Nabes left out of HS prestige
KIDS FROM the city’s poorest neighborhoods in the Bronx and central Brooklyn also had the poorest chances of getting into specialized high schools, a Daily News investigation shows.
An analysis of city Education Department data revealed just 17 of roughly 32,550 students from Bronx District 9 landed seats in those elite public schools this year.
That’s just 0.05% of students in the district covering the Grand Concourse, Morrisania and Tremont — and the smallest percentage of any of the city’s 32 school districts.
It’s disturbing, but not unusual.
In fact, of the 10 districts with the fewest kids who were offered seats in the city’s eight specialized high schools, six were in the Bronx and four were in Brooklyn — all of them communities with high poverty rates and resource-starved public schools.
Bronx mother and activist Tracy Woodall said the data show that many of the schools in those areas — institutions charged with lifting kids out of poverty through education — are failing to deliver on their promise.
“It’s a shame,” Woodall said. “These are the things we have to fight every day, and it’s not fair. We constantly have to be in fighting mode to get a better education.”
Eight of the city’s largest and most prestigious high schools — including Stuyvesant, Bronx Science and Brooklyn Tech — rely on a single, specialized exam to admit students.
Mayor de Blasio campaigned on a pledge to broaden access to the schools, but has so far failed to effect measurable change.
Across the city, black and Hispanic kids continue to account for about 10% of offers to the specialized schools.
Admissions data for the 2018-19 school year show Brooklyn’s District 32 — which represents Bushwick and Bedford-Stuyvesant — had the smallest number of kids admitted to the elite schools, with just 10 of roughly 19,000 students offered seats.
But on the other end of the scale, Manhattan’s District 3 — which covers the West Side — saw 287 kids gain admission.
De Blasio, through a spokesman, declined to comment on the findings. His rep also declined to comment, referring a request to the Education Department.
City Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza, who started on the job Monday, also declined to comment, instead referring the matter to spokesman Douglas Cohen, who said the city has provided targeted outreach to specific districts.
“We know there is more work to do and remain dedicated to increasing the diversity of our specialized high schools,” Cohen said.