Manhattan families will soon be prioritized for competitive seats at a handful of the borough’s most sought-after high schools, Schools Chancellor David Banks said on Thursday, announcing a move that integration advocates called a step back for efforts to boost diversity in the deeply segregated school system.
The new plan comes in response to complaints from parents who had pushed for restoring an old admissions policy that benefited families in Manhattan's District 2, which covers some of the city’s most affluent communities. Former Mayor Bill de Blasio had eliminated that controversial preference at the tail end of his administration, opening those schools to students from across the city. Some Manhattan parents said they were subsequently locked out of options near their homes and forced into long commutes to school.
Banks’ new policy will set aside 75% of seats at Eleanor Roosevelt High School, Millennium High School, the Clinton School, the New York City Lab School, Baruch College Campus High School and the New York City Museum School for Manhattan residents. The remaining 25% of seats will remain open to students from all boroughs.
Currently, students from all over the city compete for admission to those schools.
“This will give local Manhattan parents more access to local schools but will not change the percentage of low-income Black or Hispanic kids at these schools significantly,” Banks said. “It also preserves some opportunity for students from other boroughs to attend these schools.”
The policy will go into effect for next fall’s admission’s cycle when students apply for high schools for the 2024-25 academic year.
New York Appleseed, which advocates for pro-integration policies at city schools, called the move “unsound policy, informed by limited community engagement and an even smaller group of select voices trying to reinstate gatekeeping relics from before the pandemic.”
Earlier this spring, Banks said he was entertaining “some kind of priority” for Manhattan families.
“This change comes in direct response to family feedback and input to create more and fairer opportunities for Manhattan students to attend high quality high schools closer to home,” he said on Thursday. He called it a “reasonable middle ground,” noting that a portion of schools in every borough offer priority to nearby residents.
But New York Appleseed rejected that argument.
“NY Appleseed understands the importance of finding compromise among varying perspectives," the group wrote in a release, noting that Manhattan is the most accessible borough by public transportation. "However, when that compromise limits opportunity and reintroduces models of scarcity back into the system, we must ask if the ‘middle ground’ comes at too high a cost."
According to data from the city's education department, around 30% of schools in Manhattan already have borough priority, compared to 44% in Brooklyn, 61% in Queens, 90% on Staten Island and 72% in the Bronx.
A diversity working group created during the de Blasio administration had recommended removing all geographic priorities to combat segregation in city schools.
