A push to integrate Brooklyn middle schools is starting to show results
BY CHRISTINA VEIGA, AMY
ZIMMER, CHALKBEAT
This story was originally
published by Chalkbeat, a nonprofi
t news organization covering
public education, on November
14, 2019. Sign up for their
newsletters at Chalkbeat.org
A pioneering diversity
plan is starting to shift racial
demographics of schools
in one corner of Brooklyn,
according to preliminary
2019-20 enrollment data released
Thursday by the education
department.
By moving to a lotterybased
admission system and
getting rid of competitive
screens, the new policy aims
to integrate middle schools so
they refl ect the demographics
of District 15 — which includes
affl uent brownstone
neighborhoods, such as Cobble
Hill, Carroll Gardens and
Park Slope, as well lower-income
areas, such as Red Hook
and Sunset Park.
This year’s enrollment
numbers show that disproportionately
white and affl
uent schools saw some of
the most dramatic changes.
Schools serving mostly Hispanic
students also experienced
notable shifts — but in
some cases the changes were
less pronounced, suggesting
there is still work to be done
to convince families to consider
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a wider range of options
for their children.
“It’s hard work, and there’s
a lot more to do. But the District
15 diversity plan is working,”
tweeted Brad Lander, a
City Council member representing
a large swath of the
district.
City leaders hope that
District 15’s efforts can be
a model for the city’s other
school districts — all of which
must now develop integration
plans of their own.
Dire warnings that white
and more affl uent families
would fl ee the public school
system largely did not come
to pass. In fact, the district’s
share of white sixth graders —
31 % — remained unchanged
compared to last year.
Claire McNamara, who
is white, enrolled her son at
Sunset Park Prep this year,
a school where there were
virtually no white students
the prior year. Her family
hadn’t previously considered
the school but decided it was
a good option after taking
a tour and being impressed
with the engaged students
and friendly teachers.
“We came in with an open
mind, and we’re pretty happy,”
she said. “I feel kind of lucky
that we ended up here.”
South Slope’s New Voices,
a performing arts school coveted
by white families in the
district, saw Hispanic student
enrollment climb by almost
20 percentage points, to
41% of the sixth-grade class.
At M.S. 51, which has billed itself
as a school for gifted students,
Hispanic enrollment
jumped by 13 percentage
points, to 36%.
Meanwhile at the southern
end of the district in Sunset
Park, the incoming classes remained
overwhelmingly Hispanic,
though the number of
white students is slowly ticking
upward. At Sunset Park
Prep and Charles O. Dewey,
for instance, the number of
white sixth graders was negligible
last year. This year, 9
and 10% of the students were
white, respectively.
In a sign of the challenges
that remain, many more
white students received offers
to both schools than those
who ultimately enrolled.
The disparity was especially
stark at Dewey, where 27% of
offers went to white students,
according to an analysis by
WXY, the fi rm that helped
lead the community-driven
plan to overhaul the admission
policy.
That said, there did not appear
to be a mass exodus students
from the district’s public
schools. Roughly 76% of fi fth
graders from District 15 elementary
schools ended staying
in the district for sixth
grade, according to education
department data. The year
before about 80% enrolled in
the district’s middle schools.
Those numbers reveal that
many students who applied
to middle schools in previous
years also ended up going to
schools beyond the district,
whether they went to private
schools, charters or selective
public schools elsewhere.
Before this year, most middle
schools in the district had
used their own selective criteria,
such as test scores and
attendance records, to admit
students. Integration advocates
say the city’s widespread
use of competitive
admissions standards helps
drive New York City’s status
as the most segregated school
system in the country. And
parents complained about
their 10-year-olds feeling rejected
when they didn’t get
into their schools of choice.
For this year’s incoming
sixth graders, the uniquely
diverse district eliminated
screens. Instead, students were
admitted by lottery, with preference
given to students who
are low-income, in temporary
housing, or learning English
as a new language. The aim is
for all of the district’s middle
schools to enroll 40 to 75% of students
who fall under those categories.
In this fi rst year of the
initiative, all but three schools
met those benchmarks. (The
year before only three schools
refl ected those targets.)
“Our schools are stronger
when they refl ect the diversity
of our city,” schools Chancellor
Richard Carranza said in
a statement. “I am grateful to
the community for their partnership
in building a more
equitable future for our students,
and look forward to the
many positive impacts of this
plan in the coming years.”
Chalkbeat is a nonprofi t
news site covering educational
change in public
schools.
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