KIDS GAIN IN SPORTS
Foes: Minorities still far behind
Thousands of New York City students long denied access to athletics programs are getting sports teams under a pilot program unveiled by Education officials Thursday.
Under the new program called “PSAL All Access,” 26 schools in Manhattan, the Bronx and Brooklyn that enroll a total of 8,500 kids have added 19 Public School Athletic League teams in sports including handball, track and flag football.
The city’s been under pressure for years to deal with an infamously unequal school sports system where teams are far more available to wealthier white students compared to low-income kids, and black and Hispanic students.
Activists launched a federal civil rights complaint in 2014 over the issue. And the city is facing a class-action suit brought by the nonprofit New York Lawyers for the Public Interest in June, which argues that the city’s school sports policies discriminate because black and Hispanic students have access to fewer teams.
Under the new program small schools will share teams, bringing athletics to kids who haven’t had access until now.
The program also allows kids from participating schools to join teams at nearby locations, if their school doesn’t have the program they want.
Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza praised the program as a promising first step toward the creation of a more just system of school athletics.
“Every student should be able to play on a competitive sports team, no matter where they go to school,” Carranza said.
“This pilot is a critical step in the right direction, and we’ll be closely monitoring its impact as we develop a citywide plan,” he added.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, who has pushed for more school sports in black and Hispanic communities in Brooklyn, praised Carranza’s program .
“Access to individual and team sports is critical to improving equity of access, mental and physical health, and teambuilding,” Adams said.
Councilman Antonio Reynoso (D-Brooklyn/ Queens), who has introduced legislation to compel the city to report on school sports spending, said the program is a step in the right direction, but one that won’t satisfy until all students have equal access to sports.
Activists who have pushed for more radical changes said the city should be doing more to make sports more available to kids of color.
New York Lawyers for the Public Interest attorney Melissa Iachan, who’s a lead lawyer on the class-action case over the issue, said the city is in violation of its own human rights laws.
Statistics compiled by Iachan show that black or Hispanic students have access to 15 sports on average, compared with 25 teams for students of other races.
Iachan’s research also shows that more than 17,000 black and Hispanic students attended a school that offered zero PSAL sports in 2017.
Her research also found that the city spends 17% more on sports for white and Asian students, compared with black and Hispanic students.
Iachan said the city’s new pilot is too small to make a dent in the issue.
“This pilot program does not change the pervasive systemic racial inequality in the current PSAL system,” she said.
Lisa Parks, a junior at Bronx Academy of Letters who is a plaintiff in the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest class-action suit, also said the program doesn’t go far enough.
Parks, 16, a track enthusiast, has begun to run track at a neighboring school under the new program but said too many other city student still missing out on sports.
“This does not feel like justice,” she said. “I am happy about running track, but what about all the other black and Latino kids in the city?”
Educator David Garcia-Rosen, who’s Director of School Culture and Athletics at the Bronx Academy of Letters and founder of the Small Schools Athletic League, said black and Hispanic students continue to be sidelined by discriminatory PSAL policies.
“I am not celebrating them throwing some athletic crumbs at Black and Latinx students while they continue to fund world class sports programs at the whitest high schools in New York City,” Garcia-Rosen said.