Councilman Leroy Comrie rallying against Queens schools closure for artcile on Richmond Hill schools
The president of John Adams High School Student Government in Richmond Hill Cassandra Jagroop, has criticized the plan by New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg to phase out her school saying it will hurt students in the community. Closure of the schools will have a serious impact on the large Guyanese community as there are no other high schools in the vicinity.
The City plans to shutter the only two high schools in Richmond Hill (John Adams H.S and Richmond Hill H.S) – two of the largest schools in the city which accommodate not only students from the area but from surrounding communities including Jamaica and Brooklyn.
Hundreds of Guyanese students are enrolled in these two high schools. Both schools are known to provide their auditoriums for Guyanese cultural variety shows on weekends which seek to entertain the Guyanese community of over 100,000.
The City has pointed out that the schools are not performing at a high level as expected, although records show that graduation rates in both schools went up over the last year.
Students point out that Adams has had a 17 percent increase in graduation rates over the last three years reaching 64% last year. The average graduation rate for the City is around 50%.
City officials say the plan to close the school will be voted on April 26 by the City Panel for Educational Policy. Borough President Helen Marshall opposes the closure of the two schools, as do some other City legislators from the area.
Guyanese community advocates also came out against the closures pointing out that it will cause a level of disruption in the lives of these young people from which they will never be able to recover.
Despite public opposition to the proposed closure of the schools, the Mayor’s Office and the Department of Education have not backed down.
The City Council’s Queens delegation united last week to protest the closures.
Deputy Majority Leader Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans) whose district has tens of thousands of Guyanese, and other members of City Council stood with Marshall near Borough Hall last week to call on Mayor Bloomberg to stop the controversial “closure” plan before it comes to a vote later this month.
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