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The latest schools on the chopping block are Jamaica High School in Queens, the School for Community Research and Learning in the Bronx and Academy of Collaborative Education in Manhattan. The latter opened in 2006.

This comes a day after the Department of Education announced the closure of four other schools due to poor performance.

"If you look around me right now, you see a staff, you see kids, you see a school community that is united and wants to see this school survive," said Jamaica High School teacher James Eterno.

Jamaica has had trouble attracting students, while other schools nearby are overcrowded. Teachers say that the DOE has been trying to shutter it for years, even though both enrollment and the graduation rate have improved. But the 46 percent graduation rate is still 20 points below the Queens average.

"At this stage, we don't think that organization has the capacity to fully turn around and deliver on the promise for kids," said Deputy Schools Chancellor John White.

At the Academy of Collaborative Education, a survey found zero percent of the teachers reported that there is order and discipline and just 27 percent of students say they feel safe.

Critics of the mayor say the failure of several new small schools raises questions about his whole reform agenda. But the DOE says it just shows they are serious about holding all schools accountable.

"I think it is indicative of our commitment to holding schools accountable for fulfilling the promise to kids that we are willing to, as you note, in schools we created, take this step," White said.

The other schools being phased out are Frederick Douglas Academy Middle School in the Bronx, Maxwell High in Brooklyn, and Manhattan's Academy of Environmental Science and Kappa Two.

Last week, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he is committed to closing down the lowest performing 10 percent of the city's schools and bringing in new leadership to turn things around.

As a result of the new mayoral control law, before the schools can close, there has to be a 45-day period for the public to comment and the Panel for Education Policy must take a final vote.

Michael Mulgrew, the head of the teachers' union, questions whether the new law will result in actual change.

"Is this a sham or are we really going to engage in a process so that we can look and see what was going on inside of the school?" said Mulgrew. "Were the proper supports doing it and is this a valid decision to be made at the end of the process?"

Since Bloomberg took control of the school system, the city has closed nearly 100 schools.