The school was closed as part of a plan to stop students' average grades from declining.

[4] A contract to construct a new building for the high school with room for 4,500 students was awarded in August 1927 to the firm of Psaty & Fuhrman, which submitted the lowest bid of $1,459,971 to the New York City Board of Education.

The firm had won an earlier bid, but withdrew its offer after determining that it had underestimated its costs.

The school would be one of the largest in the nation, ready to serve 2,500 students on a campus covering a city block, with a three-story auditorium, two gymnasiums, a swimming pool and ample classroom and athletic space.

[8] The Department of Education's decision cited declining marks under its school-monitoring system as the justification behind the planned closure.