez-Rosario’s assertion that the closing “has absolutely nothing to do with the charter school” is nonsense, he said. | “It’s very, very hard not to be a complete and utter cynic when it comes to this,” James Donohue, a longtime English teacher at the school, said. Ms. Rodriguez-Rosario’s assertion that the closing “has absolutely nothing to do with the charter school” is nonsense, he said. |
| Until 2004, J.H.S. 145 occupied the whole building, with more than 1,600 students, and it struggled academically. The Bloomberg administration divided the building into three schools, believing that smaller schools would perform better. The most senior teachers stayed at J.H.S. 145, while some of the more junior ones went to the two new schools, New Millennium and the Urban Science Academy, which is also in the Renewal program. | Until 2004, J.H.S. 145 occupied the whole building, with more than 1,600 students, and it struggled academically. The Bloomberg administration divided the building into three schools, believing that smaller schools would perform better. The most senior teachers stayed at J.H.S. 145, while some of the more junior ones went to the two new schools, New Millennium and the Urban Science Academy, which is also in the Renewal program. |
| But dividing the school didn’t improve things. The current New Millennium principal, Dorald Bastian, 43, took over in 2006, when, he said, the school was “on fire” — a phrase he meant both figuratively and literally. Students would get mad and punch out the glass panels in classroom doors, and a couple of times they set bulletin boards on fire, he said. At one point he chased a student with a loaded handgun out of the building. | |
| Mr. Bastian said that he had spent his first several years getting rid of teachers who were weak, disengaged or, in one case, unhinged. In 2009, the teachers’ union chapter leader, who had been reassigned after a physical altercation with a student, barricaded himself in a classroom and claimed that he had planted a bomb in the library. (He had not.) | |
| “I started in a very tumultuous way,” Mr. Bastian said, adding that, as a new principal, he had not had many allies in the department or the school. But over time, he said, he was able to remove the ineffectual teachers and, in the process, gain the trust of the more talented and energetic ones. | |
| District 9, where the schools are, is considered hard to staff because of its concentrated poverty, distance from Manhattan and dearth of public transportation. But Mr. Bastian has seen relatively low turnover in recent years. | |
| He is using money from the Renewal program to pay four of his most experienced teachers extra to serve as mentors to colleagues. He has formed a cabinet, including three of those experienced teachers, the assistant principal and a staff member from the Center for Supportive Schools, a nonprofit that is working with all three schools in the building as part of the Renewal program. The group gathers weekly in his office, laptops ready, to whip through a digital agenda using meeting practices learned in training from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. | |
| Laura Weiss, a member of the cabinet and an English teacher in her ninth year at the school, said that the opportunity to move into a leadership position was one of the reasons she had stayed at the school instead of leaving to teach in the suburbs, where the work might be easier but where she thought she would learn less. | Laura Weiss, a member of the cabinet and an English teacher in her ninth year at the school, said that the opportunity to move into a leadership position was one of the reasons she had stayed at the school instead of leaving to teach in the suburbs, where the work might be easier but where she thought she would learn less. |
| “Someone said to me, ‘Smooth seas don’t make great sailors,’” Ms. Weiss said. | “Someone said to me, ‘Smooth seas don’t make great sailors,’” Ms. Weiss said. |
| The Renewal resources have allowed Mr. Bastian to buy new laptops for every student and teacher and paid for him and several teachers to get training in how to identify gaps in instruction by examining students’ writing. The Center for Supportive Schools has brought in a peer-mentoring program, an attendance-mentoring program, enrichment classes in music technology and coding, and two full-time social workers and a case manager to work with students and families at all three schools. | |
| In the last round of state tests, 11 percent of students passed the English portion and 8 percent passed the math, up from 6 percent and 4 percent in 2015. Attendance improved to about 92 percent in 2015-16 from roughly 90 percent in 2014-15. While those improvements might be small, the school met and in some cases surpassed the goals set for it by the education department. | In the last round of state tests, 11 percent of students passed the English portion and 8 percent passed the math, up from 6 percent and 4 percent in 2015. Attendance improved to about 92 percent in 2015-16 from roughly 90 percent in 2014-15. While those improvements might be small, the school met and in some cases surpassed the goals set for it by the education department. |
| While Mr. Bastian brought stability to the principal’s office at New Millennium, J.H.S. 145 churned through leaders and entered a downward spiral. In 2013, its longtime principal, Robert Hannibal, was caught stealing from the school’s bank account. He ultimately pleaded guilty to attempted grand larceny and paid $21,080.83 in restitution and a $5,000 fine. The assistant principal took over, but a year later he was removed and succeeded by the current principal, Lauren Wilkins. | While Mr. Bastian brought stability to the principal’s office at New Millennium, J.H.S. 145 churned through leaders and entered a downward spiral. In 2013, its longtime principal, Robert Hannibal, was caught stealing from the school’s bank account. He ultimately pleaded guilty to attempted grand larceny and paid $21,080.83 in restitution and a $5,000 fine. The assistant principal took over, but a year later he was removed and succeeded by the current principal, Lauren Wilkins. |
| In the fall of 2014, the school was placed in the Renewal program. Then, a few months later, came another blow: The city had decided to temporarily put three grades of a charter school on its floor, requiring J.H.S. 145 to move some of its classrooms elsewhere in the building. | In the fall of 2014, the school was placed in the Renewal program. Then, a few months later, came another blow: The city had decided to temporarily put three grades of a charter school on its floor, requiring J.H.S. 145 to move some of its classrooms elsewhere in the building. |
