NYC Public Schools to Advanced Learners: You are Not Welcome Here
Last night, the District 2 Community Education Council (CEC) meeting in Manhattan was another disappointment for families who still hope that students who perform above grade level have competitive public school options in our city.
Last month, Superintendent Kelly McGuire said he would present a plan for middle school admissions at the September CEC meeting. Yesterday he said parents will find out the plan when the Middle School catalogue is available. He presented for more than 25 minutes and yet did not offer any specific information about the actual topic that families are most concerned about and, in fact, attended the meeting to specifically to hear addressed.
So unfortunately as middle school tour sign ups begin today, most families won’t have important information to make their decision about what schools to pursue.
A Fight for Fight’s Sake
Borough President Mark Levine’s appointed member to the board confirmed again how disconnected the administration is from the majority of parents elected to the CEC.
In response to a discussion about how families are leaving D2 public schools, his new appointee said: “historically when Charlestown, Massachusetts worked to desegregate their schools in the late 1970s, the had a terrible drop in local kids going to local schools. When you see changes in equity in schools, people who dont support equity find a way out.” This is a recurrent technique in the opposition to accelerated education: call the families who are asking for an intellectual demanding curriculum racist. I have seen it happened at our CEC meetings multiple times.
The main problem is that our opposition is stuck in 1970s. They can only imagine that what is driving families’ school choices is race. But the vast majority of families in our district are living in 2023: a hyper connected global economy where our kids will compete with kids from other countries for the best jobs. We want our kids to be pushed academically and be able to perform at their highest level. THIS is what drives our decisions on which school is the best choice for our kids.
What About Parents?
Ironically, there was also more NYC-style election denialism from the more progressive leaning (ironically) with Sonal Patel saying that CEC elections are still being investigated. That is right: Sonal is appointed to the Board by the Borough President, but she claims that elected parent leaders are illegitimate.
And finally, but more importantly, there were the parents politely begging Superintendent Kelly McGuire to provide even one middle school option where kids are screened for math and science. These parents have demanding jobs and are not in a position financially to afford private school. They have instead tirelessly begged the superintendent to listen to them. That’s his job and their right as taxpayers.
These parents are heroes. They are not profiled in magazines and will not be invited to podcasts, but they are on the ground fighting an ideology that flattens everything and dictate that our kids are all the same, need the exact same education, and should perform at the exact same level.
It’s an ideology that doesn’t accept human diversity and respect for every child on a family’s terms. It’s an ideology that has dismantled the best public schools in NYC and is creating the most segregated school system ever imaginable. Because those who can pay will move or go to private schools, those who are lucky will go to a charter or get a good lottery number, everybody else is told “you get what you get and don’t get upset.”
It’s an ideology that is authoritarian with its demand that we aren’t afforded even a few schools with academic screens, we all need to follow the lottery method that our elected leaders think is the best for us. Period. How is that “public”?
District 2 families have voted for parent representatives, have advocated for better, and send emails weekly to our elected officials. Nobody has listened to them. It’s disappointing to think that maybe it won’t change.
