The 14 high schools saved from closure by a union lawsuit will open tomorrow with significantly lowered enrollments. A majority of the schools have seen their incoming ninth grade cohorts cut by half or more over last year.
Though enrollment numbers at the schools have increased since July, when the Department of Education last reported them, they’re still far below where they’ve been in years past. Many of the schools admitted fewer students through the high school admission process this year and are taking in more “over the counter” students. These are students who don’t apply to the schools, but are placed in them by the DOE, and more are likely to enroll in the coming weeks.
Of the schools the city wanted to close, the Choir Academy of Harlem had its ninth grade enrollment drop the most, from 64 students last year to 21 this year, a 67 percent decline. Brooklyn’s Maxwell Career and Technical Education High School is a close second; incoming freshman class is 66 percent smaller than last year’s class.
New Day Academy, a 6-12 school, saw the least change. Last year it opened with 79 ninth graders and, as of today, it has 73.