May XX, 2017 Dear Chancellor Farina, We are parents, students, educators, advocates and elected officials who are insistent about combating segregation in New York City’s public schools. We believe that all children in New York City have an equal right to quality public education, and that segregated schools are plainly antithetical to that right. Integrated public schools are a fundamental necessity for an inclusive, multi-racial democracy. And they can help all students succeed. The movement to desegregate our schools has grown significantly over the past several years -- since publication of the UCLA study in 2014 showing that New York’s schools are among the most segregated in the country -- due to growing consciousness, honest journalism, and persistent activism. Combating segregation in New York City’s public schools will be challenging, given a long history of systemic racism and residential segregation, a tradition of neighborhood schools, bureaucratic forces that often resist change, and implicit bias in the choices we all make. We do not pretend that it will be easy. But we insist that it is logistically possible, educationally sound, and morally necessary. We were encouraged last fall, as part of the release of the second annual report under the NYC School Diversity Accountability Act, when the NYC Department of Education (DOE) committed to put forth a plan, by the end of this school-year, to increase diversity in New York City’s schools. Such a plan would answer the call put forth in City Council Resolution #453 (passed in 2014) and echoed in our letter to the Chancellor in October 2015, to set the City on a path toward integration, and would have the potential to set a strong precedent for other school systems that struggle with segregated schools and classrooms. The DOE’s commitment to develop a formal plan represents a meaningful shift in the de Blasio Administration’s approach to the issue of school segregation. We welcome the recognition that a comprehensive city-wide plan is urgently needed. We write to urge that DOE’s plan include (but not be limited to) the following elements: 1. Adopt a formal policy statement prioritizing school integration as an essential strategy for New York City schools. As proposed in City Council Resolution #453 of 2014, the plan must be anchored by a strong policy statement that clearly demonstrates the DOE’s commitment to educational justice through integration of students of all races and ethnicities, socioeconomic backgrounds and other identities in its schools. The statement should not speak solely to increasing student diversity, but should also directly address the need to desegregate NYC’s schools. 2. Genuinely engage community members, citywide stakeholders, parents and communities. Advancing diversity must be guided by a diverse set of stakeholders. New York City students, parents, educators, administrators, professional development staff, researchers, and advocates – from a wide array of communities – bring critical expertise, skillsets, perspectives, insights and energy to the conversation. Failing to include diverse voices in the design and implementation of a citywide plan would seriously undermine the DOE’s efforts to promote more equitable, inclusive schools. We appreciate that dialogue has taken place with many of the signatories in a range of formal and informal venues. However, a clearly delineated, long-term, inclusive process is needed in order to: ○ Proactively engage students, parents, educators and administrators in good-faith dialogue on a consistent basis. ○ Address a broad range of DOE policies and processes: not only admissions, but also district planning, budgeting, professional development and school support, and evaluation. ○ Clarify decision-making processes for relevant admissions and planning decisions, with a well-defined time frame with opportunities for broader public participation, feedback and dialogue throughout the process. We are eager that the new plan not delay decisions that are already being considered, and which must be resolved in the next several months to allow changes for the September 2018 school year (e.g. controlled choice in District 1). ○ Address the resistance of some communities to integration through education, organizing, and data. It is true, of course, that integration often encounters resistance; but the answer cannot be shrinking from our shared responsibility. The City must therefore dedicate resources to improving parent engagement and increasing awareness of the many ways in which racial and socioeconomic integration enriches the educational experiences of ALL students, and the support that schools, students, and parents need in order to succeed. 3. Emphasize systemic and district-wide approaches. The “Diversity in Admissions” pilot for individual schools is helping to demonstrate that there is support for integrated schools, and that these schools can succeed. We should continue to support individual schools in this work. However, we must also turn our attention to district-wide and system-wide approaches including: ○ Controlled choice and other district wide approaches, such as those proposed in the NYS Socioeconomic Integration Pilot Program grants for District 1 and District 13 (which have already been delayed too long), as well as proposals emerging in Districts 2, 3 and 15. ○ High-school admissions: DOE already organizes the high school admissions process as a broadly unified, citywide assignment system. Students can travel across the city, which could provide a path to transcend patterns of neighborhood segregation. For the overwhelming percentage of NYC public high schools, therefore, it is within DOE’s control to adopt an assignment system that achieves greater integration. It is also critical to chart a course to address the exclusion of black and Latino students at the specialized high schools; if DOE believes that will require changes to State law, you should spell out specifically what those changes should be. ○ ○ Pre-K admissions: Because Pre-K admissions are handled systemwide, they offer a great opportunity for achieving diverse classrooms at a very young age. Diverse Pre-K settings like K280 in Brooklyn are an inspiring example of what is possible, and help to build broader support for integration. New elementary school approaches: One of the greatest challenges for our integration efforts is the predominance of geographically zoned elementary schools in a city with high levels of residential segregation. The “Diversity in Admissions” pilot works for the small number of non-zoned elementary schools. However, we need new models for addressing integration of zoned elementary schools as well: these might include schoolpairing (within a district, or across adjacent district lines), or restructuring so that zoned students fill up only a set percentage of seats, leaving room for students from outside the zone to help achieve integrated classrooms. 