Two Harlem schools proposed for closure and an Upper West Side school would move. The panel votes Dec. 16; the Council has no say

The Education Department has formally proposed closing two small Harlem schools at the end of this school year and moving an Upper West Side middle school about a mile and a half north, THE CITY reported Tuesday. All three plans are expected to go to the Panel for Educational Policy for a vote on Dec. 16.

Why it matters to residents: these are the first formal closure proposals under Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Chancellor Kamar Samuels. Citywide K-12 enrollment has fallen about 19%, or roughly 187,000 students, over 12 years, THE CITY reported, and more schools are likely to face the same questions.

This is a follow-up to our Oct. 26 story on the first closure being considered.

The three proposals

According to THE CITY:

• Urban Assembly School for Global Commerce, a Harlem high school with 112 students, would close. It has lost nearly a third of its students since 2021-22, and its career programs in supply chain management and marketing have ended. Twenty percent of its students met a city benchmark for advanced or career-focused coursework, compared with 63% across Manhattan.
• School of Earth Exploration and Discovery Harlem (SEED Harlem), the city's smallest middle school, with 40 students, would close. Enrollment is down 68% since 2022-23, and it enrolled six sixth graders this year. It spent $93,000 per student last year, nearly four times the city average.
• The Center School, a grades 5-8 school with 247 students last year, would move from West 84th Street to the West 109th Street campus it would share with P.S. 165. Officials say the current building, shared with P.S. 9, is overcrowded. A plan last year to move the school to West 61st Street was dropped after families objected.

THE CITY also reported that a Bronx middle school, I.S. 224, is being prepared for closure, though no formal proposal has been made.

"If a school is more underenrolled, it's more likely not to offer the advanced classes that you need," Samuels told THE CITY. An Education Department spokesperson, Dominique Ellison, said the department "remains committed to meaningful engagement with communities before issuing any proposals."

What our records add

The Council has no vote on closures or moves. The Panel for Educational Policy decides. Res. 548, from Eric Dinowitz with Frank Morano, asks Albany to let the Council appoint one panel member. It has now waited 112 days in the Education Committee without a hearing.

The Center School move crosses Council lines. West 84th Street is in District 6, represented by Gale A. Brewer. The P.S. 165 campus on West 109th Street is in District 7, represented by Shaun Abreu, according to our district maps.

Consolidation came up at the Council in March. At the Education Committee's March 23 budget hearing, a Council member noted that some schools now enroll fewer than 150 students and asked whether consolidation was being actively considered where several under-enrolled schools sit close together. An Education Department witness answered that the losses would hit hardest at schools serving families who are leaving the city, and said the department expected to discuss "opportunities" for consolidation as part of its planning for class size (3:15:15). Earlier in the same hearing, Council Member Kamillah Hanks asked what it would cost to keep holding schools harmless from midyear budget cuts tied to enrollment drops; an official said there were no projections to share yet (1:54:37).

Members have questioned the panel's role before. At a Feb. 10 hearing on mayoral control, Dinowitz named school closures and co-locations as decisions where concentrated power can limit public input.

The next Education hearing is on buses. The committee's next scheduled hearing, Nov. 18, is an oversight hearing on school bus service, with Int. 835, from Lincoln Restler, on a school bus performance dashboard. No hearing on enrollment or closures is scheduled.

What's next

• Public hearings at the affected schools come before the panel's vote; watch the schools' pages for dates.
• The Panel for Educational Policy is expected to vote Dec. 16, THE CITY reported.
• The schools' pages and proposal documents are on the Education Department's site.