‘Systemic Racism’: Mayor de Blasio Proposes Plan to Address ‘Very Serious Racial Segregation’ In New York City Schools That Advocates Say Begins with Their ‘Gifted and Talented’ Testing
New York City is addressing segregation claims in its public school system with measures that critics say are long overdue. On Tuesday, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, announced an end to the city’s “Gifted and Talented” program that began in 1973 and served as a catalyst for a racial divide between white and Black and Latino students.
“Only 25 percent of students in gifted and talented classes are Black and Latino, so that tells you what we’re dealing with here, and that is what we call systemic racism,” said Integrate communications director Seba Uchida Chávez.
What began as a series of questions from Black and Latino families asking why their neighborhood schools lacked the same resources, after-school programs and opportunities that majority-white schools in the public school system were getting by 2017 turned into a citywide campaign led by school integration advocates to make schools more diverse and reflective of their communities.
The push for more diversity began with addressing its root cause: New York City’s public school Gifted and Talent program, which involved a standardized test administered to kindergarteners to determine their aptitude.
The program only had 2,500 slots so only the top-scoring students received a spot and Chavez says most students who did not score high enough were Black and Latino largely because they lacked access to resources and tutors leaving them with poorer performing schools as their only option.
“Schools that are disproportionately white and Asian get more resources, get more attention from the city and the state, and really abandon Black and Latino students, and this continues onto their neighborhoods and their communities,” said Chavez.