Stuy High going low on test-skip penalties
The city’s most demanding high school is giving students a free pass to slack off — as the principal has announced that he’s easing the penalties on students for missing tests, The Post has learned.
New Stuyvesant HS Principal Seung Yu made the announcement of the big break in a memo to staff that has left teachers boiling mad at the prospect that standards at the selective Manhattan school could be put in jeopardy.
The Department of Education defended the new policy, which says that, instead of dinging kids points off their makeup tests, Stuyvesant teachers can only deduct “homework/preparation” points, which are a marginal component of overall grades.
“Stuyvesant is more focused than ever on students mastering rigorous academic content, and this updated grading framework aligns with NYCDOE academic policy,” said spokeswoman Danielle
Filson. “Teachers are still permitted to penalize students for tardiness. This just makes sure there is more consistency and transparency across all departments.”
Roughly 100 teachers signed a letter objecting to the dictate last week, arguing that administrators were undermining their authority and diluting student responsibility.
“These are our city’s best and brightest kids, and we’re weakening their accountability on purpose,” said one Stuyvesant source. “It’s baffling.” Yu took the reins at Stuyvesant from Eric Contreras, who left the school at the end of the last academic year for a new position on Long Island.
Other city schools have introduced similar policies that have drawn backlash from both parents and teachers. Staffers at Marie Curie MS 158 in Bayside, Queens were incensed last year after a former principal told them to accept late work from kids without consequence.
In addition, several Stuyvesant parents said they were disquieted by Yu’s introductory letter earlier this year because it made no specific mention of the school’s vaunted science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) focus and instead highlighted student social and emotional needs.
The city’s specialized high schools have become political powder kegs in recent years, with critics arguing their single-test entry system has produced minimal black and Latino enrollment.
Objectors to the current admissions process contend that the exam is an arbitrary measure of student talent. Backers counter that the test is inherently colorblind and has forged some of the most academically renowned public schools in the country.
These are our city’s best and brightest kids, and we’re weakening their accountability on purpose.
— Critic on new policy of Stuyvesant principal Seung Yu (left)