4. Clearly define metrics and set measurable goals for mitigating segregation and increasing diversity in New York City’s schools. We appreciate the work the DOE has done to comply with local law 59 of 2015 (Intro 511) to report on students’ demographic data over the last two years. However, in the absence of baseline data and measurable goals, these reports cannot reasonably indicate NYC’s progress or the evaluate the success of particular programs. The plan must therefore include the following: ○ Well-defined achievable goals -- tied to tangible metrics -- is necessary to achieving real progress. While we recognize the challenges in collecting and reporting data from individual schools, there are a range of ways in which both diversity and segregation could be measured, with targets for improving these indicators in the short and long term. These goals should be set and monitored as part of the public engagement efforts outlined above. ○ These goals must be grounded in a baseline analysis of current enrollment patterns, including the demographic makeup of applicants to selective programs. We appreciate the significant limitations that the DOE faces in collecting and reporting data from individual schools. The DOE’s compliance with Intro 511 in 2014 and 2015 was a good first step toward understanding the state of segregation in NYC schools. However, these reports do not provide data at the grade or program level, providing no feasible way to assess the ways in which segregation and demographic change are occurring in schools from year-to-year. Similarly, there are problems with how poverty (2016)/free lunch (2015) is reported. If schools pass a certain threshold, the entire school population (100%) is reported, skewing the data and our understanding of poverty in these schools significantly. It is therefore imperative for the DOE to improve its methodology and include a baseline analysis of segregation in NYC schools in this plan. 5. Provide the professional development, school support, and other assistance needed to help integrated schools succeed. Much of the attention on school integration efforts focuses, for understandable reasons, on the student assignment processes necessary to achieve integration. But the work to integrate our schools only begins with admitting a diverse student body. It takes significant resources and continuous commitment from leadership at DOE, administrators, teachers, parents and students to reduce and prevent disparities across race and income. It is also essential to help these schools succeed, by providing the professional development in culturally responsive education, support, and resources necessary to educate a diverse set of students, in a society long characterized by both systemic racism and interpersonal (including implicit) bias. The DOE already engages in this work on a small scale through the Expanded Success Initiative and the Young Men’s Initiative with support from several of the graduate schools of education in the region which can be strong partners in this effort, especially in the area of professional development. It is also critical to look at transportation, translation, and resources needed, which may require a review of the Fair Student Funding formula. School support for integrating schools should be part of the DOE’s plan, to ensure that: ○ Staff at all levels of NYC public schools represent the diversity of the population and are skilled in culturally responsive education and anti-racist practices. ○ NYC public schools offer a variety of classes, curricula, projects and resources that are grounded in the rich diversity of the NYC student population ○ All schools establish a positive, culturally responsive school culture that respect and honors youth of diverse races, cultures and abilities. ○ Parent engagement efforts are culturally responsive, value parents as assets and experts, and build the capacity of school staff to engage effectively with families. 6. Implementation with Strong Oversight and Accountability: It is critical that the DOE include a clear strategy for implementation that will ensure the DOE is held accountable to the goals set forth in the plan. The DOE must identify senior-level staff that will be tasked with monitoring the DOE’s progress toward measurable goals, supporting systemic and district-wide diversity efforts, managing the ongoing public and stakeholder engagement process, and ensuring that integrated schools have the support they need to succeed. The DOE should also therefore consider the cost of implementation and outline a plan for allocating the resources necessary to support this critical work. Combating segregation requires that we have honest, difficult conversations about structural racism and privilege. That we confront entrenched systems that amplify inequality, but are also highly complex and must meet many needs. That we engage in both extensive outreach and intensive planning. Cognizant of these challenges, we appreciate that you have committed to set New York City on a course to confront the unacceptable legacy of our segregated schools. We look forward to working closely with you in this urgent work. Sincerely,