We recently reported that 80 percent of New York City high school graduates need to relearn basic skills before entering into the City University’s community college system.

To address this enormous problem, one principal tried to give students some incentive to work: She threatened to cancel the prom, which seemed to give some students the motivation they needed.

Graduate or forget about the gowns and tuxes: that was the stern warning at Collegiate Institute for Math and Science in the Bronx. Seniors say the principal told them there’d be no prom unless the entire class graduates.

“It was a scare tactic basically for seniors to get their butts in gear,” said Jose Abreu, a senior.

Abreu and fellow seniors call it tough love from the principal.

“A lot of the seniors were slacking,” said Roberto Rivera, a senior.

They told Fox 5 many were suffering from a classic case of senioritis, so posters went up at the school that said prom was off unless every senior graduates — nearly 140 students.

“Some of the kids were upset,” Rivera said. “Others were like ‘ahhh they’re just faking it.'”

They say the threat worked. The seniors worked harder, improved their grades, and this week another poster went up that said prom is on. They also got a flier with details about the big night to take home.

“This only affected us in getting us motivated,” said Laura Martinez.

However, the prom is back on. While the goal of 100% graduation has eluded the school, it still is doing significantly better than other NYC institutions:

A New York high school principal was forced to back off her threat that the senior prom would be canceled unless every student was eligible to graduate, the New York Post reported.

Shadia Alvarez, principal of the Collegiate Institute for Math and Science in the Bronx, put a poster up at the school saying the senior prom was off unless every senior — nearly 140 students — graduates, MyFoxNY reported.

…According to the Post, Alvarez told the Department of Education that there was no such ultimatum, saying the school has high expectations and she only told students the prom would be canceled if they did not try.

The prom is not canceled, DOE said.

The school is on track to have a 90 percent graduation rate, higher than the city average of 66 percent, according to the Post.