Dozens of small NYC high schools share buildings. Why don’t more share resources?

This is part two of a three-part series investigating New York City's small high schools and their shared buildings. Murry Bergtraum High School for Business Careers, the city's smallest traditional high school with around 90 students, is located on a shared campus in lower Manhattan. Despite having a per-student budget nearly double the city average, the school's limited academic offerings force some students to attend night school for basic graduation requirements.

The city, like many school districts nationwide, is grappling with a small schools crisis due to enrollment declines. A startling 72 of the city's high schools with fewer than 250 students are on shared campuses, a Chalkbeat analysis revealed. Chancellor Kamar Samuels faces pressure to address the situation, but long-term solutions like closing and merging underenrolled schools are slow and politically unpopular.

School leaders and experts urge Samuels to help small schools on shared campuses pool resources urgently. Amy Piller, principal of Urban Assembly Maker Academy on the Murry Bergtraum campus, argues that shared campuses inadvertently pit schools against each other when they need to share resources the most. Chancellor Samuels has instructed five working groups to devise blueprints for underenrolled schools in their districts, but none include high schools.

The Education Department is exploring "campus working groups" for high schools, though a timeline has not been shared. Some principals on shared campuses have pooled course offerings, but guidance and support from the Education Department remains needed as they deal with shrinking rosters.