EDUCATION
Senators push to diversify elite institutions
Liu and Ramos team up to increase opportunity for all teens to attend specialized schools
(From l. to r.) Senators Kevin Parker, Velmanette Montgomery, John Liu and Jessica Ramos. Photo via Twitter/SenatorParker
BY JENNA BAGCAL
Two of Queens’ voices in
the state Senate are leading
the way toward finding a
more open dialogue toward
increasing diversity in
New York City’s specialized
high schools.
Last week, a group of
lawmakers, including state
Senators John Liu, the
chairperson of the Senate’s
NYC Education Committee,
Jessica Ramos, Velmanette
Montgomery, Kevin Parker
announced their intent to
conduct broad outreach for
improved school diversity
and admissions process to
the city’s specialized high
schools. The purpose of
outreach will be to identify
problems and formulating
plans to address the issues.
The New York City
Department of Education
(DOE) recently released the
racial breakdown of students
admitted to the eight
specialized high schools for
the 2019-2020 school year.
The data showed that the
schools are admitting fewer
black and Latino students
every year.
According to the DOE
report, only 506 black and
Latino students out of 4,798
were admitted to specialized
high schools. That number
translates to 10.5 percent of
admissions among black and
Latino students and is down
from 527 admitted students
last year. Out of 1,135,334
public school students in the
city, 40.5 percent are Latino
and 26 percent are black.
By comparison, about 51
percent of the seats went
to Asian students while
28.5 percent went to white
students this year.
“The lack of diversity
in our specialized high
schools and schools citywide
remains controversial and
emotional, and the plan
put forth by the city has
only made matters worse,”
said Liu. “What we need
is open-mindedness and
open dialogue in order to
build a consensus for a plan
going forward. Through
our community forums,
we will solicit, facilitate,
aggregate and deliberate the
concerns and suggestions of
school officials, educators,
parents, activists and all
stakeholders. I have every
confidence that this issue,
however controversial, can
unite rather than divide
communities.”
In order to facilitate
constructive debate about
solutions, the state senators
announced that a series
of community forums will
be held citywide, with
a schedule slated to be
released this week.
According to New York
State Assembly Speaker
Carl Heastie, the assembly
will also hold hearings on
the matter in early May.
“I am joining Senator Liu
today to call for increased
conversation around the
issue of school diversity in
New York City’s specialized
high schools,” said Ramos.
“Our black and brown
children are not being
accepted into specialized
high schools at the rate
they should be, and we
need to accept that one test
cannot possibly capture the
potential of each student.
I am looking forward to
having more conversations
about this issue with my
colleagues, parents and
students.”
Reach reporter Jenna
Bagcal by e-mail at jbagcal@
qns.com or by phone at (718)
224-5863 ext. 214.
TIMESLEDGER,QNS.COM MARCH 29-APR. 4, 2019 19
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