Effort to increase special schools’ diversity

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Northwest Bronx Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, state Sen. Jeff Klein and other elected officials are allocating $2 million toward efforts to increase diversity at specialized high schools such as the Bronx High School of Science and the High School of American Studies at Lehman College.

The officials said the 2016-17 state budget will include $350,000 for outreach coordinators to work with students from underrepresented middle schools, $650,000 for specialized high school test prep at such middle schools and $750,000 for the Department of Education to provide test prep targeting students receiving free or reduced-price lunch.

“The inequality takes place very early on,” said Mr. Dinowitz. “Some kids come into kindergarten already knowing how to read while others come with virtually never having seen a book.”

A press release from the elected officials cited a survey that said from 2005 to 2013, black and Latino students comprised 71.6 percent of rising eighth graders at public schools, but 52 percent of all students who took special high school admissions tests

Four percent of students at the Bronx High School of Science were black and 6.4 percent were Latino in the 2013-14 school year, according to statistics in the institution’s latest comprehensive educational plan. At the High School of American Studies, 7 percent of students were black and 15.5 percent, Latino in 2013-14.

District 10 Community Education Council President Marvin Shelton welcomed the state legislature’s funding, but said challenges start earlier than middle school.

“If they had the money to start at a lower grade, that would be even better,” he said.

A Department of Education spokeswoman cited additional efforts to make specialized high schools more diverse.

“We also plan to expand existing strategies and implement new tools to work towards the critical goal of greater diversity at these schools. We will continue to work closely with our partners as we move forward,” she said in a statement.

Mr. Dinowitz, who graduated from Bronx Science, recalled participating in a robot demonstration on his latest visit to the 75 W. 205th St. campus. The machine wheeled itself down a hallway and cut a ribbon.

“These are the things they do there... but there are other students who have the same potential and can do amazing things also, if given the opportunity,” the assemblyman said.

Mr. Klein did not answer an interview request for this article. 

Specialized High Schools, Bronx Science, HSAS, Lehman College, Jeffrey Dinowitz, Jeff Klein, Alice Guilhamon

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