Elected officials who prefer not to discuss the fact that New York City has one of the most segregated school systems in the United States will soon have no choice. A state appeals court said a discrimination lawsuit can go forward.
The lawsuit accuses New York of maintaining a “racial line” through which gifted and talented programs and screening practices condemn many students of color to “neglected schools that deliver inferior and unacceptable outcomes.” If successful, this landmark legal challenge could set back the admissions practices of selective public schools.
At the same time, in Brooklyn, a public school district that covers both poor and affluent neighborhoods has shown that integrating schools is possible—without resentment or a mass exodus of white families—when parents and school officials value integration as a benefit in itself. . .
As my colleague Troy Closson explained last week, the rebuilding of Brooklyn’s District 15 began several years ago when parents expressed a desire to integrate high schools that were among the most homogenous in the city. “Selective imports abolished,” Closson wrote. “Each child got a lottery number. Schools adopted targets to admit certain numbers of disadvantaged children.’ Middle schools have places for students who come from low-income families, live in temporary housing or are still learning English. Importantly, schools fill incoming classes through a lottery, rather than using metrics like grades or attendance.
As a result, the district’s secondary schools, which were second in socio-economic segregation, improved and were ranked 19th out of the city’s 32 local districts. Teachers and students now say friendships are emerging across income lines, and a more diverse set of middle school students has begun taking state algebra tests.
Antonia Martinelli, parent leader, told The Times: “We have managed to debunk this ‘good school-bad school’ narrative. Parents understand that they are all great schools.”
Integration is by no means a panacea and challenges remain. But this example shows that breaking with segregation need not involve bitterness and decades of delay.
