Schools flunk diversity math
FOUR OF 12 public schools that are setting new enrollment targets to ensure diverse student bodies have already largely exceeded those goals, a review of city Education Department data shows.
The dozen schools were trumpeted by city Education Department officials Thursday for setting admissions targets to boost student diversity in the current school year.
But a tally of the most recent demographic data for the schools shows one-third of them already roughly met or exceeded their targets in the 2015-16 school year or previous years.
Advocates said the revelation shows the city isn’t taking school desegregation seriously — and more needs to be done about it.
“I’m not surprised the schools they are touting already pretty much have those quotas,” said NYC Parents Union President Mona Davids. “They are being dishonest and they are taking us for fools. New York City is the most segregated school system in the entire nation.”
A 2014 report by the Civil Rights Project at the University of California at Los Angeles found that New York State had the most segregated classrooms in the nation, with some particularly extreme examples in the city.
The de Blasio administration aims to address the issue by manipulating public school admissions, with 19 schools setting enrollment targets in the current school year, including the dozen new schools announced last week.
But critics say some of the figures don’t add up.
In an announcement Thursday, the Education Department said Middle School 839 in Brooklyn would give admissions priority for 40% of seats to students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch due to economic need.
But a review of city data shows those students already accounted for 42% of the school’s enrollment in 2015-16.
Similar scenarios exist for another five schools with the enrollment targets, three of which were announced last week.
City Education Department spokesman Will Mantell said more recent stats show that the schools are losing needy kids, citing preliminary enrollment figures from the current school year.
“This is an incomplete analysis,” Mantell said. “We’ve worked with these schools to put forward pilots that address diversity in incoming classes.”