Ahead of the citywide education panel's vote to close 25 schools for poor performance Thursday, NY1's Lindsey Christ takes a look at Grace Dodge High School - one of the three remaining large career and technical education schools in the Bronx on the chopping block - and filed the following report.

Yisauri Reyes was pregnant during her last year at Grace Dodge High School, as were many of her classmates. In fact, the Department of Education says about a quarter of students here are parents or pregnant. It's an alarming statistic that could help explain another: The 35 percent graduation rate.

The school's defenders say its value is in its 11 career training programs, from professional beauty care to nursing. Reyes, who graduated in 2010, became a certified EMT and that's how she supports her son.

"It's great. You have something to back you up," said Reyes.

But the city is moving to close old, comprehensive career and tech schools and replace them with a dozen more specialized ones, focusing on sectors like software engineering. All three of the big vocational schools in the Bronx are on the chopping block: Grace Dodge, Samuel Gompers and Jane Addams.

The plan is to replace Dodge with two schools -- one focused on architecture, the other on information technology. But the Bronx rep on the Panel for Educational Policy worries the new schools aren't geared toward the same type of student.

"Most of these kids will probably never make it to college. So why take away the only opportunity they have to fend for themselves?" said PEP member Wilfredo Pagan.

The DOE disagrees, saying every student should be on track for college, even as some students at Dodge say learning haircare - not algebra - is what motivates them.

"It keeps a lot of people off the streets, actually," said one Dodge student.

Teachers blame the school's problems on a lack of resources and support. The Daily News dubbed Dodge "Horrendous High" in November, after discovering hundreds of students were without an English teacher. And despite the high pregnancy rate, the school doesn't have a daycare center.

Teachers also say the school hasn't had textbooks for students to use for homework assignments in eight years.

While graduates like Reyes and current students, like Starr Giscombe, highlight the promise of a Grace Dodge education, they are rare exceptions.

"When I graduate I will be a certified nursing assistant, and right there, that jumps me from $7.25 an hour to like $18 an hour," said Giscombe.

Giscombe says she'll use that money to pay her way through college -- a path most of her classmates may not even consider.