DEWEY DECIMATED: John Dewey HS senior T’kari Fisher (right) had his AP English class chopped amid ongoing rancor between the UFT and the Bloomberg administration. (
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In a tug of war between the intransigent teachers union and a bitter city government, these kids are collateral damage.
Students at John Dewey HS in Brooklyn — one of 24 schools the Department of Education tried unsuccessfully to close, replace half the staff and reopen — returned to find the Gravesend campus pillaged: favorite teachers tossed, guidance counselors gone, classes canned.
Senior T’kari Fisher, 17, who proudly earned a teacher’s recommendation last year to take Advanced Placement English, was crushed to learn it was whacked, along with AP psychology and calculus classes.
“Now I’m just here for the credits. I’m not getting much out of it,” Fisher told The Post.
Italian, Russian and French vanished, leaving Spanish or Chinese.Former “Resource Centers,” rooms where kids studied with help from teachers, are “just big empty spaces,” as one girl put it. A piano, guitars and drums stand silent for lack of a music instructor.
Students are divided into “houses” and confined to classes in each one, curbing their choices.
“I asked for science — marine or space. They put me in stagecraft and dance,” said senior Babken Mkrtchyan.
“John Dewey would be rolling in his grave,” said a teacher, referring to the school’s namesake, a free-thinking 19th-century education reformer.
With its future cloudy, Dewey’s enrollment dipped by 400-500, to about 1,900, insiders said. That led to a budget cut of $3 million. At least 13 teachers remain “excessed” — let go as unneeded — and 10 retired; new faces include rookies and castoffs from phased-out schools.
“We’re broke,” said a veteran, recalling a staff meeting. “The principal told us that each teacher is equivalent to 10 air conditioners.”
Once a top city high school, Dewey has clung to life. Students, teachers and alumni — who include filmmaker Spike Lee and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Donald Margulies — loudly opposed the DOE’s plans, staging walkouts and protests on “Fight Back Fridays.”
Dewey, which took in low-performing kids when Lafayette HS in Bensonhurst shut, got a C on its last DOE report card — its 62 percent four-year June graduation rate a hair above the citywide 60.1 percent. The 30 percent deemed “college ready” beat the citywide 20.7 percent.
At first the city made Dewey one of 24 “transformation”schools with the same staff, eligible for $31 million in federal improvement grants.
But when the DOE and the United Federation of Teachers failed to agree on a teacher-evaluation system, the state yanked the funds.
Undaunted — or vindictive, critics say — Mayor Bloomberg launched the more aggressive “turnaround” plans. The DOE issued pink slips and took applications. All the schools got new names. Dewey became Shorefront HS for Arts and Sciences at John Dewey Campus.
But in a suit by the union, an arbitrator agreed the new schools were a “sham” and the layoffs violated the teachers’ contract. A judge upheld the ruling. The city plans to appeal.
For now, the old names stand, but some see it as a Pyrrhic victory.
“They took the Dewey out of Dewey,” said an excessed teacher.Students no longer enjoy free periods, except lunch, and must eat only in the cafeteria, not on the spacious grounds. The college-like atmosphere has faded. The DOE denied letting Dewey or other schools flounder, saying it gave the 24 a total $18 million boost.
“It feels like a junior-high experience,” said senior Patricia Ansah. “It’s pretty mediocre.”
Principal Kathleen Elvin replaced Barry Fried, who abruptly resigned last March as the city geared up for the turnaround. Elvin distributed a 52-page staff handbook filled with rules, including a mandate to “dress professionally.” She did not return calls.