Editorial: Why is a District 9 school on the list of top schools?

As the Horizon has reported in previous editions, New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein recently made a number of big changes to the city’s public schools. He first announced a plan to change the way schools are managed, replacing 32 school districts with ten regions, to be managed by a hierarchy of professionals.

He next announced that the city’s schools would get a standard curriculum. The same thing would be taught to every student, using the same method. Other cities had tried it in the past and achieved good results, and Mr. Klein is willing to give it a shot.

At the same time, Mr. Klein said he was not going to impose a curriculum on the schools that were already performing well. Fair enough—high schools like Bronx Science and Stuyvesant do not seem to need direction. But then he released the list of 208 schools (soon to become 209).

We in District 9 didn’t expect to see any of our schools named to the list. After all, all of District 9’s schools are failing. But much to our surprise, there was a District 9 school included: The Franz Sigel School, an elementary school located on East 163rd Street.

Franz Sigel’s statistics are as follows: 61.6 percent of students are testing at or above grade level in math. That’s not too bad, but the reading statistics, on the other hand, are dreadful: 40.2 percent are reading at or above grade level.

Yes, this school is probably the best school in the district. But that does not warrant this school being included on the list. It is still a failing school, by our standards.

The Horizon’s question to Mr. Klein: Doesn’t this school deserve to be put on the standard curriculum just as much as other schools? Yes, there are other schools in the Bronx that should be allowed to design their curriculum. Among them is the Isaac Clason School on Taylor Avenue (District 8), which has 83.9 percent of students at or above grade level in math, and 89.2 percent in reading. That is remarkable.

But compare Franz Sigel here in District 9 to that school, or to other schools from Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island that were included on the list: It clearly does not belong on the list.

Are there other schools that don’t belong on the list? Yes. We at the Horizon feel that the selection process should be looked at once more. Mr. Klein amended the list just after it came out—there was one school that should have been included but was not on the initial list. Mr. Klein has the power to amend it once more.

Please change the list, Mr. Klein, and try to improve our schools by trying the standardized curriculum. We don’t know if it will work any better than before, but it is certainly time to try something different.