Pol rally for HS diversity
LAWMAKERS AND advocates will rally at City Hall on Thursday to support three bills intended to diversify elite public schools.
Black and Hispanic students constitute just 10% of those enrolled at the city’s specialized high school — even though they account for about 67% of kids in the school system as a whole.
But now three bills co-sponsored by state Sens. Jamaal Bailey (D-Bronx) and Toby Ann Stavisky (D-Queens) aim to change the status quo.
One bill would expand a program that helps students gain entrance to the specialized schools if they come close to reaching the cutoff score on the test used for admissions.
Another would create a special commission to study diversity issues in the specialized schools and make recommendations.
The third would compel city Education Department officials to offer a practice admissions test to all sixth-graders.
Bailey said there is a general lack of awareness of the specialized high schools in communities of color. “People are more concerned with getting by day-to-day,” he said. “They have other things to consider, work or life issues.”
The city’s nine specialized high schools are among the most prestigious public schools in the world and include Stuyvesant, Brooklyn Tech and Bronx Science.
But they have been under fire for years for failing to admit many black and Hispanic students.
The schools also admit relatively few girls and kids from underserved neighborhoods.
Mayor de Blasio has promised to address the situation for years, but data on the schools’ incoming classes for 2018 show little progress.
Stavisky said real change is needed. “It’s a question of equal opportunity,” she said. “We want our schools to represent the diversity of our city.”
Attorney Larry Cary, who is board president of the Brooklyn Tech Alumni Association, said the city should reconfigure existing outreach programs.
De Blasio spokeswoman Olivia Lapeyrolerie said City Hall is working to find solutions.
“We are committed to making our specialized high schools more reflective of our city, and are exploring other actions that can be taken at the city and state level to accomplish this imperative,” she said. “We look forward to working with Sen. Bailey on this effort.”