Students, parents, faculty and alumni of P.S. 25 Eubie Blake School in Bedford-Stuyvesant gathered for one last time last week to celebrate the school’s legacy before it closes for good on Thursday, the last day of public school.
The party on Friday was both a celebration as well as a memorial. Students played basketball on the sun-bleached tarmac, danced by the DJ booth, and ran towards the bouncy castle set up by the playground.
As parents grabbed food by the buffet, they somberly noted the cake with blue and yellow frosting – the school’s colors– that said “Farewell P.S. 25 Eubie Blake School.”
“It’s devastating,” said Yesenia Castillo, the PTA president and mother to a graduating fifth grader.
One reason that the Education Department decided to close P.S. 25 was due to its enrollment; at just 52 students in grades K-5 as of October 2024, officials said that the school was the smallest in the city, according to Chalkbeat.
Yet despite its size, P.S. 25 was a tight-knit community. Taped to the fences were posterboards plastered with photographs, from pictures of field trips to kindergarten classes. Amongst those celebrating were alumni from decades past, such as sisters Dr. Audrey and Gerry Baker, who filed a lawsuit to keep the school open when it was initially set to close in 2018, when enrollment went below 100 students.
“It’s been a mainstay in this Bed-Stuy community,” said Dr. Audrey Baker, a former educator herself. “Nobody made an effort to increase student enrollment.”
When student enrollment decreased during the pandemic, many schools were unable to recover, leading to an increase in smaller schools. Since these schools are more expensive to run (as funding for schools ties in with headcount), tiny schools often struggle to afford certain programs, according to Chalkbeat.
P.S. 25 is one of many schools that has struggled financially. During the 2023-2024 school year, $45,420 funds were allocated per student at P.S. 25, which is 115% more than the city average.
However, its closing leaves many families at a loss; the lawsuit filed by the Bakers argued that the closing of the school would leave some families in the neighborhood without a zoned option.
The school’s closing not only marks the loss of not just a community hub, but the continuation for neighborhood Black and brown families to advocate for their children’s education.
“You hold a principal accountable, and the principal does the job that you're holding them accountable for,” said 81-year old Bed-Stuy resident Betty Davis. “You hold the staff accountable, and they meet the standards that you hold them accountable for, and you are closing down their school instead of helping other parents who would love to come to a school like this.”
“The rock of Sisyphus goes down the hill,” Davis continued, “So now we go to push that rock back up the hill.”
