The Wall Street Journal - USA (2020-12-03)

A10B| Thursday, December 3, 2020 ** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

in districts.

Most of the school system’s

students are Black or Hispanic,

while only about 16% are

white, according to the DOE,

and as of March about

820,000 of New York City’s 1.

million public-school students

lived in poverty.

The city has yet to release

application timelines and re-

quirements for September

2021, and the SHSAT has yet

to be scheduled, though in

past years it was held in early

November.

The mayor has long argued

that the test should be

scrapped but hasn’t been able

to persuade Albany lawmak-

ers, who govern access to at

least three of the exam high

schools, to eliminate it.

District officials have held

schools broken because there

isn’t an acceptable balance of

students of different races.

“We’re also dealing with

the practical reality of what

we do in the middle of Covid

with all admissions,” Mr. de

Blasio said in November. “So

we are going to come forward

with a plan to do the best we

can to address that in the here

and now.”

The DOE has stressed that

it has publicly opposed the

Specialized High Schools Ad-

missions Test (SHSAT) and

has launched several initia-

tives to improve diversity, in-

cluding a program that priori-

tizes and targets low-income

and English-language learners

in admissions and awarding

grants that fund “compelling

ideas” that increase diversity

the federal Office for Civil

Rights, alleging that the city

Department of Education’s use

of admissions screens for pub-

lic high schools violates the

Civil Rights Act of 1964.

That more than 20% of the

city’s public middle and high

schools use admission

screens—which allow schools

to set their own selection cri-

teria including attendance,

punctuality, grades and state

test scores—has “a profoundly

segregative effect on the sys-

tem at large, and helps to

make New York City’s public

schools the most segregated in

the country,” the group says.

The mayor’s office didn’t re-

spond to a request for com-

ment on the complaint, but Mr.

de Blasio has called the admis-

sions process for selective

public meetings on how to

choose students for hundreds

of schools that screen appli-

cants for acceptance.

Schools Chancellor Richard

Carranza also has talked of re-

vamping gifted elementary

programs, while expanding

initiatives “to help the school

system better reflect the di-

versity of New York City.”

To support students of color

at her school, Ms. Baiocchi and

classmate AnnaBelle Medina

created an informational web-

site called The Outsiders

Guide, which features essays,

educational tips and other re-

sources. She also sits on an eq-

uity committee and tutors

younger diverse students.

After the initial recruitment

speech at the High School of

American Studies, Ms. Baioc-

chi didn’t anticipate that she

would experience everything

from racist jokes to having

white students and staff rou-

tinely confuse her with other

students of color.

For the first two years she

didn’t raise her hand in class

because she felt out of place

and was afraid to make a mis-

take, she said.

She said she is encouraged

that some of her white class-

mates volunteer for The Out-

siders Guide and that the

school’s administration has

recommended the website to

incoming students.

Ms. Baiocchi said the chal-

lenge in the city’s admission’s

processistofindawayto

amend the system without ex-

acerbating the dearth of diver-

sity.

“I think we need to make

sure we don’t abolish a certain

type of school or admission

and then end up with segre-

gated schools anyway,” she

said.

Mr. Weiss, the principal,

said: “I think it is important to

have difficult conversations in

a spirit of honesty and mutual

support.”

“We hope to become the

kind of school in which all of

our students feel included and

valued. We are not there yet,

but I know we are on the way,”

he added.

Eighteen-year-old Aisha
Baiocchi remembers sitting in
an auditorium with other stu-
dents admitted to the High
School of American Studies at
Lehman College, feeling wooed
by principal Alessandro Weiss,
who assured them that the
school was “elite without be-
ing elitist.”
Those assuring words
prompted the biracial Latino
and Asian then-eighth grader
to choose that specialized
school over several others.
The speech helped ease her
anxieties about being one of
the few students of color at
the competitive Bronx school.
“That was so attractive to
me because it sounds like a
great thing in general, to go to
a great school without the
negative implications of a
great school,” Ms. Baiocchi
said.
But in the four years since
hearing that speech, Ms.
Baiocchi says she has at times
felt isolated at the predomi-
nantly white school.
Today she pushes from in-
side the school for more racial
diversity, while a citywide stu-
dent advocacy group called
Teens Take Charge is pressur-
ing Mayor Bill de Blasio to
clear the way for more stu-
dents of color to gain entrance
into selective schools citywide.
The teen group has filed a
civil-rights complaint alleging
that admissions screening is
discriminatory.
Mr. de Blasio has yet to an-
nounce the process for entry
next fall to selective public
schools, after the coronavirus
made some elements of the
previous system—including
sitting for entrance exams—
unworkable for now.
Some screening advocates
are urging him to continue
gifted programs, selective ad-
missions and the entry exam
for eight specialized high
schools. Critics, meanwhile are
pushing for an overhaul or
elimination of the high-stakes
admissions system.
Teens Take Charge filed a
complaint in November with

BYLEEHAWKINS

NYC Students Voice Diversity Concerns

A student group called Teens Take Charge pushes for more integration of New York City public schools.

TEENS TAKE CHARGE

GREATER

NEW YORK

WATC H

CONNECTICUT

Utility Rate-Increase

Rules Overhauled

Connecticut regulators im-

posed what they called sweep-

ing changes Wednesday to how

electricity rate increases are pro-

posed and approved after an up-

roar by customers over higher

bills during the summer.

The state Public Utilities Reg-

ulatory Authority approved new

rules for electricity distributors

Eversource and United Illuminat-

ing. The changes will help pre-

vent dramatic increases in bills,

ensure rates more accurately re-

flect costs and decrease the like-

lihood that the companies over-

charge consumers, the agency

said. Company officials said they

are reviewing the regulations.

—Associated Press

NEW JERSEY

State Police Recruit

Dies After Incident

A New Jersey State Police re-

cruit who lost consciousness dur-

ing a training exercise has died,

the agency said Wednesday.

The department said Lucas

Homeijer, 27 years old, died

Tuesday after being hospitalized

since the Nov. 25 incident at the

state police academy in Sea Girt.

He was “engaged in an active

countermeasures/boxing bout

with a fellow classmate” when

he lost consciousness, police said.

—Associated Press

In some editions Wednes-

day, an article about the

Chamber Music Society of Lin-

coln Center incorrectly re-

ferred to Wu Han, the society’s

co-artistic director, as Ms. Han

on second reference rather

than Ms. Wu. An Oct. 29, 2013,

article about the society con-

tained the same error.

CORRECTIONS

AMPLIFICATIONS

Readers can alert The Wall Street

Journal to any errors in news articles

by [email protected]

by calling 888-410-2667.

GREATER NEW YORK

NY