How To Avoid School Closures In 6 Easy Steps

Oh, it was with so much sadness that I read over at Norm's Notes that there are now 47 schools scheduled to be closed. That's forty seven schools that have been set up to fail, 47 schools that never stood a chance. I even saw an old favorite of mine, PS 277 in The Bronx targeted for closure. What a beautiful building it is. I think it was built around 1903, a time when education meant education for students, not for trying squeeze out a dollar.

So the crack team here at SBSB got to thinking. What can be done to prevent school closures? We brainstormed all weekend. Came up with many ideas, and many non ideas. We fought, we laughed, we even cried trying to come up with a solution. Finally, Herb mentioned how he used to watch Billy Crystal on Saturday Night Live back in the 80's. A light bulb popped over all our heads. Yes! Billy Crystal's character, Fernando, always said it was "Better to look good than to feel good." So using this phrase as our motivation we here at SBSB came up with ideas, which used all in conjunction with, will prevents schools in NYC from facing the dreaded threat of closure.

Of course this can and should be used as a primer to those principals, mainly the Leadership Academy grads that have no morals, ethics, or qualms about doing what is in their best interests, who will proliferate such schools that don't wish to be closed. Something tells us that though this might be an original idea, it might have been used before.

1. Have a really cool name. PS 55 or PS 491, or any PS with a number is not cool. It does not make a statement. Have a school name that implies something grand. "The Nautical School for Applied Life Sciences." Or, "Institute for Life Implicated Sciences." Or "Academy for Dignified Table Etiquette."