Diversity, helping homeless students top agenda
CITY SCHOOLS Chancellor Carmen Fariña will tackle school segregation and the homeless student crisis in the upcoming school year, she told the Daily News in an interview.
Fariña, 74, who has worked in the school system for more than five decades, said increasing diversity in the classrooms will be a priority for the school year starting in September.
In an end-of-year interview at city Education Department headquarters on Friday, Fariña (photo right) also vowed to improve services for students in temporary housing. These kids account for roughly 10% of enrollment.
She admitted it won’t be easy, given the uncertainty she faces over who will control the nation’s largest school system — and the giant question mark that President Trump’s agenda for the public schools presents.
Fariña said she’s in the fight for as long as she’s wanted at the forefront.
“I really feel that my presence does make a difference,” said the chancellor. She has said she intended to stay in her post through the end of Mayor de Blasio’s term this year. “As long as people feel the same way, I am happy to continue.”
On June 6, Fariña released a long-awaited plan to diversify the city’s public schools, which are deeply segregated by race and class. The 12-page document included enrollment targets and ways to make it easier for busy families to apply to sought-after schools. She vowed to build on the plan. “We’re always going to be working on diversity and that has been the No. 1 thing,” Fariña said. “I want really good strategic plans for all the parts of the city.” Fariña said she’s tapped the leaders of two local school boards in Manhattan and Brooklyn, where hard-fought desegregation plans were recently enacted, to help promote similar diversification strategies throughout the system. The chancellor also swore to ease the hardships homeless students face. Their numbers have skyrocketed, and they academically trail their peers with permanent homes. “We started to look at some of the archaic rules,” said Fariña, citing a regulation that requires siblings in shelters to all leave for school at a set time — regardless of when their classes actually start.
Fariña said issues presented by homelessness and school segregation are complex and require coordinated efforts across city agencies.
A focused approach will be made more difficult if de Blasio’s control of the public schools is permitted to lapse, Fariña said. She is hoping the state Legislature will renew the mayor’s control of the schools before the current law expires Friday.
“It’s about the accountability,” Fariña said. “If something goes wrong, you can point to me or you can point to the mayor.”
The Trump administration’s plan to overhaul public schools also presents a potential roadblock, Fariña said. She said the city will push back against budget cuts and seek to make up any losses. For the 2017-18 school year, the Education Department’s proposed budget is $30.8 billion.