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Here's How to Build Schools With Sustainable Diversity

By Amy Zimmer | January 13, 2017 8:33am
 Students from the Children's School in Brooklyn.
Students from the Children's School in Brooklyn.
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PTA of P.S. 372/Facebook

BROOKLYN — Even though several schools have new admissions policies to promote diverse student bodies, experts say they must also work on getting the word out to ensure families from a wide range of backgrounds apply for their incoming kindergarten classes as the Friday application deadline looms.

“Outreach is always very difficult. It’s about finding people outside the community,” said Rosa Amato, principal of the Children’s School in Brooklyn, one of seven elementary schools that piloted diversity-based admissions policies last year as its student body had grown increasingly white and affluent.

Entry for the small Gowanus school on Carroll Street near Fourth Avenue — known for its progressive roots and for integrating special needs students and general education students in all classes — is through a lottery for families in District 15, which stretches from Boerum Hill to Sunset Park.

The school now gives priority for a third of its seats to students who qualify for free or reduced lunch or are English Language Learners.

Amato said the school has been posting fliers at pre-K programs around the district and appreciated help from local Councilman Brad Lander’s office, who translated outreach materials in multiple languages.

Districts 13, which includes Clinton Hill, Fort Greene and Prospect Heights, and 15 tend to see more families than in other parts of the city making choices when it comes to kindergarten applications, which allow families to rank up to 12 schools.

Roughly 15 percent of families in District 13 ranked at least six schools on their 2015 applications, according to a DNAinfo analysis of Department of Education data.  

In District 15, about 14 percent of families listed at least six options.

Only 4 percent of families citywide list at least six kindergarten choices. Those numbers may vary given that districts have different sizes, with varying numbers of viable options and different geographic constraints.

The Upper West Side’s District 3 saw the most families ranking at least six schools, with 25 percent of kindergarten applicants doing so.

Research shows that families with higher socioeconomic status — parents who have more education and higher incomes — are more likely to look for options outside their neighborhood schools, whether because of transportation or other reasons, according to Teachers College Professor Amy Stuart Wells, who is also co-director of the Public Good, a nonprofit that supports racially and ethnically diverse schools.

Joyce Szuflita, founder of NYC School Help, isn’t surprised that families in Districts 13 and 15 are making choices given that she’s spent 8 years “banging the drum” in nursery schools, on listservs and in her talks about families making the most of their choices.

The popular consultant — who charges $200 for an hour phone consultation — is likely a catalyst for many families' choices in these two districts. She reaches thousands of families with her monthly Brooklyn-focused schools newsletter and works one-on-one with a steady stream of Brooklynites, some of whom even reach out before making real estate decisions.

Many families are unfamiliar with the admissions process and do not know what their options are, she explained.

“It is very common that families come to me thinking that they have their zoned school or private, that is it,” Szuflita said. “Almost everyone — who hasn't had their friends tell them already — comes away saying, ‘I had no idea I had these choices!’ It is definitely a thing.”

Her clients, she admitted, are not necessarily a picture of diversity.

“When I look out at the audience of my talks, it is mostly white and Asian families. They generally look pretty well-heeled,” she said.

For schools hoping to foster diversity, outreach to families is one step, but not enough — because set asides aren’t enough to sustain richly diverse schools, many said.

“Outreach is fine to make sure there are enough students in the reserved slot pool but once the quota is reached, those eligible students just become part of the larger applicant pool which — to tweak the metaphor — might be submerged by overwhelming numbers of non-set-aside eligible kids,” said David Bloomfield, professor at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center.

Amato is well aware of the challenges at the Children’s School.

“We didn’t have difficulty meeting the targets," Amato said. "But there are issues getting families to say ‘yes’ and staying long term.”

The school needs to do other work.

“It’s making sure we’re understanding the cultural differences of families coming in, making sure we understand their needs and speaking their language. It’s making sure the staff is trained,” she said.

The school also wants to make sure the school is diverse enough that students can see themselves reflected in their peers and that no one feels isolated.

“Once you diversify the student body, you also need to diversity the curriculum, the culture and the staff. All of this requires attention,” she said. “It’s not going to happen overnight.”