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Mayor De Blasio Finally Rolls Out First Part Of His School Integration Plan
By
Jessica Gould
and
WNYC Staff
Published Jun 11, 2019
Modified Jun 11, 2019
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Jessica Gould / WNYC
By
Jessica Gould
and
WNYC Staff
Published Jun 11, 2019
Modified Jun 11, 2019
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Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Monday he would accept most of the initial recommendations of the Student Diversity Advisory Group, two years after he convened the group to look at segregation and inequity in the nation’s largest school system, and less than a week after hundreds of students rallied on the steps of the Department of Education headquarters.
He made the announcement in an op-ed and left the actual rollout to Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza and members of the task force like Maya Wiley, a former counsel to the mayor and co-chair of the task force.
Wiley told WNYC’s Brian Lehrer that members based their recommendations on research that shows integration benefits all students.
“Drop out rates go down, graduation rates go up,” she said on Tuesday morning. “We so often talk about integration as if it’s only for students of color and somehow white students lose. The reality of the research is...white students who go to integrated schools do better in college.”
The accepted recommendations include funding for five additional school districts in the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island to develop integration plans.
The districts will each get $200,000 to help craft their plans, similar to the efforts in Districts 1,3, and 15, where communities opted to set new diversity targets, change enrollment rules and eliminate selective admissions.
Officials also pledged to create a General Assembly with student representatives from every high school, include diversity metrics in the School Quality Report, require schools to monitor and develop plans to address disparities in discipline, and advance curriculum that reflects a broad array of cultures and identities, along with other priorities.
“The report shows the need for all of us to take bold action to desegregate our schools and that’s what we’re doing,” Carranza said at a press conference. “By accepting 62 of these recommendations we’re putting our entire school system and the students it serves on a path to a brighter future.”
Carranza also thanked students for their advocacy. “The voice of the students in New York City is strong, it is well researched and it is passionate.”
But some reformers said they’re still looking for more aggressive action. Lori Podvesker advocates for students with disabilities with the group INCLUDEnyc. She said most of the policies outlined by the mayor and chancellor reflected initiatives already underway.
She wants to see schools more thoroughly integrate special education students receiving individualized education plans, or IEPs, in classrooms with their non-disabled peers.
“The recommendations that have to do with students with disabilities aren’t about inclusion,” she said. “They’re about physical accessibility. Website accessibility While these things are super important, they’re a small subset within the need for integration.”
Teens Take Charge, the group that organized last week’s rally, issued a statement demanding explicit policies dedicated to desegregating the city’s 480 high schools.
“These recommendations do not match the scale or the urgency of the crisis of segregation in our schools,” the statement said. Tiffani Torres, a member of the group who has been calling on the mayor to take more decisive steps, worried the administration’s policies lack deadlines and accountability.
"Most of the words that they use are 'encourage' and 'strongly support' and 'consider,'" she said.
Among the recommendations officials did not accept: the creation of a new position of Chief Integration Officer and an analysis of moving school safety agents from the supervision of the NYPD to that of the Department of Education.
Task force member Matt Gonzales of the advocacy group New York Appleseed said members wanted to develop a shared definition of integration and outline common goals first. They adopted IntegrateNYC's "5Rs" as a framework to broaden the conversation to include resources, curriculum and the teaching force.
“I understand people’s desire for urgency,” he said. “But my desire for urgency doesn’t trump my desire for good policy.”
He said the group’s second report, due in the coming weeks, would focus on gifted and talented programs and “screened” admissions.
The school districts named in the plan that will get additional funding for integration efforts are:
• District 9: Grand Concourse, Highbridge, Morrisania, University Heights (The Bronx)
• District 13: Brooklyn Heights, Downtown Brooklyn, Fort Greene, Clinton Hill (Brooklyn)
• District 16: Bedford-Stuyvesant (Brooklyn)
• District 28: Forest Hills, Kew Gardens, Rego Park, Jamaica (Queens)
• District 31: Staten Island
Jessica Gould is a reporter in the newsroom at WNYC. You can follow her on Twitter at @ByJessicaGould.
Tagged
richard carranza
school diversity
school segregation
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Jessica Gould
Jessica is the education reporter for WNYC and Gothamist. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Jessica reported on the shutdown and reopening of the nation’s largest school system, highlighting the unprecedented impacts on learning, health and mental health for students, staff and families. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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