article on BCNHS from NY DAILY NEWS

Night HS gets 1 more year
City to close school in 2008
By TANYANIKA SAMUELS
Posted Tuesday, March 20th 2007, 7:17 PM
Students at Brooklyn Comprehensive Night School have gotten a reprieve, but concerns linger about the ultimate fate of the Canarsie program.
The city Department of Education planned to close the school this summer, but it will now remain open through June 2008, officials said.
"We wanted to support the students that are already there. Now they'll have a little more time," Education Department spokeswoman Melody Meyer said last week.
The city is set to open a new transfer school - the Brooklyn Bridge Academy - in its place. Critics, however, contend the new program is a day program, while Brooklyn Comprehensive helped students at night.
"It's a relief that the school is staying open another year so the kids who are with us can graduate from us, but it doesn't solve the problem of where kids like this can go in the future," said English teacher Floraine Kay.
Education officials said the details of the new transfer school are still being worked out.
"Many transfer schools have night components, but we're not sure what this one will look like," Meyer said.
Brooklyn Comprehensive is geared toward 18- to 21-year-olds who have dropped out or aged out of mainstream high schools for lack of credits. The school opened its doors 17 years ago and offers students an opportunity to earn an actual diploma, rather than a GED.
Enrollment had been on the decline for years and factored into the decision to close the program, education officials said.
The night program - which is no longer accepting new students - is housed in South Shore High School, which is being gradually phased out by the city due to low student performance.
Brooklyn Comprehensive students greeted the news of its delayed demise with equal parts relief and dismay.
"I wasn't happy about it closing down," said Kyle Penceal, 18. "I was stressing, trying to cram everything in by June 2007. Now I can relax a little bit."
For Marco Ponce, 19, the program was a "perfect" fit.
"It allows me to have a job in the day to help my mom with the bills, and I can continue my studies instead of dropping out like I thought I had to," he said.
"There are so many kids in this school that finally turned their lives around, and now they want to shut it down on them," Ponce added. "That's not right."