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New York City is considering closing a small Harlem high school, the first in what could be a growing number of school merger and closure proposals this school year as the nation’s largest school system grapples with enrollment declines.
Superintendent Fred Walsh, who oversees high schools supported by the nonprofit Urban Assembly, shared the proposal in a letter this week to families and staff at the Urban Assembly School for Global Commerce.
“As of today, there are only 112 students enrolled at Global Commerce, a 39% decrease in enrollment over the last five years,” Walsh wrote, according to a copy of the Tuesday letter obtained by Chalkbeat. “This presents significant programmatic and budgetary challenges that directly impact students.“
The proposal is not yet final, officials said. If the Education Department decides to move forward, they will post official closure documents online, hold public hearings, and then bring the proposal to the city’s Panel for Educational Policy for a final vote. Plans must be posted online by Oct. 30 for the panel to consider the proposal at its December meeting, a spokesperson said.
Global Commerce opened just 13 years ago as part of a boom in small, themed public high schools under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Now, the plan to close it comes as the city confronts a growing number of tiny schools.
K-12 enrollment in the city’s public schools has fallen by roughly 170,000 over the past decade to about 790,000 students.
The city now has 224 schools with 200 or fewer students, up from 165 in 2016, according to enrollment data. Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels has said that addressing severely underenrolled schools — which tend to disproportionately enroll the most vulnerable students and struggle to offer a variety of courses and activities — is a top priority.
But he has not laid out a citywide plan to close or merge schools, saying those plans must be developed by local district superintendents with the help of families and educators.
City officials did not say whether other proposals to close or merge schools are being prepared for the December Panel for Educational Policy meeting.
“Like school districts across the country facing enrollment declines, we have a responsibility to respond in ways that support the long-term sustainability of our schools,” said Education Department spokesperson Nicole Brownstein.
“In some cases, that means making difficult but necessary decisions that place student success at the forefront, including mergers, that allow us to maximize programmatic opportunities, strengthen school communities, and better serve students now and in the future.”
Global Commerce has been shrinking for years. Principal Roony Vizcaino told the New York Daily News in 2022 he was concerned the school might eventually need to be shut down. He compared the effects of enrollment loss to “having a car that is used to functioning a certain way … and then giving it extra stress.”
More than 90% of the students at the school are Black and Latino, and more than 90% live in poverty. Last year, a third of students had a learning disability, and a third were homeless during the school year.
In 2025, 74% of students graduated within four years, compared to 81% citywide.
Vizcaino declined to comment on the proposed closure.
An Education Department spokesperson said officials were still meeting with the school community to decide whether the closure will be officially proposed.
Gilbert Schuerch, a physical education teacher at the school who runs a Substack about his after-school weightlifting program, wrote that students and staff were distraught by the news.
“The amount of students I’ve held in my arms today,” he wrote Wednesday, “and the number of tears shed — from me and the kids — has only reaffirmed how special this place has become to me and the kids.”
Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.