In December, when they learned that school officials had decided to keep the school open, "you could hear the resounding cheer throughout the school," said Cheryl Tyler, the principal.

In 1998 the school was protested by a Christian organization for offering professional development courses on homosexuality awareness after offensive slang was repeatedly heard throughout the school.

When students and teachers at Public School 277 in the Bronx learned in December that the school would not be closed down, even though it received an F in its progress report, "you could hear the resounding cheer throughout the school," said Cheryl Tyler, the principal.