NYC students file lawsuit taking aim at admissions screens, school segregation
A group of New York City public school students filed a lawsuit Tuesday charging that the city and state are denying students a “sound basic” education by maintaining segregated schools.
The suit, filed in Manhattan’s Supreme Court, claims that the city’s use of selective admissions screens, its lack of a culturally representative curriculum, and itsdisproportionately white teaching force compared to the student body, all add up to violations of the state constitution and human rights law. By turning to the courts, the litigation marks a new tactic in a long-running battle to integrate New York City schools, which are among the most segregated in the country.
“If government’s goal were to create a system of education that would replicate and in fact exacerbate pernicious racial inequality in the city, it would be challenging to design a more effective system than that which currently exists,” the suit says. “An educational system that reproduces, validates, and even exacerbates the artificial racial hierarchies that have long structured civic, commercial, and social life in the United States cannot prepare its students for meaningful democratic and economic participation in today’s diverse society.”