A Brooklyn high school that was reportedly on the verge of closing four years ago says it posted a 99% graduation rate in the past school year. The school, located in Brooklyn and serving a little more than 200 students who speak 19 different languages, has also reported a chronic absenteeism rate of 68% and an attendance and graduation rate of 76%.
From Near-Closure to a Turnaround Story
According to CBS New York, reporter Chris Wragge detailed how Cyberarts Studio Academy, which shares the John Jay Educational Campus with three other schools, was reportedly close to shutting its doors around 2022. Principal Valrie Wauchope, who leads the school, said students did not seem engaged when she arrived and that turning things around required placing children at the center of every decision, per the CBS report. During her first year, Wauchope hired a new assistant principal, guidance counselors, and teachers, saying new staff needed to love children and feel urgency about supporting every student, the station reported.
The school also gave existing teachers resources, care, and support aimed at creating warm and welcoming classrooms, according to the same CBS account. Assistant Principal Jamin Harris said students needed love and that the school has tried to make classes fun while bringing more warmth into the building, the station reported. Harris credited Wauchope's leadership and her prioritization of children for shaping the school's overall vision, per CBS.
Academics, Arts, and a Sense of Belonging
InsideSchools describes Cyberarts Studio Academy as currently focused on the intersection of science and technology, arts, and the humanities. The CBS report notes the school has expanded its Advanced Placement course offerings, taken students on international school trips, and seen students' work displayed in museums. School counselor Raisa Vasquez said some seniors even ask to extend their schedules because they want to remain at the school, according to the station's report.
English teacher Chris Slaughter compared the school's progress to a runner's high, per the same CBS account. The station reported that Cyberarts Studio Academy graduates each student with a pathway to success, with graduates going on to trade school or two- or four-year colleges. CBS also noted that one student earned a GED during the past school year, and that the New York City Department of Education does not count GED recipients in its graduation rate calculation.
A More Complicated Recent History
Chalkbeat reported that the school's four-year June graduation rate in 2023 was 75%, compared with an 81% citywide average that year. Chalkbeat also reported that the school's English Language Learner population surged from fewer than 40 students in 2018 to nearly 100 out of roughly 300 students in 2023. For English Language Learners who began high school in 2017, roughly 56% graduated within four years, rising to 67% within six years, compared with 80% and 87% respectively for all students in that same cohort.
Chalkbeat's 2024 reporting also included allegations from families and school staff that Wauchope had advised six immigrant seniors who recently failed the English Language Arts Regents exam that they would not graduate if they stayed at the school, and counseled them to transfer immediately. The outlet reported that one family, Genesis and Karen Callero, left the school within days after Genesis recalled being told she would need to transfer in order to graduate. That reporting reflects allegations made by families and staff to Chalkbeat, and the available evidence does not establish an independent finding resolving those claims.
What the Numbers Do and Do Not Show
Separately, an InsideSchools narrative from November 2018 said the school's attendance, graduation, and college-readiness rates lagged behind both the citywide average and averages at schools with similar student populations. New York City's official end-of-year attendance and chronic absenteeism data, maintained through the NYC Public Schools InfoHub, covers school years from 2018-19 onward and includes breakdowns by student characteristics, though it was not used in the available reporting to independently verify the 99% figure cited by CBS. The New York State Education Department's graduation rate data for the school notes that its figures are reported for a ninth-grade cohort as of the fourth year of high school, typically measured in August, a methodology detail that underscores how graduation statistics can vary depending on cohort and timing.
