Pro-test protest
City Hall rally raps Blaz elite HS deseg plan
Mr. Mayor, keep the test.
That's the message delivered by elected officials and activists who took to City Hall on Tuesday for a rally backing a new push against Mayor de Blasio's controversial plan to desegregate the city's world-famous specialized high schools.
De Blasio wants to discontinue the Specialized High School Admissions Test used for admissions by the group of eight elite schools, including Stuyvesant High School, Bronx High School of Science and Brooklyn Technical High School.
His plan to combat extreme racial imbalances at the schools, where just a handful of black and Hispanic kids are admitted each year, would take top students from all of the city's middle schools, rather than rely on the test.
But de Blasio's proposal has been widely criticized for failing to address the root causes of the underrepresentation of black and Hispanic kids in the city's elite schools, including a shortage of advanced classes for elementary school students in underserved neighborhoods.
State Sen. Tony Avella (DQueens) introduced a bill on Friday that would mandate more advanced classes in lower grades to better prepare all students for the challenging exam.
Avella addressed the rally, joined by a crowd of about 50, including other elected officials and advocates who also support the legislation.
“I call for an increase in the educational quality we provide to our children,” Avella said.
“Keep the test as is. Let us educate our kids so they can pass the test.”
Just 527 black and Hispanic kids were accepted into the city's specialized high schools in 2018, virtually unchanged from 524 kids in 2017.
Only 4.1% of elite school offers went to black students and 6.3% to Hispanic kids, even though they account for nearly 67% of the overall student body.
De Blasio campaigned on a vow to replace single-test admissions at the schools in his first bid for mayor in 2013 but only came out in favor of a plan to admit top students from every public middle school in June.
The plan, which would require state legislation, has encountered opposition from alumni groups, local school boards and groups representing the city's Asian public school students, who now account for about 62% of all kids enrolled in the specialized schools.
Chinese-American Citizens Alliance President Wai Wah Chin spoke at the rally, calling for the city to support Avella's bill.
“We're not trying to divide, we're trying to unite, and we're trying to elevate the possibility of every kid here to perform better in this city,” Chin said.