Dive Brief:
- In New York City, education officials have decided to forge ahead in redrawing school zones to ensure that the largely white student population at Public School 8 from a wealthier, gentrifying neighborhood will be mixed with their poorer peers of color at Public School 307.
- The rezoning will take effect in the 2016-17 school year and send current P.S. 8 students to P.S. 307, where 90% of students receive public assistance.
- For months, the rezoning proposal drew ire from parents of students at both schools, and a similar rezoning proposal aimed at Manhattan's Upper West Side was abandoned two months ago, the New York Times reports.
Dive Insight:
Across the U.S, little is being done in the U.S. to prevent resegregation. "A recent study by the Civil Rights Project at UCLA found that the average Latino student in California attended 84% non-white schools in impoverished areas," Education Dive previously reported."And in Minneapolis, segregation in urban schools has grown quickly and dramatically."
New York City is certainly not immune. A recent study from the New School University proved that many of the city's schools aren’t as diverse as the neighborhoods around them, proving that gentrification doesn’t equate to more racially and economically-mixed schools.
To placate fears from parents of current P.S. 307 students, a quota system designed to give free or reduced-price lunch students priority for half the seats in each class is on the table.