“We cannot just keep on saying, ‘This problem is too big — there’s nothing we can do about it,’” Justice Sallie Manzanet-Daniels, of the Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court in Manhattan, told a lawyer for the city at the time.
“Meanwhile, thousands and thousands and thousands of children keep on being graduated from a system that’s not teaching them,” she said.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/02/nyregion/nyc-schools-segregation.html
separate is inherently unfree. As this Article uniquely clarifies, segregation deprives schoolchildren of freedom to become equal citizens and freedom to learn in democratic, integrated, and transformative settings. We must name and reclaim these positive, social, emancipatory freedoms—envisioned by the framers of state constitution education clauses, developed by early progressives, reflected in the case law, and applied in “freedom schools” and by Southern Black teachers during the civil rights era.
Joshua E. Weishart
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3867649.
Even if the SHSAT was an educational necessity, it would still violate disparate impact regulations if there was an alternative available that achieved the same objective with a less discriminatory impact. The NAACP LDF found that a multi-measured approach to admissions based on quantitative and qualitative portions of an application would be equal to or more effective than the SHSAT and would have a smaller discriminatory impact. While middle school grades could be a major component of an application, “teacher recommendations, proven leadership skills, a commitment to community service,” and demographic profiles could be used to assess a candidate’s academic and individual capabilities. To supplement a multi-measured approach, the NAACP LDF advocated for changes to the Discovery Program or adoption of a system which reserved seats for top students from middle schools around the City.
New York City is one of the most diverse cities in the United States. However, its schools remain some of the most segregated. The crown jewel of the City’s public education system, Specialized High Schools, are among the nation’s top public institutions. But in a city where over 60 percent of children are Black or Latinx, less than 10 percent of the students admitted into these prestigious schools come from these communities. Due to a 1971 New York state law, admission into the Specialized High Schools is granted solely on the basis of a standardized exam, the Specialized High School Admissions Test, which students can opt to take during their eighth grade. The statute allows only one exception to this rule, the Discovery program, which allows the City to place “disadvantaged” students near the cutoff score in a preparatory summer program that would grant them admission into a Specialized High School.
Recently, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio expanded this program to make up 20 percent of the seats at Specialized High Schools and redefined the Discovery program’s parameters to only accept those students who go to high-poverty middle schools. A lawsuit currently before the Southern District of New York alleges that this policy is discriminatory against Asian American students. This Note argues that this lawsuit constitutional challenges is against a facially-neutral affirmative action policy, which undercuts the two major competing Equal Protection frameworks: anti-classification and anti-subordination. Subsequently, this Note contends that Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s ascent to the U.S. Supreme Court tilts the Court’s Equal Protection jurisprudence sharply towards the Court’s anti-classificationist wing, making it even more important to consider other means of reducing racial homogeny that could withstand judicial scrutiny. Further, this Note suggests that the conservative scrutiny facing the revamped Discovery guidelines is due to a distinction between the “deserving” and “undeserving” poor, as the political right’s support of class-based affirmative action has not extended to the present case in New York City.
Ultimately, this Note contends that the Southern District of New York should rule in favor of New York City to remain consistent with Supreme Court precedent in cases regarding facial-neutrality, such as Fisher v. University of Texas. Should the district court decide otherwise, this Note asserts that it will have “pierced the veil” of facial-neutrality, overturning the Court’s precedent and leaving uncertain the constitutionality of facially-neutral programs.
In conclusion, the Note holds that even the adapted Discovery program guidelines do not go far enough to ensure inclusive enrollment at these prestigious institutions. More must be done to provide every child in New York City has the opportunity for a better life—the very foundational value upon which the Specialized High Schools were created.
Full research paper: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3699190
Research on the passing of Hecht-Calandra in 1971. This includes supporting documents from various agencies and stakeholders.
Christa_McAuliffe_Intermediate_v_De_Blasio_et_al__nysdce-18-11657__0048.2The earlier test that Judge Wood ruled was discriminatory, the Liberal Arts and Sciences Test, was used until 2004. She said that because the minority candidates were failing that test in greater numbers, the burden was on public officials to prove the test served a valid purpose. In similar rulings, judges around the country have thrown out written exams for firefighters and police officers, ruling they were not relevant to the tasks they would perform.