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#AskTheMayor 180+ letters were sent (so far) 2 @NYCMayor imploring him to do away w/middle & high school screens.
"We are writing to make clear our full support for eliminating all competitive admissions screens during the uniquely chaotic, traumatic 2020-2021 school year.
"We are writing to make clear our full support for eliminating all competitive admissions screens during the uniquely chaotic, traumatic 2020-2021 school year.
Though a small, vocal contingent of parents has crusaded to mislead you into believing there is widespread support for screened admissions, these policies are problematic under the best circumstances, and simply cruel and unconscionable during this pandemic year.
@NYCMayor wrote (2019), “We came into office determined 2 end the notion of so-called ‘good schools’ & ‘bad schools.’ We set out to ensure that every stud. has a school where they can thrive,” U directed @DOEChancellor 2 “infuse every aspect of schools w/the mission of equity.”
We applaud this approach. As you pointed out, ensuring “real integration” is a moral, educational, & legal mandate, & we must listen to the experts, the students, who demand nothing less - especially because the research is clear that diverse schools benefit all learners.
We agree wholeheartedly with your assertion that “now is the time to tackle this challenge, not as a zero-sum game where some communities win and others lose, but as a city united to right the wrongs of the past and give every student the education they deserve.
Now IS the time, and the sooner you announce that you are ending competitive admissions for this year, the sooner you will be on the right side of history.
Data compiled by youth advocacy group @TeensTakeCharge shows that screens, including attendance, lateness, grades, state test scores, auditions, portfolios, exams, essays, interviews, and zip codes, have long been a key driver of segregation.
Even during a non-pandemic year, screens don't provide “a fair or ‘objective’ way to sort children,” bc they are tied to factors outside children’s control: housing/food insecurity; sibling child-care; access to tech/prep courses/other resources; assistance w/homework; trauma
In 2018, Chancellor Carranza, you indicated that screening is “antithetical to what I think we all want for our kids.” We agree. We also agree with Clara Hemphill, an expert on NYC schooling who called the competitive admissions process “legalized child abuse.”
This system of competitive screening was both inequitable and abusive before COVID-19, and before the murder of George Floyd. Before 30,000 New Yorkers died and our city’s school children endured unspeakable loss, not just of loved ones, but of family incomes,
stable school structures, peer interactions, & everything that made their lives recognizable. Before they endured the trauma of watching our nation’s shameful systemic racism play out yet again in the disproportionate impact of COVID in Black and brown and immigrant communities
and in the violent murder of a Black man by police whose job it is to protect and serve.
If the stress of cut-throat admissions screens was inequitable and abusive before, there is no justification to subject our children to them now,
If the stress of cut-throat admissions screens was inequitable and abusive before, there is no justification to subject our children to them now,
when we all recognize they have experienced unprecedented collective and individual trauma.
Chancellor, you made a commitment to our children last Spring: “We will not relent in the work to intensify equity until, student by student and school by school, change comes.
Chancellor, you made a commitment to our children last Spring: “We will not relent in the work to intensify equity until, student by student and school by school, change comes.
We all need this, because racism doesn’t just harm Black, Brown, or Asian families—it harms us all.”
We agree, which is why we demand a clear decision to cancel all competitive admissions policies for this school year, & to release children, educators, and families from all practices that exist to support these policies.
TY for doing what is right for our children & families
TY for doing what is right for our children & families
Send a letter in support of #NoScreens! Now more than ever! @NYCMayor will be making an announcement soon. https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-carranza-and-de-blasio-to-end-screens?fbclid=IwAR3twUr1UxExpWmuznnfDi4Zehh_TwkzhQOvrxOOCKj_Bw88RSZA7kMtqPA
