Opening Statement of Council Member Robert Jackson

Oversight: DOE Admissions Policies and Procedures

June 21, 2010

Good afternoon on this first day of summer, and welcome to today’s Education

Committee oversight hearing on the Department of Education’s Admissions Policies and

Procedures In recent years, DOE has made substantial changes to its admissions policies and

procedures for all grade levels, from Pre-Kindergarten (Pre-K) through high school. For

example, in addition to the longstanding citywide high school application process, DOE has now

centralized the admissions process for Pre-K and for gifted and talented (G&T) programs. While

not as extensive, DOE has also modified admissions policies and procedures for elementary and

middle schools.

Implementation of the new admissions policies and procedures has not been without

problems and controversy. Each spring, during admissions season, City newspapers are filled

with stories about Kindergarten waitlists, 8th graders without an assigned high school, and a lack

of diversity in G&T programs, among other issues.

I know that handling admissions for a school system of 1.1 million students and 1,500

schools is an enormous task and some problems are bound to arise. Sometimes it’s human error,

(such as the case when a box of completed tests for G&T program admission were lost and the

students had to retake the test and had their admissions decisions delayed). Other times

computer glitches are at fault, (as in the case of approximately 60 children on the Upper West

Side who received letters that mistakenly informed them they had gotten into the school at which

they were waitlisted).

In spite of such errors, many parents have praised the staff at the Office of Student

Enrollment, Planning and Operations, commonly known as OSEPO. Particular notice is due for

the good work of Elizabeth Sciabarra, Director of OSEPO. Ms. Sciabarra and her hardworking
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staff have a very challenging task and do their best to be responsive to parents and students and

constantly work to improve admissions procedures each year.

However, OSEPO staff are not the decision-makers who set policy, they just implement

it. Policies, such as a preference for small schools of “choice” rather than neighborhood “zoned”

schools, have consequences. Instead of simply registering for a seat in your neighborhood

school, all children, pre-K through high school, now have to “apply” for a seat in school! I think

it’s fair to say that most parents would prefer to send their children to a good school in their own

neighborhood. Some of us actually remember when Chancellor Klein used to say, when he was

first appointed, that his goal was to make every neighborhood school a good school that parents

would be pleased to send their children to. Unfortunately, that goal seems to have been

abandoned. Instead, we have increasing elimination of zoned schools and a proliferation of

small theme-based schools and charters, requiring creation of a huge, unwieldy admissions

process to deal with all these policy changes.

We also have a huge and ever growing number of students who now require

transportation to school that costs an ever-increasing amount of money. Transportation that our

students nearly lost this year, but seems to be saved for another year – at least if the “deal” holds

up.

Another policy decision that has complicated school admissions is the push to close many

large comprehensive high schools. This year, DOE announced closure of 19 schools, 14 of them

high schools, after students had already submitted their high school applications, creating a lot of

anxiety for 8,500 students who had listed one of the 14 schools as their first choice. In March,

however, the school closures were put on hold when the Supreme Court ruled in response to a

lawsuit that had been filed by the UFT, NAACP and others, including myself and several of my

colleagues in the City Council. The Court found that the DOE had not followed the legal process

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for closing a school, particularly regarding community involvement and adequate notice to

parents. The court ordered the DOE to halt the closing of the schools and barred the DOE from

sending out the high school acceptance letters because they didn’t factor the effect of closing

those schools into the admissions process. The Chancellor said at first that DOE would send out

high school acceptance letters without matching any students with schools slated for closure, but

after a wave of criticism from the UFT, elected officials and advocates, the DOE changed its

plan and decided to re-do the matching process for students considering high schools slated for

closure.

Another problem area is DOE’s failure to adequately predict and plan for enrollment

needs, leading to school overcrowding and wait lists for Kindergarten. This year, more than 100

schools had waitlists totaling over 2,000 students at one time.

Then there was the policy decision to “standardize” G&T admissions across the City and

admit students solely on the basis of test scores, with only those scoring at or above the 90 th

national percentile admitted. All this was done in the name of increasing access to and diversity

of G&T classes. Instead, there are now 6 districts in Central Brooklyn and the South Bronx with

no G&T classes for entering Kindergarteners, and almost no progress has been made towards

increasing diversity. According to press reports, the percentage of gifted kindergartners who are

black has stayed roughly the same as last year - 15% versus 16%, while the percentage who are

Hispanic grew only slightly to 12% from 9%. Hispanic students currently make up 39% of

kindergarteners citywide, but they comprise just 12% of gifted kindergarten programs.

Similarly, black students make up just 15% of gifted programs, compared to 27% of all

kindergartens.

Of course what’s most important is the impact these changes in policy have had on

students and families. Instead of the days when parents simply registered their children in their

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neighborhood schools, parents of 4-year-olds now anxiously wait for “offer” letters for pre-K;

aspiring Kindergarteners languish on waitlists for their neighborhood school; 5 th graders

nervously wait to hear which middle school “accepted” them; and 8th graders agonize over which

high school they’ll be assigned to. Every year thousands of students get accepted by no high

school whatsoever. A letter from a parent of one such student, published by Gotham Schools,

offers a glimpse into what the real impact is on students. The letter, addressed to Chancellor

Klein, is too long to read in full here. The parent speaks about her daughter, an 8th-grade honor

student who was not accepted to any school in the first round admissions process, “even though

there were still openings in those schools” she claims. Her daughter is very unhappy with the

choice of schools left in the second round process. To quote from the letter:

“The system has only succeeded in turning my daughter’s life upside down. She remains on
unsteady ground while also having to endure humiliation and ostracization by her peers for not
having a high school match.

Due to the way that the current system is set up, the message you are sending children is that it
does not matter how hard they work, they could still wind up without any place to go”

The full text of the letter and article are available in the back of the room.

We’ve heard and read in the press similar stories from other parents – too often it seems

high-performing students are not getting matched to a high school, and the schools available in

the second-round are ones that few wanted in the first round. Not a great incentive for students

to work hard in order to get into a good high school!

Today, we’ll be asking DOE for an explanation of why this keeps happening in the high

school admissions process. The Committee will also seek information concerning the current

state of Admissions Policies and Procedures in City schools, and to explore whether there are

any plans for changes to the admissions procedures. The Committee will also hear from parents,

advocates, unions and others regarding concerns over DOE’s Admissions Policies and

Procedures, and recommendations for improvements in this area.

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 I’d like to remind everyone who wishes to testify today that you must fill out a witness

slip, which is located on the desk of the Sergeant-at-Arms in the front of the Chambers. To

allow as many people as possible to testify, testimony will be limited to 3 minutes per person.

Now, without anything further, I’d like to turn to our first witness…

THEN ANNOUNCE THAT, DUE TO TIME LIMITATIONS, MEMBERS WILL GET ONE

FIVE-MINUTE QUESTION PERIOD.