Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza has a vision of social justice — one in which classroom order and discipline are a form of oppression and those in need can only be helped by tearing down the privilege of the advantaged.
But parents aren’t into boutique ideologies. They see things in more concrete terms: They want their children to be safe in school, and they want school to be about learning and moral growth, not fixing the perceived ills of society. Period.
Those visions clashed at a recent meeting in Queens that saw Carranza walk out in response to an explosion of parental anger. But he’d do better to listen to Queens moms and dads.
Queens has long been a place where the mighty and their lofty ideals are brought back to reality — it’s in the borough’s DNA. Today, Queens is 28 percent Hispanic, a quarter white, another quarter Asian and 17 percent black. Half the population is foreign-born. Diverse to the extreme, and always hard-working, folks in Queens have strong nonsense detectors; and they will speak loudly when they sense they aren’t getting plain talk.
Carranza’s problems run much deeper than the recent violence in Queens’ District 26. His desire to pursue integration plans for District 28 middle schools in central Queens has also been met with public suspicion and resistance.
Similar to prior efforts in Park Slope and the Upper West Side, the system has asked a consulting group to develop recommendations on “integration.” Some parents worry the un-elected consultants won’t be listening to them so much as steering things toward shifting student populations between supposedly wealthy areas and poorer ones.
Some reports on the District 28 effort have dutifully parroted the DOE line, pointing out that housing prices are much higher in Forest Hills, at the district’s northern end, than in South Jamaica, at the southern end.
A classic tale of two cities — if it were true. In fact, at Forest Hills’ three middle schools — the envy of the DOE social engineers — 54 percent of students are from families in poverty, and fewer than a third are white. The highest-performing schools in the district fall in the geographic middle; both use academic screenings and operate grades six through 12.
Combined, these two top performers are an integration dream: fairly equal representation of Asian, black and Hispanic students (25 percent to 29 percent each), with a smaller smattering of white students (13 percent). Their state scores are impressive: 90 percent are proficient or above in English Language Arts, compared to 63 percent at two of the middle schools in “wealthy” Forest Hills and 44 percent at the third Forest Hills school.
District 28’s real problem lies at the southern end. While one middle school in South Jamaica (York Early College Academy) serves a 51 percent black and 26 percent Asian population and tests on par with those in Forest Hills, the other four in the area have very low ELA scores.
Their communities and students deserve better — but the modestly successful schools in Forest Hills aren’t to blame. Further, it’s nearly impossible to conceive of a practical scheme to ship children from South Jamaica to Forest Hills or vice versa. Pitting these groups of parents, many of whom are new Americans, against one another is cynical at best and will do nothing to improve outcomes for the families of South Jamaica.
If the chancellor and mayor took a clear-eyed look at South Jamaica, they might see the way to increasing opportunity for students in that community.
A number of charters have opened in and around the neighborhood, and they have been popular with black families. Unfortunately, the mayor, chancellor and their allies in Albany see charters as the problem — rather than a proven way to provide high-quality education in places like South Jamaica.
They’ve gotten their way: Today, New York City is unable to open any new charters. Similarly, the mayor has refused to act decisively to shut down failing public schools, like some of those in South Jamaica, and replace them with well-functioning new public schools.
When schools become disorderly or get mired in poor achievement, it’s the job of city and school-system leaders to respond directly and honestly. When they fail to provide a safe environment for students or the opportunity to excel academically, our elected leaders should provide families with the ability to exercise other options in the form of charter or private schools.
The safety and educational enrichment of youngsters in opposite corners of Queens shouldn’t be in the hands of so-called leaders who refuse to listen to the real needs of families and students.
This piece originally appeared at the New York Post
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Ray Domanico is the director of education policy at the Manhattan Institute. This piece was adapted from City Journal.
This piece originally appeared in New York Post