School segregation / integration

This year’s offer data shows very little change in racial and economic diversity, particularly for high school, despite seeing the biggest admissions changes.
A new school integration program is the result of years of advocacy but comes as some districts retreat from racial equity work.
Opponents — and even some of their endorsed candidates — say one well-organized parent group is turning Community Education Councils into forums for right-wing animosity over issues like critical race theory and the treatment of LGBTQ+ youth.
“When it comes to these small, close-knit communities that are so tight, it really does feel like you’re breaking up families,” one local education council member said.
Administrators said they were working to address inequities in their staffing model, though students and teachers feared the restructure would have the opposite effect.
About 17% of New York City public high schoolers go to a school where boys outnumber girls by at least 2 to 1, or vice versa, a Chalkbeat analysis found.
Thursday’s notifications arrived three months earlier than they did last year, as part of a series of reforms under schools Chancellor David Banks meant to simplify the process and tighten access to some coveted selective schools.
50 years ago, a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision was shaped by the racist idea that poor children can’t learn.
The process kept me so busy that I had little opportunity — or incentive — to dwell on the inequities.
M.S. 51 principal Neal Singh will leave to work for District 15’s superintendent. Pui-Lam (Jack) Chan, from New Utrecht High School, will take over on Feb. 1 as interim principal.
After a vote of no confidence in M.S. 51 principal Neal Singh, more than 40 teachers signed a grievance alleging a pattern of harassment of union members, the largest such grievance in union history, officials said.
“The way I lead today has a lot to do with my experiences from the outcomes of the Keyes case,” Principal Michael Atkins said.
The wide-ranging conversation touched on the definition of diversity in a multiracial and multiethnic school system, and how to incorporate the views of parents when their opinions and platforms vary so widely.
Other districts could learn from what worked — and what didn’t — in Brooklyn’s District 15.
Monday could mark the beginning of the end for affirmative action in higher education. The cases could also portend changes to K-12 schools.
“Focus on selecting a school that is a good fit for your student and not whether it’s a ‘good school’ or not,” one expert said.
Middle schools admissions screens existed at hundreds of schools before the pandemic, but were paused for the past two years.
Some of the city’s selective high schools became more diverse after admissions screens were reduced during the pandemic.
Chancellor Banks said students who work “really hard” should have priority access compared with “the child you have to throw water on their face to get them to go to school every day.”
Families across the five boroughs are already mounting letter-writing campaigns and petitions for and against schools that use screens for admissions.
Overall, high school applications are down amid declining enrollment, but more students are getting accepted into top-choice schools.
NYC education officials are adding more than 1,000 seats, most of them as new programs that start in third grade. The city’s gifted programs are deeply segregated.
The vote is unlikely to have an immediate impact on school budgets, but delays in approving a formula could hamper principals’ ability to plan and hire staff.
A bill before lawmakers stems from a decade-long dispute after suburban towns seceded from the newly merged Memphis district.
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