What a difference a year makes.
Last year, Peace and Diversity Academy in The Bronx had a respectable 68 percent graduation rate and a B on its first-ever report card.
Seemingly overnight, the school tumbled to an F grade and a preliminary 2009 graduation rate of 38 percent — a whopping 30 percentage point drop.
“I’m not surprised,” said Shaneeka Bromfield, a 16-year-old junior, who blamed low expectations. “We’ll be in class and say something so simple or answer a simple question and the teacher will act so amazed, like they’re surprised that we know something.”
Ariana Gooden, a 15-year-old sophomore who transferred to the school this year from a Catholic school, added, “Kids don’t try here.”
School officials said the academy has faced many obstacles, including massive student turnover, after two location changes since 2004.