| That “killed the morale in the school,” said Brenetha Chung, a special-education teacher who taught at J.H.S. 145 from 2008 until this year, when she left to work at another middle school. | That “killed the morale in the school,” said Brenetha Chung, a special-education teacher who taught at J.H.S. 145 from 2008 until this year, when she left to work at another middle school. |
| Ms. Chung felt, she said, that “it was just a matter of time before the school was just no longer going to be in existence.” | Ms. Chung felt, she said, that “it was just a matter of time before the school was just no longer going to be in existence.” |
| Entering class sizes have fallen, and the students whom J.H.S. 145 does attract have even bigger challenges than the students at New Millennium. Forty percent of students this year are not proficient in English, compared with 24 percent at New Millennium. Nearly 13 percent of students at J.H.S. 145 are at least two years older than normal for their grade, double the rate at New Millennium. | |
| As enrollment has declined, J.H.S. 145 has had to let teachers go. The school now has only one certified math teacher, and, according to its 2016-17 comprehensive education plan, a document that sums up a school’s needs and goals, several teachers who currently teach math do not know enough about the subject to do so. | As enrollment has declined, J.H.S. 145 has had to let teachers go. The school now has only one certified math teacher, and, according to its 2016-17 comprehensive education plan, a document that sums up a school’s needs and goals, several teachers who currently teach math do not know enough about the subject to do so. |
| This fall, according to Mr. Donohue and another teacher, Craig Moss, class schedules changed multiple times to bring the school into compliance with requirements in the teachers’ contract and other regulations. Three teachers filed grievances with their union because they were assigned to teach subjects for which they were not certified or in classes where a substantial number of students needed instruction in Spanish, when they did not speak the language. | This fall, according to Mr. Donohue and another teacher, Craig Moss, class schedules changed multiple times to bring the school into compliance with requirements in the teachers’ contract and other regulations. Three teachers filed grievances with their union because they were assigned to teach subjects for which they were not certified or in classes where a substantial number of students needed instruction in Spanish, when they did not speak the language. |
| Ms. Wilkins, who did not have an assistant principal this year, seems to have been a hands-off leader. When the building was originally split into three schools, J.H.S. 145 was given the fourth floor, but its main office stayed on the first. Mr. Donohue said that Ms. Wilkins spent most of her time in the main office, he assumed because she was burdened with paperwork and meetings with education department higher-ups. As a result, he said, she often couldn’t respond immediately if there was a fight on the fourth floor, leaving teachers largely on their own to deal with behavioral problems. | Ms. Wilkins, who did not have an assistant principal this year, seems to have been a hands-off leader. When the building was originally split into three schools, J.H.S. 145 was given the fourth floor, but its main office stayed on the first. Mr. Donohue said that Ms. Wilkins spent most of her time in the main office, he assumed because she was burdened with paperwork and meetings with education department higher-ups. As a result, he said, she often couldn’t respond immediately if there was a fight on the fourth floor, leaving teachers largely on their own to deal with behavioral problems. |
| Ms. Wilkins declined to be interviewed, but said in an email that this year had “been a struggle due to the lack of another administrator.” (In January, shortly before the education department announced its plan to close the school, it placed a currently unassigned principal at J.H.S. 145 to help Ms. Wilkins.) | Ms. Wilkins declined to be interviewed, but said in an email that this year had “been a struggle due to the lack of another administrator.” (In January, shortly before the education department announced its plan to close the school, it placed a currently unassigned principal at J.H.S. 145 to help Ms. Wilkins.) |
| Despite the school’s challenges, its passing rate on the state reading tests inched up this year to 8 percent from 5 percent, but its rate on the math tests remained at 3 percent. Although the margin between J.H.S. 145’s test scores and New Millennium’s is small, New Millennium is far ahead on other measures. | Despite the school’s challenges, its passing rate on the state reading tests inched up this year to 8 percent from 5 percent, but its rate on the math tests remained at 3 percent. Although the margin between J.H.S. 145’s test scores and New Millennium’s is small, New Millennium is far ahead on other measures. |
| In 2015-16, the same official, Daisy Concepción, reviewed both schools. She praised the instruction at New Millennium, saying that it was consistently rigorous and that the school effectively used results from assessments to adjust its curriculum. Of J.H.S. 145, she wrote that assessments were poorly aligned to the curriculum, that teachers provided insufficient support to students not fluent in English and that work by teacher teams had produced “little positive impact on teacher practice or progress toward goals for groups of students.” | |
| Ms. Concepción made similar remarks in a review of the third school, the Urban Science Academy, which has yet to show progress under the Renewal program. The Education Department said, however, that the staff was taking advantage of the program and that the superintendent believed the school would show improvement soon. | Ms. Concepción made similar remarks in a review of the third school, the Urban Science Academy, which has yet to show progress under the Renewal program. The Education Department said, however, that the staff was taking advantage of the program and that the superintendent believed the school would show improvement soon. |
| Ms. Rodriguez-Rosario declined to be interviewed. In response to questions sent by email, she said that she had recommended that J.H.S. 145 be closed “based on careful analysis of the school’s leadership, classroom instruction and the school’s ability and willingness to leverage Renewal School resources.” She added that efforts to overhaul the curriculum had been stymied by a “lack of school collaboration and cooperation.” |