Dear Commons Community,

In 2014, a report by the Civil Rights Project at the University of California at Los Angeles found that New York State had the most segregated classrooms in the nation, with some of the most extreme examples in New York City.  Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña announced yesterday a new citywide classroom diversity program.  As reported by the New York Daily News:

“Under the new plan, Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña has invited principals from every public school in the city to create new enrollment targets for student subgroups.

The goal is to create more diverse schools by setting aside seats for special populations of kids such as English language learners, low-income students and homeless youths.

The program builds on an experimental “Diversity in Admissions” campaign began in 2015 where seven public schools in Brooklyn and Manhattan used similar enrollment targets.

Fariña is now taking the program citywide, encouraged by positive results after every school in the pilot group but one met all their diversity goals for 2016.

“This is an important step in working together towards increasing diversity in our schools, which will help all our students succeed,” Fariña said.

Mayor de Blasio campaigned on a pledge to improve equity and diversity in the public school system, a problem that has persisted for decades.

Now the de Blasio administration aims to address the issue by manipulating public school admissions.

An email being sent by the city to principals Tuesday morning encourages schools to set enrollment targets for incoming students arriving in 2017.”

We wish Ms. Farina well with this program!

Tony