Three more elementary schools are set to close, DOE says

The tally of schools slated to close in June reached 11 today.

Parents at PS 198 in the Bronx, PS 194 in Manhattan, and PS/IS 72 in Brooklyn are learning today that the Department of Education is closing their schools at the end of the school year because of poor performance. Staff members learned about the closures yesterday, according to the DOE.

All three schools have low test scores and haven’t posted significant progress according to the DOE’s way of measuring improvement. Two of the them received D’s on their most recent progress reports; the third, PS 198, got an F.

Reviews on the Web site Insideschools describe schools with big problems. PS 194, the site said, suffered from “tension between principal and teachers” and noticeable fighting. It noted that PS/IS 72 had four principals in the last three years, and that PS 198 experienced high teacher turnover — and a rat problem.

At all three schools, the upper grades will phase out while students in the lower grades will enroll next fall in a new school opening in the same location. PS/IS 72 will be replaced by separate elementary and middle schools.

Yesterday, the DOE announced that it would close PS 2 in the Bronx. On Monday, it announced four school closures, and this year’s barrage of closure news kicked off with three schools last week. The Post reported that the final tally could rise to 20 schools, so it’s likely we’ll see more closures still.