Seven New York City Schools will open its doors to accommodate children in New York who are less fortunate than others, those who come from a low-income or a non-English speaking family.
The pilot program will qualify children for free or reduced lunch meals; children who are in the child welfare system, are English-language learners or have incarcerated parents are a priority. The Schools will set aside around 20-60% of their seats for students in this group.
Out of the seven schools, six schools will be un-zoned, meaning that they will accept students by lottery rather than just drawing out from the surrounding neighborhood.
All of these schools are elementary schools and will be making changes for the upcoming kindergarten cycle.
The program is a cumulative effort of principals and community leaders that proposed the said project to Mayor Bill de Blasio, because many of New York's elementary school's are off limits to children who live outside of their small geographic zones. Rezoning schools and the danger of forcing any change on families proves to be difficult and impractical.
This program has marked a shift in the de Blasio's administration that talks about the importance of diversity but has been slow in implementing the necessary actions and policy changes.
"Students learn from the diverse experiences and cultures of their fellow students, and it's important that our schools match the diversity of our City," said Ms. Carmen Farina of the de Blasio administration, in a statement announcing the program.
"I'm pleased that by working with principals, superintendents and community members, we were able to create admissions policies that promote diversity and respect the needs of the community. I'm hopeful that these changes will help serve as a model for schools across the City."
Although she cautioned that broader plans are to be done to schools that are lacking in resources around New York City, before it makes a dent in the problem.
