State education statistics show that the Long Island City H.S. four-year graduation rate for the 2008-09 school year was 56.1 percent. State education officials last week released a list of 57 schools, including 10 Queens high schools, that could be shut down if they fail to improve performance scores and graduation rates.

Long Island City H.S., Newtown H.S. in Elmhurst and Grover Cleveland H.S. in Ridgewood are among institutions included on the state-issued list to receive state and federal funding that will call for a complete makeover of the schools – or would shut them down completely.

Schools on the state “hit list” have been deemed “consistently lowest achieving” by officials at the New York State Education Department, who said the schools have consistent graduation rates below 60 per cent. Students at the schools also have “persistently low scores” on state English and math exams, officials said.

Officials said the state identified those schools whose performance in English, language arts and mathematics were the lowest in the state and failed to show progress, or schools with graduation rates below 60 per cent.

State education statistics show that the Long Island City H.S. four-year graduation rate for the 2008-09 school year was 56.1 percent, Newtown’s graduation rate for the same period was 52.6 percent and Grover Cleveland’s graduation rate was 54 percent.

City officials are waiting for the state to determine a deadline for schools on the “hit list” to address their performance problems.

Schools on the list will be offered four options: improve performance by replacing the principal and half the teaching staff, reward staff who boost student achievement, convert to a charter school or shut down outright.

Sources at the State Education Department told the Gazette the fate of these schools is not set in stone, like those the city has recently chosen to close.

“I don’t think at this point they will close,” the sources said. “But they must surely improve performance achievement statistics, or steps may be taken to shut them down.”

Meanwhile, more than 2,000 parents, teachers, students and education advocates testified before a city Education Department panel on January 27, shouting down plans to close 19 city high schools, including three in Queens.

Members of the Panel for Educational Policy listened to more than five hours of impassioned pleading by those who testified in opposition to a city Department of Education (DOE) plan to phase out Jamaica H.S., Beach Channel H.S. and the Business Computer Applications and Entrepreneurship Magnet School one grade at a time, beginning in June. According to the DOE plan, new schools will open in the school buildings during the phase out, accepting new students, one grade at a time.

City officials have insisted that low graduation rates, poor attendance rates and declining enrollments forced them to take drastic measures to close the schools.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg described the panel’s decision to shut down the schools as a “difficult but necessary step in the right direction”.

Records indicate the city has phased out 91 schools in the past eight years. Officials maintain that students at the new schools that opened in their place have achieved significantly higher performance scores.

Students heading home this week from classes at Long Island City H.S. expressed shock and disappointment when they learned the school had been added to the state list.

Jason, a 16-year-old sophomore at Long Island City H.S., conceded that more “one-on-one” with teachers would go a long way to help improve student performance, but said the school should not be shut down.

“No way is it one of the worst schools in the city,” Jason said. “It just needs some tweeking.”