NYC moves to close two of its smallest schools as enrollment keeps falling

NYC education officials have proposed closing two Harlem schools at the end of this school year, the first formal closure plans of 2026-27, Chalkbeat reports.

The Urban Assembly School for Global Commerce is a high school with 112 students. School of Earth Exploration and Discovery Harlem, the city's smallest middle school, has 40. The city also wants to move the Center School, a popular Upper West Side middle school, about a mile and a half north to a West 109th Street campus to ease crowding. All three Manhattan proposals go to the Panel for Educational Policy for a vote on Dec. 16.

The bigger picture: NYC's K-12 enrollment has dropped about 19% over the last 12 years, roughly 187,000 students. Chancellor Kamar Samuels has tied small enrollment to fewer opportunities: "If a school is more underenrolled, it's more likely not to offer the advanced classes that you need."

Why it matters for schools: when families have more seats to choose from, every school is competing for them. What a parent finds on your website and app is often their first impression.

Source: Chalkbeat New York, Nov 2