The Roosevelt Island NY Public Library (524 Main Street) is hosting a free information session on NYC Specialized High School admission process. According to the Roosevelt Island NYPL:

Specialized High Schools Admissions Information Sessions

Wednesday, March 13, 2019, 6 p.m.

Saturday, March 23, 2019, 11 a.m.

You are invited to a free information session for parents and students (4th to 8th grade) about Specialized High Schools. A representative from the New York Department of Education will be available to answer any questions you may have about the application process for the following schools:

  • Bronx High School of Science
  • The Brooklyn Latin School
  • Brooklyn Technical High School
  • High School for Mathematics, Science, and Engineering at the City College of New York (Manhattan)
  • High School of American Studies at Lehman College (Bronx)
  • Queens High School for the Sciences at York College
  • Staten Island Technical High School
  • Stuyvesant High School
  • Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and Performing Arts
Sign up to attend a session by emailing shsat@schools.nyc.gov or calling 212-637-8080. Space is limited and is available on a first come, first served basis.

More info on Specialized High Schools available at the NYC Department of Education web site. According to NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio: CUNY Media hosted an interesting 3 part discussion last month on the controversy regarding admissions criteria and testing for the NYC Specialized High Schools – Who Belongs In NYC Specialized High Schools? CUNY Media reports approximately 30,000 students take the NYC Specialized High School Test but only 6,000 get admitted. How many Roosevelt Island students apply to NYC Specialized High Schools and how many get accepted? UPDATE 4 PM – According to the NY Times , only 6 eight grade students at Roosevelt Island’s PS/IS 217 took the Specialized High School Exam last year. Fewer than 6 received offers, (exact numbers were not available) Image From NY Times Click here for full NY Times article. I asked Roosevelt Island’s NYC Council Member Ben Kallos for his view on the issue. According to this 2018 position paper on the Kallos web site:

New York City Schools are more segregated today then they were when in 1954 when Brown v. Board of Education was decided. Our Specialized High Schools have seen a drop in enrollment by black andLatino students by as much as 27% since de Blasio became Mayor. Despite this drop, 44% to 66% of students at the Specialized High Schools are Title I, with a majority coming from homes where English is not the primary language.

Earlier this year, I advocated for the Department of Education to expand the Discovery program to allow low-income students of color who narrowly miss the exam score to catch up with summer enrichment programming.The Discovery program was available when I went to a Specialized High School it shouldn’t have stopped, and bringing it back took far too long.TheDepartment of Education announced an expansion to all specialized High Schools in response to my questions at a hearing of the Education Committee onMarch 23rdof this year.

I oppose replacing objective criteria like this exam with subjective measures that would further erode any notion of a meritocracy, let alone, anything that would make the Specialized High Schools a part of acitywideprocess that is broken and that leaves countless students out of the schools they apply to without any objective measures, essentially leaving them trapped in failing high schools.

Prior to eliminating the sole objective criteria, the City must:

  • Seat every middle school student for a practice exam followed by the actual exam during school hours; and
  • Provide free preparation for the examination as part of a Universal After School mandate;
Rather than target Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, and Brooklyn Tech, I would urge the Mayor to accept my recommendation since I was elected to expand Gifted and Talented programs with new schools throughout the city to meet the need. The Mayor could even lead by example offer seat in 5 of the 8 Specialized High Schools without state approval, anything else is just rhetoric.

I have made my objections known over the past four years, including on CBS in response to the Mayor’s announcement. I wholeheartedly support and endorse the position of the Daily News Editorial Board and honestly couldn’t have said it better myself.

Please join me, other elected officials, the New York Post , Daily News, other alumni, parents, and students throughout our city by sign and circulate our petition,

Petition is here.

Roosevelt Islander