NYC Honors "Diversity" By Ending The Neighborhood School

 Doing away with screening in the admission process leaves many parents unhappy while others are thrilled.

We believe that every child is unique, and has different learning needs and abilities. We believe that diversity of opportunity is a good thing, and therefore we support school choice. For too many years the Department of Education has ignored sub-standard schools - with run-down buildings and narrow curricula - in areas of minority populations politicians chose to ignore.

But is ending the neighborhood school a good move?

The New York City Department of Education is setting up a house of cards that has no supporting services to be successful in this effort to diversify. Many years ago, three years after the Gifted and Talented k-12 school NEST+M opened up at 111 Columbia Street and East Houston, my youngest daughter was accepted to 6th grade after graduating from PS 6 on the Upper Eastside where we live. We were very happy with the immense diversity in her class. NEST+M was a City-wide school and accepted any student in the NYC school district who passed the entrance test.

After a few months at NEST and after some parents spoke with me about how they wish they could get a school bus from the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and District 2 in Manhattan, I looked into the issue as a member of the PTA. The school bus companies serviced schools within the District the school was located. Any student accepted to NEST+M outside of District 1, a small dot in lower Manhattan, was out of luck. The owners of the bus companies hung up on me when I tried to convince them that kids in the other boroughs were students deserving of transportation to their school. Some bus company employees were very belligerent in their opposition. They told me, so what if kindergarten students have to take the subway to get there and back home? "Their parents should never have accepted a spot."

I was on the transportation committee, and saw how nasty people could be when confronted with the issue of kids being transported in and out of a neighborhood they did not live in. But we kept our focus on getting the NEST students - in all grades except high school - to school on time, and it worked.

But if the NYC Department of Education does not have a support structure in place to provide for children to be accepted into schools not in their neighborhood, there will be trouble ahead.

The End of the Neighborhood School

 Betsy Combier

Editor, ADVOCATZ.com
Editor, ADVOCATZ blog
Editor, Parentadvocates.org
Editor, New York Court Corruption
Editor, NYC Rubber Room Reporter
Editor, NYC Public Voice
Editor, National Public Voice
Editor, Inside 3020-a Teacher Trials

Under New Policy, Selective Manhattan High Schools Offer More Seats To Students Outside District

BY SOPHIA CHANG, The Gothamist

MAY 22, 2021 1:23 P.M.

 • 4 COMMENTS

The elimination of geographic preferences at one Manhattan school district has led to a skyrocketing number of outer borough students offered seats at the district’s most selective high schools, the city Department of Education said while announcing the results of high school admissions Friday.

“The COVID-19 global pandemic interrupted many of our normal school-year practices last year, including a lack of State testing, and revised approaches to grading and attendance policies,” DOE spokesperson Katie O’Hanlon said in a statement Friday. “In the wake of the health crisis, the City announced common-sense changes to the high school admissions process that were grounded in equity and directly addressed the unprecedented circumstances that families and our school system were and continue to grapple with.”

The city’s high school admissions process involves ranking up to 12 schools in order of preference. This year, 77,627 8th graders who applied for a spot at a city high school received an offer, with 55,242 of those students-- or 73% -- receiving an offer to one of their top three choices, the DOE announced Friday. In 2020, 73% of students -- 55,615 eighth graders -- also received an offer to a top-three choice. The DOE said 34,343 students, or 46% of eighth-graders who applied, received an offer to their first choice, the same rate as in 2020.

The DOE highlighted the demographic changes for schools in Manhattan’s District 2, which covers some of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the city—from the Upper East Side to SoHo and Tribeca—and also includes some of the city’s most sought-after public high schools. Opponents have argued for years to stop using selective screens and district priority in the fight against segregation in the city’s public school system. The new policy is part of Mayor Bill de Blasio's latest efforts to desegregate the school system, including changing the Gifted and Talented process for 4-year-olds and suspending middle school selective screens for this school year.

Read More: Social Distancing Requirements Will Be Pivotal In NYC Schools Reopening Next Fall

The elimination of District 2’s geographic screenings that prioritized local residents have resulted in major shifts in offers this year, the DOE said. The district still applies academic screens during the high school process.

At Eleanor Roosevelt High School, for instance, 62% of offers went to students outside of the district, including a “significant” increase of students from the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn -- compared to 1% last year. The screening change also increased the number of students who qualify for the federal free or reduced-price lunch program (FRL), up to 50% of all offers compared to 16% last year.

At Baruch College Campus High School, 42% of offers went to students outside of the district, compared to 2% last year. Offers to free lunch-eligible students increased to 66% this year compared to 36% last year.

Across all of District 2’s high schools, 60% of offers went to students eligible for free lunch this year, compared to 47% last year.

The DOE said they will also eliminate all other geographic priorities across the system next year, including borough priorities and eligibilities and zones, for eighth graders entering high school in 2022.