New York Appleseed Newsletter
January/February 2019
Advocating for Integrated Schools and Communities
Public schools for the public

Dear Friends,

I hope the new year is off to a good start for each of you. Here at New York Appleseed we have wasted no time: On January 5 we announced a new campaign to end competitive admissions processes at all middle schools in New York City.

Anyone who has followed public education in New York City knows that awarding educational opportunity according to students' perceived behavior and academic "merit" is a recipe for segregation and inequality. Today middle schools with competitive admissions processes screen applicants based on their activities through fourth grade (when many students are just turning nine years old). The "winner" middle schools become stepping stones to selective high schools. Students who need the most support are often concentrated in the remaining schools with fewer resources and less academic diversity. It is all too easy to see how power and privilege replicate themselves in such a system.

Against a current system premised on scarcity and the presupposition that only a minority of students are worthy of meaningful educational opportunities, New York Appleseed and IntegrateNYC offer Real Integration . Real Integration insists that we maximize educational opportunity for all students with schools and classrooms that are as diverse as possible - racially, economically, and academically - and with resources allocated fairly across all schools.

It is time to open our public middle schools to the public.

Please follow our campaign to end competitive admissions to middle school in the coming months. Keep your eyes out for our posts on our Facebook page, op-eds, and future newsletters.


Thank you for your support,

David Tipson, Executive Director
News
Appleseed kicks off 2019 with campaign to open NYC public middle schools to the public

Appleseed burst into the new year with the release of an advocacy briefing on January 5. The briefing demonstrates that policy - not geography - is responsible for much of the segregation in middle schools within community school districts across New York City. In the briefing, Appleseed calls for an end to the use of competitive admissions (based on the behavior and academic performance of students in the first nine years of their lives) at all middle schools across the city. Both the Daily News and Chalkbeat covered the release. Appleseed is grateful to our longtime pro bono partner Orrick for the careful research at the core of the briefing.


Appleseed pens Martin Luther King Jr. Day op-ed
 
Following the announcement of our campaign to open public middle schools to the public, Executive Director David Tipson and School Diversity Project Director Matt Gonzales published a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day op-ed on the controversy surrounding Mayor de Blasio's plan to tweak admissions to the eight "specialized" high schools in New York City. Gonzales and Tipson argue that the mayor's plan is only a small part of a total solution: the specialized high schools will not become integrated until all children enjoy equal access to middle schools.

Matt Gonzales presents to Learn Together, Live Together! in Washington
In January Matt Gonzales visited the monthly meeting of Washington-based Learn Together, Live Together (an effort to bring together DC-based school-integration supporters). Matt  provided an overview  of Appleseed's advocacy with nycASID and IntegrateNYC . This trip is just one example of how we extend the impact of our work to communities around the country.

NYC's School Diversity Advisory Group releases first report
Appleseed has been proud to serve on the School Diversity Advisory Group (SDAG) appointed by Mayor de Blasio to develop solutions to segregation in New York City public schools. On February 12 SDAG released its first report, Making the Grade: The Path to Real Integration and Equity for NYC Public School Students , which offers a bold vision for integration and equity in New York City schools. The report’s embrace of IntegrateNYC’s 5 Rs of Real Integration shows a powerful commitment to youth voice in the policy process and a dynamic re-imagining of integration. We are happy the report calls out the use of middle-school screens as the “biggest contributor to middle-school segregation” and are confident the second report will offer more forceful recommendations calling for the removal of middle-school screens citywide. We urge the mayor and chancellor to adopt all recommendations in this report and to begin implementation of these initiatives immediately.




Fair & Affordable Housing Roundtable releases report
Since the fall of 2017 New York Appleseed has been proud to be a part of the Fair & Affordable Housing Roundtable that brought together advocates from the too-often separate affordable-housing and fair-housing (integration) communities. In January, the Roundtable released a new policy agenda with recommendations for creating equitable, inclusive, and affordable communities.
Laundry City and Appleseed featured in latest episode of Point of Learning

The latest episode of Point of Learning with Peter Horn features David Tipson talking about New York Appleseed's work with Epic Theatre Ensemble and the significance of the play Laundry City for our work.
Get Involved
Join ASID , the New York City Alliance for School Integration and Desegregation!  

Pl ease contact Matt Gonzales for more information and join our Facebook Group:  ASID-NYC .

Join the mailing list here: Join ASID .

Check out the ASID calendar for more upcoming events.
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Keep an eye out for our newsletter,  subscribe   to it, and share it with your friends. Thank you for your support.


The New York Appleseed Team 



New York Appleseed is part of a nonprofit network of 17 public interest justice centers in the U.S. and Mexico, Appleseed is dedicated to building a society in which opportunities are genuine, access to justice is universal and equal, and government advances the public interest.


New York Appleseed ~  www.nyappleseed.org