FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM JUNE 7, 2018 • THE QUEENS COURIER 11
Queens fumes over mayor's SHSAT ban plan
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com/@jenna_bagcal
Parents, students and elected offi cials
across Queens disapprove of Mayor Bill
de Blasio and Department of Education
Chancellor Richard Carranza’s decision
to eliminate admissions testing to
New York City’s specialized public high
schools.
On June 3, de Blasio announced plans
to eliminate Specialized High School
Admission Test (SHSAT). Currently,
prospective students for the eight specialized
public high schools must take the
SHSAT, which is the sole exam required
for entry.
Th e mayor said that the current system
prevents black and Hispanic students
from getting into these elite
schools. In an op-ed for Chalkbeat, he
said that the demographics in the eight
elite high schools are not refl ective of
the demographics in the public school
system as a whole. Currently 70 percent
of students in public school are black
and Hispanic, while only 10 percent of
students in specialized schools are black
and Hispanic.
De Blasio’s plan would eliminate the
test entirely, while saving 45 percent of
the 5,000 available seats for black and
Hispanic students. Th e plan would be
implemented throughout the eight offi cial
specialized high schools in New York City:
Bronx High School of Science, Brooklyn
Latin School, Brooklyn Technical High
School, High School for Math, Science
and Engineering at City College, High
School for American Studies at Lehman
College, Queens High School for Sciences
at York College, Staten Island Technical
High School and Stuyvesant High School.
Councilman Peter Koo from Queens
District 20 expressed his dissatisfaction
with the mayor’s plan.
“Weakening the admissions criteria for
schools that are selectively designed for
academically gift ed students is counterintuitive
and works against the original
intent of specialized high schools. A test
that focuses on such empirically unbiased
subjects like math, logic and reading comprehension
cannot be blamed for failing
at diversity. If the city were truly concerned
about diversifying these schools, it
would do more to provide opportunities
for robust testing prep in underrepresented
schools,” Koo said.
Other offi cials shared Koo’s sentiment.
Councilman Robert F. Holden from
Queens District 30 said that he “wholeheartedly
disagreed” with the mayor’s
decision.
“Th e mayor is taking a system that is
race-blind and turning it into a discrimination
issue. Right now, students are
selected based solely on test results. I
think that’s how the system should work,”
Holden said.
Adam Gawronski of Ridgewood has
two children in specialized public high
schools. His son Philip goes to Brooklyn
Tech and his daughter Camilla goes to
Stuyvesant. Gawronski and his son said
that eliminating the test will lower the
standards of the prestigious schools while
allowing students to be admitted based on
qualities like charm, instead of hard work
and dedication.
Photo via Flickr/Kevin Case
Mayor de Blasio announced plans to eliminate test to get into specialized public high schools.
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