Leon Botstein, president of Bard College and associated with the Bard High School Early College on Houston Street in Manhattan,  which was originally given a C grade, told the New York Times in an interview that the DOE report cards are “reductive” and
“depressing." The DOE is reconsidering Bard’s grade.

   The New York Times writes:

"The Bard high school is unique
within the city, as the only high school where all graduates leave with
a two-year associate degree. Nonetheless, Mr. Botstein’s basic argument
is being echoed throughout the city by educators and parents at some
schools that, like his, are nontraditional and high-performing. They
say that while the new rating system, which is driven by standardized
test scores, may be a good way to measure whether schools are imparting
basic knowledge, it is less useful and even harmful on the higher end
of the performance spectrum."

BOTSTEIN QUOTES (as told to the New York Times):

“You
have a system that is broken and that is failing, and they are
desperately trying to improve it. But don’t throw the baby out with the
bath water.

"There are a couple of places, and we’re one of
them, that really do something different and well."

“Not all plants are weeds,” he said, “so why are you spraying insecticide on the whole thing?”

“Let’s say we’re a vegetarian restaurant and you’re telling me our meat
is not good. I’m telling you we don’t serve meat. We’re not in the meat
business.”